Difficulties using interaction skills in social contexts
Some students will have specific difficulties using language to interact and to communicate
messages in an effective manner within a reasonable time frame in social contexts.
The teacher:
• identifies target interaction skills requiring instruction. These may be identified using
th
• explicitly and systematically teaches target interaction skills
• programs opportunities for the practice of interaction skills in small groups and pairs
using real life scenarios
• models appropriate nonverbal behaviours for specific contexts, for example:
– physical proximity
– physical contact
– body postures
– gestures
– facial expressions
• provides specific and corrective feedback on students’ interaction skills
• explicitly teaches conversational rules and uses analogies to explain social conventions
• provides opportunities for students to monitor and provide feedback on other students’
interaction skills using a checklist
• uses videos and role-plays to illustrate interaction skills, practice conversational rules
and provide feedback on progress.
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Support Materials for Students with Special Education Needs
English K–6
Speaking and listening
IMPLEMENTATION
Example: explicit teaching for staying on topic
The teacher explains that what people talk about in a conversation is called the topic
or subject. To keep the conversation going and to be polite, people need to continue on
the topic by:
• asking a question
• answering a question
• agreeing or disagreeing with what the other person is saying
• adding new information by making a comment.
‘The rule is to stay on topic until both or most people have finished what they wanted
to say or the topic has been going for a long time.
‘You can tell it is time to change topics when the other person looks bored or there
is a long pause in the conversation. If you want to change the topic you should:
• wait for a pause
• let people know you are changing the topic by using a starter or linking phrase:
– linking phrases relate the new topic to the current topic, eg “Speaking of …”,
“You said … that reminds me of …”, “Funny that you should say that
because …”
– starter phrases are used to bring up new unrelated topics, eg “I know I’m
changing the topic but did you know …”. “On another note …”.’
