SHS

Oral Communication
in Context
Semester 1 – Quarter 1 – Module 6:
Types of Speech Act
Lesson 1: Three Types of Speech Act

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English – Grade 11
Quarter 1 – Module 6 – Lesson 1: Three Types of Speech Act

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Regional Director: Gilbert T. Sadsad

Assistant Regional Director: Jessie L. Amin

Development Team of the Module

Writer: Annabel O. Armeña

Editors: Nida D. Bernaldez

Jessie Marie M. Morcoso
Carlita L. Briones

Reviewers: Nida D. Bernaldez

Iriga City Division (headed by Dr. Claudia Marilou S. Marpuri)

Illustrators: Albert B. Belir

Julianne Louiemarie O. Armeña

Layout Artist: Alexis I. Piñgol

Oral Communication in Context

Lesson 1

Three Types of Speech Acts

First Quarter, Module 6

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 Speech Acts

Learning Competency: Responds appropriately and effectively to a speech act.

What I Need to Know

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

1. Define speech acts;
2. Identify the different types of speech act;
3. Recognize that communicative competence requires understanding of speech
acts;
4. Demonstrate effective use of communicative strategy in a variety of speech
situations;
5. Apply learning and thinking skills and life skills in understanding the types of
speech acts; and
6. Respond appropriately and effectively to a speech act.

What I Already Know

Let’s see how well you know about Speech Acts. Take the quiz below using your
notebook and check if you can recognize the meaning behind each statement. Encircle the
letter of your answer.

1. What does the speaker mean when he/she says “Can you pass the salt?”
a. The speaker does not make sense.
b. The speaker is asking me a question.
c. The speaker is requesting me to pass the salt.
d. The speaker wants to know if I have the ability to pass the salt

2. Which of the following statements shows the speaker’s fear?

a. “Let’s sing together.”
b. “It’s getting dark. Oh no.”
c. “Let’s go home a little bit later.”
d. “I love the night sky and the cold breeze.”

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 3. Consider the phrase: “You are now arrested!” Who among the following can say this
phrase and arrest a person?
a. an old man
b. a police officer
c. my neighbor
d. a college professor

4. You and your friend went to the mall. She suddenly tells you, “Where’s my wallet?” How
would you interpret what she said?
a. She is crazy.
b. She cannot find her wallet.
c. She wants you to go look for her wallet.
d. She thinks you know where to find her wallet

5. Based on the scenario in item number 4, what would be your next move?
a. I will ignore my friend.
b. I will give her my wallet.
c. I will help her find her wallet.
d. I will agree with her that her wallet is indeed lost.

What’s In

Let’s see how much you already know about Speech Acts. Put a check on the column
that determines how often you practice what the statements say. Keep in mind that there are
no wrong answers so do this as objectively as possible in your notebook.

Usually Sometimes Seldom Never

1. I know what a speech act is.
2. I can distinguish the types of speech acts.
3. I recognize that to fully understand speech
acts, I need to have communicative
competence.
4. I respond appropriately and effectively to a
speech act.

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 Usually Sometimes Seldom Never
5. I consider the various social meanings behind
an utterance.
6. I understand why speech acts are difficult to
perform when using a second language.
7. I understand what each type of speech entails.
8. I try to decode speech acts based on the
context of the situation.
9. I understand the intended meaning of indirect
speech acts.
10. I can tell when a speech act is being used
during communication.
TOTAL
/30
GRAND TOTAL

Scoring Score Level of Proficiency

Usually – 3 points 28-30 Advanced
Sometimes – 2 points 25-27 Proficient
Seldom – 1 point 23-24 Approaching Proficiency
Never - 0 21-22 Developing
20 and below Beginning

What’s New

Read the telephone conversation and answer the questions that follow.

EXAMPLE BUSINESS TELEPHONE CONVERSATION: ROLE-PLAY

Ms. Anderson (sales representative): ring ring.

Mr. Smith (Secretary): Hello, Diamonds Galore, this is Peter speaking. How
may I help you today?
Ms. Anderson: Yes, this is Ms. Janice Anderson calling. May I speak to Mr.
Franks, please?
Mr. Smith: I'm afraid Mr. Franks is out of the office at the moment. Would
you like me to take a message?
Ms. Anderson: Uhm...actually, this call is rather urgent. We spoke
yesterday about a delivery problem that Mr. Franks mentioned. Did he
leave any information with you?

