How to teach making enquiries
Alex Case
For most people, making enquiries is far less difficult than dealing with enquiries. However, there can still be issues with asking for information such as:
- making polite enquiries (“I have a couple of questions about your data”, “I was wondering how much it costs”, etc)
- responding to the answer that your enquiry gets (“Thanks, that’s much clearer now”, etc)
- asking follow-up questions (“So, does that mean…?”, etc)
- starting and ending enquiries (especially email enquiries, but also on the phone and face to face)
What students need to know about making enquiries
The four bullet points above are also the four things that most students need to know about enquiring. These can be split into:
- leading up to questions (“There’s just one thing I’d like to ask about”, etc)
- indirect questions/ embedded questions (“Can you tell me where it is?”, etc)
- responding to positive answers (“Thanks, that’s really helpful”, etc)
- responding to negative answers (“I really think I have a right to know”, “In that case, can you tell me… instead?”, “Okay, never mind”, etc)
- checking/ clarifying (“So, are you saying that…?”, etc)
- starting enquiries (“I am writing because I’d like to know…”, etc)
- ending enquiries (“I look forward to hearing from you soon”, etc)
Most students will only need to know language for quite formal enquiries like the examples above. However, higher-level classes, students using English every day and those living in English-speaking countries may be interested in using casual language to make enquiries more friendly without being rude like “Just one tiny wee question for you”, “You don’t know…, do you?” and “Thanks, you’re a star/ a lifesaver”.
Typical student problems with making enquiries
As an enquiry is a request for information, students often make the same mistakes with enquiries as they do with requests, especially using the imperative in sentences like “Please tell me…” In English, that is an order/ command/ instruction, so almost never suitable for asking for information. Some students may also use more polite commands like “Would you tell me…?” (instead of “Could you tell me…?”) and “I’d like you to tell me…” (instead of “I’d like to know…”). These are more formal but still usually unsuitable, as they mean the information must be given.
The other major student problems with making enquiries are mainly to do with not extending the conversation by not responding to the info that you get, etc. These issues are mainly just due to a lack of language, so should be cleared up fairly easily by the activities in this article.
How to present making enquiries
In order to be able to present all the language above (including responses to answers, etc), texts to present making enquiries will need to be fairly long, e.g. an exchange of at least three emails instead of just one with the initial enquiry. Comprehension tasks before looking at the language of enquiries could include working out the relationship between the two people (helpdesk staff and customer, professor and student, etc), spotting incorrect info that is given (“In answer to your first question, you’ll be studying in Sydney, the capital of Australia”), and some kind of jigsaw task. Students could then grade the enquiries by how well they thought they were dealt with, rank them by formality, and/ or add extra questions that they’d want to ask in such a situation. They are then ready to underline useful language for asking for info, responding, checking/ clarifying, etc, and maybe a grammar presentation on embedded questions.
How to practise making enquiries
Most making enquires communicative activities obviously also involve someone answering the enquiries, but they work well for making enquiries practice as long as you concentrate on the tactics and language used by the person asking for info and let the other person answer how they like. The first three activities below can also be done without any answers to the enquiries.
Making enquiries guessing game
One student chooses a situation and/ or topic that is often associated with asking for info such as “In a travel agent’s” or “Choosing a new laptop” and makes polite enquiries in that situation (without answers at this stage) until someone guesses what the enquiries have in common. If you want to then practise responding, etc, the other people could try to answer the questions.
Making enquiries brainstorming competition
Students choose a situation and/ or topic such as “Joining a gym” or “Trying to use a new exercise bike” and take turns asking suitable questions in that situation until someone repeats a question or asks something that no one would ask in that situation. For more challenge and practice of the language, you could also not allow more than one use of each embedded question stem (e.g. no repeating “Can I ask…?”) in each round of the game.
Making enquiries bluff
One student chooses a situation that they have really made enquiries in and says at least five enquiries that they made in that situation (“Can I use the hotel swimming pool?” etc), making up imaginary enquiries if they run out of things they can really remember asking about. Their partner then guesses which enquiries they really made, and which (if any) were made up.
Making enquiries coin games
The flip of a coin can decide:
- if the enquiry is formal (heads) or informal (tails)
- if the enquiry is by email (heads) or another way (tails)
- if the response will be positive (heads) or negative (tails)
- if they will give up after a negative response (heads) or try again (tails)
- if they will should extend the exchange with further enquiries (heads) or can stop (tails)
Making enquiries problem roleplays
For a bit more fun and challenge, students can try to cope with tricky situations like:
- making enquiries on a bad phone line
- not knowing who to ask
- getting wrong information
- getting contradictory information from different people