Didáctica del inglés II by UNMSM-PROLEX

EDITOR

FACULTAD DE EDUCACIÓN DECANO Dr. Carlos Barriga Hernández DIRECTORA ACADÉMICA Dra. Elsa Barrientos Jiménez DIRECTOR ADMINISTRATIVO Prof. Enrique Pérez Zevallos PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES SIN TÍTULO PEDAGÓGICO EN LENGUA EXTRANJERA DIRECTORA Mg. María Emperatriz Escalante López COMITÉ DIRECTIVO Dra. Edith Reyes de Rojas Lic. Walter Gutiérrez Gutiérrez Didáctica del Inglés II María Emperatriz Escalante López Serie: Textos para el Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera Primera edición Lima, febrero de 2010 ©

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera Facultad de Educación, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos Av. Germán Amézaga s/n. Lima 1, Ciudad Universitaria UNMSM - Pabellón Administrativo de la Facultad de Educación - 2.º piso, oficina 203 Teléfono: 619-7000 anexos 3021, 3022 / E-mail: prog_idiomas_edu@unmsm.edu.pe Website: www.unmsm.edu.pe/educacion/licenciatura/index.htm

Diseño, diagramación e impresión: Centro de Producción Editorial e Imprenta de la UNMSM. Local principal: Jr. Paruro 119, Lima 1. Telf: 619-7000 anexos 6009 / Fax: 1004, 6016 Ciudad Universitaria: Av. Germán Amézaga s/n (ex puerta N.º 3) Rotonda del Pabellón de Letras, tlf. 619-7000 anexo 6015 E-mail: ventas.cepredim@gmail.com/ Página web: www.cepredim.com Este libro es propiedad del Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera de la Facultad de Educación de la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos. Ninguna parte de este libro puede ser reproducida o utilizada por cualquier medio, sea éste electrónico, mecánico o cualquier otro medio inventado, sin permiso por escrito del Programa.

INDEX Introduction

Part 1. The Lexical Approach

Part 2. The Cognitive Academic Language LearningApproach (CALLA)

Part 3. Teaching Listening

Part 4. Teaching Speaking

Part 5. Teaching Reading

Part 6. Teaching Writing

Part 7. Teaching Grammar

107

Part 8. Teaching Language Skills

125

Part 9. Communicative Activities

147

Part 10. Educational Technology and other Learning Resources

191

Part 11. Action Research

221

Bibliography

246

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin TĂtulo PedagĂłgico en Lengua Extranjera

Didáctica del Inglés II

INTRODUCTION This book deals specifically with the teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL). The primary aim of this anthology is to provide teachers with a means for developing their use of English with particular emphasis on English related to teaching. It focuses particularly at the language that the teachers need for use in the classroom. Didáctica del Inglés II contains eleven themes that have been chosen according to the syllabus of the course. All of these themes have been selected and organized from articles written by well know authors. The following topics are included: Lexical Approach, Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach, Teaching Listening, Teaching Speaking, Teaching Reading, Teaching Writing, Teaching Grammar, Teaching Language Skills, Communicative Activities, Educational Technology and Action Research. We hope that students and teachers will find this anthology a useful resource for teaching English as a foreign language. Mg. María Escalante López

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin TĂtulo PedagĂłgico en Lengua Extranjera

Didáctica del Inglés II

PART ONE

The lexical approach

Objective To understand how lexically based theory of language and language learning can be applied in language teaching.

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

THE LEXICAL APPROACH1 BACKGROUND We have seen throughout this book that central to an approach or method in language teaching is a view of the nature of language, and this shapes teaching goals, the type of syllabus that is adopted, and the emphasis given in classroom teaching. A lexical approach in language teaching refers to one derived from the belief that the building blocks of language learning and communication are not grammar, functions, notions, or some other unit of planning and teaching but lexis, that is, words and word combinations. Lexical approaches in language teaching reflect a belief in the centrality of the lexicon to language structure, second language learning, and language use, and in particular to multiword lexical units or “chunks” that are learned and used as single items. Linguistic theory has also recognized a more central role for vocabulary in linguistic description. Formal transformational/generative linguistics, which previously took syntax as the primary focus, now gives more central attention to the lexicon and how the lexicon is formatted, coded, and organized. Chomsky, the father of contemporary studies in syntax, has recently adopted a “lexicon-is-prime” position in his Minimalist Linguistic theory. The role of lexical units has been stressed in both first and second language acquisition research. These have been referred to by many different labels, including “holophrases” (Corder 1973), “prefabricated patterns” (Hakuta 1974), “gambits” (Keller 1979), “speech formulae” (Peters 1983), and “lexicalized stems” (Pawley and Syder 1983). Several approaches to language learning have been proposed that view vocabulary and lexical units as central in learning and teaching. These include The Lexical Syllabus (Willis 1990), Lexical Phrases and Language Teaching (Nattinger and DeCarrico 1992), and The Lexical Approach (Lewis 1993). Advances in computer-based studies of language (referred to as corpus linguistics) have also provided a huge, classroom-accessible database for lexically based inquiry and instruction. These studies havc1 focused on collocations of lexical items and multiple word units. A number of lexically based texts and computer resources have become available to assist in organizing and teaching the lexicon. Lexical approaches in language teaching seek to develop proposals for syllabus design and language teaching founded on a view of language in which lexis plays the central role. APPROACH: THEORY OF LANGUAGE AND LEARNING Whereas Chomsky’s influential theory of language emphasized the capacity of speakers to create and interpret sentences that are unique and have never been produced 1

Richards, Jack and Theodore Rodgers. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching, Cambridge University Press, New York, 2006.

Didáctica del Inglés II

or heard previously, in contrast, the lexical view holds that only a minority of spoken sentences are entirely novel creations and that multiword units functioning as “chunks” or memorized patterns form a high proportion of the fluent stretches of speech heard in everyday conversation (Pawley and Syder 1983). The role of collocation is also important in lexically based theories of language. Collocation refers to the regular occurrence together of words. For example, compare the following collocations of verbs with nouns: do my hair/the cooking/the laundry/my work make my bed/a promise/coffee/a meal Many other lexical units also occur in language. For example: binomials: clean and tidy, back to front trinomials: cool, calm, and collected idioms: dead drunk, to run up a bill similes: as old as the hills connectives: finally, to conclude conversational gambits: Guess what! These and other types of lexical units are thought to play a central role in learning and in communication. Studies based on large-scale computer databases of language corpora have examined patterns of phrase and clause sequences as they appear in samples of various kinds of texts, including spoken samples. Three important UK-based corpora are the COBUILD Bank of English Corpus, the Cambridge International corpus, and the British National Corpus, the latter of which contains more than 300 million words. These and other corpora are important sources of information about collocations and other multiword units in English. Lexis is also believed to play a central role in language learning. Nattimger commented: Perhaps we should base our teaching on the assumption that, for a great deal of the time anyway, language production consists of piecing together the ready-made units appropriate for a particular situation and that comprehension relies on knowing which of these patterns to predict in these situations. Our teaching, therefore, would center on these patterns and the ways they can be pieced together, along with the ways they vary and the situations in which they occur. (Nattinger 1980: 341) However, if as Pawley and Syder estimate, native speakers have hundreds of thousands of prepackaged phrases in their lexical inventory, the implications for second language learning are uncertain. How might second language learners, lacking the language experiential base of native speakers, approach the daunting task of internalizing this massive inventory of lexical usage?

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Krashen suggests that massive amounts of “language input,” especially through reading, is the only effective approach to such learning. Others propose making the language class a laboratory in which learners can explore, via computer concordance databases, the contexts of lexical use that occur in different kinds of texts and language data. A third approach to learning lexical chunks has been “contrastive”: Some applied linguists have suggested that for a number of languages there is an appreciable degree of overlap in the form and meaning of lexical collocations. Bahns (1993: 58) suggests that “the teaching of lexical collocations in EFL should concentrate on items for which there is no direct translational equivalence in English and in the learners’ respective mother tongues.” Regardless of the learning route taken, a massive learning load seems an unavoidable consequence of a lexical approach in second language instruction. Lewis (2000) acknowledges that the lexical approach has lacked a coherent learning theory and attempts to rectify this with the following assumptions about learning theory in the lexical approach (Lewis 2000: 184): -

Encountering new learning items on several occasions is a necessary but sufficient condition for learning to occur.

Noticing lexical chunks or collocations is a necessary but not sufficient condition for “input” to become “intake.”

Noticing similarities, differences, restrictions, and examples contributes to turning input into intake, although formal description of rules probably does not help.

Acquisition is based not on the application of formal rules but on an accumulation of examples from which learners make provisional generalizations. Language production is the product of previously met examples, not formal rules.

No linear syllabus can adequately reflect the nonlinear nature of acquisition.

DESIGN: OBJECTIVES, SYLLABUS, LEARNING ACTIVITIES, ROLE OF LEARNERS, TEACHERS, AND MATERIALS The rationale and design for lexically based language teaching described in The Lexical Syllabus (Willis 1990) and the application of it in the Collins COBUILD English Course represent the most ambitious attempt to realize a syllabus and accompanying materials based on lexical rather than grammatical principles. (This may not, however, have been the reason for the lack of enthusiasm with which this course was received.) Willis notes that the COBUILD computer analyses of texts indicate “the 700 most frequent words of English account for around 70% of all English text.” This “fact” led to the decision that “word frequency would determine the contents of our course. Level 1 would aim to cover the most frequent 700 words together with their common patterns and uses” (Willis 1990: vi). In one respect, this work resembled the earlier frequency-based analyses of vocabulary by West (1953) and Thorndike and Longe (1944). The difference in the CO-

Didáctica del Inglés II

BUILD course was the attention to word patterns derived from the computer analysis. Willis stresses, however, that “the lexical syllabus not only subsumes a structural syllabus, it also indicates how the structures which make up syllabus should be exemplified” since the computer corpus reveals the commonest structural patterns in which words are used (Willis 1990: vi). Other proposals have been put forward as to how lexical material might be organized for instruction. Nation (1999) reviews a variety of criteria for classifying collocations and chunks and suggests approaches to instructional sequencing and treatment for different types of collocations. Nattinger and DeCarrico propose using a functional schema for organizing instruction: Distinguishing lexical phrases as social interactions, necessary topics, and discourse devices seems to us the most effective distinction for pedagogical purposes, but that is not to say that a more effective way of grouping might not be found necessary in the wake of further research. (Nattinger and DeCarrico 1992: 185) Nattinger and DeCarrico provide exemplification of the lexical phrases that exemplify these categories for English and several other languages. Specific roles for teachers and learners are also assumed in a lexical approach. Lewis supports Krashen’s Natural Approach procedures and suggests that teacher talk is a major source of learner input in demonstrating how lexical phrases are used for different functional purposes. Willis proposes that teachers need to understand and manage a classroom methodology based on stages composed of Task, Planning, and Report. In general terms, Willis views the teacher’s role as one of creating an environment in which learners can operate effectively and then helping learners manage their own learning. This requires that teachers “abandon the idea of the teacher as ‘knower’ and concentrate instead on the idea of the learner as ‘discoverer’” (Willis 1990: 131). Others propose that learners make use of computers to analyze text data previously collected or made available “free-form” on the Internet. Here the learner assumes the role of data analyst constructing his or her own linguistic generalizations based on examination of large corpora of language samples taken from “real life.” In such schemes, teachers have a major responsibility for organizing the technological system and providing scaffolding to help learners build autonomy in use of the system. The most popular computer-based applications using corpora are built on the presentation of concordance lines to the learner that illustrate the con-texts of use of some words or structures. However, learners need training in how to use the concordancer effectively. Teaching assistance will be necessary in leading the learner, by example, through the different stages of lexical analysis such as observation, classification, and generalization. Materials and teaching resources to support lexical approaches in language teaching are of at least four types. Type 1 consists of complete course packages including texts, tapes, teacher’s manuals, and so on, such as the Collins COBUILD English Course (Willis

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

and Willis 1989). Type 2 is represented by collections of vocabulary teaching activities such as those that appear in Lewis’s Implementing the Lexical Approach (Lewis 1997). Type 3 consists of “printout” versions of computer corpora collections packaged in text format. Tribble and Jones (1990) include such materials with accompanying student exercises based on the corpora printouts. Type 4 materials are computer concordancing programs and attached data sets to allow students to set up and carry out their own analyses. These are typically packaged in CD-ROM form, such as Oxford’s Micro Concord, or can be downloaded from sites on the Internet. An example of the kinds of displays that appear in text materials and in the concordancing displays from which the printout materials derive is illustrated below. The difference between how the vocabulary items “predict” and “forecast” are used and how they collocate is not easy to explain. However, access to these items in context in the computer corpus allows students (and their teachers) to see how these words actually behave in authentic textual use. Corpus samples are usually presented in the limited context form exemplified here. Some contexts of PREDICT 1. involved in copper binding. Our findings predict that examples of selective editing of mitocho. 2. the stratosphere. The present models predict that a cooling of the winter polar vortex by 3. analysis of this DNA we are able to predict the complete amino-acid sequence of the polyp 4. or this problem use the survey data to predict values on the vertical profile; by contrast, 5. the calcium-voltage hypothesis would predict an increase in release, locked in time to the Some contexts of FORECAST 1. calculations a second. The center makes forecasts 10 days ahead for 18 national meteorological 2. any action whose success hinges on a forecast being right. They might end up doing a lot 3. stands up in the House of Commons to forecast Britain’s economic performance for the next 4. vice labor of its people. This gloomy forecast can be better understood by looking closely

Didáctica del Inglés II

5. But three months earlier the secret forecast carried out by Treasury economists suggested PROCEDURE Procedural sequences for lexically based language teaching vary depending on which of the four types of materials and activities outlined in the preceding section are employed. However, all designers, to some degree, assume that the learner must take on the role of “discourse analyst,” with the discourse being either packaged data or data “found” via one of the text search computer programs. Classroom procedures typically involve the use of activities that draw students’ attention to lexical collocations and seek to enhance their retention and use of collocations. Woolard (2000) suggests that teachers should reexamine their course books for collocations, adding exercises that focus explicitly on lexical phrases. They should also develop activities that enable learners to discover collocations themselves, both in the classroom and in the language they encounter outside of the classroom. Woolard (2000: 35) comments: The learning of collocations is one aspect of language development which is ideally suited to independent language learning. In a very real sense, we can teach students to teach themselves. Collocation is mostly a matter of noticing and recording, and trained students should be able to explore texts for themselves. Not only should they notice common collocations in the texts they meet, but more importantly, they should select those collocations which are crucial to their particular needs. Hill (2000) suggests that classroom procedures involve (a) teaching individual collocations, (b) making students aware of collocation, (c) extending what students already know by adding knowledge of collocation restrictions to known vocabulary, and (d) storing collocations through encouraging students to keep a lexical notebook. Lewis (2000: 20-21) gives the following example of how a teacher extends learners’ knowledge of collocations while giving feedback on a learner’s error. S: I have to make an exam in the summer. (T indicates mistake by facial expression.) S: I have to make an exam. T: (Writes ‘exam’ on the board.) What verb do we usually use with “exam”? S2: Take. T: Yes, that’s right. (Writes “take” on the board.) What other verbs do we use with “exam”? S2: Pass. T: Yes. And the opposite? S: Fail.

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

(Writes “pass” and “fail” on the board.) And if you fail an exam, sometimes you can do it again. What’s the verb for that? (Waits for response.) No? OK, retake. You can retake an exam. (Writes “retake” on the board.) If you pass an exam with no problems, what can you say? I . . . passed. S2: Easily. T: Yes, or we often say “comfortably.” I passed comfortably. What about if you get 51 and the pass mark is 50? What can you say? I . . . (Waits for response.) No? I just passed. You can also just fail. CONCLUSION The status of lexis in language teaching has been considerably enhanced by developments in lexical and linguistic theory, by work in corpus analysis, and by recognition of the role of multiword units in language learning and communication. However, lexis still refers to only one component of communicative competence. Lewis and others have coined the term lexical approach to characterize their proposals for a lexis-based approach to language teaching. However, such proposals lack the full characterization of an approach or method as described in this book. It remains to be convincingly demonstrated how a lexically based theory of language and language learning can be applied at the levels of design and procedure in language teaching, suggesting that it is still an idea in search of an approach and a methodology.