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Mr. Smith: As a matter of fact, he did. He said that a representative from your company might be
calling. He told me to ask you a few questions.
Ms. Anderson : Great, I'd love to see this problem resolved as quickly as possible.
Mr. Smith: Well, we haven't received the shipment of earrings that was supposed to arrive last
Tuesday.
Ms. Anderson: Yes, I'm terribly sorry about that. In the meantime, I've spoken with our delivery
department and they assured me that the earrings will be delivered by tomorrow morning.
Mr. Smith: Excellent, I'm sure Mr. Franks will be pleased to hear that.
Ms. Anderson: Yes, the shipment from France was delayed. We were not able to send it until this
morning.
Mr. Smith: I see. Mr. Franks also wanted to schedule a meeting with you later this week.
Ms. Anderson: Certainly, what is he doing on Thursday afternoon?
Mr. Smith: I'm afraid he's meeting with some clients out of town. How about Thursday morning?
Ms. Anderson: Unfortunately, I'm seeing someone else on Thursday morning. Is he doing anything on
Friday morning?
Mr. Smith: No, it looks like he's free then.
Ms. Anderson: Great, should I come by at 9?
Mr. Smith: Well, he usually holds a staff meeting at 9. It only lasts a half-hour or so. How about 10?
Ms. Anderson: Yes, 10 would be great.
Mr. Smith: OK, I'll schedule that. Ms. Anderson at 10, Friday Morning...Is there anything else I can help
you with?
Ms. Anderson: No, I think that's everything. Thank you for your help...Goodbye.
Mr. Smith: Goodbye.

Source: https://www.thoughtco.com/telephone-conversations-1210222

1. Based on the conversation, answer the following questions.

a. What greeting is used by the customer service agent?
b. What form of personal identification is used by the agent?
c. What pre-closing signals are used by the agent?
d. What closing is used by the agent?

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What is It

What is a SPEECH
ACT?

The speech act is an utterance that a speaker makes to achieve an intended

effect. Some of the functions which are carried out using speech acts are offering an
apology, greeting, request, complaint, invitation, compliment, or refusal. A speech act
might contain just one word or several words or sentences. For example, “Thanks” and
“Thank you for being always there for me. I really appreciate it.” both show appreciation
regardless of the length of the statement.

Three Types of Speech Act

According to J.L. Austin (1962), a philosopher of language and the developer of

the speech act theory, there are three types of acts in every utterance, given the
right circumstances or context. These are:

1. Locutionary Act is the actual act of uttering.

“Please sweep the floor.”

2. Illocutionary Act is the social function of what is said.

By uttering the locution “Please sweep the floor,” the speaker requests the
addressee to sweep the floor.

3. Perlocutionary Act is the resulting act of what is said. This effect is based on the
particular context in which the speed was mentioned.
“Please sweep the floor” would lead to the addressee sweeping the floor.

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 There are also indirect speech acts which occur when there is no direct connection
between the form of the utterance and the intended meaning. They are different in force (i.e.,
intention) from the inferred speech act.

For example, read the following utterance.

“Could you pass the rice?”

Inferred speech act: Do you have the ability to hand over the rice?

Indirect speech act: Please pass the rice.

So while the utterance literally asks the addressee if he or she has the ability to
hand a plate of rice, it actually indirectly requests the addressee to pass the rice to the
speaker.

EXAMPLE:

Austin also introduced the concept of performative utterances: statements which

enable the speaker to perform something just by stating it. In this manner, verbs that execute
the speech act that they intend to effect are called performatives. A performative utterance
said by the right person under the right circumstances results in a
change in the world. Note that certain conditions have to be
met when making a performative utterance.

For example, the phrase “I hereby sentence the

defendant guilty as charged.” when uttered by an
authorized person such as a judge will have the actual effect
of giving the verdict of sentencing a man in jail. However, if
the same statement is uttered to the same convict in the
same place by someone who is not authorized to send him
to jail-as in the case of the accompanying picture, a robot-
then there is no effect whatsoever, because a condition was
not met.

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 What’s More

A. Greetings are phrases frequently used to start or end a conversation. In this

activity, match the greeting to its appropriate situation.

A B

“It’s been a while” meeting someone for the first

1. time

“See you later” when you see someone

2. unexpectedly

“Pleased to meet similar to the greeting, “how

3.
you” are you?”

“Nice to see you” when you haven’t seen

4.
someone for a long time

5. “How’s it going?” informal way of saying

goodbye

B. Now that you’ve learned about Speech Act, let’s have an Ice-breaker first! Locate the
following words inside the box.

• COMMUNICATE C L K O E G A U G N A L
• SPEECH A
Q O W S D F V M B J L P
• VOICE T D M A M T A H P T V X
• ACT
N E H M O U V O I C E Y
• SPEAKER
• GESTURES Y C C B U X C R O A G B
• LANGUAGE S L H E P N E I Q S E M
• EXPRESS S A R F Q K I J R S S F
• DECLARE
E R D J A W D C T E T T
• ASSERT Z
R E O E R Z F L A R U W
• PERFORM
P S P E E C H K S T R D
X S N K S Y G N U W E H
E H P E R F O R M Z S R

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C. Read the short conversation below. Answer the questions that follow.

A: This is Ray. May I speak with Thor?

B: Yes, this is Thor speaking.
A: Thor. How are you today?
B: Oh, things are going great. What's up?
A: I was wondering if you could meet me tomorrow for lunch?
B: Sure! What do you have in mind?
A: I was thinking of Dani's in the village.
B: I love that place. Sure, let's go there.
A: Fine then, I'll meet you around twelve.
B: I'll see you there. Look forward to it.

