Robert: Explaining snooker

There are lots of interesting features of Robert’s explanations. The following is a list of some possible ideas - you may have thought of some additional features too.

You may wish to compare your observations and thoughts to the feedback below. This feedback is based on our observations and thoughts, and is not a ‘correct’ answer. Your own observations are very important and will reflect your own learning and experiences.

A. Overall coherency

• Robert gives detailed explanation of snooker, with prompts from the person talking to him. He gives details of the rules of the game, for example the colours of the balls are given in close detail.

• The overall coherency of the explanation is perhaps difficult to follow. Consider the extract below:

  • • YP: well snooker is a ball game and it has separate different colours-s on the table which it has yellow, green, brown, blue, pink and black - and most of all in the triangle-le pile is reds

    • A: uhuh

    • YP: and even the white ball.ll you had to hit one red.d at a time to hit it in the pocket and then you will have to pick a colour - when the red is in the pocket

    • A: I see

    • YP: and you get some points

• The game of snooker is recognisable in this extract, but it lacks an overall coherency. It would be difficult to figure out how to play the game using his explanation.

B. Sentences used in the explanation

• Some of Robert’s sentences are a little difficult to follow. For example:

  • • “If it’s a miss or um and hitting the colour without targeting they get a foul and er extra four points or more er to the opponent’s scores further.”

• Robert’s sentence construction is sometimes unusual, leaving the listener to deduce Robert’s meaning. For example:

  • • A: when does the turn finish

    • YP: uh when the um ball, when the um um ball isn’t hit in the um po.cket

• The meaning here is that the turn finishes when a player misses the pocket.

• Robert demonstrates some complex sentences, using clauses beginning with words such as ‘when…’ or ‘if…’.

C. The words that are used

• Robert uses specific words such as ‘opponent’, ‘foul’ and ‘position’.

• Some subject-specific words such as ‘cue’ or ‘pot’ are not used: words such as ‘hit’ or ‘pocket’ are used instead.

• He uses some words to link his ideas together such as ‘and’, ‘even’ and ‘when’. Using more words to structure the sequencing of his ideas may have made his explanation easier to follow (eg ‘first’, ‘but’, ‘unless’ etc).

D. Body language and other non-verbal characteristics

• Robert demonstrates good use of eye contact while he talks: this helps to maintain listener interest in what he is saying.

• He supports some of his speech with gestures, for example he mimes the act of lining up and taking a shot while he describes this.

E. Any other features

• Some of Robert’s utterances have some dysfluency (glottal stops, or repetitions of sounds).

• There is some evidence that Robert does not always fully understand the questions. For example, in response to “what skills do you need?”, he says “you have to take your time and be ready for the position… You’ll hit it to see if the ball goes in the pocket.”

• In spite of this, Robert engages well in the interaction and appears keen to contribute and to talk about a sport which he enjoys.