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Anecdotes are stories, usually from personal experience, that people tell to make a point or entertain others during a conversation.
These personal stories have a considerable role in everyday human interaction (Jones 2001), and according to Wright (1995, 16), “the whole world is full of storytellers.” Anecdotes often have an emotional component, such as happiness or sadness, excitement or embarrassment, or amusement or disappointment. Therefore, when we share an anecdote, we share a compelling story with other people. While it is not possible to remember all of the anecdotes we know, we do remember the content of noteworthy ones, and
often we pass them on to others.
It is well known that
inserting anecdotes in essays and oral presentations is a good strategy to attract and hold audience attention (Benson 2000; Lukey-Coutsocostas and Tanner-Bogia 1998). This also applies to
the second language classroom; using anecdotes is a good technique to arouse student interest and establish
a meaningful and memorable context for learning. This article aims to describe types of anecdotes, explain
why anecdotes are useful in language teaching, and suggest how to use them in the classroom.
The six elements of an anecdote As with many aspects of human discourse, anecdotes tend to follow a pattern when they are used in conversation. Researchers in sociolinguistics and discourse analysis (Labov
1972; McCarthy 1991, 1998) have identified six narrative elements of anecdotes, which are presented below, with examples.
1. Abstract—the abstract introduces the anecdote and may give essential context to the story: “Did I ever tell you about …?”; “I remember when I was …”
2. Orientation—the orientation sets the scene for the story by identifying where and when it takes place and the people involved: “Do you know that every year we have this school fair?”; “You remember last year’s school picnic, right? There, we…”
3. Complicating events—the complicating events are the main events of the story and are what makes it intriguing and interesting: “The next thing she did was try to put out the fire.”
4. Resolution—the resolution tells what happened at the end of the story and how things worked out: “…and finally he passed the test.”
5. Coda—the coda signals that the story is over and brings the storyteller and listener back to the present: “Now I look back and say…”
6. Evaluation—the evaluation is how the storyteller indicates the essential point of the anecdote and why it was worth telling: “It’s not the worst thing that happened to me, but…”
These six elements are not always present. For example, an abstract and coda may not be found in all anecdotes. However, according to McCarthy (1998, 134), evaluation is not an optional element, since “without it there is no story, only a bland report.” That is, evaluative statements identify the significance of
the anecdote and prevent the audience from asking “So what?” (Labov 1972, 366). The evaluative element may appear at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of the anecdote.
Evaluation can be either explicitly stated or rendered through implicit devices such as exaggeration, repetition, mimicry, intonation, and figurative use of language (Jones 2001).
Moreover, the listeners may collaborate with the teller and add their own evaluation of the anecdote or comment on its worth. Anecdotes in the classroom Anecdotes told in the classroom express our feelings, ideas, and experiences, just like the ones in daily conversations. However, since anecdotes are an excellent way to generate discussion to help students use their language skills, teachers usually have an additional
intention in mind: a teaching objective to describe, explain, clarify, or emphasize an aspect of language or content.
In practice, we can divide anecdotes used in class into three groups: (1) planned anecdotes, (2) semi-planned anecdotes, and (3) unplanned anecdotes.
Planned anecdotes
Planned anecdotes are similar to those used in essays or in oral presentations. The teacher plans when to use the anecdote in the lesson, how to use it, and what kind of an exercise or questions will follow the anecdote. For example, if a language point will be presented, the teacher should decide beforehand which vocabulary items or grammatical structures to emphasize while sharing the anecdote. The anecdote may be written down so the teacher can either read it aloud or tell it using notes. The significance or evaluation of a planned
anecdote is also considered while planning and is indicated either at the beginning or at the end of the story.
Semi-planned anecdotes
Semi-planned anecdotes differ from planned anecdotes because the complete details are not worked out in advance. In this case, the exact words or sentences are not written down, although teachers do have one
or more anecdotes in mind and are prepared to tell them at the appropriate time in the lesson. One strategy is to keep a list of anecdotes and let the student reactions or the flow of the lesson determine which one to share. It is also good to base semi-planned anecdotes on the events experienced by the whole class or by one group of students. For example, an anecdote about a school night or an extracurricular activity that all students participated in reduces the need for explanation and saves time. Individuals can share their personal
anecdotes as well, and if the teacher knows a student’s anecdote, she may plan to ask the student to share it at an appropriate time. As with planned anecdotes, it is important to consider the purpose and significance of semiplanned anecdotes beforehand.
