Article: The effect of complex language on intelligibility

In this article, we summarise some recent research which looks at the effect of complex language on intelligibility.

When learning additional languages, people are often focused on speaking as ‘well’ as they can. This often comes with the idea of recreating complex patterns of language that we can identify as being used by proficient speakers of that language.

Research into intercultural communication and English as a lingua franca in academic settings, however, tells us that problems can be encountered when speakers adopt certain styles of speech, or certain types of language, due to their effects on intelligibility, especially in international settings. This is of particular concern in lectures, as responsibility falls on the educator to present ideas in a way that can be understood and embraced by the audience.

Therefore, some researchers look to academic practice around the world to investigate ways of delivering content through English that could make language more comprehensible to the diverse audiences that we are observing in EMI settings.

A point to note here is that research, and anecdotal experience, tells us that students who use an additional language for their studies often have trouble understanding the content of lectures (see Mulligan and Kirkpatrick, 2010). This seems an obvious point, but it forms the starting point for looking at reasons for and solutions to this issue.

One study that is of particular interest, in terms of the language of presentations, was conducted by Kao and Wang (2014), who investigated the use of language and linking styles in presentations from novice and expert presenters using English.

Their findings indicated that:

“… an academic presentation aiming for international audience does not require massive uses of infrequent words or complicated clausal structures; rather, an academic presentation made by an experienced ELF speaker is built up with 85% of basic and 15% of academic and professional level words, with clear indication of how information is structured at both clausal and semantic levels (2014: 71).”

This conclusion shows that effective presenters should not aim to put large amounts of academic language and jargon into complex grammatical sentences, but develop the ability to use common language and simple, understandable structures to express what they need. The advanced language that is needed should reflect key terms that translate into the knowledge of the subject, as well as words that have a clear function in an academic presentation in that discipline.

As suggested above, this might go against how many people learn, use and value languages, because we are often interested in learning and using difficult and complex language in the way that we might observe it in published literature or even grammar books. Speaking is very different from writing, and in presentations, observing experienced and effective presenters tells us that grammatical complexity and complicated vocabulary can harm the intended message.

‘Fronting’

Alongside the abovementioned language considerations, fronting has been considered another strategy for effective intercultural communication. Fronting is when the topic of the sentence – the main point – is placed towards the front of the sentence, so that the rest of the sentence will not remove focus from what is actually being discussed (therefore prediction becomes less important for the listener, which means they can focus more on the message).

This can even involve just saying the word at the beginning of a sentence, for example:

“Understanding - it is important to enhance the lecture audience’s understanding.”

By fronting, the listener does not have to keep listening for the key idea, which is a great assistance to them. Compare this to a lecturer simply saying

“it is important to enhance the lecture audience’s understanding”.

Here, “it” does not provide a clear topic, “is important” does not give an idea yet of the subject matter of the sentence, “to enhance the lecture” does not give the point but also presents the possibility of different meanings (e.g. to enhance the lecture style or environment), “audience’s” still does not give the key meaning, and “understanding” finally gives us the point.

This is a simple sentence you might expect students to understand, but imagine if this was followed quickly by “due to a range of factors…” and you can appreciate how “understanding” could have been a useful clue to the listener at the beginning, especially if this is the topic of the next few sentences.

Another way of fronting this sentence would be to say “Understanding among the lecture audience is an important aspect to consider.” Now the topic is clear and understanding is the focus.

In conclusion, it is important for EMI educators to understand the functions of words and grammar, not in order to make their spoken language more complex and therefore difficult to understand, but to enhance the student experience by using words and sentence structures that express meaning clearly to listeners, and by linking ideas in a simple and balanced way that does not only rely on complex grammar structures.

References

Kao, S-M. & Wang, W-C. (2014) Lexical and organizational features in novice and experienced ELF presentations. JELF, 3(1), 49-79.

Mulligan, D. & Kirkpatrick, A. (2000) How much do they understand? Lectures, students and comprehension. Higher Education Research & Development, 19:3, 311-335.

Do you think that you use aspects of the speech styles presented above (e.g. complex language or ‘fronting’)? What difficulties have you experienced putting these ideas into practice?

How can you help students develop their topic-specific vocabulary without risking their understanding in the lecture?

This article was taken from the online course on FutureLearn:  English as a Medium of Instruction for Academics by the University of Southhampton and was written by Robert Baird.