Tag - speaking

The 14 Categories of Language Use

RIvers & Temperly (A Practical Guide to the Teaching of English, OUP, 1978, p. 47) list 14 purposes or categories of language use

  1. establishing and maintaining social relations
  2. expressing one’s reactions
  3. hiding one’s intentions
  4. talking one’s way out of trouble
  5. seeking & giving information
  6. learning or teaching others to do or make something
  7. conversing over the telephone
  8. solving problems
  9. discussing ideas
  10. playing with language
  11. acting out social roles
  12. entertaining others
  13. displaying one’s achievements
  14. sharing leisure activities