Question:

Submitted by Negar Ganji, Hermes institute & Azad University, Iran

What is the difference between “functional communication activities” and “social interactional activities”?

Dr. Richards responds:

A landmark publication in the literature of functional language use was Brown and Yule’s book Teaching The Spoken Language (1983), which made a distinction between interactional and transactional functions of language, the former concerned with maintaining social interaction and the later with carrying out real-world information-focused functions. Interactional uses of language including greetings, small talk, openings, closings and other uses of language that serve to maintain social contact.  Transactional functions of language may be of two kinds. One type refers to transactions that occur in situations where the focus is on giving and receiving information, and where the participants focus primarily on what is said or achieved (e.g., asking someone for directions or bargaining at a garage sale). The second type refers to transactions that involve obtaining goods or services, such as checking into a hotel or ordering food in a restaurant.  Activities that teach transactional functions can also be referred to as functional communication activities, whereas those that deal with social interaction are also called social interactional activities.