CONVERGING AND DIVERGING IN EFL SPEAKING CLASS

Abstract

This paper discusses the adjustments the teachers should make in their in-classroom setting which contribute to the improvement of students’ performance in the EFL class. The adjustments are shown through the application of Communicative Accommodation Theory (CAT) to the teaching and learning of speaking English as a foreign language. CAT deals with linguistic variation, more specifically, with the results of adjustments and accommodations made by the teachers and students during the communication process. The adjustments are convergent in which both parties try to obtain the addressee’s approval and/or to promote communicative efficiency; both tend to adjust their discourse to each other aiming at intelligibility through mutual identification.  Maintaining a positive social identity is seen as divergent. This paper calls the attention to the implementation of CAT and highlights the importance of an adequate CAT application for improving students’ performance speaking course in English as foreign language setting.