Unplanned anecdotes
Unplanned anecdotes come up naturally in the flow of classroom activities and are spontaneously activated by a response, a question, or a discussion that suddenly reminds the teacher of a story that is worthwhile to share with the students. In this sense, unplanned anecdotes are like those that appear in everyday conversation. These impromptu anecdotes may also be provided by students, as one of their experiences may be enlightening or thought-provoking for both their classmates and the teacher. If the point of the anecdote is not clear, either the teacher or the students can indicate the need for an evaluative element,
just as a listener might do in a naturally occurring conversation.
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Benefits of using anecdotes in language
classes
Anecdotes are one of the most economical,
easy, and enjoyable ways to introduce meaningful
language and content, to practice language
skills and subskills, and to help manage
classes of various ages and proficiency levels.
Experience shows that students are always
highly interested in experiences of their teachers
and peers. Although some teachers may
not feel comfortable with the idea of sharing
personal information with their students, others
may love to share their experiences and ask
similar questions about the students’ experiences.
How much the teacher shares and asks
the students to share depends not on being
friends with them but on creating a friendly
atmosphere in the classroom. The ideas listed
below summarize the benefits I have experienced
while using anecdotes in my classes.
• Classroom management is an important
aspect in teaching any course,
regardless of subject matter. It is an
issue for novice and experienced teachers,
for teachers of young or adult
learners, and for teachers of beginner
to advanced levels. Thus, an attentiongrabbing
anecdote may wake up sleepy
students, engage unmotivated ones
with the task, and reinforce a context
so it is not easily forgotten.
• Genuine communication occurs in language
classes when learners provide their
own experiences and information. By
listening to anecdotes from the teacher
and classmates, asking questions for
extra information or clarification, and
contributing evaluative feedback as in
real life dialogues, the language learners
engage in authentic communication.
Moreover, by telling an anecdote or
responding to their friends’ anecdotes,
students organize their ideas and contribute
to the discussion (Wright 2000).
The language and conversational skills
used while telling our stories are different
from the skills we use in controlled,
inauthentic classroom tasks. Therefore,
using anecdotes in language classes has
the benefit of modeling the customary
daily storytelling skills, and emphasizing
those skills develops students’ conversational
skills (Jones 2001).
• Sharing anecdotes gives students the
chance to reflect on their own and
on others’ concerns, perceptions, and
values (Wright 2000). This reflection
develops higher level cognitive skills,
including the ability to evaluate and
synthesize information, as well as affective
skills such as empathizing.
• Anecdotes can also be used in content
courses where the material is more
demanding than language courses. Even
advanced learners of English, especially at
the tertiary level, may at times have difficulties
in content courses. Thus, the use
of anecdotes to explain, exemplify, and
evaluate the new content aids learners’
understanding, learning, and retention.
• When an anecdote is told by a native
speaker English teacher or when it
is about an experience in an English
speaking country, the anecdote provides
cultural information. In this respect,
anecdotes represent a more realistic
reflection of the target language culture
and its people than the views presented
in many textbooks.
• While students learn more about each
other and their teacher, the teacher learns
more about the students. Anecdotes
therefore reinforce the friendly relationship
between teachers and students and
among the students themselves.
Anecdotes about using anecdotes
Following are two examples of my classroom
experiences using anecdotes. The first
one is from an intermediate level class of
seventh grade (13 to 14 years of age) learners
of English in a private school in Ankara,
Turkey. The lesson took place during an
assessed observation while I was a trainee
in the Certificate for Overseas Teachers of
English (COTE) program. The anecdote I
used had a language focus on the use of used
to and would. I had already written down my
anecdote for my trainer in the pre-observation
session, and I read it to the students, as if
reading a story or a diary entry:
When I was a child, we used to live
in the same building as my grandparents.
My mother and my father were working
for a bank, and my grandparents used to
take care of me during the day.
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My uncle was my best friend, although
he was 20 years older than I was. He
would often take me wherever I wanted
to go. We would play volleyball during
the weekends, or he would watch cartoons
on television with me. He traveled a lot to
other countries because of his job. He usually
brought some presents for me from
the countries he visited. Once, he brought
a huge doll from Belgium, and I loved it so
much that I slept with her every night.
My grandmother used to be a very
fussy woman, so she became very angry
when my uncle and I messed up the house
while playing. I remember how angry she
was when she found out that we were
trying to make a pool for my toys on
the balcony by carrying water from the
bathroom. She used to get furious when
we played with water and actually, she was
right, because everywhere would become
wet, even the carpets and the furniture,
while we were carrying the water.