Source: https://www.eslfast.com/robot/topics/employment/employment08.htm

1. Based on the conversation, answer the following questions.

e. What greeting is used by Ray?
f. What form of personal identification is used by the Ray?
g. What pre-closing signals are used by Ray?
h. What closing is used by Ray?

2. Compare the greeting, pre-closing, and closing in EXERCISE 3 and EXERCISE 6. How
are they similar or different?

What I Have Learned

1. Let’s see how much you have learned from this lesson. Read each sentence and write
your answers on the blanks provided.

• The speech act is an __________ that a __________makes to achieve an

intended effect.
• Some of its functions are ______, _________, _________, __________,
_________, _________, ___________.

• Three Types of Speech Act by J.L. Austin (1962)

➢ ______________ is the resulting act of what is said.
➢ ______________ is the actual act of uttering.
➢ ______________is the social function of what is said.

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 2. Kindly answer the boxes below.

What additional ideas did you learn

What were your thoughts or ideas about
after taking up this lesson?
Speech Acts before?

What I Can Do

Consider the situation below:

You are hosting a party at your house that started at 8 o’ clock in the evening. It was just
a small celebration with your friends and family. You all decided to turn on the karaoke and you
all sang along to the music. However, in the middle of the party, someone went up to your house
and knocked really hard while shouting and calling your name. You opened up the door and saw
your neighbor standing with her eyes glaring at yours.

Write at least 5 sentences, on how you’ll probably respond to your neighbor at that very
moment. Use the questions below as your guide.

• What do you think is the reason why your neighbor went up to your house in the middle
of the night?
• What reaction are you expecting from your neighbor? Is it good or bad?
• How would you react to your neighbor after seeing her?

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Assessment

Let’s assess how well you’ve learned about Speech Act by answering the items below .

A. Write TRUE if the statement is correct. If the statement is incorrect, write FALSE and write
the word/s to make it correct. Do this in your notebook.

_____________1. A speech act can only be composed of several words.

_____________2. There are three types of Speech Act according to John Searle.

_____________3. Performative utterances are statements which enable the speaker to

perform something just by stating it.

_____________4. Illocutionary act is the social function of what is said.

_____________5. Speech acts include concrete life interactions that require the appropriate
use of language within a given culture.

_____________6. Offering an apology, greeting, request, complaint, invitation, compliment, or

refusal are some of the functions of speech acts.

_____________7. Locutionary act is the resulting act of what is said.

_____________8. Austin was the one who introduced the concept of performative utterances.

_____________ 9. Indirect speech acts occur when there is direct connection between the form
of the utterance and the intended meaning.

_____________10. Verbs that execute the speech act that they intend to effect are called
performatives.

Additional Activities

Take a look at the conversation below wherein the remark by a native English speaker
could be misinterpreted by a native Japanese listener.

Rey : “I couldn’t agree with you more.”

Hiro : “ Oh….” (Thinking: “He couldn’t agree with me? I thought he liked my idea!’)

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In an essay, discuss where the confusion originated.

REFERENCES

Austin, JL. (1962). How to do things with words. CA: Harvard University Press.

Searle, John R. (1976). A classification of illocutionary acts. Language in society 5 (1), 1-

23. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/4166848?origin=JSTOR-pdf

Sipacio, Philippe, et al. Oral Communication in Context For Senior High School. Quezon
City: C & E Publishing, Inc. , 2016

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B.
What I Already Know
1. C
2. B
3. B
4. B
5. C
What’s New
a. “Hello, Diamonds Galore, this is Peter speaking. How may I be of help to you today?”
b. “…this is Peter speaking. How may I be of help to you today?”
c. “...Is there anything else I can help you with?”
d. “Goodbye
What’s More
A.
1. “It’s been a while” – when you haven’t seen someone for a long time
2. “See you later” - informal way of saying goodbye
3. “Pleased to meet you” – meeting someone for the first time
4. “Nice to see you” – when you see someone unexpectedly
5. “How’s it going?” – similar to the greeting “how are you?”
Answer Key
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C.
a. “Thor. How are you today?”
b. “This is Ray. May I speak with Thor?”
c. “Sure, let's go there.”
d. “Fine then, I'll meet you around twelve.”
What I Have Learned
1.
• Utterance,speaker
• offering an apology, greeting, request, complaint, invitation, compliment, or refusal.
• Perlocutionary Act, Locutionary Act, Illocutionary Act
2. *answers may vary*
What I Can Do
*answers may vary*
Assessment
1. FALSE- just one word or several words or sentences
2. FALSE – John Austin
3. TRUE
4. TRUE
5. TRUE
6. TRUE
7. FALSE – Perlocutionary
8. TRUE
9. FALSE – there is no direct connection
10. TRUE
Additional Activities
*answers may vary*