Learning to analyse and write extended speech acts in the foreign language classroom.

An approach is presented for familiarizing foreign language learners with the content and organization of extended written speech acts. It comprises awareness-raising activities (e.g. matching text segments with functional glosses, providing glosses for text segments), manipulation tasks (e.g. reconstructing texts whose functional components are provided in jumbled order) and writing tasks (e.g. drafting texts at first by following directions which specify functional components, and then by drawing on descriptions of communicative scenarios). The approach shows how explicit training in linguistic-textual strategies can enable foreign language learners to develop metalinguistic awareness (i.e. to recognise the connections between linguistic forms and functions) and to develop interactional skills (i.e. to verbally negotiate social rights and duties effectively and politely).