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Breaking Through Opacity and Idiomaticity:
Teaching English Phrasal Verbs Using
Conceptual Metaphors
Tianjiao Song and Barry Lee Reynolds
Introduction
English phrasal verbs, referred to sometimes as verb + particle combinations (Fraser, 1974;
Quirk et al., 1985), are “notoriously dicult to learn” (Celce-Murcia & Larsen-Freeman,
1999, p. 401). A long body of research has systematically documented the learning chal-
lenges English as a foreign language (EFL) students face when learning English phrasal
verbs due to the verbs’ exibility in form, multiple meaning senses, appropriate use in con-
text, and absence in some languages, such as Chinese (Folse, 2004; Sider, 1990). However,
compared with these documented learning challenges, there has been a limited appearance
of pedagogical discussions surrounding instruction for phrasal verbs (White, 2012). As an
attempt to bridge the gap between research and teaching practice, this chapter introduces
a cognitive approach for the teaching of phrasal verbs informed by Sachiko Yasuda’s (2010)
study, which used conceptual metaphors to extend EFL learners’ knowledge of idiomatic
phrasal verbs. Based on Yasuda’s research, we created a lesson plan for teaching 10 phrasal
verbs that include the particle out. In line with Yasuda’s study, this lesson plan focuses on
adult EFL learners at the tertiary level, specically the Common European Framework of
Reference for Languages (Council of Europe, 2020) B1 intermediate-level students.
is lesson plan is an example of how orientational metaphors can be used to facili-
tate students’ learning of phrasal verbs. is lesson plan not only provides a step-by-step,
detailed description following each instructional phase but also delineates the activities
students may engage in to enhance their learning. is lesson plan may also serve as a
blueprint for you to consider how to construct other meaningful phrasal verbs lessons for
your students. We also provide resources to help you develop and extend your knowledge
of phrasal verbs (see Appendix A and Appendix B).
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94 Engaging Research: Transforming Practices for the English as a Foreign Language Classroom
Synopsis of Original Research
Yasuda, S. (2010). Learningphrasal verbsthrough conceptual metaphors:
A case of Japanese EFL learners. TESOL Quarterly, 44(2), 250–273.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.5054/tq.2010.219945
Yasuda (2010) used orientational metaphors to teach Japanese EFL learners a set of
English phrasal verbs. is conceptual approach is underpinned by cognitive linguistic
theory that humans use language as a tool to describe their various physical experiences in
the world (Lako & Johnson, 1980; Tyler & Evans, 2003). Spatial orientation, such as up
and down, is the essential experience derived from a human’s senses (Yasuda, 2010). People
use orientational particles (e.g., up and down) to help them visualize the surrounding space
(Tyler & Evans, 2003); they extend the interpretation of these particles to convey the met-
aphorical meaning generated from the concept of direction. e particle up entails both
the core meaning of “being upward in direction,” derived from the direct spatial experi-
ence, and the orientational metaphors of increasing, growing, and improving as extensions
of its prototypical interpretation (Sider, 1990). It follows that phrasal verbs can be learned
by being taken as decomposable constructions in which the metaphorical senses of the
particles contribute to the idiomatic meaning of the phrasal verbs as a whole. Teachers
can help students reduce the confusion over the idiomaticity of phrasal verbs by guiding
them to access the regularity in the meaning of these particles. For instance, up implies
completion or making things more visible or accessible, as in “drink up” and “bring up,”
while out indicates excluding and searching, as in “rule out” and “check out” (Yasuda,
2010). Students are able to develop their knowledge of phrasal verbs by comparing and
summarizing the metaphorical meaning embedded in the particles. is process is useful
for enhancing learners’ metaphorical awareness of particles to break through the opacity
and idiomaticity of phrasal verbs.
Yasuda’s (2010) study provides empirical evidence for this conceptual approach. e
study involved 115 Japanese rst-year undergraduate students with an average Test of
English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) score of 450. To examine the eectiveness of this
cognitive instruction approach, students were divided into a control group (n = 56) and
an experimental group (n = 59). Both groups received a 10-minute lesson on 21 English
phrasal verbs. e students in the experimental group learned the phrasal verbs through
a checklist, with the words grouped under “the heading of their underlying orientational
metaphors” (Yasuda, 2010, p. 258), along with their rst language (L1) equivalents. e
control group, however, received grammar-based instruction that required memorizing an
alphabetized list of phrasal verbs and their L1 translations.
e teacher involved in Yasuda’s (2010) study explained the meaning of the phrasal
verbs to the experimental group based on the orientational metaphors of the adverbial
particles and underscored how these metaphors contributed to the meaning of the phrasal
verbs as a whole. e learning outcome of the two groups was measured with a sentence
completion test that covered 30 phrasal verbs, including 15 exposed (i.e., introduced in
the class) and 15 unexposed (i.e., not introduced in class). Results showed that both groups
performed equally well on completing sentences with the exposed phrasal verbs, but the
experimental group earned a signicantly higher score on the sentences with unexposed
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95
Breaking Through Opacity and Idiomaticity
phrasal verbs. ese ndings indicate that enhanced metaphorical awareness is useful for
extending learners’ knowledge of the idiomatic meaning of phrasal verbs. Moreover, stu-
dents were able to apply their activated metaphorical awareness to learn idiomatic phrasal
verbs not introduced in class. is ability of generalizing metaphorical thinking implies
the pedagogical value of the conceptual approach to foster learners’ competence in inter-
preting the idiomatic meaning of phrasal verbs.
Rationale
One major pedagogical implication of Yasuda’s (2010) research is its evidence-based argu-
ment for using conceptual metaphors for teaching phrasal verbs. e use of orientational
metaphors is informative, as it allows learners to understand the idiomatic meaning of
phrasal verbs by connecting them with more concrete experiences with which students
are familiar.
Informed by this empirical study, we constructed a lesson plan for teaching 10 English
phrasal verbs. is lesson plan is designed for a 90-minute class and an estimated class
size of 35 students. e 10 English phrasal verbs follow the verb + out construction. A
corpus-based research study reports out as a high-frequency particle that forms many of
the most common phrasal verbs in English (Liu, 2011), so it makes sense to draw on these
high-frequency phrasal verbs because students encounter and use them often.
e instructional procedures of the lesson plan comprise six stages: Ruling Out Con-
fusion, Breaking rough Idiomaticity, Summing up Metaphorical Meaning, Checking
Out Understanding, Stirring up Creativity, and Homework. All phases are presented in
an appropriate sequence of new knowledge development, starting from learning about
phrasal verb construction before moving on to accessing the metaphorical meaning
embedded in the particle out, developing the ability to summarize the regularity in the
meaning of the particle, demonstrating metaphorical awareness, and using the phrasal
verbs in appropriate contexts. We provide a detailed description of the lesson plan, which
presents the learning activities in each step, together with measurable stages that students
will experience.
is lesson plan applies picture drawing to establish and extend students’ knowledge
of phrasal verbs. Many studies have conrmed the ecacy of visual aids for transmit-
ting abstract concepts in the form of concrete information for learners’ in-depth compre-
hension (Rudzka-Ostyn, 2003; Shabiralyani, et al., 2015). Teachers can use visual tools
to clarify unfamiliar, abstract concepts and develop accurate interpretations for making
learning more “concrete and eective, interesting, inspirational, meaningful and vivid”
(Mannan, 2005, p. 108). Drawing pictures is therefore useful for learning phrasal verbs,
as this activity allows students to clarify idiomatic interpretations by pondering how some
particles are semantically associated but dierent in meaning (White, 2012). In Stage 2,
Breaking rough Idiomaticity, students make their own drawings to express the meta-
phorical meaning of out (see Figure 1 for an example). ese learner-produced artifacts
demonstrate students’ personalized interpretations and conceptualizations. In addition,
sharing their own drawings and interpreting peers’ work further help learners clarify the
metaphorical extensions in particles.
