1 Referencia: García-Carbonell, A.; Watts, F.; Montero B. (2003). Playing to communicate effectively “know-it-all Linguists”. Edimburgo: Sage Publications, Edimburgo. (p. 190-195). ISBN: 0-9504682-9-0 PLAYING TO COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY "KNOW-IT-ALL LINGUISTS" Amparo García-Carbonell agarciac@upvnet.upv.es Francesc Watts fwatts@upvnet.upv.es Begoña Montero-Fleta bmontero@idm.upv.es Universidad Politécnica de Valencia Abstract Facing the new and the unknown, which happens when communicating in a formal oral situation, is a process marked with feelings of both anxiety and uncertainty. A game can help reduce the anxiety involved in our affective or emotional reaction when we are afraid of being negatively judged by strangers. The simulation/game we present has as its objective how to improve oral presentations effectively. The players are given a rating system that takes into account four different aspects of communication in oral presentations. Each aspect includes different variables which are used as rating criteria. The first aspect assessed is delivery. The second aspect is content. The third refers to the organisation of the information. And the last aspect of communication evaluates language. The players in "Know-it-all Linguists" are immersed in a situation in which they assess their peers, thus heightening their awareness of what is involved in effective speaking. Introduction Although verbal language is the most important and complex sign system created by man to speak with other people, other aspects should be taken into account to communicate effectively. On the one hand, communication is conveyed by means of both verbal and non-verbal expression forms. Speakers are much more conscious, however, of the way their verbal messages are worded, while the non-verbal forms are less monitored. On the other hand, there is a cognitive and relational gap between interactants that must be filled in order to succeed in communication. Leading linguists agree on the distinction of usage and use based on the notion of effectiveness in communication. This means that an utterance with a well-formed grammatical structure may or may not have sufficient value for communication in a given context. Participants must learn to produce communicatively successful utterances and not only grammatically acceptable ones. Variations in language usage depend not only on grammatical correctness, the usage, but also on situational variables such as the speaker/listener