DidĂĄctica del InglĂŠs II

PART TWO

The Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA)

Objectives 1. To provide a foundation for using the cognitive academic language learning approach. (CALLA). 2. To identify the components of the CALLA model.

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

WHAT IS CALLA1 The COGNITIVE ACADEMIC LANGUAGE LEARNING APPROACH (CALLA) is an instructional model that we developed to meet the academic needs of students learning English as a second language in American schools. Language minority students represent a dramatically increasing percentage of the school age population in the United States and in some schools, cities, and entire geographic areas are the majority population rather than a minority. Language minority students in this and in other countries have historically encountered difficulties in learning the majority language and in academic achievement. Various reasons for these difficulties have been suggested, including a cultural mismatch with the majority culture, failure to provide for initial cognitive and linguistic success in the first language, and inadequate curriculum, instruction, and staff development. Our own view has focused on attempts to strengthen instruction, curriculum, and staff development during the critical period in which language minority students are initially gaining mastery over English, and particularly while they are encountering academic content in English in preparation for the transition to grade-level classrooms. Since the initial conceptualization of CALLA, we have enlarged and refined the model so that it is both more specific and more encompassing in its components and applications. Not only have we devoted considerable effort to staff development —through workshops, presentations, and personal and sustained contacts which schools— but we have developed materials integrating CALLA that can be used by teachers and students in classrooms. Through our contacts with teachers, schools, and students, we have gained experience and suggestions on the most effective methods for implementing CALLA, the design of effective teacher and student materials, and the potential areas to which CALLA can be extended. This book represents a distillation of those experiences and suggestions and is intended in every sense to be a “handbook” for implementing CALLA in schools, that is, a reference book or manual that can be easily accessed and consulted. BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE The idea for CALLA grew out of research we conducted in the early and mid 1980s and prior experiences with instructional programs and staff development in ESL and other second language programs, including bilingual education. Our research built on earlier research on learning strategies and cognition conducted with English speaking students and on the first studies of learning strategies in second language acquisition. This research interested us because it identified some of the characteristics of effective learners, including second language learners and because some of the studies in first language contexts were showing that strategies could be successfully taught to less effective learners. Research methodology and finding in these studies were helpful in guiding us as we 1

Chamot, Anna Uhl and J. Michael O´Malley. THE CALLA Handbook. Addison–Wesley, U.S.A., 1994.

Didáctica del Inglés II

developed a research design for our initial work. Each of us had very different experiences in instructional programs, one (Chamot) primarily as a language teacher, teacher educator, program designer, and materials developer, and the other (O’Maltey) in assessment, evaluation, and research. LEARNING STRATEGIES Our own research started with an investigation of the learning strategies used by beginning and intermediate-level high school ESL students nominated by teachers as having high academic ability. In this study, we interviewed students and asked. them to describe special methods or “tricks” they used for various language learning activities selected to represent their classroom instruction. These effective language learners were very much aware of their own mental processes and could describe these processes in some detail. Although the students could describe their own thinking and learning strategies, most of their teachers were unable to describe how their students learned what was taught to them. We used Information from the student interviews to describe, classify, and analyze strategies used by effective and less effective language learners for different types of language tasks, both within and beyond the classroom. One important finding was that students often used combinations of strategies in complex and interesting ways. Having identified a number of learning strategies used by ESL students who were encountering success in their efforts to learn English, we next embarked on an experimental study to find out if some of the learning strategies used by effective ESL students could be successfully taught to other ESL students in a classroom setting. This study revealed that students can learn to use learning strategies through instruction and that the use of learning strategies can improve performance on language learning tasks. One indirect outcome of the experimental study was a reconsideration of the role of the student. In the experimental study, for example, we had taught a single set of strategies and found that they were not adopted by all students, particular with less complex tasks such as vocabulary learning. On more complex language tasks, such as listening and speaking, fewer students had already developed their own strategies, and they were more amenable to new suggestions. We concluded that students should have an important role in selecting strategies from a menu and in adapting strategies to different types of tasks. We also learned that learning strategy instruction requires a thoughtful reconsideration of the teacher’s role. Once students begin to regulate their own learning through a strategic approach to learning tasks, they are no longer totally dependent on the teacher. Because of this, successful learning strategy teachers undergo an important shift in their instructional approach. Simply using ample amounts of language and conveying Information and skills are insufficient methods to support learning. Instead, teachers should be aware of their students’ approaches to learning and expand the students’ repertoires of

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin TĂtulo PedagĂłgico en Lengua Extranjera

strategic approaches by involving them as collaborators in developing the knowledge and processes needed to attain common goals. In our third study of ESL students, we focused on the differences in strategy use of more and less effective students on listening comprehension tasks. Not only did effective learners use more strategies than less effective learners, but they used strategies that seemed particularly appropriate for listening comprehension. In other words, effective listeners were able to select and use strategies that were especially helpful in understanding an oral text. By asking students to â&#x20AC;&#x153;think aloud as the; performed listening tasks in English, we confirmed the complexity of strategy combinations discovered earlier and obtained a rich record of the ways in which students adapted strategies based on their own experiences and knowledge. In subsequent research with foreign language students, we confirmed the finding that differences between more and less effective learners are not so much in the number of overall strategies used, but in how the strategies are used and whether they are appropriate for the student and the task. We began to see that the type of task is a major determiner of what strategy or strategies can be used most effectively for different types of students. For example, we found that some strategies used by beginning-level effective language learners are used less by the same learners when they reach intermediate-level classes and that new strategies are developed to meet the requirements of new tasks. We also explored (and are continuing to explore) how best to teach learning strategies to second language learners and how to help teachers incorporate learning strategy instruction in their classrooms. Our research has convinced us that most students can profit from instruction in learning strategies. ESL students, In particular, often need learning strategies to help them cope with the dual demands of learning a new language and learning academic content through that new language. Since the early years of our own research program, our understanding of second language learning strategies has also grown through the work of other researchers who continue to identify the strategies used by successful language learners in both ESL and foreign language contexts. ACADEMIC LANGUAGE SKILLS At the same time that we were becoming convinced of the positive role that learning strategy instruction could play in second language acquisition, we became increasingly aware that most ESL programs were not completely successful in preparing upper elementary and secondary students for grade-level content classrooms. Teachers and administrators were expressing concern that ESL students who apparently could speak and understand English fairly well were nevertheless encountering serious difficulties in content classrooms where they were expected to use English as a tool for learning. Cummins had recently published his research on immigrant stu-

Didáctica del Inglés II

dents in Canada, in which he found that while most students learned sufficient. English to engage in social communication in about two years, they typically needed five to seven years to acquire the type of language skills needed for successful participation in content classrooms. He described these types of language skills-as cognitive academic language proficiency, which is much slower to develop than social interactive language skills”. ‘The cognitive demands of the tasks for .which academic language is used and- the fact that academic language is frequently not supported by the rich array of non-verbal and contextual clues that characterize the language of face-to-face interaction, make academic language more difficult to learn. ACADEMIC CONTENT In reviewing Cummins’s work, which has since been confirmed and extended in American settings by Collier, we wondered if changes in ESL instructional programs could-in-.any way shorten the amount of time students need to develop academic language-skills in English. Meanwhile, we had also been studying Mohan’s work advocating the integration of language and content for ESL instruction. Another body of research which influenced our thinking was the work of DeAvila and Duncan and Cohen, DeAvila, and Intili, in which an innovative science and mathematics program was successful not only in teaching science and mathematics to language minority students not yet proficient in English, but was also extraordinarily effective in developing students English language proficiency. Considering the work of researchers such as Cummins, DeAvila, and Mohan, we began to examine the problems encountered by ESL students in attaining academic success from the dual perspectives of curriculum and instruction. We proposed adding academic content to the ESL curriculum to better prepare students for grade-level content classrooms, and at the same time we proposed using explicit instruction in learning strategies as the principal method for delivering content-ESL instruction. This is how the concept of CALLA was born. While we were developing our ideas in written form (having borrowed part of Cummins’s term cognitive academic language proficiency for the name of our approach), a number of other researchers and practitioners also began to advocate the inclusion of content in ESL instruction. In fact, just after we completed the manuscript for the original CALLA monograph published by the National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education, we were invited to attend a conference organized by the Center for Applied Linguistics on integrating Language and content in ESL, where we shared some of the ideas we had developed in the course of writing the monograph. We were encouraged to see that other researchers and educators had also been reaching similar conclusions about the need for change in ESL curriculum. In ensuing years the Center for Applied Linguistics has sponsored a number of publications on integrating language and content, as has the National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education. Mohan has continued to expand and refine his Integrated Language and Content

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(ILC) model, and he and his colleagues have added numerous practical teaching activities. Cantoni-Harvey has-outlined a number of teacher oriented suggestions for content-based ESL instruction, and Enright and McCloskey have provided a rich source of ideas and techniques for introducing thematic units which include content into ESL teaching. More recently Snow, Met, and Genesee outlined a model of content-based language instruction which provides guidelines for systematically analyzing language which is essential or obligatory in a particular content area, and language which is compatible with a content area and can be easily taught through content activities. Spanos recently reviewed current initiatives and programs for integrated language and content instruction programs. INFLUENCE OF COGNITIVE THEORY Another major influence in the development of CALLA has been research on cognition and instruction conducted with native English-speaking students. In the last ten years our understanding has been continually expanded by the insights of researchers such as Pressley and his colleagues, who have identified the learning strategies in different areas of the curriculum that have significant research support. We also have benefited from studying and seeking ESL applications of the work of first language researchers in specific content areas such as reading, writing, and problem-solving in mathematics and science. There has been a continuing and substantial influence on our thinking from cognitive theory. This influence began just after our first descriptive and theoretical studies of learning strategies in ESL had been completed and after the first CALL monograph had been published. We began our analysis of cognitive theory with the work of John Anderson at the suggestion of a colleague, Carol Walker, with whom we published the first examination of how cognitive theory applies to second language acquisition. We continue to rely heavily on Anderson’s work in our theory formulations, although we have expanded our views considerably based on writings of others such as Gagné, Shuell, Weinstein and Mayer, and Zimmerman and Pons. Finally, we have been and continue to be guided in our development of the CALLA model by the experiences of teachers and students in school districts around the country. Their input and suggestions have been invaluable in identifying what works in CALLA classrooms.

Didáctica del Inglés II

Background and Rationale  Most students can profit from instruction in learning strategies.  Many students lack academic language skills that would enable them to use English as a tool for learning.  Adding academic content to the ESL curriculum prepares students for grade-level content classroom.  CALLA has been influenced and supported by cognitive theory research, and ongoing classroom use.

Overview of CALLA THE CALLA APPROACH The CALLA approach is targeted at language minority students at the advanced beginning and intermediate levels of English language proficiency. CALLA is designed to assist ESL students to succeed in school by providing transitional instruction from either standard ESL programs or bilingual programs to grade-level content classrooms. CALLA was originally developed to meet the academic needs of three types of ESL students: • Students who have developed social communicative skills through beginning level ESL classes or through exposure to an English-speaking environment, but have not yet developed academic language skills appropriate to their grade level; • Students who have acquired academic language skills in their native language and initial proficiency in English, but who need assistance in transferring concepts and skills learned in the first language to English; and • Bilingual English-dominant students who have not yet developed academic language skills in either language. Since this initial formulation, we have gained considerable experience in seeing CALLA applied to other types of students and in other types of settings, as will be described in this book. CALLA integrates grade-appropriate content topics, academic language development, and explicit instruction and practice in using learning strategies to acquire both declarative and procedural knowledge in the content areas. CALLA lessons are designed following a comprehensive lesson plan model that is based in part on cognitive theory and in part on efforts to integrate language, content, and learning strategies. in all CALLA lessons, the content always is selected first through curriculum alignment. The content determines the academic language objectives and the types of learning strategies that are appropriate. Because CALLA lessons are cognitively demanding, they rely heavily on scaf-

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folding: the provision of extensive instructional supports when concepts and skills are being first introduced and the gradual removal of supports when students begin to develop greater proficiency, skills, or knowledge. THE CALLA MODEL The CALLA model includes three components and instructional objectives in its curricular and instructional design: topics from the major content subjects) the development of academic language skills and explicit instruction in learning strategies for both content and language acquisition: CONTENT TOPICS. The content topics are aligned with an all-English curriculum so that practice is provided with a selection of actual topics students will encounter in gradelevel classrooms. We have recommended introducing the content areas gradually so that students do not become .overwhelmed with both language and content. The first content subject introduced should either have extensive contextual supports for learning or reduced language demands: We have suggested beginning with science: instruction” because a discovery and hands-on approach to science is compatible with providing ample contextual support for academic language development. We also believe that the intrinsic interest of science to many students is a built-in motivator for effective. learning. The next content subject that can be introduced in a CALLA program is mathematics, which has its own unique language, especially in solving word problems, but which nevertheless has fewer language demands man some of the other content areas. Social studies is the third content subject introduced in a recommended CALLA program, although some teachers have suggested that geography in particular can be introduced much earlier because of the reduced language demands and the potential relationship to students’ prior knowledge. Language arts might be introduced last in a CALLA program, although there are arguments that can be made for introducing some aspects of language arts much earlier, especially where stories have cultural relevance or where writing expresses personal experiences. Throughout the introduction of content, CALLA teachers do not repeat what is taught in grade-level content area classrooms, but rather strive to enable students to experience success through teaching in depth rather than in breadth. CALLA teachers also encourage students to use higher-order thinking skills from the onset or instruction by a variety of means that reduce the language demands for conceptual, activity in content areas. ACADEMIC LANGUAGE SKILLS. The second component of CALLA, academic language development, includes all four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) in daily lessons on the content subject. Language is .used as a function al tool for learning academic subject matter. Students learn not just the vocabulary and grammar of the

Didáctica del Inglés II

content area but also. Learn important concepts and skills using academic language.’’ Students learn the language functions that are important for performing effectively in the content area, such as analyzing, evaluating, justifying, and persuading. Students develop academic language skills in English through cognitively demanding activities in which comprehension is assisted by contextual sup-ports and in which scaffolded instruction guides the acquisition of content. LEARNING STRATEGY INSTRUCTION. The third and central component of CALLA is instruction in learning strategies. We emphasize repeatedly that Students who are mentally active and who analyze and reflect on their’ learning activities will learn, retain, and be able to use new information more effectively. Furthermore, students will be able to learn and apply strategies more effectively with new tasks if they verbalize and describe their efforts to apply strategies with learning activities. Based on our own research and studies by others, we identify three major types of strategies: Metacognitive, Cognitive, and Social/Affective. Learning strategies are selected in CALLA lessons based on the specific type of strategy that seems most suited for the content materials and language task. For example, if the task- entails reading a passage in science, strategies appropriate for analyzing text organization and deriving meaning from science texts would be appropriate. Other strategies are appropriate for solving word problems in mathematics, for conducting and reporting on experiments in science, for researching and reporting on social studies activities, and for reading and conveying the meaning in literature. Appropriate strategy combinations might be selected depending on their suitability for the task and the Students. Strategies are taught explicitly by naming. the strategy, telling Students what the strategy does to assist learning, and then providing ample instructional supports while Students practice and apply the strategy. The objective is to provide Students with a menu from which they can select strategies they have found to be appropriated for specific types o f learning activities and tasks. Because the research on strategy instruction with second language acquisition is still developing, we rely on research with first language tasks and the consistency of CALLA with cognitive theory in order to derive a more complete understanding of how to implement strategy instruction. Any instructional approach such as CALLA should be based on a theory that meets at least three criteria: (a) it is grounded in research, (b) it explains what is learned as well as how it is learned, and (c) it provides guidance for instruction. More specifically, for our purposes, the theory must say something about how academic content is learned as well as how language is learned and why the use of learning strategies results in improved learning. Furthermore, the theory should say something about learning in two languages. We have reviewed the research on learning extensively and found many answers in cognitive theory that we do not find elsewhere, including explanations for both basic as well as complex forms of learning.