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96 Engaging Research: Transforming Practices for the English as a Foreign Language Classroom
Figure 1. Student sketch of “kick out.”
Note. Adapted from W hite, 2012, p. 451.
In sum, this lesson plan is an example of how instructional activities can be designed to
facilitate students’ learning of phrasal verbs. You can also adapt this lesson plan to better
serve your particular course objectives. For example, this lesson plan could be a part of a
larger unit plan concerning phrasal verbs or idiomatic expressions in general.
Lesson Plan
Lesson Plan Title English Phrasal Verbs
Grade/Subject Area Undergraduate level; English as a foreign language
Duration 90 minutes
Proficiency Levels Lower or intermediate adult EFL learners at CEFR B1 level (Council of
Europe, 2020)
Content and
Language Objectives
Students will
• show an understanding of the verb + particle construction by
correctly identifying most of the 10 phrasal verbs embedded in 10
sentences introduced by the teacher.
• demonstrate their ability to access the idiomatic interpretation of the
following five phrasal verbs—check out, make out, sound out, turn
out, and reach out—through the particle out by drawing sketches of
these phrasal verbs and interpreting peers’ drawings.
• be able to summarize the regularity in the meaning of the particle out
in the 10 phrases by grouping the meanings under the headings of
their orientational metaphors (see Appendix D).
• demonstrate their metaphorical awareness by creating five
more meaningful verb + out patterns based on the summarized
metaphorical meaning of out in the tree diagram or any additional
meanings they think make sense.
• demonstrate their productive knowledge of the 10 phrasal verbs on a
sentence-completion task (see Appendix E).
• consolidate and enhance their metaphorical awareness by
completing after-class tasks.
(continued on next page)
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97
Breaking Through Opacity and Idiomaticity
Lesson Plan (continued)
Alignment to
Standards
This lesson conforms with China’s Guidelines on College English
Teaching (MOE, 2017), and the latest College English Curriculum
Requirements (MOE, 2007).
English Teaching Guidelines
Design collaborative, student-centered learning activities with clear
learning objectives.
Enhance instructor-learner and learner-learner interactions in the
classroom.
Foster students’ creativity and ability to apply the knowledge acquired
from the course to new situations.
College English Curriculum Requirements
Non-English major undergraduate students should have a vocabulary of
6,395 words and 700 phrases.
Outcomes Students will build and extend their knowledge of the 10 English phrasal
verbs containing the particle out, which are check out, make out, sound
out, turn out, reach out, rule out, keep out, cancel out, clean out, and
knock out.
Materials • Worksheet: Sample sentences for the 10 phrasal verbs (Appendix C)
• Worksheet: Sketch drawing to express the meaning of the five
phrasal verbs: rule out, keep out, cancel out, clean out, and knock out
(Create this worksheet with instructions for students.)
• Worksheet: A tree diagram (Appendix D)
• Worksheet: Worksheet for the 10 taught phrasal verbs (Appendix E)
• Dictionaries: Oxford Phrasal Verbs Dictionary for English Learners;
Collins COBUILD Phrasal Verbs Dictionary
Highlighted Teaching Strategies
e following teaching strategies are applied in this lesson:
• small-group collaboration
• sketch drawing
• metaphor-based cognitive approach
Procedures
Stage 1: Ruling out confusion (15 minutes)
Step 1: Introducing the construction of English phrasal verbs
Tell students that the construction of phrasal verbs is verb + particle, then show them the
following ve sentences (retrieved from Goodale, 1993; each contains a verb + out combi-
nation; see Appendix C for the worksheet to give students).
1. It might be dicult to transfer your money, so check it out with the manager.
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98 Engaging Research: Transforming Practices for the English as a Foreign Language Classroom
2. It’s hard to reach out to Lily, as she is on leave.
3. It is sometimes dicult to make out what is said over an airport loudspeaker.
4. e workers were planning to sound out the manager on the opportunity for annual
bonuses.
5. It may look true in the short run and turn out to be false in the long run.
Next, ask students to work in groups of ve to gure out the similarities between these
sentences. (e similarity is that all of the sentences contain the particle out.)
Step 2: Introducing the meaning of phrasal verbs
Encourage students to gure out the meaning of the phrasal verb used in each sentence
by referring to both the sentences and the dictionary denitions for the ve phrasal verbs.
After checking students’ responses, you can interpret the metaphorical meaning of the
particle out in the sentences; the metaphorical meaning is “nding” and “searching.” For
example, sound out in the following sentence means asking questions to nd out someone’s
opinion about something: “e workers were planning to sound out the manager on the
opportunity of their annual bonuses.” e out means “searching” as employees ask their
manager to search for the information about their annual bonuses.
Stage 2: Breaking through idiomaticity (25 minutes)
Step 1: Extending knowledge of the particle out
Show students the following ve new sentences that use the verb + out combination (sentences
2–5 were retrieved from Goodale, 1993; see Appendix C for the worksheet for students).
1. Trump refused toruleoutrunning as a third-party candidate if he does not win the
nomination. (is sentence was retrieved from Davies, 2008.)
2. e drug produces side eects, which tends to cancel out the benets.
3. It took me three days to clean our at out.
4. ey had a guard dog to keep out intruders.
5. eir aim is for the Social Democrats to knock out the Labour Party.
In these ve sentences, the metaphorical meanings of the particle out are “removing”
and “excluding,” which dier from the conceptual interpretations of the ve phrases intro-
duced in the rst activity.
Give students 15 minutes to draw a sketch to express the meaning of these ve phrasal
verbs. Before students draw, encourage them to ponder the following question: “How does
out extend the meaning of each verb in the sentences?” You can facilitate students’ drawing
process by suggesting some symbols they can use to express the metaphorical meaning. For
example, they could draw a ball outside a horizontal line to illustrate the meaning of out.
Step 2: Work sharing and interpreting
Once students complete their drawings, ask them to exchange their work with classmates and
interpret how the meaning of out is illustrated in the sketches. During the sketch interpreta-
tion, go around the class to see if students have any questions. For a class with more than 40
students (which is the regular size of a non-English-major class at the tertiary level in China),
students can use mobile devices as an ecient way to share their work in a WeChat group.
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99
Breaking Through Opacity and Idiomaticity
Step 3: Checking knowledge
Explain the metaphorical meaning of these ve phrasal verbs and their L1 translations.
