Formation of German oral speech skills among students of language universities based on corpus technologies

Mukhamadiarova Albina Fanilevna PhD in Philology Associate professor of the Department of Theory and Practice of Teaching Foreign Languages at Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University 420008, Russia, Republic of Tatarstan, Kazan, Kremlevskaya str., 18 liliana_muhamad@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Introduction

When teaching foreign languages, teachers try to choose authentic materials, the value of which lies in the fact that they are formulated by native speakers and correspond to reality and the actual use of the language. In the field of writing, the source of such materials are literary works and texts of newspaper articles. To train oral speech, teachers mainly use constructed dialogues that correspond to the level of students, taking into account vocabulary and mastered grammatical constructions. At the initial stage, such dialogues are the basis for the development of listening and speaking skills. Starting from the B1 level, it is advisable to introduce authentic materials, but, as a result of the analysis of dialogues in German textbooks for the B2 level, S. Guntner notes their artificiality and contradiction to the real use of constructions and expressions ^[13]. Despite the so-called "communicative turn" in teaching foreign languages, many textbooks are based on written literary language. But oral speech has a number of features that are not reflected in textbooks and teaching aids. In recent decades, there have been ongoing discussions about which German should be taught, which language options (regional options, youth slang, various discourse options) should be included and how to integrate the spoken form of the language in detail into the educational process ^[11]. As R. Filer notes, the written form of the standard German language has for many years been considered a model for oral speech ^{[8, p. 25]}. G. Helbig and I. Busha advocate orientation to the written standard ^[14]. But a number of foreign linguists advocate the inclusion of typical conversational structures in the study of foreign languages ^{[6, 15, 22]}.

Before entering dictionaries and grammars, lexical, grammatical and pragmatic units are "tested" in oral speech. There are grammatical constructions, phonetic and lexical features that are considered incorrect and agrammatic, but, nevertheless, they are part of the linguistic composition and are used by native speakers in oral communication. There is a lack of not only authentic dialogue texts, but also didactic materials for working out the features of the spoken language. The relevance of the research is related to the fact that the oral language corpus "FOLK" provides authentic uses of the language community that can be used in the development of linguistic methodological materials.

Research objectives:

- to clarify the component composition of the main grammatical structures and phonetic features of oral colloquial speech for students of German as a foreign language;

- to determine the corpus tools for the development of linguistic methodological materials;

- to develop a set of exercises aimed at developing oral conversational skills based on corpus technologies for university students.

To study the possibilities of text corpora in German classes, the following methods were used: pedagogical experiment, the method of component analysis, synthesis and systematization of the information received.

The theoretical basis of the research was the work of foreign and domestic scientists, which summarizes the experience of the pedagogical community using the results of corpus linguistics ^{[1, 3, 4, 7, 9]}, An overview of existing oral speech corpora is conducted and the most suitable options for tools and for use in the German language lesson are noted ^[18], as well as dedicated to the possibilities and the advantages of oral speech corpora in teaching German as a foreign language ^[16]. A number of publications contain an analysis of constructions and elements of colloquial speech based on corpora and offer didactic developments on the main topics ^{[7, 23]}. 

The practical significance of the work is due to the possibility of using the results obtained in teaching German, methods of teaching foreign languages and in the development of teacher training courses.

Discussion and results

In recent decades, there has been an increase in the creation of German language corpora. One of the first oral corpus is the corpus "Grundstrukturen: Freiburger Korpus", which consists of 222 audio recordings lasting 68 hours and serves as a material for the study of grammatical and stylistic features of oral speech. It was followed by the Dialogstrukturen corpus, which focuses on the interactive aspect of the organization of oral speech, the duration is about 15 hours. Both buildings were created as part of the project of the Institute of the German Language (IDS). It is worth noting the collections of data in the context of the functional and pragmatic analysis of the discourse "Analyse von Unterrichtskommunikation" (Ehlich & Rehbein), "Sprache der H?flichkeit in der interkulturellen Kommunikation" (Rehbein), "Dolmetschen im Krankenhaus" (DiK, B?hrig). The multimodal corpus "Kiezdeutschkorpus" (KiDKo) has also been published, offering data for the study of the Kiezdeutsch multiethnolect, youth language and linguistic features of modern German in informal use. The basis for the analysis of oral scientific speech is the corpus "Gesprochene Wissenschaftssprache Kontrastiv" (GeWiss, Fandrych, Mei?ner).

