1.2.2.1 Spoken language is different to written language
The differences which exist between speech and writing are well defined in
the literature (e.g. Ur, 1984: 9, Burgess, 2000, Unit 1) and students should be aware of
them so that, as Bygate (1987: 20) stresses, they become more fluent and sound
normal in their use of the foreign language.
According to Bygate (1987: 7) there are at least two demands which can affect
the nature of speech and differentiate it from writing. These are:
a. processing conditions: The fact that speech takes place under the pressure of time
and the speaker’s inability to erase mistakes once these have been uttered give spoken
discourse features that are not found in written language. Halliday (1987: 63) makes
that clear by stressing that: “when you speak, you cannot destroy your earlier drafts.”
Other characteristics of spoken language due to processing conditions are what
Bygate (1987: 18) calls ‘time creating’ devices such as fillers, pauses and hesitations
and (p.14) the use of fixed conventional phrases and incomplete sentences.
b. reciprocity conditions: These, according to Bygate (1987: 7), involve: “…the
dimension of interpersonal interaction in conversation.” Oral communication is a
reciprocal activity where the speaker is not only the transmitter of a message but also
a receiver of the listen