Cambridge English Qualifications are designed to develop real-life language skills, enabling learners to become “social beings”, with the ability to communicate with all kinds of people in a wide range of contexts. And arguably, the skill that puts the “social” into the term “social beings” is Interactive Communication.
In this article, Greg Wagstaff provides a summary on his webinar detailing the what, why and how of Interactive Communication at both B1 Preliminary and B2 First for Schools levels.
What exactly is Interactive Communication?
Although the term can occasionally intimidate people, Interactive Communication is a relatively straightforward concept, and the clue to what it is is very much in the title. Let’s begin by explaining it to students through a little task: ask them to identify those speaking sub-skills that are present in a dialogue but not in a monologue.
The students will invariably produce a list of sub-skills like this:
- asking questions
- responding to questions or suggestions
- making offers
- asking for opinions
- asking for clarification or repetition
And herein lies the key to what Interactive Communication is: the collection of sub-skills that are utilised to successfully interact with another person, such as those in the list above. It’s a discipline that is as much down to a person’s social abilities as much as their language knowledge. To take what is stated in the B1 Preliminary and B2 First for Schools marking criteria, it’s the ability to initiate, respond, maintain, develop, and negotiate whilst in conversation with another person.
But why is Interactive Communication important?
As previously mentioned, all Cambridge exams look to progress skills that are essential for real-world communication. Most real-world speaking occasions are dialogues (Taylor, 2021), therefore Interactive Communication is as essential as they come: pupils would be almost defenseless in the real world without the skills that allow them to successfully interact with another person.
Consequently, it features in all four parts of the speaking exam. And none more so than in Part 3 of both exams, the discussion task, where Interactive Communication sub-skills are vital to be able to complete the task successfully…just see the numerous references to them in the Cambridge handbook below.
How do we develop Interactive Communication in our classroom?
The golden rule is that any classroom activity that looks to develop Interactive Communication should be a collaborative one. However, simply placing students together and telling them to talk about something may not necessarily develop it sufficiently. This is because sometimes, for a variety of reasons, speaking sub-skills may not automatically transfer to an L2. Plus, don’t forget that teenagers are at an age where they are still forming, or possibly yet to form, the somewhat ‘social’ sub-skills that are Interactive Communication.
Consequently, you need to actively structure activities to ensure sub-skill development.
The below webinar demonstrates several examples of how to do this. The most notable example was using information gaps: this is an activity where students address a question/situation together, but each with limited information. This means that to complete the task, students must actively listen and appropriately respond to one another, as each student has information the other needs, and vice versa. This adaptation can be done in every kind of activity, whether it be an exam task or a simple class-opener.
However, as mentioned previously, executing an Interactive Communication skill involves a certain level of language knowledge, and so every sub-skill will need a certain amount of associated functional language. This means that activities should be done in class which allows pupils to both memorise, and then use, such language.
And in addition to collaborative activities and functional language, it is worthwhile taking a more explicit approach to developing Interactive Communication by guiding pupils through assessing online examples such as watching practice Speaking tests, and also examples from their peers. To begin, conduct a class-wide activity and teach the students what to look for and how to assess it. In time, they can grow to be mini-examiners, trained in the art of assessing this criteria. Doing this will give them both a deeper understanding of what it is and make them more likely to repeat it themselves when speaking.
To find more information and see examples which help students communicate more interactively, view the webinar below.
If you have enjoyed this blog, you can see all of Greg’s posts in his author spotlight.