Understanding Oral Genres: Dialogues and Monologues
Oral Genres
Dialogues
Dialogues are those whose realization is based on the dialogue between two or more persons.
Conversation
Conversation is the primary and most typical form of human communication. It is characterized by:
- The presence of interactive interlocutors in a relationship.
- Immediacy, as participants share a given time and space.
- The absence of pre-established speech turns.
The channel of colloquial or informal spontaneous conversation varies with the relationship between speakers and informs us about the channel used. The prototypical realization of this kind is the spontaneous colloquial conversation (item not established, addressing various issues, sender and receiver swap roles, nonverbal codes of the communicative situation, informal register (improvisation, unpredictable character), successive interventions that form a dialogue).
Discussion
A discussion is a controversial conversation between two or more people espousing their views on a particular topic and defending their arguments. There are several types of debate: roundtables, election debates, and parliamentary debates. This genre is common in the communication media (TV) and has the following characteristics:
- The subject is previously determined.
- A moderator offers and regulates turns to speak.
- The expression is somewhat spontaneous and uses a more formal register.
The Gathering
A gathering is a conversation between a group of attendees who gather for that purpose, sometimes directed by a moderator. It is imperative to establish the subject beforehand, although the issues discussed are not necessarily controversial. These are common on talk radio or television where current issues are discussed with a register close to colloquial.
The Symposium
A symposium is a dialogue in which a group of attendees poses questions to one or more specialists on a topic of their knowledge. They have a moderator who grants the use of the word. It is used to deepen a theme or as a sideline of a conference. There is little spontaneity and a rather formal register is used.
The Interview
An interview is a conversation in which one or more persons ask questions of an interviewer to obtain information or opinions on a topic. This genre is widely used in radio, TV, and the press. Features:
- Statements of little spontaneity and content are more or less elaborate.
- Interviewees are often famous experts in a discipline or persons with an important role in the social, artistic, or cultural spheres.
- If there are multiple partners, intervention shifts are regulated.
- Participants tend to agree on the issues addressed, the types of questions, and the conditions of the interview.
- The structure often includes an introduction (providing data about the interviewee or clarifying the issue), development (succession of questions and responses from the interviewer and answers from the interviewee).
Other Forms
Other forms include business transactions (shops, transport), consultations (medical or administrative), oral exams, parliamentary sessions, and classes.
Monologues
Monologues are statements issued by a single speaker who addresses a heterogeneous and multiple audience. The communication process is unilateral. The previously established theme allows the issuer to plan and organize their speech according to time and the audience it is going to. Often, it relies on a script.
The Oral Presentation
An oral presentation is a unilateral communicative act, generally an informative plan of a product of research or work. Predominantly informational purposes and referential function of language are present, as well as expressive and appeal functions. They feature:
- Using a formal and careful register and ordering of contents.
- Significance of nonverbal elements (gestures) and verbal elements (tone, pace, speed).
- The capacity of the issuer to change the address during the exhibition, depending on the reactions of the receivers.
- Incorporation of definitions, classifications, examples, arguments, and descriptions in the explanation of the topic.