Aitken (2002: 95) defines conditionals as “…patterns expressing the relationship between two actions, where one action is the reason, or the occasion, for the other.” Conditional clauses consist of the subordinate clause introduced by if (also referred to as a conditional clause) and the main clause. The former usually precedes the main clause but it can also follow it” (Carter and McCarthy, 2006). The majority of materials present four basic ‘types’ of conditional sentence, Zero, First, Second and Third. According to Parrott, this is helpful for many learners, especially if similar structures exist within their own language (Parrot 2010).
Most upper-intermediate students have reached a reasonable level of communicative competence, yet, they tend to be rather inaccurate with complex structures such as conditionals, which according to Lewis, build learners communicative ability (Lewis, 1986: 149). Students will have studied both the second and third conditionals separately and thus should be aware of the forms and fairly confident with the concept of both. However, as you may have seen in your own teaching experience, conditionals still pose a problem even at higher levels at times hindering learners’ linguistic competence, resulting in underuse particularly in spoken English. In the blog, we will consider two areas that pose problems for learners: meaning and pronunciation. I will discuss possible solutions to these problems.
Problems of Meaning
- Learners often confuse negative and positive meanings,
e.g. * If I hadn’t driven fast, I would have an accident.
- It is difficult for learners to understand the use of past tense (in ‘if’ clause referring to the future. Instead of a past they may use a future tense,
e.g. * If I will win the lottery, I would buy a house.
or a present tense,
e.g. * If I win the lottery, I would buy a house.
Comprehension of conditional clauses may pose a big problem for speakers of languages in which an adverb in conditional clause or an expression added to the end signal conditional meaning (e.g. Chinese). Some languages also follow strict rules regarding the order of clauses, thus recognising conditional sentences in listening may be difficult for them (Swan & Smith, 2001).
In some languages such as Japanese, there are no formal distinction between ‘real’ and ‘unreal’. Thus even if a student has ‘mastered the mechanics of forming unreal conditionals…in all their complexity, the problem of concept remains: there is no neat Japanese peg to hang it on’. Typical mistakes thus ensue:
*If I know you are here, I would come sooner.
(Swan and Smith, 2001)
Solutions
Materials such as that found in New English File Upper-Intermediate, Student Book (4A) offers learners a presentation and review of conditional forms which students will have studied at previous level. Students are led by the teacher in a guided discovery process where they work out the rules for both second and third conditionals. The topic of the lesson provides a context in which learners can hypothesise and make conclusions drawing on their own experiences.
The two conditionals are contrasted and students’ knowledge is extended by seeing how other tenses can be used in either clause. I often use this material as it is well staged to help students discover and revise the rules step by step in context.
The grammar recognition activities, which address the problems of differentiation between the second and third conditional are suitable particularly for those learners who have an analytical style of learning (Richards and Lockhart, 1994: 60). The activity aims at helping students notice the correspondence between time reference and tense choice.
Problems of Pronunciation
- In everyday speech the conjunction if is pronounced in its weak form (the vowel disappears and /f/ is often whispered). Therefore a phrase if I were you is pronounced /faiwəju:/ (Parrott, 2000: 232). At the same time the auxiliaries (e.g. would, would have) can be indistinctly articulated leading to learners’ problems with comprehension.
- Learners might make conditional sound unnatural by stressing words that indicate a conditional form. This may be a result of being preoccupied with accuracy. For example:
If I got a promotion, I would buy you a drink.
- Learners tend to avoid using contractions and weak forms in spoken English and thus are not able to achieve natural rhythm e.g. I would is commonly contracted to /aid/ and I would have to /aiwudəv/. In this way, learners might fail to hear such utterances.
Solutions
The pronunciation practice in the aforementioned textbook helps students recognise the stress patterns addressing the problem of recognising the words carrying the stress as those are underlined in the activity.
In order to practice the structure students complete a chain of sentences. This is a semi-controlled practice which enables them to consolidate the structure in written form and monitor what they produce carefully.
In order to address the problem of reception and pronunciation further pronunciation practice can be provided to help students with listening and production of contractions and weak forms (Headway Pronunciation Upper-Intermediate, unit 11). Students listen to the sentences and notice the pronunciation features which then are drilled by the teacher. The activities raise students’ awareness of the sounds and sound patterns. They also help them ‘tune in’ the natural rapid speech of native speakers and help themselves sound more naturally.
As seen, learners tend to avoid using structures they find challenging; conditionals being an example. However, there are numerous ways a teacher can address the specific problem areas of meaning and pronunciation. Therefore, it is important for teachers to provide structured opportunities for this to happen, facilitating better understanding and use for higher level learners.
Daniellar Amoah
UK Academic Manager
Bibliography
Aitken, R. (2002) Teaching Tenses, ELB Publishing
Carter, R.; McCarthy, M. (2006). Cambridge Grammar of English. Cambridge: CUP.
Cowan, R. (2008) The Teacher’s Grammar of English CUP
Lewis, M. (1986) The English Verb Language Teaching Publications
Parrott, M. (2000) Grammar for English Language Teachers Cambridge University Press
Swan, M. and Smith, B. (2001) Learner English Cambridge University Press
Swan, M. (2005). Practical English Usage. Oxford: OUP.
Latham-Koenig, C. & Oxeden, C. (1997) New English File Upper-Intermediate, OUP