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Part of the importance of cognitive theory concerns the model both students and teachers have of learning. That is, what is learned and how do teachers or students believe that second language learning occurs? The way that second language learning is believed to occur often determines how teachers teach and how students learn. WHAT IS LEARNED? Cognitive theory provides insights that enable us to examine these personal theories. Some students believe that the major task in second language acquisition is to learn the vocabulary. Other students who recognize that more complicated elements are involved nevertheless believe that what they know in their first language is irrelevant for second language acquisition. An example will serve to illustrate the point. In one of the studies we conducted, we asked high school students learning English as a second language to identify learning strategies (“special ways of learning”) for specific tasks of the kind they experienced in their ESL classrooms. One high school student from a Spanish-speaking country was asked to think aloud while performing a science task. She indicated that she was uncertain how to proceed or what to do. As a result, she not only sup-plied little information about the correct solution but was .uninformative concerning the use of learning strategies. However, in response to probe questions, she indicated that she had received instruction in this area in her native country, but that “that was in Spanish and this (the task which she was asked to perform) is in English.” This student was expressing a view of learning based on an inaccurate but prevalent model of second language learning.

Some students fail to recognize their own knowledge when problems are presented in a new language.

COGNITIVE THEORY. What does a cognitive theory have to say about this example? How is the Information to which the student did not believe she had access stored in memory? Can it be retrieved and used? Is there some device that would enable this and other students to capitalize on what they do know rather than be troubled by what they do not know?

Didáctica del Inglés II

The cognitive model of learning indicates that learning is an active, dynamic process in which learners select information from their environment, organize the information, relate it to what they already know, retain what they consider to be important, use the information in appropriate contexts, and reflect on the success of their learning efforts. Cognitive theories of learning begin with a distinction between three types of functions in memory.” We use the term functions to indicate that we are discussing mental functions based on developmental, cognitive, and information processing theory, rather than mental structures based on neural or anatomical components of the brain. However, neural components which accompany or parallel observed mental functions may be occurring. KIND OF MEMORY. There appears to be a long-term memory in which information of the kind the student remembered in Spanish is stored along with much other information derived from personal experience and education. A short-term memory is used to remember telephone numbers and other similar information that is unimportant to retain more than a few moments or is easily forgotten. There also seems to be a working memory in which we manipulate information, as in performing mathematical calculations, solving problems”, reorganizing information, or comparing what we already know with new information just being presented. We modify and expand on information in long-term memory based on new information that is stored in short-term memory or manipulated while in working memory. The student in our example was using her working memory to think about the problem at hand, but did not recognize that her long-term memory contained relevant information that would help .in the solution. In a sense, the student’s preconceived model of what was relevant for the problem solution (only information in the same language) led her to fail in matching the pattern of the “problem in English” to the “problem in Spanish.” We would say that she did not use elaboration as a strategy to connect what she already knew with the problem she needed to solve. DECLARATIVE KNOWLEDGE. Why do we believe that the information this student had learned in Spanish was accessible? Most information is stored in long-term memory as either declarative knowledge or procedural knowledge. Declarative knowledge consists of “what” we know or can declare, and procedural knowledge consists of the things that we know “how” to do. Declarative knowledge is stored in memory frameworks or schemata that are interconnected concepts and ideas. The connections between these concepts are extremely complex and may result from formal education, such as the hierarchy of the animal kingdom, or other experience’s in which we sometimes link objects, people, or concepts in idiosyncratic ways. Depending on prior learning experiences, the concepts are connected with varying strengths of association such that recall of one concept will evoke recall of others. The information stored through schemata can be altered when we have new. experiences that add to, expand upon, or challenge some of the previous information. There is an

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advantage to linking previous knowledge with new concepts because schemata can be modified or expanded rather than constructed anew. There is no reason to believe that the memory schemata in one language cannot be used to assist solving problems or understanding similar information in a second language, provided that the concepts in each language are similar. Often the memory of one item in a schemata will jog the recall of other items with which it is linked or connected down a memory pathway. Such connections occur when people free associate or engage in brainstorming, an approach apparently not considered-by the student in the example. PROCEDURAL KNOWLEDGE. The second way of storing information in memory, procedural knowledge, concerns what we know “how” to do. This includes both simple and complex physical or mental procedures. Procedural knowledge is stored in memory as production systems. Production systems consist of a series of steps in which there is a “condition” and an “action.” The condition and action are connected by an IF—THEN sequence, usually with an intermediate “and” clause, which controls whether or not the action follows from the condition. Production systems can be used to explain a variety of language and other complex mental procedures, including learning strategies and problem solving. Production systems may be the basis for storing’ information in memory that permits individuals to express communicative competence. Canale and Swain define communicative competence as the ability to use grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse, and strategic skills. An individual who is communicatively competent in a second language might engage in the following exchange. 1. IF my goal is to engage in conversation with Sally, and Sally is monolingual in English, THEN the subgoal is to use my second language. 2. IF my goal is to use my second language, THEN the subgoal is to initiate a conversation. (sociolinguistic competence) 3.

IF my goal is to initiate a conversation, THEN my subgoal is to say a memorized greeting. / (discourse competence) 4. IF my goal is to say a memorized greeting, and the context is an informal one, THEN choose the appropriate language style. (Sociolinguistic competence) 5. IF my goal is to choose an appropriate language style, THEN the subgoal is to say, “How’s it going, Sally?” (grammatical and sociolinguistic competence)

Didáctica del Inglés II

This example illustrates some important features of production systems. First, they are oriented toward attaining specific goals, such as interpersonal goals in communication. Second, they are conditional and may proceed in a number of directions depending on the “and” portion of the production. The speaker checks on the identity of the person to be greeted, determines that she is monolingual in English, and then formulates a statement. If the condition specified in the “and” portion is not met, the production could go in an entirely different direction. Third, production systems are sequential. The last clause of each individual production cues the first clause of the next. A fourth feature is their flexibility. At each step, because of the conditionality of the “and” clause, a number of different types of conditions can be accommodated. The example could continue with a series of other exchanges depending on the way in which the person responds to the greeting. Production systems can also be used to represent the way that learning strategies are stored in memory. Imagine a student using a learning strategy such as inferring meaning while reading. The student encounters an unfamiliar word, determines that the word is important to understand the sentence, pauses to reflect on the meaning of the overall paragraph and sentence in which the word occurs, and determines if the position of the word provides a clue to meaning. The following production system illustrates this: 1. IF I encounter a word I don’t know, and the word is needed to understand the sentence, THEN guess the meaning of the word. 2. IF I want to guess the meaning of the word, and the word is connected to the paragraph meaning, THEN determine if the paragraph meaning cues the word. 3. IF the paragraph meaning does not cue the word meaning, and I still believe the word is important, THEN determine the word’s part of speech. 4. IF I want to find the word’s part of speech, and the word conveys the action of the sentence, THEN the word must be a verb. 5. IF the word is a verb, and the sentence occurs in the past, THEN the verb must be in the past tense. As with the previous example, this illustration shows how production systems are goaloriented, conditional, sequential, and flexible.

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PRODUCTION SYSTEMS IN MATH PROBLEM SOLVING. Another example illustrates how production systems can be used to represent the complex mental procedures used in mathematics problem solving. In one of our studies, we tape-recorded the responses of a group of elementary and secondary school language minority students with intermediate-level skills in English as they verbalized solutions to math word problems. Some of the students had received CALLA instruction in learning and problem-solving strategies for half a school year, while others were in regular high intensity English language training. Part of the CALLA instruction entailed familiarizing students with a five-point checklist for solving problems that, in one form or another, is represented in many middle grade math texts and is based on Polya’s problem-solving procedure. The five steps are as follows: • Understand the question. • Find the needed data. • Develop a plan. • Solve the problem. • Check back. The students with CALLA instruction responded by identifying more learning strategies and more often mentioned these problem-solving steps in the correct sequence than did students without CALLA instruction. They had mastered an involved procedural skill and were able to apply this skill or strategy on novel problems. A highly complex set of cognitive processes is involved in this type of mental activity. The set of procedures associated with solving math word problems is stored in longterm memory, which the students learned through CALLA instruction. When the students see a new word problem, they analyze the similarity between this problem and other problems they have experienced. Recognizing a similarity, they know that the strategies which worked previously are likely to work on this new problem. They approach the problem by using these problem-solving steps, verbalizing the process as they seek to understand the problem. They then find the data needed for the solution, develop a plan, execute the plan, and check back to ensure that the procedure resulted in a correct solution. METACOGNITIVE KNOWLEDGE. A considerable amount of metacognitive knowledge is required to recognize the similarity between new and previous problems. Awareness of this knowledge is a first step in the problem solution. Metacognitive knowledge entails matching the pattern of the new problem with the pattern of the problems experienced in the past, and applying strategies that worked in the past to the problem at hand. This type of matching requires the use of declarative knowledge since long-term memory contains experiences with problems that have similar features. Production systems

Didáctica del Inglés II

can nevertheless be used to show how problem-solving steps of this kind are stored in memory: 1. IF I want to solve this problem, and the problem is like other problems where the problem-solving steps have worked (as determined from the pattern match), THEN try to use the same problem-solving steps here. 2. IF the first problem-solving step is to understand the question, and the sentence with the question ends with. a question mark, THEN look for the sentence with the question mark.etc. This particular set of problem-solving steps is highly domain dependent, that is, they are particularly suited to solving math word problems. However, other problem-solving steps would be stored in a similar manner, as in science problem solving. HOW IS NEW INFORMATION LEARNED? Apart from identifying the ways in which intonation is stored in memory, why is the distinction between declarative and procedural knowledge important? The major reason is that declarative and procedural knowledge appear to be learned in different ways. Furthermore, the information is retrieved from memory in different ways as well. This has implications for what teachers should do during instruction and what students should do while learning. LEARNING DECLARATIVE KNOWLEDGE. Declarative knowledge is learned most effectively by capitalizing on existing memory structures or schemata and building on previous knowledge. In learning new information in a content area, students should identify what they already know about the material, even if what they know consists of a few words or some preliminary concepts in their native language. They can expand on this knowledge by checking what they know against new information being presented, by looking for the organization of the new knowledge to determine if it matches their familiar organization, and by looking for new concepts that expand on previous concepts. The more ways In which new Information is linked to existing Information, the stronger the associations become and the easier it should be to remember. Contrast two types of learning processes—learning by repetition and learning by elaboration. In learning by repetition, students “go over and over” a list of vocabulary or other items, forming minimal linkages with existing schemata. In learning by elaboration, students develop images of new words, organize new words into groups, think of what they know about the concept the word represents, try to use words in sentences, act out sentences, and otherwise build strong associations in multiple ways with existing memory. Cognitive theory indicates that the greater Linkages and pathways to existing memory frameworks will lead to enhanced learning and recall, which is, in fact, what typically occurs.

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LEARNING PROCEDURAL KNOWLEDGE. In contrast to declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge is learned most effectively through practicing a complex procedure that has meaning and achieves an important goal. This can be contrasted with rule-based memorization of which condition-action sequences go together or which production systems occur in the correct sequence. For example, in language learning, one can learn numerous rules, such as the following: IF the goal is to generate a plural of a noun, and the noun ends in a voiceless consonant, THEN generate the noun +/s/.

However, when there are many such rules, as there are in language, individuals often nave difficulty recalling which rule applies in a particular instance, and find that they need to refer to the rule whenever performing a skill. Requiring individuals to remember the rules for execution of each step in the sequence is tedious and prolongs learning of the complete action sequence. A preferred method of learning procedural knowledge is to identify manageable but meaningful and integrated components of the complete process, gain partial mastery over the components by practicing them with feedback, and piece them together to make a complete action sequence that achieves a communication goal. The feedback can be either from the teacher or from more skilled peers. This avoids the tedious learning and compilation of minuscule pieces of knowledge based on rules that are difficult to combine and never seem to achieve a meaningful end. Individuals can improve execution of a complete process through practice until it looks like “expert” performance by modeling an ideal performance or by referring back to the rules only as needed for refinements in performance. When students have mastered a complex cognitive process, they can perform it rapidly and with a minimum of errors. At this point, a complex cognitive process may be performed without awareness of the many steps and decisions made while it is being executed. WHAT SUCCESSFUL LANGUAGE LEARNERS DO. We have encountered a number of examples of accomplished language learners who avoid rule-based learning by practicing complete and meaningful components of complex language procedures. In these cases, the students’ model of learning coincided with cognitive theory. One second language student approached reading in the second language by looking through authentic passages for words that she recognized in order to piece together some impression of the meaning of the passage. She reflected on what she knew about the topic, building on her declarative knowledge, even though it was in an unfamiliar language. She then returned to reread the passage, inferring the meaning of unfamiliar words only as necessary to understand the message. She gained a better understanding of the intent and message being communicated as well as the use of the language in authentic contexts. As she developed more competence, she would develop an advanced organizer of the topic, the elements discussed, and how they were linked together to

Didáctica del Inglés II

communicate the message, just as she would in English. This is in contrast to reading from the first word in the passage, looking up all unfamiliar words, trying to remember the rules for word and sentence formation, etc., as far too many students actually do. Individuals can have declarative knowledge about a complex mental procedure such as a learning strategy but not be able to apply the strategy effectively without conscious effort and deliberation. Verbalizing the strategy application with various materials early in the learning process aids in establishing control over the strategy use. Through repeated applications of the strategy with various learning materials, the individual can gradually “proceduralize” or learn to use the strategy automatically so that it functions rapidly and without errors with specific tasks. This eases the burden on short-term memory, which can then focus on the passage meaning. Individuals can ease proceduralization of learning ‘strategies. and other production systems by taking the “high road” to learning or by recognizing parallels between new tasks and more familiar tasks on which the strategy has been applied in the past, thereby transferring the strategy. In contrast, using the “low road” to learning, individuals treat the strategy as if it must be relearned because they do not recognize the way in which it has been used previously. Verbalizing strategy use helps learners link potential strategy uses. IMPLICATIONS FOR INSTRUCTION One direct implication for instruction is that teachers should be able to identify declarative and procedural knowledge in their instructional materials and in the contend areas. By capitalizing on ways in which each of these types of information are learned most effectively, teachers will take a major step toward facilitating learning by their students. Another implication is that both students and teachers should be aware of the strategies that students use while learning. By gaining greater aware-ness of initial strategy use by students, teachers and students can expand the repertoire of strategies the students are capable of using with new materials. A third implication is that teachers can play an active role in influencing strategy use and in assisting students in using strategies more effectively. At least one more implication is that students can take command over their own learning activities and initiate strategic applications that will lead them toward more autonomous learning. When students take control over their own learning, they see themselves as more effective and thereby gain in confidence with future learning activities. CALLA has many roots and parallel branches. Many educational reforms proposed within the last fifteen or more years can be traced to the thinking of psychologists such as Anderson, Ausubel, Bruner, Piaget, and Vygotsky. Each of these thinkers has advanced our understanding of human learning. Though each has chosen a somewhat different lens to investigate learning processes, each has operated from the basic belief that human beings think, seek knowledge, enjoy learning, and make intellectual leaps when the right

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conditions (developmental, experiential, social, individual) are present. In this section we trace some of the influents and parallel thinking that have guided our development of the CALLA model. First, and most important, CALLA is based on a cognitive model of learning. As explained earlier in this chapter, this means that we are more interested in what is going on in students’ minds than in their overt responses to stimuli: We believe that instruction should be guided by how students think and learn. Allied with this principle is the idea that language facilitates and illustrates thinking. Listening and reading give us access to the ideas of others, and speaking and writing provide us with the means of transforming ideas through our own individual experiences and outlooks. Theoretical Framework  Learning is an active and dynamic process.  Three types of knowledge declarative (knowledge of fact), procedural (knowledge of “how to” do things), metacognitive relate current learning task to past knowledge and learning procedures).  Declarative and procedural knowledge are learned in different ways and retrieved from memory in different ways.  Teachers should learn to recognize declarative an procedural knowledge in content materials identify strategies used by students and influences strategy use.  Students can take control over the own learning an develop independent learning skills.

