3. Verb Tenses

Thirdly, a back-shift of tense is usually required unless the situation has not changed (refer to Appendix 2). In the example above, V1 becomes V2, is becomes were, need becomes needed, and has becomes had. As a general guideline, Swan writes that the tense does not need to be changed when the present, future, and present perfect reporting verbs are used (because there is normally no important change in time). (7) In addition to this, the past simple and continuous tenses in spoken English are often left unchanged, provided there is no confusion relating to the relevant times and actions. (8) Finally, in regard to modals, must changes to had to; past modals remain unchanged: would in the above example remains as would in reported speech.

4. Questions

When reporting questions, the changes already mentioned in regard to statements apply. In addition to these, there are also several other areas to consider. Firstly, the word order changes to that of a statement, namely subject-verb, and so accordingly reported questions are usually not punctuated with a question mark. Secondly, the auxiliary verb do is dropped. Finally, yes/no questions start with if , or whether (or not): wh-word questions, such as why, when, and where, however, do not:(9)

• He asked, “ Is Peter here?”

becomes He asked if/whether you were at the office.

• “ Do you know if he’s finished his report yet?”

becomes He asked (me) if you had finished your report yet.

• He asked, “Where’s Peter?”

Becomes He asked where you were.

Reporting Verbs

The last area to discuss in Part One relates to the variety of reporting verbs used in English (refer to Appendix to 3, 4). The more commonly used reporting verbs are say, tell, and ask, and most class texts introduce these verbs first. Few texts introduce reported speech at pre-intermediate level: Cutting Edge Pre-intermediate, Unit 15 (say, and tell); New Headway Pre-intermediate, Unit 14 (say, and tell); Interchange 2, Unit 14 (say). Most class texts work with reported speech (say, tell, and ask) at intermediate level and above: English File Intermediate, Unit 7; Intermediate Matters, Unit 16; and True to Life Intermediate, Unit 18. The reason for the late introduction of reported speech to the English L2 curriculum is inherent in the complexity of the grammar outlined in Part One. The complexity of the grammar further explains why a wider variety of functionally useful reporting verbs are not introduced until upper-intermediate level.

 

Part Two: Problems Learners Face When Learning Reported Speech

General Problems

Generally speaking, L2 English learners have considerable trouble learning to use reported speech due to the number of grammatical elements that need to be taken into account. It is important therefore to present reported speech in a clear and effective context. This may not be easy in a classroom of adult students from a variety of different backgrounds, with different personal and professional interests, and different motivations for learning English. Furthermore, reported speech is something that is usually only used once or twice in any given situation and so finding a context to work on reported speech in depth is difficult and does not reflect the way language is used outside the classroom. Therefore, it may prove more effective to present reported speech in a variety of situations, rather than in a single context.

Matching the teaching style to learning style preferences present in the class may also be a problem.(10)(11) It would be best to match content and teaching style to the particular learning style and needs of each student, as students are better able to learn if teaching methods match their preferred learning styles.(12) However, in classroom situations it will be necessary to adopt a wide variety of approaches, incorporating different cognitive learning strategies, to accommodate individual learning styles (refer to Part Three).(13)

The third problem relates to the class texts. In most cases, class texts only allocate two or three pages to reported speech up to the end of intermediate level, with the focus predominantly on the main reporting verbs say, tell, and ask. There is a shortage of material focusing on the wide variety of reporting verbs used in English. Therefore, finding interesting material and activities that relate to the learners language needs and interests is a real challenge; which is a point made by Lewis.(14)

Finally, because there are so many areas that can potentially cause the learners problems, it is not always easy to manage a classroom. Therefore, teaching reported speech can turn into an exercise in classroom management skills.

 

Specific Problems

1. Pre-intermediate Level

The students at pre-intermediate level find the language of reported speech challenging. The reason for this is that students at this level are usually not yet comfortable using all the tenses. For example, some students still have problems using the past form correctly, especially in the negative and in regard to auxiliary verbs, and often confuse the past simple and past perfect. Therefore, students attempting to use reported speech often have problems reporting V1 into V2, and even more problems reporting V2 using V3; this is especially true of learners whose L1 has no perfect tense, such as Turkish and Chinese learners.

Secondly, learners are usually not confident with modals at this level and so they often have problems reporting modals, especially Turkish students without comparable modals in their L1.

Thirdly, learners working with both say and tell typically make mistakes with the form:

He said him to sit down.

or He told to him to sit down.

Fourthly, some students have problems using the correct pronoun; particularly learners who do not use pronouns in the same way in their L1, such as Turkish learners who mainly use suffixes.

Finally, confusion can arise from the fact that something can be reported in a variety of ways depending on the perspective and the lexis available to the person reporting. For example:

He said he would meet you later/ later on/ in a while/ when he’s free/finished.

He asked me to tell you he would meet you later/ see you later/ catch up with you later.

He wanted me to let you know that he will meet you later/ bump into you later/ hook up with you later.