Answer students’ questions to ensure they understand the idiomatic meaning of the
phrasal verbs.
Stage 3: Summing up metaphorical meaning (15 minutes)
Step 1: Summarizing knowledge
Ask students to work individually to create a tree diagram by grouping the 10 phrasal
verbs you provided under the headings of their conceptual metaphors (see Appendix D).
Step 2: Checking knowledge and explaining
Check students’ understanding by asking them to explain their categorizations. For exam-
ple, you might ask, “Why does the particle out in this phrasal verb mean excluding?” Stu-
dents’ dierent interpretations are all acceptable if they make sense. For those who have
dierent interpretations, you can check whether individual students have developed a
conceptual awareness of the particle by asking, “How does the meaning of out contribute
to its phrasal verb?”
Stage 4: Checking out understanding (20 minutes)
Step 1: Consolidating and assessing
Have each student do the sentence-completion task that requires the use of appropriate
phrasal verbs (see worksheet in Appendix E).
Step 2: Idea checking
Walk around the class to see how students are working on their exercises and oer help to
those having diculty. After the students nish the exercises, show the answers to the class
and answer any questions.
Stage 5: Stirring up creativity (15 minutes)
Step 1: Extending and consolidating knowledge
Have students work in a group of ve to come up with ve more examples of the verb
+ out construction. Students may propose some phrasal verbs in which the metaphorical
meaning of out does not fall into the categories covered in the tree diagram. For instance,
students may interpret the verb + out as creating in “come out with a new idea” and as
ending in “the battery runs out.”
Next, you can ask, “Do all the occurrences of the particle out in your phrasal verbs
t the meaning in the tree diagram? If not, what is the meaning of out in your example
(e.g., come out)?” Ask students to ponder whether any additional meaning group should
be added to the tree diagram. Encourage students to use personalized interpretations of
out in their own examples.
Step 2: Homework
Have students work in groups of four or ve to create between four and six phrasal verbs
by using each of the following particles: up, o, out, into, through, and down. Ask students
to group their own examples into a new tree diagram along with their L1 translation. To
help them interpret the orientational metaphors embedded in these particles, students
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100 Engaging Research: Transforming Practices for the English as a Foreign Language Classroom
should nd one or two pictures online that best express the phrasal verbs they created.
Students’ homework, including the self-made tree diagram and their chosen pictures, will
be shared with the class during the next lesson. is postclass activity can be used as the
preinstruction task to check students’ knowledge of selected phrasal verbs (White, 2012)
and to rotate the newly introduced phrasal verbs.
Closing
End the lesson with a short discussion to summarize the knowledge students learned about
the phrasal verbs. You can ask the following questions:
• What is the typical form of English phrasal verbs?
• What is/are the possible meaning sense(s) of the particle out in a phrasal verb?
• Can you propose some particles that have similar metaphorical meaning as out?
Extensions
e extension of this lesson is embedded in the homework, where students are asked to
create new phrasal verbs that have not been introduced in class.
Caveats
is lesson plan entails a sequence of teaching steps and activities. us, you should pre-
pare in advance and, if necessary, tailor this lesson plan to best t the classroom time.
You also need to monitor students’ engagement in the sketch drawing so you can provide
learners with prompt scaolds. Oer students explicit feedback while you check their
understanding of the metaphorical meaning of the particle out (e.g., Stage 3, Step 2).
Assessment and Evaluation
You can assess this lesson through students’ performance on the group work, such as
creating the tree diagram, drawing and sharing sketches, and discussing the metaphorical
meaning of the particle out in the target phrases. You can also evaluate the learning goals
of this lesson using the sentence-completion task (see Appendix E for the worksheet).
Reflection on and Analysis of the Lesson
Yasuda’s (2010) study shows that using metaphorical thought is a viable way for students to
learn idiomatic phrasal verbs. His study shows that the verb + particle combinations are not
arbitrary but are systematic constructions, with regularity in the meaning of the particles that
carry spatial connotation generated from and shared by humans. ese shared experiences
make it easier for learners to relate to, interpret, and understand the gurative meaning
embedded in the particles and the idiomaticity of the phrasal verbs. e conceptual teaching
approach allows instructors to include a range of learning activities that can be realized with
visualizations to construct interesting and learner-centered classroom activities.
Following Yasuda’s (2010) ndings, we have suggestions for further studies. In the
original study, students’ learning outcomes were measured with an immediate sen-
tence-completion test, which showed the cognitive approach did have an eect. Con-
sidering the incremental nature of vocabulary knowledge and possible attrition, Schmitt
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101
Breaking Through Opacity and Idiomaticity
(2010) advises conducting delayed post-tests to assess long-term retention, with at least 2
or 3 days for the delay, which is the estimated interval between two class sessions (Nation
& Webb, 2011).
In addition, it seems that particles contribute to the meaning of their phrasal verbs to
dierent degrees. e meaning of aspectual phrasal verbs appears to be determined by the
verb, and the particle is used to emphasize the action of the verb (Armstrong, 2000). Here
are two examples:
1. Lily started up her business in New York.
2. She told her to give up smoking.
In the rst sentence, the meaning of start up (i.e., establishing a new business) may be
readily understood from its verb start, which means “taking the initial step in doing an
action.” e particle up extends the meaning of the verb start, implying the “completion”
of this action. However, the meaning of give up (i.e., quit) in the second sentence can
hardly be deduced from the verb give. is dierence indicates that phrasal verbs can dis-
play varying degrees of opacity (Brinton, 1988). us, it may be worthwhile to examine
how the degree of semantic transparency may aect learners’ perception of phrasal verbs.
Lexical priming may be used to explore this topic. is elicitation technique assesses
students’ processing speed of lexical items and has been used to gauge the organizational
properties of the second language (L2) mental lexicon, such as the strength of word asso-
ciations (Arnon & Snider, 2010; Durrant & Doherty, 2010; Henriksen, 2008). Likewise,
learners’ reaction times to phrasal verbs with dierent levels of sematic transparency may
be an indication of learners’ perceived opacity. Examining L2 learners’ response times may
also help researchers explain the possible learning challenges of the idiomatic word strings
and propose teaching methods that can break through the idiomaticity and opacity of
phrasal verbs.
Tianjiao Song is an English language lecturer at Guandong Ocean University and is working on
her doctorate in the Faculty of Education at the University of Macau.
Barry Lee Reynolds is an assistant professor of English education in the Faculty of Education at the
University of Macau.
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102 Engaging Research: Transforming Practices for the English as a Foreign Language Classroom
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Breaking Through Opacity and Idiomaticity 103
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/abs/10.5054/tq.2010.219945
White, B. (2012). A conceptual approach to the instruction of phrasal verbs. e Modern
Language Journal, 96(3), 419–438. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2012.01365.x
Appendix A: Supplementary Materials
Dictionaries
1. e Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA)
www.english-corpora.org/coca
is free-access corpus provides the use of phrasal verbs in contexts. Many empir-
ical studies report this corpus as a good source of language learning due to its
authenticity and richness (e.g., Charles, 2014; Geluso & Yamaguchi, 2014; Lin,
2016; Lin & Lee, 2015).