Instructional innovations that are in harmony with the CALLA philosophy are many and varied. We discuss only some examples here, limiting our discussion to Language Across the Curriculum, the Language Experience Approach, Whole Language, Process Writing, Cooperative Learning, and Cognitive Instruction. LANGUAGE ACROSS THE CURRICULUM This model seeks to infuse language teaching and learning into all areas of the curriculum. In a Language Across the Curriculum model, all teachers, including science, mathematics, and social studies teachers, carry out language development activities associated with their individual content areas. This model was originally developed for native Englishspeaking students, but it has enormous potential in addressing the needs of language minority students. Parallels of the Language Across the Curriculum philosophy with CALLA are that language skills are practiced in all subjects, including mathematics and science.

Didáctica del Inglés II

CALLA has many roots and parallel branches.

LANGUAGE EXPERIENCE APPROACH The Language Experience Approach (LEA) was developed for native English-speaking students as a way of providing support for initial reading experiences. In this approach students learn that what is said can be written down and that what has been written down can be read.” The Language Experience Approach is based philosophically on the notion that students’ prior experience needs to be used as a bridge to new ideas and concepts. In this approach students talk about personal experiences, and this recounting is written down by the teacher, an aide, or another student. Later, the student and perhaps other classmates use the written-down account as a reading text. An important aspect of the Language Experience Approach is that vocabulary and grammatical structures- are experienced first within the language knowledge base known by students. The Language Experience Approach thus encompasses many of the same principles that underlie CALLA’s approach to literacy development and is particularly advantageous with beginning-level ESL students. WHOLE LANGUAGE This approach to literacy development is based on the belief that language should not be separated into component skills, but rather experienced as a whole system of communication. To this end, students are given many opportunities to interact with authentic texts, especially literature, and to use language for personal communicative purposes.

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Activities in a Whole Language classroom include reading aloud by the teacher, journal writing, story writing, sustained silent reading, higher-order thinking skills discussions about what is read, student choice in reading materials, and frequent conferences with the teacher and other students about what is being read and written. We agree that this philosophy and instructional approach is valuable for all students, including students learning English. While Whole Language approaches provide many suggestions on what should be read and experienced and how reading should not be taught (through decontextualized skill-based exercises), they are less specific on how reading development takes place and what instructional procedures can help students become better readers. In CALLA we have incorporated findings from current research on reading comprehension, and have focused on the benefits of reading strategy instruction.” We do not believe that reading authentic texts needs to be in opposition with strategy instruction for reading comprehension. PROCESS WRITING In Process Writing approaches students learn that writing involves thinking, reflection, and multiple revisions. Teachers model the writing process by thinking aloud about their own ideas, jotting them down, organizing them, developing a draft, reading it aloud, making revisions, asking students for their comments, and continuing to make more revisions. The classroom becomes a writing workshop in which students learn the craft of writing through discussion, sharing, and conferencing. Process Writing is recommended in CALLA classrooms for all types of writing and in all content areas. In addition, we believe that ESL students can profit from instruction in writing strategies just as instruction in using strategies and in self-regulation has proven beneficial for native English-speaking students. By teaching students effective strategies for planning, accessing prior knowledge, composing, and revising, and also teaching them how to select and manage writing strategies, teachers can help students develop both confidence and increased skill in their writing. COOPERATIVE LEARNING In Cooperative Learning students work in heterogeneous groups on learning tasks that are structured so that all students share in the responsibility for completing the task. While there are a number of models of Cooperative Learning, all provide multiple opportunities for students to engage in active practice of language and content. In Cooperative Learning, students of varying degrees of linguistic proficiency and content knowledge work in a group setting that fosters mutual learning rather than competitiveness.” For language minority students, the benefits of Cooperative Learning include additional practice with academic English, the use of the native language to draw on prior knowledge,

Didáctica del Inglés II

the incorporation of content into ESL classes, and the opportunity for students to become more independent learners. Teachers who set up cooperative activities in which group members have differing levels of English proficiency make it possible for students to help each other understand and complete the task. Cooperative Learning is an integral part of CALLA lessons. Cooperative Learning activities are featured in the Practice phase of the CALLA instructional sequence, and can also be used successfully during the Preparation phase when students are identifying their prior knowledge of a topic, during the Evaluation phase when students. assess their own level of learning and strategy use, and during the Expansion phase in which students make applications of the new information to their own lives. In CALLA, cooperation is identified as a particular learning strategy which is taught overtly so that students understand the value of working collaboratively on academic tasks. COGNITIVE INSTRUCTION Cognitive Instruction is used to describe a number of approaches to teaching thinking and to infuse thinking into all areas of the curriculum. New instructional approaches in science, mathematics; social studies, reading comprehension, and writing all share a common cognitive orientation. Students are seen as active co constructors of knowledge. The role of students’ prior knowledge is seen as a critical influence on the acquisition of new Information.” The curriculum calls for fewer topics and greater depth.” Teachers foster the development of higher-order thinking skills through challenging questions, modeling the learning process, and engaging in interactive dialogue with students.” Another common feature of cognitive instructional approaches is that learning strategies are taught explicitly. Students are told the names of particular strategies, they are given reasons for using the strategy, they observe the teacher modelling the strategy, and they are given opportunities to practice the strategy with ordinary classroom tasks. Later, the teacher leads a debriefing discussion in which students describe how they used the strategy and the degree to which it was effective for completing the learning task. Finally, the teacher suggests ways in which the student can apply the same strategy to different learning situations. CALLA is based on the same theory and research as the Cognitive Instruction models described for different subject areas. We have tried to identify general aspects of the Cognitive Instruction model which need to be adapted for ESL students, and specific adaptations which seem called for by the needs of students learning a new language.

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Related Instructional Concepts   Language Across the Curriculum practiced in all subjects.   The Language Experience Approach particularly advantageous with beginning level ESL students.   Process Writing recommended for all types of writing in all content areas.   Cooperative Learning a learning strategy taught overtly in CALLA.   Cognitive Instruction CALLA is based on cognitive theory and research.

DidĂĄctica del InglĂŠs II

PART THREE

Teaching listening Objectives 1. To explain top-down and bottom-up processing. 2. To identify different listening types: specific information, gist/global listening, inference. 3. To list examples of different task types. 4. To modify listening tasks to provide different types of practice.

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TEACHING LISTENING1 1. WHAT IS LISTENING? Every day we listen to many different things in many different ways, Whether it is conversation with a colleague, the TV news, or a new music CD, we listen. In our native language at least, we seem to automatically know “how to listen” and “what we are listening for.” To language learners, listening is far more challenging. In this chapter, we will explore how listening works and ways to help learners become more effective listeners. Listening is an active, purposeful process of making sense of what we hear. Language skills are often categorized as receptive or productive. Speaking and writing are the productive skills. Listening, along with reading, is a receptive skill. That is, it requires a person to receive and understand incoming information (input). Because listening is receptive, we can listen to and understand things at a higher level than we can produce. For this reason, people sometimes think of it as a passive skill. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Listening is very active. As people listen, they process not only what they hear but also connect it to other information they already know. Since listeners combine what they hear with their own ideas and experiences, in a very real sense they are “creating the meaning” in their own minds. As Buck (1995) points out, the assumption that listeners simply decode messages is mistaken, “(M)eaning is not in the text (text = whatever is being listened to)—but is something that is constructed by listeners based on a number of different knowledge sources.” Among those sources are knowledge of language, of what has already been said, of context, and general background knowledge. Listening is meaning based. When we listen, we are normally doing so for a purpose. You might even say we don’t listen to words, we listen to the meaning behind the words. Listening is often compared to reading, the other receptive skill. While the two do share some similarities, two major differences should be noted from the start. Firstly, listening usually happens in real time. That is, people listen and have to comprehend what they hear immediately. There is no time to go back and review, look up unknown words, etc. Secondly, although listening is receptive, it very often happens in the midst of a conversation— something which requires productive, spoken responses. To understand how listening works and how to teach it more effectively, start by thinking about your own listening. 2. BACKGROUND TO THE TEACHING OF LISTENING Historically, learning a foreign language meant learning to read and write. Listening was virtually ignored. Then, in the late 1800s, interest in using children’s learning of their 1

Nunan, David (Ed.) Practical English Language Teaching. McGraw-Hill, New York, 2003.

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first language as a model for foreign language teaching grew. One of the results was Gouin’s series method. It featured action and oral presentation of new language in which the teacher would make a series of statements (thus the name of the method), and would carry out the actions so that students could map what they saw on to what they heard. “I walk to the door.

I walk.

I draw near to the door.

I draw near.

I draw nearer to the door.

I draw nearer.

I get to the door.

I get to.

I stop at the door.

I stop.”

(Titone, 1968, cited in Richards and Rodgers, 2001) This is important since it represents the first time listening played a key role in language teaching methodology. Later, the reform movement promoted ideas such as the teaching of spoken, as opposed to written, language and that learners should hear language before seeing it in written form. Still later, the direct method, often associated with Charles Berlitz, promoted the teaching of listening comprehension and the idea that new teaching points should be introduced orally. In the years following World War II, the audiolingual method came to dominate foreign language teaching. The method, which was heavily influenced by the behavioral psychology of the day, emphasized MIM/MEM (mimicry/memorization) of new structures. As in the direct method, these were presented orally, before the learner saw the written form. The popularity of the audiolingual method paralleled the establishment of language laboratories for dialogue and pattern practice drills. In the 1970s and early 1980s, the introduction of communicative language teaching-the idea the student learns though the act of communication—increased the role of listening. During this period, Stephen Krashen’s input hypothesis made a major impact on language teaching. The input hypothesis says that, “for language learning to occur, it is necessary for the learner to understand input language which contains linguistic items that are slightly beyond the learner’s present linguistic competence. Learners understand such language using cues in the situation.” (Richards, et al., 1985) Put simply, we acquire language by meeting language that is a bit higher than our current level. Listening was seen as a major source of comprehensible input. Language learning textbooks began including listening activities that were not simply presentation of language to be produced. They were listening activities for input, the beginning of the kinds of listening tasks common in books today.

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3. PRINCIPLES FOR TEACHING LISTENING 3.1 Expose students to different ways of processing Information: bottom-up vs. top-down. To understand how people make sense of the stream of sound we all hear, it is helpful to think about how we process the input. A useful metaphor often used to explain reading but equally applicable to listening is “bottom-up vs. top-down processing,” proposed by Rumelhart and Ortony (1977) and expanded upon by Chaudron and Richards (1986), Richards (1990), and others. The distinction is based on the way learners attempt to understand what they read or hear. With bottom-up processing, students start with the component parts: words, grammar, and the like. Top-down processing is the opposite. Learners start from their background knowledge, either content schema (general information based on previous learning and life experience) or textual schema (awareness of the kinds of information used in a given situation) (See Long, 1989).

Figure 1. Bottom-up and top-down processing

The idea shown in Figure 1 is, perhaps, better understood by a metaphor. Imagine a brick wall. If you are standing at the bottom studying the wall brick by brick, you can easily see the details. It is difficult, however, to get an overall view of the wall. If, on the other hand, you’re sitting on the top of the wall, you can easily see the landscape. However, because of distance, you will miss some details. And, of course, the view is very different.

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Many students-especially those with years of “school English”-have learned via methods that stress the “parts” of English: vocabulary and grammatical structures. It is not surprising, therefore, that these learners try to process English from the bottom up. It can be difficult to experience what beginning-level learners go through. It is especially challenging to understand what they experience when listening to an article which you are reading. However, a reading task can be used to understand the nature of bottom-up processing. From there you can imagine the initial challenge of trying to make meaning out of aural input. Try reading the following from right to left. you as, time a at word one, slowly English process you When individual each of meaning the catch to easy is it, now doing are the of meaning overall the understand to difficult very is it, However. word passage. You understood the paragraph: When you process English slowly, one word at a time, as you are doing now, it is easy to catch the meaning of each individual word. However, it is very difficult to understand the overall meaning of the passage. While reading, however, it is likely you felt the frustration of “bottom-up” processing; you had to get each individual part before you could make sense of it. This is similar to what our students experience—and they’re having to wrestle with the meaning in a foreign language. Their previous training in language learning-this bottom-up processing habitgets in the way of effective listening. The opposite type of processing, “top-down,” begins with the listener’s life knowledge. Brown (2000) gives this example from a personal experience of buying postcards at an Austrian museum: I speak no German, but walked up to the counter after having calculated that the postcards would cost sixteen schillings. I gave the clerk a twenty-schilling note, she opened the till, looked in it, and said something in German. As a reflex, I dug in my pocket and produced a one-schilling coin and gave it to her. She smiled and handed me “a five.” I managed the transaction based on my prior knowledge of how one deals with change at a store. In some sense, I didn’t need German. I just needed my life experience.

He had no “bottom-up” resources (vocabulary, grammar) in German, but by making use of previous knowledge, he was able to work out the likely meaning. Schema are abstract notions we possess based on experiences. It is not possible to replace bottom-up with top-down, and it wouldn’t be desirable to do so even if we could. We need to help learners integrate the two. The following is my own real life example of how top-down and bottom-up processing can integrate: Visiting Rome, I was in the courtyard in front of St. Peter’s Basilica. A woman came up and asked me something in Italian, a language I don’t know. I looked at her with a puzzled expression.

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She asked a question again, this time simplifying it to one word: “Cappella?” I didn’t know what it meant but repeated, “Cappella?” She asked again, “Sistine Cappella?” Then I understood that she wanted to know if the big church in front of us was the Sistine Chapel. I replied, “No, San Pietro.” (I did know the Italian name of St. Peter’s.) I pointed to a building on the right side of the courtyard and said, “Sistine.” She said, “Grazie,” and walked off toward the Sistine Chapel. What happened in this short interaction was a combination of bottom-up and top-down processing. Recognizing the single word Sistine told me that cappella must mean chapel. We were standing in front of buildings. She was asking a question about a place. My topdown knowledge of what people might talk about-especially to strangers—said that she must be asking for directions. With a friend, you might comment on the size of the buildings or their beauty or something else, but with a stranger asking for directions or asking someone to take a picture seemed the only likely topics. Using both bottom-up data (the word, “Sistine”) and the top-down data (likely language function), I was able to understand what she wanted. In my case, this top-down/bottom-up integration happened by accident. In the classroom, prelistening activities are a good way to make sure it happens. Before listening, learners can, for example, brainstorm vocabulary related to a topic or invent a short dialogue relevant to functions such as giving directions or shopping. In the process, they base their information on their knowledge of life (top-down information) as they generate vocabulary and sentences (bottom-up data). The result is a more integrated attempt at processing. The learners are activating their previous knowledge. This use of the combination of top-down and bottom-up data is also called Interactive processing (Peterson, 2001).