The source of the material for this study was the FOLK corpus, which is included in the Gesprochenes Deutsch (DGD) database of the German Language Institute. Leibniz ^[19]. After free registration, access to the case, the search for the necessary materials takes place through the ZuMult platform. The ZuMal page provides a selection of audio material characteristics. These include the type of conversation (institutional, personal, public speech, other), the scope of use (exam speech at the university, family conversation, telephone conversation, bank conversation, interview, etc.), depending on the two categories listed above, you can choose the topic, the duration of the audio text. Important criteria when choosing audio material are items such as vocabulary (i.e., a certain percentage of words covers the level of language proficiency that is selected), the normalization coefficient (an indicator of deviation from standard pronunciation based on written language). It indicates the proportion of tokens written close to pronunciation that were changed during the technical processing stage of spelling normalization. You can select the share of tokens relative to the part of speech (NN – nouns, NE – proper names, V – verbs, ADJ – adjectives, ADV – adverbs, PTKVZ – verbs with a separable prefix). You can vary the speed of speech (a certain number of syllables per second). A useful and interesting parameter is the M?ndlichkeitsph?nomene (phenomena characteristic of oral speech: NGHES – hesitation phenomena (ehm, ?h), PTKMA – modal particles (ja, halt), SEDM – discursive markers (also, okay), CLITIC – merges (hammwer [haben wir])). After the set parameters, the texts that correspond to the selected characteristics are displayed. For a detailed acquaintance with them, go to the ZuViel section, which contains audio material, transcription, a list of words found in the text in alphabetical order indicating the number of uses of a particular word in the selected text. If a certain fragment of an audio recording is needed for the lesson, then you can select the desired passage and download the audio material and transcription in txt format, which can be copied and used for didactic purposes.

Many German language teachers note that dialogues in textbooks, listening tasks and the formation of grammatical skills are aimed at standardized written speech, which leads to a one-sided orientation towards the written standard. In foreign literature, the concepts of "gesprochenes Deutsch", "das tats?chlich gesprochene Deutsch", "typische Strukturen gesprochener Sprache" ("living German", "German that is really spoken", "typical structures of living speech") are increasingly found ^[11]. Live oral speech becomes the object of close attention not only of linguists, but also of foreign language teachers. Within the framework of this study, some phonetic and grammatical features of German live spoken speech are analyzed, a set of exercises and tasks for working out structures and forming communicative competence is proposed.

Task 1. In the dialogical form of communication, there are features of an incomplete pronunciation style and these characteristic features should be paid attention to in classes on practical phonetics and grammar of the German language, including at the initial stage of training, so that students have a correct idea of a real living language. Oral speech is characterized by such phenomena as reduction, elision, which are illustrated by an example:

RN ich wollt ma nachfragen ich war so gut wie noch gar nich so richtich in meim ersten semester irgendwo bei irgendwelchen veranstaltu[ngen ] […]

MD: jo

SR: ?h ja aber wo ham wir die

RN: gibt s auch n mitnehmexemplar

SR: ham wir keine mehr

RN: nur des (training consultation, FOLK_E_00302_SE_01_T_01)

There is a skipping of the ending in the verbs of the first person singular in the present and past tense, omission of inflections (ich woltt – ich wollte, ham wir – haben wir).

Task 2. A common phenomenon in oral speech are the clitic forms of the definite and indefinite article. If some cases of the clitic form of a certain article are mandatory (am Freitag, ins Wasser springen, zum Abschluss bringen, im Allgemeinen), then the following mergers occur to a greater extent only in oral speech: aufm (auf'm), hinters, hinterm, hintern, unters, ?bers, ?berm, ?bern, unters, unterm, untern. In colloquial German, reduced forms of the indefinite article ‘n – ein, einen, ‘ne – eine, ‘nem – einem, ‘ner – einer, ‘nen – einen are presented: ich hab das so gegliedert ich fang erst mal an mit nem vergleich. ich (.) denke schon dass das auf sch?ler ne wirkung haben kann (university exam, FOLK_E_00033_SE_01). The indefinite article, like the definite one, tends to merge with prepositions: und da]s is sehr sehr wichtig einfach och f?r nen lehrer (university exam, FOLK_E_00033_SE_01). As O.V. Mironova notes, the clitic forms of the indefinite article in combination with the preposition have a high degree of paradigmatism ^[2]. Thus, a variety of reduced forms with prepositions is noted in colloquial speech. The presented forms are marked for both medium and fast speech rates. In German classes, you need to pay attention to these phonological phenomena, reinforcing the theoretical material with authentic audio recordings.

