MANAGINGSOCIAL INTERACTIONAND DISCUSSIONS

Developing Interactive skills(1)expressing/ agreement or disagreementmanaging a discussiondebating skills

Expressing/ agreement or disagreement

AgreementDisagreementComplete agreementDirect DisagreementI totally agree with you,I see your point,Thats true/ right,Yes, I agree with you,I beg to differ,I disagree,I dont agree,I dont think so,Partial agreementIndirect DisagreementI agree with you to a certain point,You could be right,That may be so but It sounds good. However,Are you sure?I could be wrong but..Oh., I dont know..

Managing a discussiona session where a few people sit and exchange views and opinions on a certain issue;a chairperson is normally appointed to ensure the smoothness of the discussion and make sure the discussion is not out of order;

Convention of a discussionGreetingThanking people for comingStarting the discussionIntroducing the subject or topic or problemInviting and encouraging people to speak (turn-taking)Making sure every one has the fair opportunities to speak (interrupting)Summarising the main pointsConcluding the discussion

Discussion skills GreetingInviting and turn-takinginterruptingExpressing approval/disapprovalMaking suggestions/ recommendationsStating and justifying opinionsGiving opinions for action takenGiving opinionsPersuadingMaking conclusions

Giving explanationin giving explanation, the language should be clear and concise;explanation can be done by:showing connectionsgiving examplescomparingproviding feedbacks and corrections

Asking questionswe ask questions to get extra information;ways of asking questions:a. wh-questionsb. polite requestsc. yes/no questionsd. question tags

Accepting/ rejecting answerswhen we accept or reject an answer, there are varying degrees of acceptance and rejections:agree strongly (I agree with you )half agree (Yes, I quite agree)disagree politely (I am not so sure)disagree politely (I really cant agree)

Giving encouragement and advicegiving encouragement encouragement will give them hope to push despite the little achievement they have made;there are three situations when we need encouragement (successful, in doubt and fail)giving adviceadvice is given when there is a problem or to guide students for improvement;

*Developing Interactive Skills (2):it is necessary for us to be good in inviting opinions from others to keep the interaction going;we also have to know how to give our opinions properly without making others feel as if we are imposing our opinions on them;

*Asking for and giving opinions:

FunctionExpressionasking for opinionWhats your opinion on What do you think of What are your views on How do you feel about Would you mind sharing your opinion on giving opinionI believe Im certainI must say Its quite clear that I would like to say that I guess I suppose

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FunctionExpressionseeking clarificationWould you mind explaining to me Im sorry but I need further explanation on Forgive me for asking but I dont quite understand I beg your pardon, could you please repeat what

*Developing Interactive Skills (3):making requests: request and ask for a favour from someone needs careful thoughts and done in a polite manner;

interrupting:a skill to use when you have something important to say but not given the way in by the other speakers; It indicates whether we agree or disagree with others;

*turn-taking: occurs during a formal situation (dialogue, meeting, forum) between people who do not know each other very well discussing a serious issue;it involves one person inviting another to speak his views and opinions;this is to gives every one a chance to express his/her views and to avoid some people dominating the conversation;