Figure 2 Interactive processing

As useful and important as prelistening activities are, Buck (1995) criticizes books that “provide twenty minutes of prelistening activities for about three minutes of listening

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practice. This is unbalanced. We need prelistening activities to do two things: provide a context for interpretation and activate the background knowledge which will help interpretation. Give them enough to do that, and then let them listen.” A second word of caution is suggested by Tsui and Fullilove (1998). Learners need to make use of their top-down knowledge but keep revaluating information. If they lock into an interpretation too early, they may miss information that contradicts it. Using an example of a news story in which firefighters were aided in saving a housing estate by the direction a wind was blowing, they used a passage that started, “Firemen had to work fast...” Learners needed to answer the following comprehension question: What saved the estate from burning down? Although the wind was the key to what saved the estate, many learners relied on their top-down schema (Firefighters put out fires.) and the fact that the story started with the mention of firemen working fast. They incorrectly identified the firefighters as the answer. Tsui and Fullilove suggest that learners need specific work on bottom-up processing to become less reliant on guessing from context. 3.2 Expose students to different types of listening There’s an adage in teaching listening that says: It’s not just what they are listening to. It’s what they are listening for. Listeners need to consider their purpose. They also need to experience listening for different reasons. Any discussion of listening tasks has to include a consideration of types of listening. We will consider tasks as well as texts. When discussing listening, text refers to whatever the students are listening to, often a recording. For the purpose of this discussion, consider the following text: Example 1 A: Let’s go outside. We could go for a walk. Maybe play tennis. B: Look out the window. It’s raining. A: Raining. Oh, no. (Helgesen & Brown, 1994) This is a simple conversation. Even near beginners would probably understand the meaning. What they understand, however, depends on what they need to know and do. The most common type of listening exercise in many textbooks is listening for specific Information. This usually involves catching concrete information including names, time, specific language forms, etc. In our “Let’s go out-side” example, asking the students to report on the type of weather is a simple “listening for specific information task.”

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At other times, students try to understand in a more general way. This is global or gist listening. In the classroom, this often involves tasks such as identifying main ideas, noting a sequence of events and the like. In our example, it could involve a very general question such as, “What’s the main topic?” or, if more task support is needed, giving the learners a few choices (friends, sports, the weather) and having them choose the main topic. Listening for specific information and listening for gist are two important types of listening, but, of course, they don’t exist in isolation. We move between the two. For example, many students have been subjected to long, less than exciting lectures. They listen globally to follow what the speaker is talking about. Then they hear something that seems important (“This sounds like it will be on the test!”) and focus in to get the specific information. Another critical type of listening is inference. This is “listening between the lines”-that is, listening for meaning that is implied but not stated directly. In our “Let’s go outside” example, we can ask, “Do the speakers go outside or not?” Of course they don’t. It’s raining. The text doesn’t say that directly. It doesn’t need to. Learners can infer the information. Inference is different from gist and specific information listening in that it often occurs at the same time as some other types of listening. The learners’ main task might well be to catch specifics or to understand a text generally when they come across information that isn’t stated directly. Because inference requires somewhat abstract thinking, it is a higher level skill. However, it is a mistake to put off working on inference until learners are at an intermediate level or above. Indeed, it is often at the beginning level when students lack much vocabulary, grammar, and functional routines that students tend to infer the most. 3.3 Teach a variety of tasks If learners need experience with different types of listening texts, they also need to work with a variety of tasks. Since learners do the tasks as they listen, it is important that the task itself doesn’t demand too much production of the learner. If, for example, a beginning level learner hears a story and is asked to write a summary in English, it could well be that the learner understood the story but is not yet at the level to be able to write the summary. Tasks that require too much production can’t be done or can’t be done in real time—and if students get the answer wrong, you don’t know if they really didn’t understand, or if they did understand but didn’t know how to respond, or if they understood at the time but forgot by the time they got to the exercise. In this example of a summary task based on a story, it may be better to have a task such as choosing the correct summary from two or three choices. Alternatively, the learner could number pictures or events in the order they occurred or identify pictures that match the text.

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Another reason for short, focused tasks is that listening weighs on a per-son’s working memory. According to Just and Carpenter’s capacity hypothesis (1992), when people are listening in a second or foreign language, they are having to process not only the meaning of what they are listening to but also the language itself. This can lead to an overload. You may have seen the well-known Far Side cartoon that shows a schoolboy raising his hand and asking the teacher, “May I be excused? My brain is mil.” What he is experiencing is running out of memory capacity. If the task itself makes the listening even more complex, the learners are simply unable to understand, remember, and do what they need to do. (See Lynch, 1998.) All of this doesn’t mean, however, that we need to limit ourselves and our students to only a few receptive “check the box” and “number the pictures” exercise types. As mentioned before, half of the time people are speaking is spent listening. At times, students need experience with production tasks. Our students need exposure to a wide range of tasks in order for them to deal with different types of texts and respond in different ways. Incorporating different tasks also increases the students’ interest. If listening work in class follows too narrow a pattern, it is easy for the learners-and the teacher-to lose interest. 3.4 Consider text, difficulty, and authenticity In addition to the task, the text itself determines how easy or difficult something is to understand. Spoken language is very different from written language. It is more redundant, full of false starts, rephrasing, and elaborations. Incomplete sentences, pauses, and overlaps are common. Learners need exposure to and practice with natural sounding language. When learners talk about text difficulty, the first thing many mention is speed. Indeed, that can be a problem. But the solution is usually not to give them unnaturally slow, clear recordings. Those can actually distort the way the language sounds. A more useful technique is to simply put pauses between phrases or sentences. As Rost (2002, p. 145) points out, “By pausing the spoken input (the tape or the teacher) and allowing some quick intervention and response, we in effect slow down the listening process to allow the listeners to monitor their listening more closely.” Speed, of course, is not the only variable. Brown (1995) talks about “cognitive load” and describes six factors that increase or decrease the ease of understanding: • The number of individuals or objects in a text (e.g., More voices increase difficulty.) • How clearly the individuals or objects are distinct from one another (e.g., A recording with a male voice and a female voice is easier than one with two similar male voices or two similar female voices.) • Simple, specific spatial relationships are easier to understand than complex ones. (e.g., In a recording giving directions, information like turn right at the bank is easier to understand than go a little way on that street)

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• The order of events (e.g., It is easier when the information given follows the order it happened in, as opposed to a story that includes a flashback about events that happened earlier.) • The number of inferences needed (e.g., Fewer are easier than more.) • The information is consistent with what the listener already knows (e.g., Hearing someone talk about a film you have seen is easier to understand than hearing the same type of conversation about one you haven’t seen.) Any discussion of listening text probably needs to deal with the issue of authentic texts. Virtually no one would disagree that texts students work with should be realistic. However, some suggest that everything that students work with should be authentic. Day and Bamford (1998, p. 53) go so far as to refer to this as “the cult of authenticity.” However, the issue of authenticity isn’t as simple as it sounds. Most of the recordings that accompany textbooks are made in recording studios. And recordings not made in the studio are often not of a usable quality. You could ask what is authentic and natural anyway? We have already touched on the issue of speed. What is natural speed? Some people speak quickly, some more slowly. The average for native speakers of English seems to be 165-180 words per minute (wpm), but sometimes it jumps to 275 wpm. Even native speakers can get lost at that speed (Rubin, 1994). With children learning their first language, we simplify (motherese). The advocates of “authentic only” would seem to deny this comprehensible input to foreign language learners, who, in many cases, lack that comprehension/acquisition rich environment that L1 learners enjoy. When people think about authenticity in listening materials, they are usually considering the input. Brown and Menasche (1993) suggest looking at two aspects of authenticity: the task and the input. They suggest this breakdown: Task authenticity • simulated: modeled after a real-life; nonacademic task such as filling in a form. • minimal/incidental: checks understanding, but in a way that isn’t usually done outside of the classroom; numbering pictures to show a sequence of events or identifying the way something is said are examples

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Input authenticity • genuine: created only for the realm of real life, not for classroom, but used in language teaching • altered: no meaning change, but the original is no longer as it was (glossing, visual resetting, pictures or colors adapted) • adapted: created for real life (words and grammatical structures changed to simplify the text) • simulated: written by the author as if the material is genuine; many genuine characteristics • minimal/incidental: created for the classroom; no attempt to make the material seem genuine 3.5 Teach listening strategies Learning strategies are covered elsewhere in this book. However, in considering listening, it is useful to note the items Rost (2002, p. 155) identifies as strategies that are used by successful listeners. • Predicting: Effective listeners think about what they will hear. This fits into the ideas about prelistening mentioned earlier. • Inferring: It is useful for learners to “listen between the lines.” «Monitoring: Good listeners notice what they do and don’t understand. • Clarifying: Efficient learners ask questions (What does ___ mean? You mean ___ ?) and give feedback (Idon’t understandyet.) to the speaker. • Responding: Learners react to what they hear. • Evaluating: They check on how well they have understood. 4. CLASSROOM TECHNIQUES AND TASKS In this section, we will consider classroom activities and a variety of text-book exercises that make use of the above principles. We will also look at ways to modify textbook activities that don’t already include the ideas. Dictation with a difference. For many teachers, listening for specific information means dictation. Dictation as it is usually done presents some problems because it is almost completely bottom-up—students need to catch every word. In our native language we don’t process every word. So dictation is often asking students to do something in a foreign language that is unnatural and very difficult even in the first language. A related

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problem is that, since dictation is a “word level” exercise, the learners don’t need to think about overall meaning. The following exercise attempts to deal with those problems. Read the following and, in your mind, imagine the story. Step 1 A road went though a forest. A woman was walking down the road. Suddenly she saw a man. He was wearing a shirt, pants, and a hat. He smiled and said something. In class, students hear the passage and imagine the story. Then they listen again, but this time, at several points, they hear a bell. As they listen, they fill in a cloze (fill in the blanks) dictation sheet. Each time they hear the bell, they write any word that fits the story as they imagined it. The imagined words go in the boxes. The student task appears in Figure 3.

Figure 3 Listen In (Thomson Learning, 1998) The script, as they hear it this time is as follows. The dots (•) show the points where the learners hear the bell. Step 2 A • road went though a • forest. A • woman was walking down the road. Suddenly she saw a • man. He was wearing a • shirt, • pants and a • hat. He smiled and said • (Helgesen and Brown, 1995)

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While the students have the accuracy work of the dictation-writing the missing words (forest, woman, walking, etc.)-they are also getting the top down experience of imagining the story and describing their version of it. Some see a dark forest. Some see it as green, old, a rainforest, etc. Since everyone’s image of the story will be somewhat different, it provides a good reason for them to compare stories after they finish their writing. This, of course, means they continue listening-this time to their partners. Do-it-yourself: Modifying materials to add “listening for specific Information” While listening for specifics is the most common type of listening in textbooks, teachers sometimes want to add their own activities. This could be to provide an additional listening task-letting the students listen to the same recording for a different purpose. You might want to add different tasks just for variety if your textbook overuses a small number of task types. The following are some ways of modifying listening tasks to add or increase listening for specifics. Micro-listening (usually done after they know the main topic of the recording, but before they have begun the main listening task) Choose a few target items that occur several times on the recording. Examples might be names of colors, people, places, etc. In class, tell the students the topic of the recording. Ask them to listen for the target items. Each time they hear one, they should raise their hands. Play the recording. Students listen and raise their hands. The showing of hands is a good way for those who caught the items to give a cue to those who didn’t. Bits and pieces (before the main task) Tell the students what the topic will be. In small groups or as a whole class, they brainstorm vocabulary likely to come up on the recording. Each learner makes a list. Then they listen to the recording and circle the words they hear. What do I want to know? (before the main task) Tell the students the topic and enough about what they will hear for them to imagine the situations. In pairs or small groups, they write two or three questions about the information they think will be given. Then they listen and see how many of the questions they are able to answer. Dictation and cloze Many books feature cloze (fill in the blanks) dictation as listening. Very often these are not actually listening tasks since learners can find the answer by reading. If you are using a book that has such exercises, have the students try to fill in the blanks before they listen. They read the passage and make their best guesses. Then when they listen to the text, they have an actual listening task: to see if they were right. (See Nunan, Chapter 8, this volume.)

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What are they talking about?: Listening for gist Listening in a global way, trying to understand the main ideas, is an essential kind of listening. In the classroom, we should give our learners a lot of experience with this activity, both as a task in itself and as a “way in” to other types of listening with the same recording. Look at Figure 4. For the first task, the students are asked to listen for the general meaning of five conversations (conversations between a doctor and a patient and conversations not between a doctor and a patient). For the second task, the students are asked to listen to the conversations again and to write key words that helped them distinguish between the two types of conversations. This is an excellent follow-up task since it moves from a general understanding of the gist to a narrower, more specific understanding of what was said. At the same time, it asks the learners to ask themselves, “How did I know the gist?” This type of task increases awareness of their own learning.

Figure 4 Speak Out (Heinle/Thomson, 1998) Do-it-yourself: Adding gist tasks Even though many textbooks concentrate on “listening for specific information” exercises, sometimes transforming them into global listening tasks are as simple as asking, “What are they talking about? What words gave you the hints?” Here are some other ways to add gist listening.

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Main ideas Write the main idea for the recording on the board, along with three or four distracters. Often, subpoints within the conversation make good distracters. In the second example above, the main point is “she feels sick” and the distracters could be rotten day, go to bed, and take some aspirin. Students listen and identify the main idea. What is the order? When the listening text is a story, list five or six events from the story. Students listen and put the items in order. It is often useful to tell them which is number one to help them get started. It is also useful to have at least one item as a distracter that isn’t used. Otherwise, the last item is obvious without listening. “Which picture? If pictures are available (e.g., one from the particular listening page of your textbook and distracters from elsewhere in the book) Students can listen and identify the one that goes with what they are hearing. Listening between the lines: Inference tasks As mentioned earlier, students often find inferring meaning challenging because it requires abstract processing. Consider the following task: • Stay to the left

• Elevator

Example Look at this sign. What do you think it means? Listen to the dialogue, then circle your answer.

Now read the script to see if you were right. Man: So the office is, what, on the fifth floor? Woman: That’s right, fifth floor. Room 503, Man: Where’s the—oh, there it is. Well, shall we go up? Woman: Yeah, let’s go. (Helgesen & Brown, 1994)

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As you can tell from the script, the sign means there is an elevator. However, neither speaker ever says the word “elevator.” They don’t need to. By their talking about the floor the office is on and talking about going up, the listener is able to understand what they are talking about and consequently what the sign means. For that reason, asking the learners, “How did you know?” is probably just as important as whether or not they got the correct answer. It makes them aware of the clues that gave them the meaning. It also provides information and an example for students who may not have gotten the correct answer. Do-‘lt-yourself inference Unfortunately, it isn’t possible to provide “recipes” for adding inference the way it is for gist and specific information listening. This is because inference depends as much on the text-what is being said-as it does on the task. However, as teachers, we can try to be aware of inference and look for opportunities to work with it. The following are two places to start: * Focus on emotions. How do the speakers feel? How do you know that? * Look for background information. Has one or more of the speakers been here/ done that/tried this before? Why do you think so? 5. LISTENING IN THE CLASSROOM In this section, we will return to the activities profiled earlier in this chap-ter and look specifically at how they are used in the classroom. In the process, we will note a few extra techniques teachers sometimes employ. In each case, the listening task itself is the second step in the activity. The learners do a prelistening, which serves to activate the top-down and bottom-up schema. Each activity is followed with a speaking activity. As mentioned earlier, although listening is a different skill than speaking, they often go hand-in-hand. Also, students often come to our classes to learn to speak. Listening can be a good way to preview a speaking activity and speaking, in turn, can be useful to expand on what they’ve listened to. A balance of listening and speaking activities (and, depending on the class, reading and writing) can be important to maintain learner engagement. In the “Your story” dictation activity, the students will be working with adjectives. The prelistening task is to have the students work in pairs. The teacher gives them a series of adjectives that could have more than one opposite. For example, the opposite of “right” could be either “wrong” or “left.” Other adjectives with more than one antonym include “hard,” “smart,” “sweet,” “straight,” “free,” etc. Learners see how many opposites they can think of. Providing the adjectives gives them support-as opposed to just saying, “How many adjectives can you think of?” It also focuses them on meaning, rather than just grammar. They are thinking about descriptions-just what they will need to do in the