On the other hand, my grandfather
was a relaxed and patient person, so he
would watch and laugh at us at those
times. Some days, my grandfather and
my uncle would play backgammon. Both
were good at it and it used to take many
hours to have a winner. However, I could
not see the end of their matches because I
always fell asleep while watching them.
Then, one day, my uncle got married
and moved to live with his wife. It was not
very easy for me to lose my best friend at
home. No one was taking me to play volleyball
or to the cinema. My grandmother
was missing her son, and she did not get
angry even when I tried to make a pool
on the balcony again, as I had done with
my uncle. My grandfather tried to teach
me how to play backgammon, because he,
too, had lost his partner.
This planned anecdote contains the six
specified elements of an anecdote. Since I
read it to students as a diary entry, I stated the
abstract of the story before reading the anecdote
to inform the learners of what the story
was about. The first paragraph works as the
orientation to set the scene, the second, third,
and fourth paragraphs contain the complicating
events sequence, and the last paragraph
concludes with the resolution. After reading
the story, I signaled the end of it by saying
“So that was my childhood…”, which works
as the coda. Lastly, the evaluation element lies
in the aim of sharing it with students, which is
the language point I had covered with the students
before and after reading the anecdote.
After using an anecdote of childhood memories,
language teachers may apply different
types of follow-up activities. First of all, since
the students are excited hearing about their
teacher’s childhood, the follow-up activity may
easily have a speaking focus, where the students
ask further questions about their teacher’s
childhood or the characters in the anecdote.
Students may also be encouraged to share
their own childhood memories and exchange
their anecdotes using the grammar point in
pair work, group work, or whole class activities.
Similarly, the anecdote can be followed
by a writing task that has a grammar focus.
For example, an exercise to demonstrate the
difference in meaning between used to and
would can be carefully planned to help students
recognize that both structures can describe
repeated actions in the past. Since used to and
would are, in many cases, used interchangeably,
the anecdote should be organized in such
a way that the students can easily deduce the
difference between them without having the
teacher present the grammar lesson deductively
or through explicit grammar teaching. Each
student may write one of his or her childhood
memories using used to and would. Following
that, they may exchange papers and read each
other’s anecdotes, and even edit them for the
specific language focus.
The second anecdote was an unplanned,
impromptu anecdote used in a preservice teacher
education program with third year students
of an ELT methodology course on teaching
English to young learners. The topic of the lesson
was classroom management in classes with
young and very young learners. The students
were prospective teachers who had read the
required materials before coming to class, and
we were having a lively debate on how to reach
out to problematic students. One of the class
participants noted that “The way we react to
one student’s misbehavior has an impact on the
other students.” She observed that if a student
breaks the classroom rules, and if the teacher
does nothing, other students may think they
can break the rules as well. After hearing this
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comment, I remembered one particular event
that happened in a fifth grade class during my
beginning years as a teacher of English and
shared it more or less in these words:
I think something I experienced in
my early years of teaching may be a good
example for such a classroom management
problem. I was teaching English to
fifth grade primary school students. The
students had 12 hours of English a week,
and they would start studying mathematics
and science in English the following
year. I was teaching a lesson on the types
of animals, including mammals, reptiles,
fish, birds, and arachnids. The names of
these five animal types were written on
the board, and I asked students to give
examples for each type of animal for a
review. After a couple of examples, one of
the students stood up, came to the board,
and wrote the name of one of the other
students as an example for “reptiles.” The
whole class went crazy; they were laughing
and praising the boy for doing such a
funny thing, while teasing the one whose
name was on the board.
After telling this anecdote, I asked what
should have been done or said, and we
had a very active discussion on punishment,
reinforcement, and classroom management.
Although I had not planned to tell them this
anecdote before, it was fruitful for the class
discussion as my students enjoyed imagining
what they could do with such a student in
such a situation when they became teachers
of English. The abstract, orientation, and
complicating events are easily identified in the
anecdote, and my question “What should
have been done?” works as the coda. The anecdote
does not contain the resolution, although
the trainees provided many possibilities. The
evaluation, on the other hand, is given at the
very beginning of the story when I mentioned
its relevance to the course content.
As I was really happy with the follow-up
discussion on this anecdote, I intended to use
it in the same week with another group of student
teachers taking the same course in a different
section. This time, the unplanned anecdote
turned out to be a semi-planned one, since I
had jotted down the name of the problematic
student as a reminder of the anecdote.