To work out the clitic forms of the indefinite and definite article, a didactic material for the B1 level has been developed, the purpose of which is to familiarize students with the peculiarities of merging prepositions with articles in colloquial speech, followed by the distinction and use of these forms in the correct context. The first task is that while listening to an audio recording from the corpus of the oral language FOLK, it is necessary to note the features of prepositions and articles that have been noticed. The second task involves familiarization with the transcription of the audio text "Conversation in the store" and comparison with recordings that were made during listening:

PF: ich h?tt gern f?r meinen bruder so n tee shirt

FS: hast du dir schon eins ausgesucht

PF: ija

FS: (.) kennst du die (.) ?hm (.) labels °h

PF: aha

PF: nein (.) kenn ich noch nich kanns mir was dazu erz?hln

FS: °h

FS: also (.) wir ham (.) relativ viel von roots of compassion

FS: ((schmatzt)) (.) ?hm das sin

FS: die erkennst du an dem label hinten aufm r?cken (shop talk, FOLK_E_00289_SE_01).

Task 3. The next task asks students to fill out a table with prepositions and articles in the dative and accusative cases that occur in oral live speech (Table 1).

Table 1. Example of a task on the topic "Merging a preposition with an article"

Information is provided on those cases in which the fusion of a preposition and a definite article is mandatory. In the fourth task, you need to listen to the audio material, fill in the gaps and repeat the phrases, while working out the clitic forms of the article: 

1. wie gesagt die vorlesung die ((Sprechansatz)) ich guck mir das ja auch immer noch ma ab un an so biss ich hab das alles au[sge]druckt bei mir zu hause auf ___ schreibtisch liegen (training consultation, FOLK_E_00302_SE_01).

2. da kannst du dann halt h?chstens °h in die freie wirtschaft wechseln wobei die (.) nich unbedingt jemanden aus ___ beh?rde haben wollen weil die arbeitsweise ne ganz andere is (telephone conversation, FOLK_E_00427_SE_01).

Task 4. The most common and difficult features of live speech for teachers and students include modal particles (in German terminology Modalparikeln), they bring a certain color to speech. G. Veidt uses the term "shade particles" (Abt?nungspartikel) to denote modal particles ^[25]. Let's give examples from the corpus in which the sicherlich modal particle expresses indisputability, unconditionality:

ST: ((schnalzt)) also man kann s sicherlich nich in einer unterrichtsstunde umsetzen (university exam, FOLK_E_00033_SE_01).

As a task based on the corpus, it is proposed to fill out a table in which you need to note the value of modal particles and try to find a Russian equivalent (Table 2).

Table 2. Example of a task on the topic "Modal particles in German and their Russian equivalents"

Task 5. If modal particles are included in German textbooks and are to some extent practiced in the classroom, then topics such as the direct word order in sentences with weil, obwohl and unconnected sentences with wenn (unverbundene wenn S?tze) are practically not reflected in German language teaching. Along with the conventional sentences with the conjunction wenn, familiar to all, constructions with wenn are used in colloquial speech, which deviate from the norm and are considered by linguists to be an irregular form. A large number of terms can be found in research for structures in the pre-field and for similar preceding elements: several elements in the pre-field (mehrere Vorfeldelemente) ^[5], zero position (Nullstelle) ^[21], twice occupied pre-field (doppelt-besetztes Vorfeld) ^[24], pre-field (Vor-Vorfeld) ^[20]. Following S. Guntner, in this study we adhere to the latter option, since it indicates the correlation of elements to an independent topological field ^[10] (Table 3).

Table 3. Filling in the preposition in the German sentence

As linguists note, unrelated sentences with wenn deviating from the grammatical norm make it possible, by inserting the construction into the preposition, to draw the recipient's attention to the main idea.

Task 6. The next phenomenon of oral speech is syntactic constructions with the verb in second place after the conjunctions weil and obwohl. Despite the frequency of the use of subordinate clauses with variable word order, they are practically not thematized in textbooks and German language classes. In the following authentic example of colloquial speech, the union obwohl acts as a corrective marker:

LP oder ich kann s au machen obwohl nee des is gut so (conversation among students, FOLK_E_00048_SE_01).