Didáctica del Inglés II

main task. The follow-up speaking activity for “Your story” is clear. Students, having created their own version of the story, usually want to compare their images with their partners. The prelistening task for the doctor/patient activity both elicits information from the students and presents new information. The students see a cartoon of several obviously ill people in a doctor’s waiting room. They identify what is wrong with the people. Then they are presented with a list of several symptoms and illnesses that the students may not know in English (appendicitis, rash, etc.). They look up the words they don’t know, then match the symptoms to the illnesses. This is a useful example of activating their background knowledge while preteaching vocabulary at the same time. Once the students have completed the main task in their books, the teacher might elicit answers from the students and write them on the board. At this point, the teacher may want to have the learners choose their own level of support of a final listening: Extract 1 Teacher: OK, we’ll listen to this one more time. Please choose how you want to listen. If this was kind of difficult, watch me. l’ll point to the answers just before they say them (on the recording). Or if you don’t need my help spotting the answers, watch your book. Try to catch the answers as they say them. Or if it wasn’t difficult at all, close your eyes. Listen. Imagine the people. What do they look like? Where are they? Watch the “movie” in your mind. This final listening serves several purposes. It gives students a new task— albeit a simple one—and thus a new reason to listen. It also lets them choose the amount of support they want or don’t want. Finally, for those who choose the third option, it encourages imagination. The doctor/patient listening activity is followed by group work in which learners brainstorm a list of things they do to stay healthy. Then they exchange lists with another group and compare. This activity allows them to make use of the ideas and language from the warm-up and the listening, and to personalize the task by relating the information to their own lives. In the sign activity, learners guess the meaning before they listen. By doing so, they are activating their previous (top-down) knowledge: the likely meaning of the sign based on other signs they know. It also puts them in touch with vocabulary and phrases, bottom-up information. And the fact that they have to commit to an answer often increases

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student interest. It’s like they make a bet with themselves about the meaning. They listen to see if they win the bet. As they listen, the teacher could suggest pair work, either to the whole class or to lowerlevel students. It was pointed out earlier that “How did you know?” is just as important as getting the correct answer on inference activities. By working in pairs, students are more likely to take the time to analyze their listening process. Another reason for doing the activity in pairs has to do with making the task easier. Students tend to focus on different parts of the listening and listen in different ways. By working in pairs, they tend to understand the listening more quickly. This idea can be used with nearly any sort of listening where there are specific correct answers. In considering these activities in the classroom, the flow suggested below is often a useful way to structure a lesson plan to include listening: 1. A warm-up activity that integrates top-down and bottom-up data 2. A main listening task 3. A speaking task related to the previous task Over the length of a course, the listening tasks should be balanced to include a variety of listening types and tasks. It is often useful to decide on the listening task before planning the warm-up. Often, the task itself will determine the kind of information you want to elicit or preteach through the warm-up. Student speaking tasks often take place in pairs or small groups and require learners to listen and respond to each other. 6. CONCLUSION This chapter started by emphasizing listening as an active, purposeful process. It involved processing information based on both overall top-down schema and the bottomup “building blocks” of language such as vocabulary and grammar. Prelistening tasks are suggested as ways to integrate a learner’s processing. I also considered text difficulty, authenticity, and the use of strategies. Exposing learners to a variety of tasks, as well as different types of listening, is helpful in enabling them to become more skillful listeners. To that end, examples of how to incorporate these ideas into the classroom and ways to modify textbook tasks are provided. If we do these things, our learners can become more effective, active listeners.

Didáctica del Inglés II

PART FOUR

Teaching speaking Objectives 1. To identify the “levels” of spoken language and explain their relationships. 2. To explain the main differences between the audiolingual method and communicative language teaching. 3. To describe some differences between spoken language and written language. 4. To demonstrate familiarity with all the techniques discussed in this chapter.

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TEACHING SPEAKING1 1. WHAT IS SPEAKING? If you have learned a language other than your own, which of the four skills—listening, speaking, reading, or writing—did you find to be the hardest? Many people feel that speaking in a new language is harder than reading, writing, or listening for two reasons. First, unlike reading or writing, speaking hap-pens in real time: usually the person you are talking to is waiting for you to speak right then. Second, when you speak, you cannot edit and revise what you wish to say, as you can if you are writing. In language teaching, the four skills are described in terms of their direction. Language generated by the learner (in speech or writing) is referred to as productive. Language directed at the learner (in reading or listening) is called receptive. Another important idea is the channel, which refers to the medium of the message (aural/oral or written). Thus, speaking is the productive aural/oral skill. It consists of producing systematic verbal utterances to convey meaning. Teaching speaking is sometimes considered a simple process. Commercial language schools around the world hire people with no training to teach conversation. Although speaking is totally natural, speaking in a language other than our own is anything but simple. Spoken language and written language differ in many significant ways. Here are some key contrasts (van Lier, 1995, p. 88): Spoken language Auditory

Written language Visual

Temporary; immediate reception

Permanent; delayed reception

Prosody (rhythm, stress intonation)

Punctuation

Immediate feedback

Delayed or no feedback

Planning and editing limited by channel

Unlimited planning, editing, revision

Given these differences between writing and speech, you can see why people who learn a foreign language largely from textbooks often sound bookish when they speak.

Nunan, David (Ed.) Practical English Language Teaching. McGraw-Hill, New York, 2003

Didáctica del Inglés II

2. BACKGROUND TO TEACHING SPEAKING For many years people taught speaking by having students repeat sentences and recite memorized textbook dialogues. Audiolingual repetition drills were designed to familiarize students with the sounds and structural pat-terns of the target language (the language which learners are aiming to learn). People supposedly learned to speak by practicing grammatical structures and then later using them in conversation. So an audiolingual speaking lesson might involve an interaction like Example 1. T stands for teacher and S represents a particular student. Ss stands for students. (Textbook lines are in quotation marks.) Example 1 T: Repeat please: “Good morning, Maria.” Ss: “Good morning, Maria.” T: “Where are you going?” Ss: “Where are you going?” T: Good. “l’m going to the library.” Ss: “I going to libary.” T: “Listen: “l’m going to THE library.” Ss: “I going to THE libary.” T: Listen again. “Li-BRA-ry.” Rrr. “Librrrary.” Ss: “Librrrary.” T: “To the library.” Ss: “To the library.” T: “Going to the library.” Ss: “Going to the library.” T: “l’m going to the library.” Ss: “I going to the library.” T: Good! Now the next part. The concept of habit formation, of behaviorism, is the theoretical basis of the audiolingual method. Since learners needed to form good habits, les-sons involved a great deal of repetition. Students were not supposed to form bad habits, so teachers treated spoken errors quickly. Teachers worried that if errors were left untreated, the students might learn those erroneous forms.

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For many years, teaching speaking involved providing students with the components of the language, in hopes that they would eventually put them all together and speak. So students might spend several semesters repeating after the teacher, studying grammar rules, reciting dialogues, and learning vocabulary. Unfortunately, actual conversations didn’t sound like the text-book dialogues, and if you really met someone like Maria, she was seldom going to the library. During the late twentieth century, language acquisition research made us reconsider some long-standing beliefs about how people learn to speak. Several studies led to the conclusion that we had gotten the basic idea back-wards: People don’t learn the pieces of the language and then put them together to make conversations. Instead, infants acquiring their first language and people acquiring second languages learn the pieces by interacting with other people. This realization has several interesting implications. If we believe that people learn languages by interacting, then learners should interact during les-sons. As a result, a method called communicative language teaching arose. Two versions of communicative language teaching emerged. The weak version says teachers should teach the components of language but include communication activities. The strong version says since students learn through interacting, lessons should consist of opportunities to communicate in the tar-get language. In this method, teachers often downplay accuracy and emphasize how students communicate when they speak the target language. However, in order to communicate well in another language, we must make ourselves understood by the people we are speaking with, and this is not an easy task-especially at the beginning and intermediate levels. There is some need to be accurate in speaking the target language. This is tricky because, as we saw in the speaking-writing contrast, there is limited time for planning and editing speech during conversations. And for less-than-proficient speakers, managing the components of language that must work together when we speak is very demanding indeed. Figure 1 depicts the many linguistic elements involved in speaking. The left column lists four areas of linguistic analysis, but it is the center column which concerns us as teachers. It labels the units of spoken language.

Didáctica del Inglés II

PHONOLOGY

distinctive feature Phoneme

MORPHOLOGY

syllable

Morpheme STRESS

SYNTAX

Word

RHYTHM INTONATION

Phrase Clause DISCOURSE

Utterance Text

Figure 1: Interaction in the Language Curriculum: Awareness, Autonomy, and Authenticity (Longman, 1996)

Beginning at the pyramid’s base, text means stretches of language of an undetermined length. Spoken texts are composed of utterances. An utterance is something someone says. It may not be a full sentence, as the concept is used in writing. For example, in asking a friend about what to eat, you might ask, “Would you like pizza?” This utterance is a fully formed grammatical sentence. But if you are both thinking about what to eat, you might just ask your friend, “Pizza?” Although this is not a grammatical sentence, it is an utterance. The next two levels, clauses and phrases, are often confused. A phrase is two or more words which function as a unit but don’t have a subject or a verb marked for tense. These include prepositional phrases (to the store or after breakfast) and infinitive phrases (to eat or to look up). Clauses are two or more words that do contain a verb marked for tense. These may be full sentences (John ate the cake.} or something less than a full sentence (While John was eating the cake...). Such clauses and phrases don’t usually appear alone in formal writing, but they are quite common in speech. Both clauses and phrases can be utterances, as can words, the next level in the pyramid. A word is called a free morpheme-a unit of language which can stand on its own and have meaning (hat, flee, already, etc.). There are also bound morphemes, which are always connected to words. These include prefixes, such as un- or pre-, as well as suffixes, such as -tion or -s or -ed. Sometimes during the pressure of speaking, it is dif-

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ficult for English learners to use the necessary suffixes-especially if words in their own language don’t usually end in consonants. The top levels of the pyramid deal with the sound system of the language. Pronunciation is covered elsewhere, so only a few related issues will be mentioned here. In Figure 1, the word syllable overlaps the levels of morphemes and phonemes. A phoneme is a unit of sound in a language that distinguishes meaning. Phonemes can be either consonants (like /p/ or /b/ in the words pit and bit) or vowels (like /I/ and /æ/ in bit and bat). Consonants and vowels are segmental phonemes. Sometimes a spoken syllable consists of one phoneme (/o/ in okay). But syllables also consist of combined sounds (the second syllable of okay), and of both free and bound morphemes. For instance, the free morpheme hat consists of three phonemes but only one syllable. The word disheartened has three syllables, four morphemes (dis + heart + en + ed), and eight phonemes. An even smaller unit, a distinctive feature, relates to how or where a sound is produced when we speak. The distinctive feature which rnakes /b/ and /p/ separate phonemes in English is voicing: when /b/ is pronounced the vocal cords are vibrating, but when /p/ is pronounced, the vocal cords are not vibrating. These minute contrasts contribute to a speaker’s accent. (One of my Arabic-speaking students who didn’t distinguish between /b/ and /p/ told me he’d had “green bee soup” for lunch!) On the right side of the pyramid there are three other labels. Stress, rhythm, and intonation are called the suprasegmental phonemes, because when we speak, they carry meaning differences but they operate “above” the segmental phonemes. To illustrate that the suprasegmental phonemes carry meaning, consider the sentence, “I think I know.” It can convey four different meanings, depending on the stress: I think I know.

I think I know. I think I know.

I think I know.

In these four utterances, the bold italic typeface shows which word is stressed. If you say these sentences aloud, you will hear the sound and meaning differences among them. The differences are related to the context where the utterances occur. Consider these interpretations: I think I know. (You may not think I know the answer, but l’m pretty sure I do.) I think I know. (l’m not entirely sure, but I think I know the answer.) I think I know. (You may not know the answer, but I think I do.) I think I know. (I am not unsure—I am quite confident that I know the answer.) Now that we have reached the top of the pyramid, you can see that all the levels of language operate when we speak, and conversation is not really simple at all. It is important for language teachers to understand these units of language and how they work

Didáctica del Inglés II

together. Given this background information, we will now consider five principles for teaching speaking. 3. PRINCIPLES FOR TEACHING SPEAKING 3.1 Be aware of the differences between second language and foreign language learning contexts Speaking is learned in two broad contexts: foreign language and second language situations. The challenges you face as a teacher are determined partly by the target language context. A foreign language (FL) context is one where the target language is not the language of communication in the society (e.g., learning English in Japan or studying French in Australia). Learning speaking skills is very challenging for students in FL contexts, because they have very few opportunities to use the target language outside the classroom. Sometimes foreign language learners traveling in countries where their target languages are spoken find that they can neither understand native speakers nor be understood. There is an old story of the college freshman who struggled with introductory French and then with intermediate French. When he finally passed that course, his parents were so proud they sent him on a trip to Paris. When he got to Paris, he discovered that no one there speaks or understands intermediate French! A second language (SL) context is one where the target language is the language of communication in the society (such as English in the UK or Spanish in México). Second language learners include refugees, international students, and immigrants. Some second language learners (especially those who arrive in their new country as children) achieve notable speaking skills, but many others progress to a certain proficiency level and then go no further. Their speech seems to stop developing at a point where it still contains noticeable, patterned errors. These can be errors in grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, or any combination of problems that affect the learners’ ability to communicate by speaking. 3.2 Give students practice with both fluency and accuracy Accuracy is the extent to which students’ speech matches what people actually say when they use the target language. Fluency is the extent to which speakers use the language quickly and confidently, with few hesitations or unnatural pauses, false starts, word searches, etc. In language lessons —especially at the beginning and intermediate levels-learners must be given opportunities to develop both their fluency and their accuracy. They cannot develop fluency if the teacher is constantly interrupting them to correct their oral errors. Teachers must provide students with fluency-building practice and realize that making mistakes is a natural part of learning a new language.

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3.3 Provide opportunities for students to talk by using group work or pair work, and limiting teacher talk Research has repeatedly demonstrated that teachers do approximately 50 to 80 percent of the talking in classrooms. It is important for us as language teachers to be aware of how much we are talking in class so we don’t take up all the time the students could be talking. Pair work and group work activities can be used to increase the amount of time that learners get to speak in the target language during lessons. One further interesting point is that when the teacher is removed from the conversation, the learners take on diverse speaking roles that are normally filled by the teacher (such as posing questions or offering clarification). 3.4 Plan speaking tasks that involve negotiation for meaning Research suggests that learners make progress by communicating in the target language because interaction necessarily involves trying to understand and make yourself understood. This process is called negotiating for meaning. It involves checking to see if you`ve understood what someone has said, clarifying your understanding, and confirming that someone has understood your meaning. By asking for clarification, repetition, or explanations during conversations, learners get the people they are speaking with to address them with language at a level they can learn from and understand. 3.5 Design classroom activities that involve guidance and practice in both transactional and interactional speaking When we talk with someone outside the classroom, we usually do so for interactional or transactional purposes. Interactional speech is communicating with someone for social purposes. It includes both establishing and maintaining social relationships. Transactional speech involves communicating to get something done, including the exchange of goods and/or services. Most spoken interactions “can be placed on a continuum from relatively predictable to relatively unpredictable” (Nunan, 1991, p. 42). Conversations are relatively unpredictable and can range over many topics, with the participants taking turns and commenting freely. In contrast, Nunan states that “transactional encounters of a fairly restricted kind will usually contain highly predictable patterns” (1991, p. 42), and he gives the example of telephoning for a taxi. According to Nunan, interactional speech is much more fluid and unpredictable than transactional speech. Speaking activities inside the classroom need to embody both interactional and transactional purposes, since language learners will have to speak the target language in both transactional and interactional settings.

