BOOK REVIEW SPEAKING NATURALLY By Bruce Tillitt and Mary Newton Bruder
Speaking Naturally Communication Skills in American English is written by Bruce Tillitt and Mary Newton Bruder. The genre of this book is non-fiction, scientific. It consists of 11 chapters and has 115 pages. Speaking Naturally is for intermediate and high intermediate students who want to communicate effectively in both formal and informal situations. Speaking naturally gives useful information about the kind of language that is appropriate in different situations. For example, how and when do we thank people? How do we invite our friend to dinner? with whom we talk to, and etc. Summary of the content It's a good source of conversational practice for ELL students who want to feel at ease among Americans. There are 11 units in speaking naturally 1. Opening and Closing Opening a conversation and bringing a conversation to an end are essential parts of our everyday language. In this lesson we will learned more detail how americans perform these fuctions. Example : Opening: how are you? Good morning Closing : Im sorry i think i have to go now.
2. Introductions and address system When making an introduction in any language, you need to know the formulas and rules for doing it. We also need to know what to call the participants. This lesson eill help you to identify given names and surnames (last names) and decide which form of the name is appropriate to use. You will also learn how introductions are made. Listen to the following dialogues, paying attention to the introductions and the way people address each other. [NAJIB KHUMAIDILLAH (2201411094)] Book report and review (407- 408)
Example : George : mrs. Carr, i would like to introduce a friend of mine, if i may: Albert Douglas. Albert, this is Mrs. Elaine Carr. Albert : Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Carr.
3. Invitations This chapter focuses on social invitations-how to make them and how to respond to them. After completing the exercises, we should comfortable in making and replying to invitation in various situations. Example : Shinta : whant to come over Thursday for supper? May : Thanks, but i have to work that evening.
4. Thanking people and replying to thanks In this unit, we will look at and practice situations that require an expression of thanks. As you proceed through the unit, you may notice situations that in your native culture do not require a thank you. You may also notice situations where a thank-you would be expected in your country, but not expected in the United States. Example : May : Thats a nice shirt. Robby : Oh, thanks. I just got it at sears.
5. Apologizing Everyone makes mistakes, and everyone needs to know what to do and say after making a mistake. This unit focuses on apologies, and the aim is to help you know both what to say and when to say it. Example : Jorge : Forgive me. Im terribly sorry. John : Thats quite all right.
6. Expressing anger and resolving conflict We may have heard Americans epressing their anger and been unsure of what they were saying, because they were talking so fast. Or perhaps you didnt understand why they were angry. In this unit, we will study what makes Americans angry and how they express their anger. We will also learn the acceptable ways of reacting to someone elses anger. Example : [NAJIB KHUMAIDILLAH (2201411094)] Book report and review (407- 408)
Mr. Walters : Hey, can you get your dog to shut up? Some people are trying to sleep around here! Mrs. Hudson: Now, wait aminute! Prince is just barking because your cat is screaming all over place.
7. Giving compliments and replying to compliments In this unit, we will look at situation that require a compliment and practice giving compliments. These situations may be different from those requiring compliments in our native culture. We will also learn what to say when youu want to give a compliment to someone in English. Example : Jane : This soup is terrific. May : Thank you.
8. Getting peoples attention and interrupting Getting people attention and interupting people are important skills in any language. These are sometimes difficult to do in another culture, where the gestures or ways of speaking are very different from your own. As always, the formality of the situation and relationship of the spekers will affect the way people talk each other.
9. Agreeing and disagreeing In talking about almost anything, and especially when discussing certain topics, such as religion, sports, the economy, or politics, you hear many opinions expressed. We will problaby agree with some and disagree whit others. This section describes appropriate ways of doing this English.
10. Controlling the conversation In this unit, you will learn different ways that people control and change a conversation. You will study what to do to change the subject politely, how to show the other person that we are listening and understanding, and how to get the other person to repet or speak more slowly when speaking with us.
11. Getting information Every day we are confronted with situations that require us to obtain information from strangers. We need to find out where an unfamiliar street or office is, for example, or we need more information on plane achedules or car prices before we can make a dicision
[NAJIB KHUMAIDILLAH (2201411094)] Book report and review (407- 408)
The writers style in this book is simple. They make the book simple for giving the readers an easy understanding because the book is made for the English learners so that it should be easy to be understood then. The book is also well-organized that the readers can easily understand the material given by reading the information of each chapter first and then try to apply the dialogue to get deeper understanding. For example : - In Giving compliments and replying to compliments chapter the readers are given brief information about the material before applying such kind of dialogue or conversation from the dialogue given In this unit, we will look at situation that require a compliment and practice giving compliments. These situations may be different from those requiring compliments in our native culture. We will also learn what to say when youu want to give a compliment to someone in English. Example : Jane : This soup is terrific. May : Thank you. The author gives chart to support delivering the argument and also make easy to the readers in understanding the material. For example :
Female First name (full) First name (short) First name (diminutive) Barbara Barb Barbie Christina Chris, Tina Chrissy
Male Alfred Al Alfie David Dave Davy, Davie John Jack Johnny, Jackie The table is used for deciding or guessing the persons gender for the English learner by looking at his or her name or nickname. I think the table given above is one of the strong evidence because from the table given we can analyze the gender of a person by looking their name so that it can avoid embarrassment if we are wrong in doing conversation in phone from anonymous number or unpredictable number or in daily life such as when our friends are talking about their new friends, but they dont mention his or her gender and they just mention his or her name. I think the argument of the author is quite weak because the book is made by empirical research that involved the teacher and students in the advanced speaking classes at the English Language Institute, University of Pittsburgh. [NAJIB KHUMAIDILLAH (2201411094)] Book report and review (407- 408)
Strength:
The book used easy methods to lead the reader understand the content of the book, using what youve learned, cued dialogues and mini role-plays. The second is, this book focused on the students apply their speaking ability in their daily condition naturally. Then, the explanation, examples and exploration about the material are easy to understand. Next is, the material are composed systematically from low to high level, so it makes the book clearer for the reader. There are several pictures which help the reader easier to understand the situation, condition and the role-plays. And this book focus on the student development skill, that more appropriate for learner to improve their speaking ability as the purpose of the book.
Weakness:
The weakness of the book is this book used the same method from the first chapter till the end of the chapter, so it will make the readers get bored of the method and material.
Speaking Naturally is very useful to be used as a textbook, especially for the second semester of university students for Interpersonal and Transactional Conversation in speaking class. Speaking Naturally gives useful information about the kind of language that is appropriate in different situations. For example, how and when do you thank people? How do you invite a friend? What is the most polite way to interrupt? So, it gives lessons about many things in speaking. We can analyze the formality of the relationships between different people in the situations presented. So, we recommend this book to be read not only by university students but also by secondary students to improve their speaking skill.