Figure A1 provides an example of the search results for rule out from COCA.
Figure A1. Sample search results on COCA for rule out.
2. Goodale, M. (1993).Phrasal verbs workbook: Collins COBUILD. Harper Collins.
is workbook oers a comprehensive collection of English phrasal verbs and pro-
vides a particle index that illustrates the regularity of particle meanings in phrasal
verb construction.
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104 Engaging Research: Transforming Practices for the English as a Foreign Language Classroom
3. Parkinson, D. (2001). Oxford phrasal verbs dictionary for English learners. Oxford
University Press.
is dictionary is a rich source of English phrasal verbs, with more than 6,000
entries.
4. McCarthy, M., & O’Dell, F. (2007).English phrasal verbs in use: Advanced. Cam-
bridge University Press.
is phrasal verbs workbook is designed for advanced learners. It contains 60 units
for learners’ self-study, with each unit providing detailed explanations for the form,
meaning, and use of phrasal verbs.
5. Root, C. B., & Blanchard, K. L. (2003). Zero in! Phrasal verbs in context. University
of Michigan Press.
is phrasal verbs workbook includes 30 lessons for learning and practicing com-
monly used English phrasal verbs in the authentic texts. e exercises draw on the
essential skills of using phrasal verbs at the beginning level.
6. Collins. (n.d.). COBUILD worksheets. collins.co.uk/pages/
elt-cobuild-reference-cobuild-worksheets-resources
ese worksheets are based on the new editions of the Collins COBUILD Learner’s
Dictionary (Primary, Intermediate, and Advanced), Collins COBUILD Idioms Dic-
tionary, and Collins COBUILD Phrasal Verbs Dictionary.
References
Charles, M. (2014). Getting the corpus habit: EAP students’ long-term use of personal cor-
pora. English for Specic Purposes, 35, 30–40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2013.11.004
Geluso, J., & Yamaguchi, A. (2014). Discovering formulaic language through data-driven learn-
ing: Student attitudes and ecacy. ReCALL, 26(2), 225–242. https://doi.org/10.1017/
S0958344014000044
Lin, M. H. (2016). Eects of corpus-aided language learning in the EFL grammar classroom:
A case study of students’ learning attitudes and teachers’ perceptions in Taiwan. TESOL
Quarterly, 50(4), 871–893. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.250
Lin, M. H., & Lee, J. Y. (2015). Data-driven learning: Changing the teaching of grammar in
EFL classes.ELT Journal,69(3), 264–274. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccv010
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Breaking Through Opacity and Idiomaticity 105
Appendix B: Phrasal Verbs Checklist
is list is built on the meaning of the particles in phrasal verbs summarized in the litera-
ture (i.e., Goodale, 1993; Lako & Johnson, 1980; Sider, 1990). ese six particles form
the majority of the most frequently used English phrasal verbs (Liu, 2011).
is list indicates that the regularity in the meaning of these orientational particles
systematically contributes to the meaning of the whole string. Teachers can make a longer
list based on this principle. For example, most phrasal verbs with out t this pattern, such
as leave out (excluding), which works the same way as rule out (excluding). is list can
also be adapted for students at a particular prociency level to better serve their learning
needs. For learners at lower prociency levels, teachers should start by having the students
learn the most common meaning of the phrasal verbs before extending to additional inter-
pretations (White, 2012), which is often the rst dictionary denition under a word entry.
It should be noted that some phrasal verbs on the list (e.g., pick up) appear in more
than one meaning group. e reason for this duplication is that most of the phrasal verbs
are polysemous, with both literal and gurative meanings depending on the context in
which they are embedded. Teachers can decide what meaning sense to introduce to their
students. Additionally, these phrasal verbs can be used to assess learners’ knowledge by
working out the meanings of these strings in the contexts that entail literal or idiomatic
interpretation (see Table B1).
Table B1. Metaphorical Meanings of Phrasal Verbs
Particle Metaphorical Meaning Phrasal Verbs
up
being visible/
accessible
bring up, look up
completion of an action drink up, use up, check up, clear up, cover up, do up, end
up, follow up, give up, pull up, sum up, tidy up, weigh up,
wind up
increasing and
improving
back up, bring up, brush up, build up, cheer up, do up,
dress up, go up, grow up, pick up, push up, save up,
speak up, speed up, stir up
preparing draw up, fix up, set up, soften up, warm up
disrupting and
damaging
blow up, break up, hold up, mess up, mix up, slip up
approaching catch up, come up against, face up to, keep up, live up to
happening and creating bring up, come up, come up with, make up, pick up, think
up, turn up
collecting and being
together
look up, make up, pick up, put up, take up to
(continued on next page)
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Engaging Research: Transforming Practices for the English as a Foreign Language Classroom
106
Table B1 (continued)
Particle Metaphorical Meaning Phrasal Verbs
down
suppressing back down, bring down, clamp down, knock down, pull
down, put down, wear down
decreasing, lowering bring down, calm down, come down, cut down, die down,
keep down, narrow down, play down, run down, scale
down, slow down
completing or failing break down, close down, let down, settle down, stand
down, turn down
writing and recording go down as, lay down, put down, put down to, take down
out
excluding, removing cancel out, clean out, cross out, get out of, keep out, kick
out, knock out, leave out, opt out, pull out, rule out, talk
out of, throw out
finding and searching check out, find out, make out, reach out, sound out, try
out, turn out, work out
leaving and beginning break out, check out, go out, set out, take out
producing and creating come out, put out, set out, speak out, spell out
supporting and helping bear out, give out, help out, look out, point out
ending or disappearing phase out, run out, sell out, wear out, wipe out
into
involving enter into
changing burst into
in
inserting and absorbing plug in, put in, sink in, take in
including fit in, fit in with, take in, throw in
being involved and
active
call in, come in, fill in, go in for, join in, put in, settle in
beginning bring in, come in, phase in, set in
off
departing; leaving drop off, kick off, knock off, see off, set off, spark off, take
off
stopping; cancelling break off, call off, let off, pay off, put off, take off
prevention; protection hold off, keep off, lay off, put off, write off,
decreasing cool off, fall off, level off, wear off, work off
finishing and
completing
finish off, go off, pay off, pull off
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Breaking Through Opacity and Idiomaticity 107
References
Goodale, M. (1993).Collins COBUILD Phrasal verbs workbook. Harper Collins.
Lako, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. University of Chicago Press.
Liu, D. (2011). e most frequently used English phrasal verbs in American and British English:
A multicorpus examination. TESOL Quarterly, 45(4), 661–688. https://onlinelibrary.wiley
.com/doi/abs/10.5054/tq.2011.247707?msclkid=85a96872c00d11eca64153812651344b
Sider, R. (1990). Phrasal verbs: Sorting them out. English Language Teaching Journal, 44(2),
144–152. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/44.2.144
White, B. (2012). A conceptual approach to the instruction of phrasal verbs. e Modern
Language Journal, 96(3), 419–438. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2012.01365.x
Appendix C: Sample Sentences
for the 10 Phrasal Verbs
e lesson plan was constructed for the teaching of 10 phrasal verbs (see Lesson Plan for
details) that include the particle out. Most of the sample sentences were retrieved from the
Collins COBUILD Phrasal Verbs Workbook (Goodale, 1993).
e following ve sentences can be used in Stage 1, Step 1, to establish learners’
knowledge of the construction of English phrasal verbs. All of the sentences include the
verb + out construction with the shared meaning of “removing” and “excluding” in their
particle out (Goodale, 1993). You can remove the underlining and ask students to uncover
the similarities between the sentences.