Things to consider while using
anecdotes
I believe anecdotes are enjoyable, interesting,
and motivating for both teachers and
learners; however, there are certain points that
need to be considered in order to use them in
a productive and successful way:
• Teachers should be honest about the
anecdote they share in class. If we talk
about something we have made up,
it is not an anecdote but fiction, and
students will usually realize this.
• It is highly important for teachers
(especially native speakers of English
teaching abroad) to be careful about the
local and national culture. An anecdote
should not make students feel ashamed,
upset, or angry.
• Anecdotes need to be relevant to students’
cognitive development and intellectual
level. An anecdote that is very
enjoyable and helpful for adults could
be meaningless or problematic for teenagers
or children.
• When teachers use an anecdote in the
classroom, they should always be able to
point out its worth and purpose and be
aware of the different elements that make
up the story (McCarthy 1991). This will
result in coherent storytelling and lead to
higher quality language practice.
• In writing and speaking, anecdotes contribute
to the presentation, development,
and illustration of the points in the essay
or in the presentation. However, telling
students to use this technique does not
automatically make them start writing
excellent essays or giving wonderful
speeches. Therefore, choosing topics
that students have some experience with
and encouraging them to use relevant
anecdotes in their work helps them
enjoy both writing and speaking.
• Wright (1996, 8) indicates that using
stories “merely to introduce and practice
grammar or particular lexical areas
or functions” is a danger for storytelling,
as the stories become a routine for
the students rather than a novel and
fun activity. This concern is also valid
for anecdotes. They can sometimes be
used only as a warm-up activity with
no intention of teaching, in which case
E n g l i s h T e a c h i n g F o r u m | N u m b e r 1 2 0 0 8 39
the anecdote is still useful for classroom
management.
• The length and timing of the anecdotes
is important. In my opinion, whether
planned or unplanned, the anecdote
should not take more than three or
four minutes. Otherwise, some of the
students may have concentration problems
and not pay attention or lose track.
Thus, if the teacher plans to use an
anecdote, it is always better to rehearse
it to be aware of its length. In addition
to length, the timing of the anecdotes
is also an essential point to consider. To
illustrate, the ones we use before lunch
breaks may seem very long, as it may be
difficult for the students to concentrate.
Telling an anecdote in order to cheer up
a class after they had a difficult exam
may misfire as well, since the message
of the story has nothing to do with the
learners’ present situation.
• Not only the anecdotes of the teacher
but also the anecdotes of the students
can be helpful for the lesson. If only
the teacher tells the anecdotes, the lesson
may become a one-person show.
However, each student should have an
equal chance to share an anecdote, and it
should be his or her decision to do so.
• Like every technique, using anecdotes
requires flexibility. You can plan to tell
your anecdote, or it may come naturally.
If it is improvised and if you know
it is the right time to use it, it is better
not to miss the chance, even if it means
deviating from your teaching plan. On
the other hand, if you realize that your
students do not like it or cannot understand
your point, it might be better to
mention the evaluation element of the
anecdote and cut it short rather than
stop telling it.
• Since anecdotes are short stories about
personal experiences, they require the
standard tools of storytelling mentioned
by Pedersen (1995): (1) maintaining
eye contact is useful to check for listener
comprehension and for using evaluative
devices; (2) using gestures, facial
expressions, movement, and other body
language helps the audience understand
the point and significance of the anecdote;
and (3) concentrating on voice
quality is critical because the audience
must hear everything clearly. Moreover,
both tone of voice and intonation add
to the emotional impact and work as
implicit evaluative devices.
Conclusion
Anecdotes are inseparable parts of authentic
everyday conversation, and they are an
effective technique for written and oral presentations.
Since teaching is a never-ending
presentation in front of different and sometimes
difficult audiences, using anecdotes
can be a useful and rewarding technique that
should be integrated into classroom language
teaching. This integration has fruitful results
both for target language development and
social interaction in the classroom.
References
Benson, M. J. 2000. Writing an academic article:
An editor writes. English Teaching Forum 38
(2): 33–35.
Jones, R. E. 2001. A consciousness-raising approach
to the teaching of conversational storytelling
skills. ELT Journal 55 (2): 155–63.
Labov, W. 1972. Language in the inner city: Studies
in the Black English vernacular. Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press.
Lukey-Coutsocostas, K., and J. Tanner-Bogia. 1998.