The sentence with obwohl with the verb in the second place acts as an independent sentence and expresses the correction of the statement. As S. Guntner notes, from a semantic point of view, in sentences with a direct word order with obwohl, the reliability of the previous statement is checked ^[10].  In addition to violating the normative structure, prosody changes in sentences with a corrective function. A pause in such constructions is often placed after the union obwohl, while in sentences with the meaning of concession there is for the most part no pause. 

S. G?ntner identifies four functions or ways of using weil with the verb in the second place in oral speech: the actual weil sentence (justification of the content, the state of things), the epistemic weil sentence (justification of his statement), the speech-qualifying weil sentence, weil as a discursive marker ^[13]. In the following example, a subordinate clause with a direct word order refers to an illocutionary act, answering the question "how is this known?". With the help of such a syntactic structure, the act of speaking is justified: und mir ging s richtig schlecht weil (.) die ganz zeit hat s nur geregnet (‘I really feel bad, I think so, because it rained all the time’) (language tandem, FOLK_E_00353_SE_01). In the corpus of oral speech, there are a large number of examples with direct word order with weil: 

hab ich da auch noch mal gl?ck gehabt und da[s war heute auch gan]z cool weil sie (.) ehm es war zwar nich so viel los also ich hab schon einige patienten auch gesehen (telephone conversation, FOLK_E_00427_SE_01).

It is important to note that in colloquial speech there is a violation of the framework structure and the removal of part of the sentence outside the framework structure:

VW: da h?tt ich jetzt w?hrend dem semester jetzt noch zwei schreiben m?ssen un es war mir dann

VW: dann kam ich mit den anderen hauptseminaren total in s hintertreffen ja weil bei der grunewald sa? da vorn hab ?berhaupt nix mehr kapiert weil ich einfach nich gscheit vorbereiten konnte und weil ich f?r die hausarbeit da klar war s meine eigene schuld aber ich hab im endeffekt hab ich ja auch zwischenpr?fung in politik gemacht im letzten semester (student conversation, FOLK_E_00046_SE_01).

We are of the opinion that not all elements of oral speech should be mastered at a productive level, therefore the syntactic features of natural language are of an introductory nature.

Conclusion

The indisputable task of linguists and teachers is to familiarize students with the rules and norms of the standard language. They need to know how, in addition to standardized writing, native speakers use language in everyday communication. Despite the prevalence and widespread use of syntactic structures with variable word order in a sentence, such constructions are often ignored and considered agrammatic in many grammars of the German language. In the classroom, teachers are faced with the problem of correcting such structures, which are part of the repertoire of spoken language structures in German. Teachers of foreign languages, compilers and authors of textbooks should understand that language is not a rigid statistical structure, but rather a dynamic system of rules that is in motion and can change. The question arises: which phenomena of oral speech should be paid attention to in the classroom and which of them should be worked out with the help of exercises and tasks. Teachers should know the peculiarities of spoken language in order to adequately take them into account when evaluating students' statements. Some linguists, for example, propose to classify traditional errors in the order of words in subordinate clauses with weil, obwohl in written texts from the grammatical category to the stylistic one, since in colloquial speech, according to corpus linguistics, the verb is placed in second place.

In order to prepare students for real everyday communication, German language teaching methods should not ignore the modern spoken language. There are several reasons for the integration of a living language into the educational process, from a didactic point of view, this increases the motivation of students to learn a foreign language. From a linguistic point of view, students have the opportunity to refer to the language in all its richness (phonetically, lexically, syntactically), which leads to a better understanding of the language. The source of spoken language materials can be the FOLK oral speech corpus, which provides audio recordings of dialogues with appropriate transcriptions. Corpus technologies make it possible to intensify the process of mastering a foreign language and enrich the repertoire of language tools of students. The communicative nature of learning involves the inclusion of students in the process of natural communication, the introduction of authentic texts from the corpus of oral speech allows for communication taking into account the stylistic register and the communication situation.

Prospects for further research are seen in the creation of a corpus of oral colloquial speech in order to develop linguistic methodological material for university students and high school students, in a detailed examination of the phonetic, lexical, syntactic features of oral colloquial speech and the development of a set of tasks based on the analysis of the created database.

Transcription conventions:

[ja das] The text fragments overlap each other, as both narrators speak at the same time;

(.) a small pause (less than 0.3 sec.);

°h inhale/exhale for 0.2-0.5 seconds;

((schnalzt)) comment (non-verbal gestures)