1. It might be dicult to transfer your money, so check it out with the manager.
2. It’s hard to reach out to Lily, as she is on leave.
3. It is sometimes dicult to make out what is said over an airport loudspeaker.
4. e workers were planning to sound out the manager on the opportunity for their
annual bonuses.
5. It may look true in the short run and turn out to be false in the long run.
You can show the class the following ve sentences in Stage 2, Step 1. e particle
out in these phrases conveys a metaphorical meaning of “searching” and “nding.” Like-
wise, you can remove the underlines if students are required to gure out the similarities
between the sentences (Goodale, 1993).
1. Trump refused toruleoutrunning as a third-party candidate if he does not win
the nomination.
2. e drug produces side eects, which tend to cancel out the benets.
3. It took me 3 days to clean our at out.
4. ey had a guard dog to keep out intruders.
5. T heir aim is for the Social Democrats to knock out the Labour Party.
Reference
Goodale, M. (1993).Collins COBUILD Phrasal verbs workbook. Harper Collins.
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Engaging Research: Transforming Practices for the English as a Foreign Language Classroom
108
Appendix D: Tree Diagram of the 10 Phrasal Verbs
Directions: Group the phrasal verbs listed below under the heading of their conceptual
metaphors in Figure D1 (Yasuda, 2010). If you have other interpretations of the particle
out, write down your answer in the “other meaning” box and provide examples.
Phrasal verbs: check out, make out, sound out, turn out, reach out, rule out, keep out, cancel
out, clean out, and knock out.
OUT
excluding,
removing
phrasal verbs:
finding,
searching
phrasal verbs:
other
meaning
phrasal verbs:
Figure D1. Tree diagram example.
Reference
Yasuda, S. (2010). Learningphrasal verbsthrough conceptual metaphors: A case of Japa-
nese EFL learners. TESOL Quarterly, 44(2), 250–273. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/
abs/10.5054/tq.2010.219945
Appendix E: Worksheet for the 10 Taught Phrasal Verbs
Part I. Removing and Excluding
Directions: Choose the most appropriate phrasal verb for each sentence. Change the form
of the phrasal verb(s) when necessary.
1. Unfortunately, Jim’s shortcomings _________ all his virtues.
rule out cancel out clean out keep out knock out
2. is security software can operate only under certain safety conditions designed to
_________ scammers.
rule out cancel out clean out keep out knock out
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Breaking Through Opacity and Idiomaticity 109
3. We should _________ all the possible interpretations before drawing a conclusion.
rule out cancel out clean out keep out knock out
4. He was _________ of the game in the rst round due to the erce competition.
rule out cancel out clean out keep out knock out
5. e bank _________ bad loans every 5 years.
rule out cancel out clean out keep out knock out
Answer key: 1. cancels/canceled out 2. keep out 3. rule out 4. knocked out
5. cleans/cleaned out
Part II. Searching and Finding
Directions: Choose the most appropriate phrasal verb for each sentence. Change the form
of the phrasal verb(s) when necessary.
1. Would you please _________ my hotel booking for the trip next week?
check out make out sound out turn out reach out
2. He spoke so fast that I did not _________ what he said!
check out make out sound out turn out reach out
3. e president was willing to nd a way to _________ to the protesters for further
negotiations.
check out make out sound out turn out reach out
4. It is necessary to _________ customers’ opinions and demand before conducting
any marketing plans.
check out make out sound out turn out reach out
5. e expert’s prediction of economic growth _________ to be completely wrong.
check out make out sound out turn out reach out
Answer key: 1. check out 2. make out 3. reach out 4. sound out
5. turns/turned out
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111
7
Introducing Mediation Strategies in
the Classroom: From “Schema-Biased”
Representations to ELF
Lingua-Cultural Negotiation
Silvia Sperti
Introduction
Intercultural communication frequently entails mediating processes in which the speak-
ers involved negotiate and mutually convey concepts and messages. is is particularly
common in English as a lingua franca (ELF) interactions in which speakers appropriate
the English language dierently, according to their own native linguacultural “schemata”
and for specic pragmalinguistic purposes and processes. In this perspective, the role and
impact of language mediation on contemporary plurilingual educational settings and
the enhancement of language learners’ intercultural awareness and communicative skills
deserve special attention. is chapter illustrates the practical implementation of theoret-
ical assumptions regarding mediation and ELF use. e chapter also examines emerging
pedagogical implications to explore the transition from learners’ “schema”-biased world
representations to successful lingua-cultural negotiation of meaning and concepts.
In the second part of this chapter, I present language mediation activities within ELF-
aware language learning courses that are preparing language and cultural mediators to act
in multicultural contexts such as workplaces involving migrants, refugee organizations, and
academic or teaching plurilingual settings; these activities are based on the practical experi-
ence oered at Roma Tre University in a third-year undergraduate course for language and
cultural mediators. My previous teaching experiences and learners’ feedback stimulated the
development of a set of mediation tasks and activities aimed at addressing learners’ need for
awareness of ELF use within multilingual educational contexts (Sperti, 2019).
is chapter is based on the preceding theoretical background and Dustin Crowther
and Peter I. De Costa’s (2017) contribution, both of which have discussed the convenience
of introducing mediation concepts and practices within pedagogical scenarios. e main
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112 Engaging Research: Transforming Practices for the English as a Foreign Language Classroom
objective for the chapter is to introduce into multilingual classrooms the role assumed by
mediation in cross-cultural interactions with reference to the negotiation strategies that
second language (L2) learners and ELF users—coming from divergent cultural contexts—
constantly incorporate to communicate eectively. An innovative teaching approach is
required to draw attention to the use of pragmalinguistic strategies and competences as
crucial pedagogical instruments in the learning process.
In other words, this approach demands that teachers pay special attention to the new
multilingual landscapes in pedagogical contexts. ey can do so by highlighting features
of ELF variations and using mediation practice to help students avoid cases of communi-
cative misunderstandings, especially among nonnative speakers.
e tasks in this chapter have been implemented to align with the Common European
Framework of Reference for Languages (2020) new descriptors, where mediation is dened
and explained with regard to the three main ways in which mediation tends to occur:
mediating concepts, mediating texts, and mediating communication.
More precisely, the mediation of concepts, meaning, and intentions among speakers
“refers to the process of facilitating access to knowledge and concepts for others, par-
ticularly if they may be unable to access this directly on their own” (North et al. 2017,
p. 106). e mediation of texts is instead dened as the passing on to another speaker “the
content of a text to which they do not have access, often because of linguistic, cultural,
semantic or technical barriers” (North et al. 2017, p. 106). In the CEFR, the mediation of
communicative processes aims “to facilitate understanding and to shape successful com-
munication between users/learners who may have individual, sociocultural, sociolinguistic
or intellectual dierences in standpoint” (North et al. 2017, p. 107).
