Yoshi Goes to New York: Authentic Discourse for Listening Comprehension (Materials for Language Practice)

Yoshi Goes to New York has been designed to improve listeningcomprehension through listening to natural, spontaneous speech. The materialscomprise twelve taped conversations and an accompanying workbook. Theconversations are based on situations chosen to generate primary languagefunctions. Many of these functions are recycled throughout the series.Conversations have been thematically linked for high interest. The workbookcontains exercises that require the student to listen repeatedly to theconversations while leading him/her gradually to a deeper understanding.Unlike most recorded materials, the conversations represent authenticdiscourse. To insure that specific language functions were generated. scenarioswere prepared in advance. though the -conversations themselves wereunrehearsed. No prepared transcripts were used. no lines memorized. Allparticipants were native speakers who spoke spontaneously at normal speed.As a result. the conversations contain all the elements that make up everydayspeech: hesitation. reductions, false starts. grammatical errors, and a full range ofspeaking speeds and intonation patterns. Variety in social register naturallyoccurs through the interaction of the characters.Derived from several years teaching at the Foreign Language Institute ofJapan, this material may be used in the classroom or the language laboratory; itmay also be used very effectively for self-study.