Didáctica del Inglés II

4. CLASSROOM TECHNIQUES AND TASKS Information gap is a useful activity in which one person has information that the other lacks. They must use the target language to share that information. For instance, one student has the directions to a party and must give them to a classmate. Jigsaw activities are a bidirectional or multidirectional information gap. Each person in a pair or group has some information the other persons need. For example, one student could have a timetable for train travel in Canada. Another could have a map of Canada. Without showing each other the visual information, they must speak English to plan a one-week trip. Many information gap and jigsaw activities can be done with simple props, such as coins. First, make sure each student in a class has a penny, a quarter, a nickel, and dime (or the coins of your country). Next, hide your coins so the students can’t see what you are doing. The students then follow your instructions as you do the actions you are describing: “Place the quarter with the man’s picture facing up. Put the penny on the quarter. Put the dime below the quarter but not touching it. Put the nickel next to the dime on the right.” Finally, reveal the design you have made with your coins so the students can see if their patterns match yours. In the teacher-led version of this task, the students are primarily listening. But you can have them do the activity in pairs, where they take turns speaking. One natural information gap task —especially if the students don’t know each other well-is to have one learner describe his family to another, while his partner draws a family tree diagram and labels it with names and information about the speaker’s family. This activity promotes a great deal of negotiation for meaning, as one student asks another, “Wait —who lives in Madrid? Your aunt or, how you say, your cousin?” You can have the students use tango seating to work in pairs. In tango seating one student’s right shoulder is next to the other student’s right shoulder and they are facing opposite directions. This arrangement allows them to hear one another but not see what is being drawn or constructed on their partner’s desk. Role-plays are also excellent activities for speaking in the relatively safe environment of the classroom. In a role-play, students are given particular roles in the target language. For example, one student plays a tourist telephoning the police to report his wallet stolen. The other plays the role of a police officer trying to help the tourist file a report. Role-plays give learners practice speaking the target language before they must do so in a real environment. Simulations are more elaborate than role-plays. In a simulation, props and documents provide a somewhat realistic environment for language practice. So for instance, in a language lesson about the grocery store, a teacher might bring in “products” for the students to buy (a box of crackers, coffee, a jar of jam) and even play money for making

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

their purchases. A check-out counter would be set up for the students to practice transactional speaking with the cashier. Contact assignments involve sending students out of the classroom with a stated purpose to talk to people in the target language. In a second language environment, you can send students on an information treasure hunt in a nearby business district. Provide a worksheet which the students complete by asking merchants questions. For instance, at a grocery store, they would have to ask how soon a shipment of fresh fruit would be delivered. You can also use contact assignments in FL contexts if there are tourists, exchange students, or international businesspersons for your students to talk to in the target language. In a train station or at a ferry terminal, for example, students can interview tourists. Afterwards the students compile the results of the class survey and report what they learned. In designing a contact assignment, be sure the required information cannot be gotten by reading available written information. The point is to get the students to speak with people using the target language. 5. SPEAKING IN THE CLASSROOM Research has demonstrated that teacher-dominated classroom talk is one type of unequal power discourse. That is, the teacher usually has the power to determine the topics, distribute the turns, give feedback, and ask most of the questions, among other things. Extract 1 (Long, 1980, p. 16) provides an example of teacher-controlled classroom discourse. It is based on an audio-tape of an intermediate vocabulary lesson for young adult EFL students. In the extract, indented lines mean one person’s turn overlapped another person’s. For example, in line 24, S3 says “Jeans” when the teacher is saying “Say the ...”. In this segment the teacher was finishing with the vocabulary item chemical pollution and moving on to trousers, when S4 (Carlos) yawned loudly. Extract 1 “Carlos’s Trousers” transcript 1. T: ... Okay? Chemical pollution. Okay. 2. S4: (Yawning) O-o-o. 3. T: Trousers! All right, Carlos (S4), do you wear trousers? 4. S4: Always ...All my life. 5. S: (Laughter) 6. T: Always. You’ve worn, I have ...

Didáctica del Inglés II

7. S4: Eh, wear wear (Inaudible,). 8. T: I have ... well, do you wear trousers? 9. S4: I wear. 10. S: I wear, I wear. 11. S4: Yes, I I do. 12. T: Yes, you do. What’s, how do you say that word? 13. S4: Trousers. 14. T: Trousers. 15. S4: Trousers. 16. T: Trousers. 17. S4: Trousers. 18. S3: Trousers. 19. T: Mn-hm. Have you got trousers on? 20. S3:Yes, I have. 21. T: What kind? 22. S3: Jeans. 23. T: Jeans. Say the word jeans. Jeans. 24. S3: Jeans. 25. T: Jeans. 26. S2: Jeans. 27. T: Jeans. 28. S1: Jeans. 29. T: Okay. Okay. Huh!... It is difficult to imagine, by reading a printed transcript, what the intonation contours, volume, and stress patterns add to the meaning conveyed in the spoken discourse. This particular segment of a lesson involves some tightly controlled turn taking in which most of the students’ utterances involve repeating what the teacher has just said. Extract 2 is from an adult ESL lesson. In the extract “FS” stands for an unidentified female student and “xx” means the tape recording was not clear enough to transcribe what was said at that point. Words or phrases in parentheses indicate that the transcriber wasn’t completely sure about what was said. Once again, indented lines indicate overlapping turns. Square brackets give the researcher’s interpretation, based on the notes taken by an observer who was present during the lesson. In this case, although the lesson is teacher-fronted, the learners had greater freedom to participate actively than did those in the lesson about Carlos’s trousers. As you read

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this transcript, notice its conversational nature and the many times the students and the teacher work together to negotiate for meaning. Extract 2 T: Here’s, here’s another useful word. (Writing on the blackboard.) Have you ever heard of a flasher? S3: Yeah, yeah. FS: Yeah, I (/heda/) (= heard of) flasher. (One or two students laughing.) T: (S8’s name), what’s a flasher? S8: It’s like a flash. (Laughter.) T: What’s a flasher? S8: (Flasher?; S1: Somebody takes pictures. T: No. (Laughter.) S3: No. T: xx. What’s a flasher? You ever seen one? You ever seen a flasher? S3: Somebody that flash. FS: No. In the lines of transcript you just read, the teacher asks the class, “What’s a flasher?” Student 1 guesses, “somebody [that] takes pictures” and Student 3 says, “somebody that flash.” Both students use their knowledge of English morphemes as they analyze the word’s bound and free components. The teacher then asks the classroom aide to explain the slang term to the students: T: OK. (Aide’s name;, you know. (Aide laughs; (You) want to tell them xx A: Somebody who shows off, uh, all the Paris of his body. S6: (Gasps.) Oh, xx! T: A flasher, a flasher is like a person who has nothing on and maybe a raincoat. S3: Nude? S7: Exhibitionist? T: OK, flash is uh flash is a quick movement, right? S3: Streaker? S6: A strea- A streaker?

Didáctica del Inglés II

T: xx OK, well. A streaker has absolutely nothing on. A flasher shows himself for a second or two. S7: Exhibitionist. (Laughter.) T: xx Like he’ll, (above laughter) he may have a raincoat on or something or a coat and he comes up to S3: Why? T: you and he goes (Shows movement of someone opening a coat quickly.) S3: Why? (Laughing. General laughter.) T: And then he runs away, OK? S3: He should be out of his mind. (Some laughing continues.) FS: xx ......................xx T: That’s a, that’s a flasher. Anyway. S3: xx (Some whispering.) T: Oh, dear. OK. S3 : It’s a Job? It’s a job? T: Pardon, It’s a Job? No, it’s not a paying job. No. S3: It’s a Job? Flasher. (S3 laughs. Mumbling continues.] (Allwright and Bailey, 1991, pp. 58-59) Reflection Extracts 1 and 2 are both based on tape recordings made in classes for adutt language learners. When you compare the two extracts, which lesson would you prefer if you were a student? Why?

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Reflection What is the difference between speaking and conversing? In other words, what are the defining characteristics of conversation? In Extract 2 the interaction is highly conversational even though the teacher is managing the discourse. One key characteristic of true conversations is that their outcome is not predetermined or wholly governed by any one participant. Extract 3 shows three learners interacting together, without a teacher participating in the discussion. This in-class conversation is particularly interesting because the three learners are discussing the circumstances in which they can understand conversations in their second language. Notice how the learners negotiate for meaning (for example, when L1 pronounces “theme” as “seem”). In these lines, the use of a colon (:) indicates that a sound is lengthened. Extract 3 1. L1 Can you fo- can you follow any conversation? Any people? 2. L2 Sometime yes, but ah ... many times I can’t. 3. L1 (hm:: 4. L1 And what about you? 5. L3 The same but depend of (who) the conversation, no? 6. L2 Yah 7. L3 Or the point, because sometimes is point very very easy, but the::: depend of the theme 8. L1 (si:m) 9. L3 Theme 10. L1 (si:m) 11. L2 The topic 12. L1 (si:m) ah! (si:m) ah yes (si:m)... yeah yes= 13. L2 ( ((chuckle)) ((unintelligible)) topic = yes (si:m) tee- aitch- ((spells))... theme... theme 14. L3 (yes 15. L2 (yeah 16. L3 Yeah, theme 17. L2 Okay ... next thing (van Lier, 1996, pp. 176-177)

Didáctica del Inglés II

In conversations among equals, people are normally free to take turns, ask questions, and change topics. If you are teaching speaking, it is important to plan activities for small groups or pairs in language classrooms so the learners have a chance to practice these conversational skills without the teacher dominating the discussion. 6. CONCLUSION In this chapter, we learned that speaking is the productive oral skill, and we contrasted speech with writing. We noted that speaking a second or foreign language is far from simple. In fact, speaking-especially in a language other than our own—is quite a complex undertaking which involves using all the different levels of language. This chapter focused on five principles for planning speaking lessons in language classrooms. We examined three transcripts from actual language lessons, ranging from tightly teacher-controlled, to teacher-fronted but conversational, to highly conversational and not under a teacher’s control. We also saw that some classroom discourse and some teaching materials do not sound very much like real conversations outside of classrooms. Several teaching strategies were suggested that can be used to help language learners gain practice in speaking in the target language.

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DidĂĄctica del InglĂŠs II

PART FIVE

Teaching reading

Objectives 1. To define the following concepts central to an understanding of reading: silent reading, interactive models of reading, reading fluency, extensive reading, and intensive reading. 2. To identify and explain seven key principles related to second language reading. 3. To demonstrate familiarity with practical classroom techniques for teaching reading. 4. To set goals for improving your ability to teach reading.

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TEACHING READING1 1. WHAT IS READING? Reading is a fluent process of readers combining information from a text and their own background knowledge to build meaning. The goal of reading is comprehension. Strategic reading is defined as the ability of the reader to use a wide variety of reading strategies to accomplish a purpose for reading. Good readers know what to do when they encounter difficulties. Fluent reading is defined as the ability to read at an appropriate rate with adequate comprehension. Meaning does not rest in the reader nor does it rest in the text. The reader’s background knowledge integrates with the text to create the meaning. The text, the reader, fluency, and strategies combined together define the act of reading. See Figure 1 for a representation of the definition of reading.

Fluency

Strategies

Reading

The Reader

The text

Figure 1 Definition of reading

Notice the overlapping circles. The intersection of all four circles represents reading. This is the point where meaningful reading happens. Grabe (1991) points out the complexity of even defining reading by stating that “a description of reading has to account for the notions that fluent reading is rapid, purposeful, interactive, comprehending, flexible, and gradually developing”. Teaching reading usually has at least two aspects. First, it can refer to teaching learners who are learning to read for the very first time. A second aspect of teaching reading refers to teaching learners who already have reading skills in their first language. You only learn to read once. Once you have learned how to read in one language, you do not learn how to read again in a second/foreign language, but rather you learn how to transfer skills that you have already learned to the new reading context in a new language.

Nunan, David (Ed.) Practical English Language Teaching. McGraw-Hill, New York, 2003

DidĂĄctica del InglĂŠs II

This chapter will focus on the second of these aspects. We will review pedagogical techniques that second language teachers can use to teach learners who are already literate in at least one other language and are learning how to read in a second (or third) language. The ideas presented here can be adapted for children, teenagers, or adults. Your role as the teacher will be to enhance the learnersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; reading skills by teaching them to read in their second language. Reflection 1. Reading is defined as being composed of four elements. What are the four elements? 2. Do you agree with this definition of reading? Why or why not? 3. What are other elements of reading that may have been overlooked? 2. BACKGROUND TO THE TEACHING OF READING Reading is an essential skill for learners of English as a second language. For most of these learners it is the most important skill to master in order to ensure success not only in learning English, but also in learning in any content class where reading in English is required. With strengthened reading skills, learners will make greater progress and development in all other areas of learning. What is involved in reading? How do we make sense of printed material? These are questions I have had to answer as I prepared to teach ESL/EFL reading. I believe that it is important for me to understand the process of reading so that I can then be better prepared to facilitate the learning of this skill. SILENT READING Reading is primarily a silent activity. The majority of reading that we do will be done silently. In Western cultures oral reading was the primary practice until the nineteenth century. In about 1880 a debate began on the advantages of silent reading versus oral reading (Allington, 1984). Huey (1908) compiled a summary of the early studies on oral versus silent reading and came out strongly in favor of silent reading. However, today many teachers still believe that oral reading is the best approach for teaching. Let me emphasize here that reading is primarily a silent activity. Classroom approaches to teaching reading should emphasize the silent nature of this skill and avoid overemphasis on oral reading. Different strategies are used when reading orally than when reading silently. Since comprehension is the goal of reading, your primary focus in the classroom should be on getting meaning from print. Make silent reading the goal in your classroom instead of using oral reading.

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READING PROCESSES Understanding the process of reading has been the focus of much research over the past 125 years. Models of how the printed word is under-stood have emerged from this research (Goodman, 1976; Stanovich, 1980). Understanding what happens from the moment our eyes meet the page to the “click of comprehension” (Samuels & Kamil, 1984, p. 185) has only been researched for the past 50 years. The models can be divided into three categories: bottom-up models, top-down models, and interactive models. Bottom-up models typically consist of lower-level reading processes. Students start with the fundamental basics of letter and sound recognition, which in turn allows for morpheme recognition followed by word recognition, building up to the identification of grammatical structures, sentences, and longer texts. Letters, letter clusters, words, phrases, sentences, longer text, and finally meaning is the order in achieving comprehension. A phonics approach to teaching reading supports a bottom-up model. This approach is used in many reading series. Many teachers and researchers suggest that for readers to be successful they must be able to break a word down into its smallest parts, the individual sounds. When a reader comes to an unknown word he or she can sound out the word because of the knowledge of the individual units that make up the word. The blending together of the various sounds allows the reader to then move toward comprehension. Teachers must remember that phonics is a method, not the goal for teaching reading. One element of a bottom-up approach to reading is that the pedagogy recommends a graded reader approach. All reading material is carefully reviewed so that students are not exposed to vocabulary that is too difficult or that contains sounds that they have not yet been introduced to. Figure 2 is a graphic representation of a bottom-up approach to reading. The reader begins with the smallest elements and builds up to comprehension of what is being read. Comprehension

Figure 2. Bottom-up approach to reading

Within a bottom-up approach to reading, the most typical classroom focus is on what we call intensive reading. Intensive reading involves a short reading passage fol-

Didáctica del Inglés II

lowed by textbook activities to develop comprehension and/or a particular reading skill. Most textbooks used to teach first and second language reading using an intensive reading approach. Top-down models, on the other hand, begin with the idea that comprehension resides in the reader. The reader uses background knowledge, makes predictions, and searches the text to confirm or reject the predictions that are made. A passage can thus be understood even if all of the individual words are not understood. Within a top-down approach to reading the teacher should focus on meaning generating activities rather than on mastery of word recognition. Goodman (1976), a strong advocate of top-down models of reading, criticizes bottom-up models because the readers become “word callers” who can read the words on the page but do not understand what they have read. Goodman (1976) believes that teachers make learning to read difficult “by breaking whole (natural) language into bite-sized, abstract little pieces”. I agree somewhat with him. For example, I can read Spanish and pronounce all of the words that I’m reading, and yet, depending on what I am reading, I may have no comprehension of what I have read. A meaning-based approach or a whole language approach to reading is supportive of top-down models of reading. Four key features highlight a meaning-based or whole language approach to teaching reading. First, it is a literature-based approach. Books are used which contain authentic language. Readers are exposed to a wide range of vocabulary. Next, whole language is student-centered; the focus is on the individual reader choosing what he or she wants to read. Third, reading is integrated with writing. Classes work on both skills simultaneously. Finally, emphasis is on constructing meaning. The focus should be on meaning and keeping the language whole, as opposed to breaking it down into smaller units. Whole language is a method, not the goal. Figure 3 is a graphic representation of a top-down approach to reading. The reader begins with the largest elements and works down towards smaller elements to build comprehension of what is being read. Reading begins with reader background knowledge