Synopsis of Original Research
Crowther, D., & De Costa, P. I. (2017). Developing mutual intelligibility
and conviviality in the 21st century classroom: Insights from English as a
lingua franca and intercultural communication. TESOL Quarterly, 51(2),
450–460. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.341
An important source of inspiration for the current research is an article by Crowther and
De Costa (2017) published in TESOL Quarterly. I selected Crowther and De Costa’s
study because its research focus is particularly in line with the present study on mediation
strategies and intercultural awareness in English language teaching (ELT) contexts. In
their article, Crowther and De Costa consider “the importance of intercultural awareness
in multilingual communication among L2 English users, providing examples of innova-
tive and successful pedagogical approaches that integrate culture with English language
teaching, promoting conviviality and higher levels of mutual intelligibility that go beyond
a denotational understanding of language” (p. 451). In this sense, the authors discuss the
importance of reframing—from an ELF pedagogical perspective—the need to raise learn-
ers’ awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity in daily language use.
In the rst part of their article, through a theoretical overview of the past 40 years
of academic research on communicative competence, the authors aim to draw attention
to pedagogical implications of innovative teaching approaches and strategies that allow
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113
Introducing Mediation Strategies in the Classroom
“learners to recognize how interactions between language and culture impact the com-
municative events they engage in” (Crowther & De Costa, 2017, p. 453). In the second
part of the article, Crowther and De Costa analyze three practical classroom implemen-
tations of theoretical assumptions based on previous studies of the promotion of mutual
intelligibility and intercultural conviviality among L2 learners. More precisely, they focus
on (1) Truong and Tran’s (2015) use of audiovisual materials to promote intercultural
development among Vietnamese students; (2) Menard-Warwick’s (2008) case study about
how two nonnative-English-speaking teachers addressed cultural content dierently in a
university classroom in Chile and an English as a second language school in the United
States; and (3) an online intercultural citizenship project, described by Porto (2015), in
which learners use computer-mediated exchanges to experience authentic intercultural
encounters and develop critical awareness about language and cultural perspectives.
e insights that teachers may derive from their classroom experience as well as from
innovative pedagogical approaches reveal, as Crowther and De Costa note, that “the extent
to which such approaches helped foster learner awareness of the intercultural components
of communication is in need of greater empirical study” (2017, p. 458).
Moreover, the nal emphasis Crowther and De Costa place on the new role of ELT con-
texts is particularly relevant to the present research because what clearly emerges from recent
explorations in the eld of ELT and second language acquisition is that “the L2 English
classroom can indeed serve as more than a space for linguistic development” (2017, p. 458).
Rationale
In the 1980s, the notion of schema was introduced by cognitive scientists to describe how
speakers process, organize, and store experiences, background knowledge, events, and infor-
mation in their minds. Widdowson (1983) dened schemas or schemata as cognitive con-
structs by which human beings organize conceptual understanding, information, attitudes,
values, skills, and strategies in long-term memory. In Carrell (1983), the role of schemata
was rst described with reference to learners’ L2 reading comprehension. ese theoretical
assumptions about L2 acquisition are particularly relevant in the exploration of processes
and mechanisms underlying the development of language learners’ intercultural awareness.
Moreover, the concept of schema-biased interpretation of the world is inevitably related
to the production and reception of messages that are incorporated among and shared by
individuals about their experiences and background knowledge. Mediation plays a vital and
essential role in these naturally occurring intra- and interlinguistic communicative exchanges.
In the past few decades, mediation has been dened and formulated in various ways
in dierent elds of scientic research, from a sociocultural and anthropological perspec-
tive—in Lantolf and orne’s (2006, p. 79) words, “mediation is the process through which
humans deploy culturally constructed artifacts, concepts, and activities to regulate (i.e., gain
voluntary control over and transform) the material world or their own and each other’s social
and mental activity”—to a sociolinguistic approach, as Byram (1995, p. 25) explains:
e intercultural mediator is someone who could operate their linguis-
tic competence and their sociolinguistic awareness of the relationship
between language and culture and the context in which it is used, in order
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114 Engaging Research: Transforming Practices for the English as a Foreign Language Classroom
to manage interaction across cultural boundaries, to anticipate misun-
derstandings caused by dierence in values, meanings and beliefs, and
thirdly, to cope with the aective as well as cognitive demands of engage-
ment with otherness.
As for pedagogy, in the 21st century, mediation became more important, as indicated
in the 2001 CEFR—as well as in the CEFR’s more recent edition—and in language poli-
cies, as explained by the Council of Europe: Mediation is “central to the teaching-learning
process, not only in the context of teacher-learner interaction but also in that of interac-
tion between learners or between teaching materials and learners” (2010, pp. 11–12). In
this pedagogical perspective, mediation “involves a constellation of teachers’ conceptual
frames, practices, and ways of being that are at play in any given moment and which are
interwoven over time in the act of language teaching” (Kohler, 2015, p. 193).
Research has also explored the use of mediation strategies in intercultural communica-
tion, especially with regard to migration contexts, language education issues, and transla-
tion practices (Lopriore, 2015; Stathopoulou, 2015; Sperti, 2019). e use of mediation
strategies is particularly relevant in ELF communicative settings: From academic and pro-
fessional interactions to migration contexts, speakers of dierent rst languages typically
establish mutual intelligibility in the interaction by means of lingua-franca English. As
explained by Hynninen (2011, p. 972), “mediation is successful if the parties to the medi-
ation achieve mutual understanding, that is, if the intermediary is able to help the others
achieve their communicative goals.”
In this chapter, I explore theoretical premises with regard to their practical applica-
tion to the English language classroom, with the aim of connecting scientic research to
teaching practices. Such theoretical grounds are the basis for the research objectives related
to the pedagogical implications of introducing mediation activities in the ELT classroom to
enhance students’ intercultural awareness and autonomous mediating processes. In this
sense, the exploration of learners’ attitudes and approaches in the construction of meaning
and understanding in cross-cultural interactions is useful for considering the negotiation
of speakers’ attitudes, emotions, and sociocultural schemata in intercultural communica-
tion. At the same time, language learners become aware of the miscommunication and
communication breakdowns that result from status asymmetries when analyzing dierent
text types and genres during intercultural mediation processes, as well as daily spoken
interactions in a multilingual and multicultural communicative dimension.
In other words, in academic settings, students are guided to reect critically on how
speakers reveal the use of dierent strategies of appropriation of the English language
according to rst language linguacultural schemata (in terms of background knowledge
and lexicogrammatical transfers) and pragmalinguistic processes (meant as expressions of
intentionality and communicative goals). In these multifaceted interactional dimensions,
language learners are asked to improve their perception of processes and relations at the
basis of any intercultural encounter and to suggest possible mediating reformulations or
solutions to avoid communicative failure or collapse.
