ABSTRACT
Writing is an abstract and artificial representation of language. One way that students can begin to investigate the grammar of speech is to collect a stretch of everyday conversation for them. The basic unit of a conversation is turn-taking. However, turn-taking is not a simple process. A speaker does not simply stop talking and another speaker begins. There is a whole series of factors and signals involved in this highly sophisticated manoeuvring. Speech is taken for granted and teacher's challenge is to help their students appreciate its complexities and the ways in which it manoeuvres. Everyday speech can be contrasted with standard written forms – and with other types of speech production. Hybrid forms of language communication, such as internet social networking forums, can illuminate not just the differences between speech and writing but the increasingly blurred division that exists there.