The art of presenting. English Teaching Forum 36
(3): 33–36.
McCarthy, M. 1991. Discourse analysis for language
teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
–––. 1998. Spoken language and applied linguistics.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Pedersen, E. M. 1995. Storytelling and the art of
teaching. English Teaching Forum 33 (1): 2–5.
Wright, A. 1995. A travelling storyteller. The Language
Teacher 19 (10): 16–19, 26.
–––. 1996. Storytelling with children. 2nd ed.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
–––. 2000. Stories and their importance in language
teaching. Humanising Language Teaching 2 (5):
http://www.hltmag.co.uk/sep00/mart2.htm.
Deniz Sallı-Çopur teaches advanced
language skills and ELT methodology
courses at Middle East Technical University
in Ankara, Turkey. She is interested in
preservice and inservice teacher education.
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Walker, M. 1997. Writing research papers: A Norton
guide. 4th ed. New York: Norton.
White, R., and V. Arndt. 1991. Process writing.
London: Longman.
Yan, G. 2005. A process genre model for teaching
writing. English Teaching Forum 43 (3): 18–22.
Yule, G. 2006. The study of language. 3rd ed. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Magdalena Oz˙arska, holds a Ph.D. in
English literature from the University of
Warsaw and has taught university-level
writing, translation, and English literature at
teacher training institutions in Poland for
13 years. She is working on a post-doctoral
thesis on 18th century women’s life writing.
continued from page 33
Summarizing Authentic Academic
Essays
Some Suggestions for Academic Writing Instruction at English Teacher Training Colleges • Magdalena Oz˙arska
One of my favorite authentic passages for a summary task concerning Milton’s “On his Blindness” comes
from Lerner (1975, 76). The task is to summarize the text while avoiding plagiarism.
The theme of this poem is acceptance of one’s lot. It can never be easy to accept blindness, or
to escape from the feeling that one has, somehow, been unfairly singled out for suffering; and the
struggle which this short poem enacts is between protest and resignation, between bitterness and
acceptance. And since it is a Petrarchan sonnet, the natural ordering of the poem is, protest in the
octet, acceptance in the sestet. Yet the poem does not begin with direct anger, with the voice of someone
insisting that he’s been badly treated, as it might if written by a highly dramatic poet—Donne,
say. It begins with a considered statement, a long and complex sentence, the voice of someone controlling
his emotion while he explores a difficult situation. Control is important in this poem.
*
Following are examples of six student summaries of the above paragraph. They have not been through the
initial peer review correction stage and serve as a worksheet for error correction during the final class.
1. John Milton’s poem entitled “On his Blindness” is based on Petrarchan conception of the sonnet which
is divided into two parts. In the first part, namely the octet, the author expresses his protest against
his blindness and suffering from the feeling of loneliness. Yet, in the sestet, the state of the approval
of the poet’s lot is presented. However, the first lines which are written in quite sophisticated language
present restrained emotions while considering complicated situation.
2. As Laurence Lerner claims in his book, Milton’s poem deals with poets fate. It is an example of a
Petrarchan sonnet which is divided into two parts. Octet is the first part in which the poet complains
about his tragedy. The second part—sestet, expresses the poets coming to terms with his fate.
3. The poem “On his Blindness” by John Milton is an example of a Petrarchan sonnet which expresses a
complaint in the octet, acceptance in the sestet. In general, the theme of the poem concerns tolerance
of our fate and suffering connected with being unfairly chosen to experience pain.
4. The main idea of the poem “On his Blindness” by John Milton is the reconciliation with one’s faith. This
Petrarchan sonnet presents a battle between opposition and passivity, sourness and approval. One of the
most important element in the poem is the control of one’s feelings while being in a difficult position.
It is clearly illustrated at the beginning of the sonnet as the author does not express his frustration.
5. Lawrence Lerner begins his analysis of John Milton’s “On his Blindness” by introducing the subject
matter of the poem as well as its major aspects. He is concerned with the fact how the structure of
the verse reflects the two stages of the process of coming to terms with blindness, namely “protest and
resignation” (Lerner 76). The “protest” stage is characterized by control of emotions resulting in the
complete acceptation of the speaker’s fate in the “resignation” stage.
6. John Milton in his poem “On his Blindness” depicts how difficult is to come to terms with the loss of
sight. He emphasizes that it is extremely painful and depressing. Contrary to Metaphysical Poets such
as Donne he is more restrained in expressing his sorrow.
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