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115
Introducing Mediation Strategies in the Classroom
Lesson Plan
Lesson Plan Title The Practice of Mediation in an ELF-Aware Perspective
Grade/Subject Area Third-year undergraduate students in language and cultural mediation;
English language and translation
Duration Two 2-hour lessons each week for 12 weeks
Proficiency Levels B2/C1 (Council of Europe, 2020)
Content and
Language Objectives
Students will
• expand their communication competences through the analysis of
specialized textual and discourse genres.
• develop interactional competences in English in a multicultural
professional or specialized context.
• analyze intercultural encounters while considering verbal and
nonverbal aspects of conversational dimension.
• facilitate intercultural space.
• collaborate to construct meaning.
• enhance their critical and interpretive skills.
• explore ELF actualizations.
• discuss schema-biased attitudes and behaviors.
Alignment to
Standards
The lesson addresses the following standards for the C1 level from the
CEFR (Council of Europe, 2020):
• Acting effectively as a mediator, helping to maintain positive
interaction by interpreting different perspectives, managing
ambiguity, anticipating misunderstandings, and intervening
diplomatically in order to redirect talk.
• Building on different contributions to a discussion, stimulating
reasoning with a series of questions, showing sensitivity to different
perspectives within a group, acknowledging contributions and
formulating any reservations, disagreements or criticisms in such a
way as to avoid or minimize any offence.
• Evaluating problems, challenges, and proposals in a collaborative
discussion in order to decide the way forward.
• Acting as mediator in intercultural encounters, contributing to a
shared communication culture by managing ambiguity, offering
advice and support, and heading off misunderstandings, maintaining
positive interaction by commenting on and interpreting different
cultural perspectives on the issue concerned.
• Showing sensitivity to different viewpoints, using repetition and
paraphrase to demonstrate detailed understanding of each party’s
requirements for an agreement, using persuasive language to suggest
that parties in disagreement shift towards a new position.
(continued on next page)
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116 Engaging Research: Transforming Practices for the English as a Foreign Language Classroom
Lesson Plan (continued)
Outcomes Students will
• be able to critically identify and adapt to other sociocultural frames.
• be able to use languages in a wider range of situations.
• have an increased awareness of sociocultural factors that affect
language use.
• use plurilingual competence to interact with peers from different
cultural and linguistic backgrounds in English.
• detach themselves from personal cultural schemata.
• explore ELF contexts and variations.
Materials • Handouts
• Digital tools (e.g., personal computers, tablets, smartphones)
• Audiovisual resources
• Digital dictionaries and corpora
Highlighted Teaching Strategies
is lesson incorporates mediation strategies (mediating concepts, mediating texts, and
mediating communication). Mediation strategies aim to promote mutual intelligibil-
ity and help speakers overcome cultural and linguistic barriers (North et al., 2017). In
this sense, the mediation tasks presented in this chapter are eective for intermediate or
advanced learners. Mediating a text or an oral interaction means processing specic infor-
mation, especially in specialized discourse, as well as working on translation, reformula-
tion, and transcreation. For that reason, the tasks planned and assigned for this purpose
include the analysis and criticism of texts (e.g., advertising campaigns in the specialized
discourse of marketing) and role-plays based on real spoken interactions or translation
processes involved in the mediation of ideas and concepts.
At the academic level, learners are trained to act on their linguistic and metalinguistic
skills and competences through the processing of a critical analysis of text and conversa-
tions. ese kinds of activities require essential skills in managing and exploiting learn-
ers’ multilingual repertoires, from the exploration of the source’s textual structure to the
ELF-aware use of words, images, and other paralinguistic and extralinguistic signals (e.g.,
gestures, movements, soundtracks, settings) in the target reformulation.
However, the lesson plan in Crowther and De Costa’s article (2017) may be adapted
to other teaching dimensions, with the aim of developing mediation skills and abilities
from the beginning—especially in multicultural teamwork, as that lesson plan encourages
intercultural awareness and the use of dynamic interpretative tools.
Procedures
After a collective introduction, ask students to carry out the following group activities:
• Brainstorm and collect data on dierent varieties and uses of English in written
and spoken productions.
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Introducing Mediation Strategies in the Classroom
• Discuss in groups and complete a worksheet about their perception of the world
and the society in which they live, according to the mediation task received.
• Reformulate or adapt content in another language and/or for an international
audience, through intra- and interlinguistic translation, by using their personal
plurilingual and register repertoires.
e results discussed in this chapter are based on the outcomes learners produced
throughout the course; Tables 1 through 3 in particular present a sample of the group
activities selected for this study.
In the rst activity, learners worked in groups and were asked to select the eld of
investigation and advertisements according to precise instructions, the rst of which was
to look for cultural elements that would prevent an understanding of advertisements inter-
nationally. Each group attempted to analyze all of the hostile or vulnerable cultural ele-
ments to suggest a useful reformulation through a mediating approach.
As shown in Table 1, students decided to analyze an ad campaign for the BK Super
Seven Incher sandwich, released in 2009 by Burger King, which was controversial due
to its sexual connotations. In the ad, a woman in prole opens her mouth in surprise for
the long sandwich, which is shown, suggestively, to be coming toward her mouth. e
caption reads “It’ll blow” in large letters on the rst line, and “your mind away” in smaller
letters on the second line. e students discussed verbal and nonverbal aspects of the ad
that could create interferences and breakdowns for an international audience and made
personal comments about the advertisement, highlighting some of its negative aspects that
would have required the reformulation of the advertising campaign.
Table 1. Mediating Concepts Activity
Task Materials (Example) Sample of the Critical Analysis Learners’ Feedback
Propose an
ELF-oriented
reformulation
of an ad.
Burger King’s
advertisement
(printed)
“We decided to take in account
this advertisement because we
think that this is a clear example
of sexism, sexualization and
commodification of women. As
in many advertising campaigns,
the women’s body is used as a
reference to sexuality, too often in a
negative and degrading meaning.”
“No difficulties
emerged during the
work, but it required
a lot of time and
attention.”
In the second activity (see Table 2), the students evaluated audiovisual materials such
as television series or movies that were set within multicultural contexts. ey selected
extracts and scenes and investigated them using a multimodal analysis (with both tex-
tual and conversational analyses) of original scripts. ey chose e Big Bang eory in
particular because of interesting linguistic and sociocultural aspects of the scripts and the
setting of some scenes, especially those that illustrated the contrast between Western and
non-Western norms. Students explored the selected dialogue, focusing their attention on
the relations among characters by means of both textual and conversational analyses. In
the nal part of the activity, students were asked to think about the most relevant socio-
cultural and linguistic aspects that aected interactions among the main characters. ey
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118 Engaging Research: Transforming Practices for the English as a Foreign Language Classroom
also considered possible applications of mediating processes in the reformulation or trans-
lation of the same content into another language.
is preparatory exercise is particularly useful for the implementation of mediating
abilities in the translation or transcreation of texts because learners are guided to consider
multiple dynamics of cross-cultural communication in a ctional dimension before look-
ing at real-life situated and spontaneous intercultural encounters and acting as mediators.
Table 2. Mediating Texts Activity
Task Materials (Example)
Sample of the
Critical Analysis Learners’ Feedback
Conduct a
multimodal
analysis of
audiovisual
extracts or
scenes.
A screenshot taken
from The Big Bang
Theory episode
“The Cohabitation
Formulation,” which
showed the characters
talking to each other in a
cafeteria.
“In the videos there
are Indian cultural
prejudices and beliefs:
for instance, arranged
weddings, which tend
to be quite frequent in
India, do not allow sons
and daughters to choose
their partners.”
“The Big Bang Theory
was chosen because
most of the members
of our team are familiar
with it. Additionally,
the presence of
several varieties of
spoken English is very
interesting, especially
referring to the Indian
English spoken by
Raj, one of the main
characters.”
“As a group we all
thought that this activity
was very interesting, not
only because it taught
us new things, but also
because we were able to
partly understand what
being a real mediator
means.”
“This activity was very
challenging but also
very funny because we
worked with a sitcom
which we all love.”
“With this activity we
were able to analyse
different language
varieties of the English
language.”
In the third activity, the students are involved in a role-play based on a semistruc-
tured mediation task. e class is divided into groups, and every group’s duty is to discuss
the main features and the role and functions that a language mediator should represent,
based on their personal experiences and perceptions. After this brainstorming session, each
group is given a guide (containing scenarios and story lines) to outline the most plausible
elements of an intercultural encounter with the other groups, trying to identify concepts
and views that need to be mediated during a conversation among people from dierent
lingua-cultural backgrounds. In the last part of the activity, students simulate an exchange
in English, where they perform the role of professionals, employees, or ocers in a given
intercultural professional setting, as well as the role of language mediator. Table 3 provides
feedback from dierent students. During the role-play, all groups were asked to design
a series of characters in the context of a professional meeting. Students received precise
instructions concerning linguistic and sociocultural features, with a special focus on the
use of ELF variations in the negotiation of meaning and concepts. In the subsequent
staging of the assigned roles, students interacted without following a precast written script
or having any piece of information about their classmates’ characters. is preparatory
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119
Introducing Mediation Strategies in the Classroom
setting prompted a live mediation activity in which students unpredictably negotiated
meaning and communication, thus adapting to the situation as they experienced it. is
kind of mediation task, despite being challenging, turned out to be essential for under-
graduate students learning about language and cultural mediation.
Table 3. Mediating Communication Activity
Task Materials (Excerpt)
Sample of the
Critical Analysis Learners’ Feedback
Role-play a
cross-cultural
professional
encounter.
“Our mediator appeared
easy-going. She
observed attentively
what was going on
before taking action.
She mainly interacted
to avoid linguistic
problems, she translated
and rephrased the part
of the conversation
that wasn’t clear to
one of the interlocutors
and proposed some
compromises when
necessary. She gave
suggestions to the
other participants in
order to facilitate the
conversation and didn’t
ask to the first group
to compromise, but in
the last minutes of the
negotiating process.”
“It was really hard to
build up this activity,
both because of the
blind aspects and also
because of the language.
Our group was the ‘Old-
timers’ instead of ‘The
Band’ and ‘The Gloves’
were the ‘Newcomers.’
The group had to find
points of conflict with
the two groups of the
newcomers. It was really
hard, because we had to
improvise in the artificial
language and we did
not have a lot of time to
think, but the mediator
has done a fantastic
job. Fortunately, through
mutual support we were
able to find a point of
compromise.”
“When the teacher
told us that we had to
improvise a conversation
with the other groups,
at first, I felt insecure,
because I kept thinking of
the best way to improvise
in our language and
could not find a way. But
when we started, I felt
much better and I think
I did a pretty good job,
because we did not have
a script to follow.”
Closing
Each mediation activity closes with a class discussion about certain issues that emerged
within the teamwork. Feedback and critical evaluation may be included and triggered by
the teacher.
Extensions
e activities were successfully extended to other specialized genres, such as the language
of politics, legal discourse, science, and international journalism.
Caveats
Mediation activities require eort and time; teamwork may be challenging and time con-
suming, but students will benet from this unconventional experience.
Assessment and Evaluation
Students carry out a self-evaluation after each activity and express their feedback related to
the outcomes identied in the lesson plan.
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120 Engaging Research: Transforming Practices for the English as a Foreign Language Classroom
Reflection on and Analysis of the Lesson
Although it was much more focused on mediation strategies, my study—like Crowther
and De Costa’s (2017) article—aimed to investigate possible practical implementations of
theoretical assumptions about the development of intercultural awareness and the promo-
tion of mutual intelligibility in an ELF-aware perspective in dierent teaching contexts.
e promotion of innovative ELT activities and the production of new teaching
materials in the L2 classroom—including mediation practices and tasks, as well as an
ELF-aware approach to English varieties and variations—are intended to help develop
a conscious use of English as a lingua franca in multilingual contexts. e most recent
research regarding teacher training argues for innovations in lesson planning and teaching
materials, which implies a consequent reformulation of methods and assumptions for the
basis of teacher education itself (Sifakis, 2019).
Moreover, the new descriptors in the CEFR (Council of Europe, 2020)—where
mediation in particular is emphasized—call for the design, implementation, and mon-
itoring of mediation tasks that can be adapted to any L2 teaching context, even in
multilingual classrooms.
Mediation activities can suit dierent educational landscapes, either at school or in
dierent academic and professional settings. ey are most eective if carried out in small
groups of students with the assistance of an operational framework that facilitates coop-
eration and interaction among participants. Mediation tasks and an ELF-aware approach
to intercultural communication may also be adopted in Content and Language Integrated
Learning or English as a Medium of Instruction contexts, not only within an educational
process strictly related to L2 learning.
To summarize, the main impressions emerging from the previous implementation of
mediation strategies in the ELT classroom include the following:
• Language teaching needs a new approach to an ELF-aware language learn-
ing-teaching practice.
• Adopting innovative teaching strategies such as mediation tasks will make teach-
ing more eective, especially in plurilingual contexts.
• Learners’ abilities and skills should be emphasized as a basis for exploring socio-
cultural schema-biased representations and developing plurilingual and intercul-
tural competences.
• More analysis is needed on learners’ needs and habits, as well as the sociolinguis-
tic and educational contexts to which they are exposed on a daily basis.
• Language interaction activities among learners should be promoted, including
the introduction of authentic materials to promote learners’ intercultural aware-
ness and the use of communication strategies.
Language learners need an increased awareness of the sociolinguistic aspects and com-
plex processes that underly discourse strategies because mediating and translating can-
not represent a simple and automatic transfer of linguistic structures from one code to
another. e theoretical assumptions regarding the development of mediation skills and
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121
Introducing Mediation Strategies in the Classroom
intercultural awareness nd a practical application in any multilingual and multicultural
communicative setting, as well as in any L2 teaching context where learners may develop
not only linguistic abilities and competences but also social skills to autonomously act as
intercultural operators in their daily routines.
Silvia Sperti is a lecturer in English language and translation at Roma Tre University and an
intercultural language mediator.
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