Figure 3. Top-down approach to reading

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Extensive reading plays a key role in top-down approaches to reading. Extensive reading can be contrasted with intensive reading. Extensive reading means reading many books (or longer segments of text) without a focus on classroom exercises that may test comprehension skills. INTERACTIVE MODELS OF READING The models that are accepted as the most comprehensive description of the reading process are Interactive models. This third type combines elements of both bottom-up and top-down models assuming “that a pattern is synthesized based on information provided simultaneously from several knowledge sources” (Stanovich, 1980, p. 35). Murtagh (1989) stresses that the best second language readers are those who can “efficiently integrate” both bottom-up and top-down processes. Figure 4 is a graphic representation of an interactive approach to reading. The reader combines elements of both bottom-up and top-down models of reading to reach comprehension. Reader background knowledge

comprehension

Individual letters and sounds Figure 4. Interactive approach to reading

An interactive approach to reading would include aspects of both intensive and extensive reading. We need to provide learners with shorter pas-sages to teach specific reading skills and strategies explicitly. We also need to encourage learners to read longer texts without an emphasis on testing their skills. Extensive reading provides opportunities to practice strategies introduced during intensive reading instruction. Teachers should be aware that a single classroom textbook will not meet the needs for both intensive and extensive instruction. Materials will need to be selected that engage the learners in both types of reading. When I observe my students, I can see that an interactive model is the best description of what happens when we read. Second language readers do many bottom-up things

DidĂĄctica del InglĂŠs II

when they read (decode unfamiliar vocabulary, struggle with poor print quality, wonder about a part of speech of a particular word) and they do many top-down things when they read (anticipate what is coming next in the text, draw on their previous experience). My teaching has improved as I have come to understand that reading is an interactive process of both bottom-up and top-down processes. Reflection 1. Describe the characteristics of a bottom-up reader. 2. Describe the characteristics of a top-down approach to reading 3. Why is an interactive approach to reading the best description of what happens when we read?

Action 1. There is a problem with the text below. Notice that at the end of each line the last few letters of each word have been left off. In spite of this problem, read and figure out what the passage is about. Preparing your resume So, you want to find a Job? Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re getting close to completing your uni studies and you are ready to begin the search for employment. Caref preparation of your resume is the key to successfully landing the job o your dreams. A resume is a short summary of your skills and abilities. A potential em reviews your resume to determine whether you are the appropriate pers hire. Most university graduates do not understand the importance of prep resume that will present themselves in the best possible light. You must remember that the resume is the tool that you have to sell yourself as the b possible candidate for a job opening. 2. What were the top-down and bottom-up strategies you used in the above reading task? Share your answer with others in your class.

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3. PRINCIPLES FOR TEACHING READING 3.1 Exploit the reader’s background knowledge A reader’s background knowledge can influence reading comprehension (Carrell, 1983, Carrell and Connor, 1991). Background knowledge includes all of the experiences that a reader brings to a text: life experiences, educational experiences, knowledge of how texts can be organized rhetorically, knowledge of how one’s first language works, knowledge of how the second language works, and cultural background and knowledge. Reading comprehension can be significantly enhanced if background knowledge can be activated by setting goals, asking questions, making predictions, teaching text structure, and so on. If students are reading on an unfamiliar topic, you may need to begin the reading process by building up background knowledge. An interesting concept to consider related to the role of background knowledge is the negative influence it may have. Incorrect background knowledge can hinder comprehension. For example, some readers may have misconceptions about how AIDS is contracted. Some may believe that you can get AIDS by kissing or swimming in a pool. These misconceptions may interfere with a reading passage on AIDS, and you may have to correct the background knowledge through a prereading activity before reading comprehension can be achieved. 3.2 Build a strong vocabulary base Recent research emphasized the importance of vocabulary to successful reading. As I have developed my own philosophy of the role of vocabulary in reading instruction, I have decided that basic vocabulary should be explicitly taught and L2 readers should be taught to use context to effectively guess the meanings of less frequent vocabulary. I have arrived at my philosophy, in part, by reviewing the research on vocabulary acquisition. Levine and Reeves (1990) have found that “it is easier for the reader of academic texts to cope with special terminology than with general vocabulary”. They stress the great need for a teaching pro-gram that builds general, basic vocabulary. I have found my own vocabulary instruction enhanced by asking these three questions from Nation (1990, p. 4): 1. What vocabulary do my learners need to know? 2. How will they learn this vocabulary? 3. How can I best test to see what they need to know and what they now know?

Didáctica del Inglés II

3.3 Teach for comprehension In many reading instruction programs, more emphasis and time may be placed on testing reading comprehension than on teaching readers how to comprehend. Monitoring comprehension is essential to successful reading. Part of that monitoring process includes verifying that the predictions being made are correct and checking that the reader is making the necessary adjustments when meaning is not obtained. Cognition can be defined as thinking. Metacognition can be defined as thinking about our thinking. In order to teach for comprehension, it is my belief that readers must monitor their comprehension processes and be able to discuss with the teacher and/or fellow readers what strategies they use to comprehend. By doing this, the readers use both their cognitive and metacognitive skills. Questioning the author, developed by Beck, McKeown, Hamilton, and Kucan (1997), is an excellent technique for engaging students in meaningful cognitive and metacognitive interactions with text and for assisting students in the process of constructing meaning from text. Beck et al. emphasize that this activity is to be done during the reading process, not after reading. The approach requires that the teacher model the reading behavior of asking questions in order to make sense of what is being read. Students learn to engage with meaning and develop ideas rather than retrieve information from the text. This particular technique is the kind of activity that teachers of reading should engage the class in, rather than asking them to read a passage and then testing reading comprehension of the material. Use of this approach engages the teacher and readers in queries about the text as the material is being read. Examples of queries include “What is the author trying to say here? What is the author’s message? What is the author talking about? What does the author mean here? Does the author explain this clearly?” (Beck et al., 1997, pp. 34, 37). 3.4 Work on increasing reading rate One great difficulty in the second language reading classroom is that even when language learners can read, much of their reading is not fluent. Often, in our efforts to assist students in increasing their reading rate, teachers over-emphasize accuracy which impedes fluency. The teacher must work towards finding a balance between assisting students to improve their reading rate and developing reading comprehension skills. It is very important to understand that the focus is not to develop speed readers, but fluent readers. I define a fluent reader as one who reads at a rate of 200 words-per-minute with at least 70 percent comprehension. One focus here is to teach readers to reduce their dependence on a dictionary. Skills such as scanning, skimming, predicting, and identifying main ideas get students to approach reading in different ways. Readers should spend more time analyzing and synthesizing the content of the reading, and not focusing on moving through the passage one word at a time. Part of the joy of reading is being able to pick up a book and comprehend it, without having to struggle through the task of reading.

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3.5 Teach reading strategies Strategies are “the tools for active, self-directed involvement that is necessary for developing communicative ability. Strategies are not a single event, but rather a creative sequence of events that learners actively use” (Oxford, 1996). This definition underscores the active role that readers take in strategic reading. To achieve the desired results, students need to learn how to use a range of reading strategies that match their purposes for reading. Teaching them how to do this should be a prime consideration in the reading classroom (Anderson, 1991; Chamot and O’Malley, 1994). Some of the research that I have done indicates that “there is no single set of processing strategies that significantly contributes to success ...” in second language reading tasks. Strategic reading means not only knowing what strategy to use, but knowing how to use and integrate a range of strategies (Anderson, 1991). A good technique to sensitize students to the strategies they use is to get them to verbalize (or talk about) their thought processes as they read. Readers can listen to the verbal report of another reader who has just read the same material, and it is often revealing to hear what other readers have done to get meaning from a passage. I use this technique in my reading classes to get students to become more aware of their reading strategies and to be able to describe what those strategies are. 3.6 Encourage readers to transform strategies into skills An important distinction can be made between strategies and skills (Kawai, Oxford, and Iran-Nejad, 2000). Strategies can be defined as conscious actions that learners take to achieve desired goals or objectives, while a skill is a strategy that has become automatic. This characterization under-scores the active role that readers play in strategic reading. As learners consciously learn and practice specific reading strategies, the strategies move from conscious to unconscious; from strategy to skill. For example, guessing the meaning of unknown vocabulary from context can be listed as both a strategy and a skill in reading texts. When a reader is first introduced to this concept and is practicing how to use context to guess the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary he or she is using a strategy. The use of the strategy is conscious during the learning and practice stages. As the ability to guess unfamiliar vocabulary from context becomes automatic, the reader moves from using a conscious strategy to using an unconscious skill. The use of the skill takes place outside the direct consciousness of the reader. The goal for explicit strategy instruction is to move readers from conscious control of reading strategies to unconscious use of reading skills. 3.7 Build assessment and evaluation into your teaching Assessing growth and development in reading skills from both a formal and an informal perspective requires time and training. Both quantitative and qualitative assessment ac-

Didáctica del Inglés II

tivities should be included in the reading classroom. Quantitative assessment will include information from reading comprehension tests as well as reading rate data. Qualitative information can include reading journal responses, reading interest surveys, and responses to reading strategy checklists. 3.8 Strive for continuous improvement as a reading teacher The quality of the individual teacher is integral to success of second/foreign language readers. Reading teachers need to be passionate about their work. They should view themselves as facilitators, helping each reader discover what works best. Integrating the key principles discussed above can lead to more effective reading instruction in the second language classroom. While research studies conducted as early as the 1960s failed to support a single approach to teaching reading as better than others, it did support the central role of the teacher in students’ success in learning to read (Farstrup, 2002). The good reading teacher actively teaches students what to do. To succeed, you need more than classroom tips and techniques: you need to understand the nature of the reading process (Anders, Hoffman, and Duffy, 2000). The International Reading Association gathers input from reading educators around the world each year on what the “hot topics” are in reading. For 2002 a hot topic that appeared on the list for the first time was teacher education for reading (Cassidy and Cassidy, 2002). Just because you are a reader does not mean that you are prepared to be a teacher of reading. Aebersold and Field (1997) have entitled their text for teacher education in reading, From Reader to Reading Teacher. What a nice title for each of us as we seek to improve our ability to teach reading! 4. CLASSROOM TECHNIQUES AND TASKS As a new reading teacher over twenty years ago, I struggled to know how to implement reading theory in the reading classroom. I would read chapters like this one that presented a variety of ideas and information on teaching reading. Knowing how to integrate the theory of reading into appropriate classroom practice was my challenge. As I thought about the key elements of reading, I organized a teaching system for reading around the word ACTIVE: A: Activate prior knowledge C: Cultivate vocabulary T: Teach for comprehension I: Increase reading rate V: Verify reading strategies E: Evaluate progress

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Activate prior knowledge Prior to each reading passage, it is beneficial to engage the readers in an activity that gets them thinking about what they already know about the topic of the reading. One activity that you could use is called an anticipation guide. The purpose of the anticipation guide is to learn what the readers already know about the topic of the reading. You can ask five key questions about the content of a reading passage based on the reading skill you are trying to develop. For example, if you are trying to develop the readers’ ability to make inferences, prepare five inference questions. Before the students read the passage, they read the inference statements and determine whether they agree or disagree with the statement. The students then read the passage and respond a second time to the same inference statements. We expect that the students will not be able to respond correctly to the inference statements before reading the passage. But, after reading the passage, we expect that they will be able to answer the statements correctly. Figure 6 contains a blank anticipation guide that you can use as a model. Instructions: Respond to each statement twice, once before you begin this unit and again at the conclusion of the unit (Continued on next page)

Write A if you agree with Write the statement Write D if you disagree with Write the statement Response before reading

Topic:

Response after reading

1. 2. 3, 4. 5. Figure 5 Anticipation guide Cultivate Vocabulary Word webs are a very good activity for building students’ vocabulary skills. Begin by writing a key concept in the middle of the chalkboard. Choose a concept that is central to the reading you are about to do. Have the students work individually, in small groups, or as a class in building from the center of the word web

DidĂĄctica del InglĂŠs II

by adding other vocabulary that is related to the key word. For example, if the key word is music, students could create a word web similar to the one in Figure 6. Rhythm Trombone

Trumpet

Violin

Instruments

Stringed

Brass

Cello

French Horn

Tone Bass

Instruments Flute

Harmony

Music

Oboe Jazz Wind

Types of Music

Clarinet Rock and roll

Country and Western

Figure 6. Word web

Teach for comprehension Instead of asking the students comprehension questions after reading a passage, a teacher can model with the class how comprehension is reached. The class reads together and discusses how they are understanding what is written. One of my favorite activities to use is teaching students how to make inferences. The teacher selects a passage that lends itself to making inferences. One of my favorite short stories to use for this activity is Charles by Shirley Jackson. The class reads a portion together and the teacher models the inferences that can be made while reading. As the class continues reading together, the teacher asks the students to verbalize the inferences that they are making. Instead of waiting to test studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; ability to make inferences after they read, the class works together at making inferences while reading. Short mystery stories lend themselves well to teaching inferences. Increase reading rate One successful activity is called repeated reading. Students read a short passage over and over again until they achieve criterion levels of reading rate and comprehension. For example, students may try to read a short 100-word para-

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin TĂtulo PedagĂłgico en Lengua Extranjera

graph four times in two minutes. As learners participate in repeated reading exercises, they come to realize how this activity is also a tool for improving reading comprehension. They understand more when reading something twice at a faster reading rate than reading it slowly only one time. This activity helps empower second language readers and strengthens their metacognitive awareness of the value of reading rate. Verify reading Strategies Think-aloud protocols in a guided format get learners to identify the strategies that they use while reading. I ask readers to respond verbally to five questions. (1) What are you trying to accomplish? (2) What strategy(ies) are you using? (3) Why did you select this/these strategy(ies)? (4) How well is/are the strategy(ies) working? (5) What other strategy(ies) could you use to accomplish your purpose? Responses to these five questions allow the readers to share with each other a wide range of strategies available for comprehending reading material. The teacher does not have to generate the list of all appropriate reading strategies. Students can work together under the direction of the teacher in sharing and evaluating strategy use. Evaluate progress Reading journals are an effective way to evaluate reading progress. Students make a journal entry each day. They respond to different questions based on different areas of focus they are working on in class. One day I may ask the students to engage in a repeated reading activity and then record in their reading journal what they have learned about their reading rate after doing the activity. On another day I may ask the students to do a written protocol and record the strategies they have used while reading during a homework assignment. The reading journal helps the students see the progress they are making in class. 5. READING IN THE CLASSROOM Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s now consider how these concepts take effect in the classroom. The reading that follows is a passage from ACTIVE Skills for Reading, Book 1 (Anderson, 2002). This material is intended for high-beginning level readers in a non-US context. Before the teacher asks the students to read the passage, the following five true/false questions are addressed (activate prior knowledge): Step 1

1. Chicken soup is a good remedy for a cold.

___ T

___ F

2. Eating chocolate can cause skin problems.

___ T

___ F

3. A vegetarian diet is low in protein.

___ T

___ F

4. Coffee is better for you than tea.

___ T ___ F

5. Bread and potatoes are not fattening foods.

___ T ___ F

Didáctica del Inglés II

The readers then practice the reading skill of scanning the passage to see if their responses to the true/false questions were correct. Readers are taught that: When we read to find information, we move our eyes very quickly across the text. We don’t read every word. We don’t stop reading when we see a word we don’t under-stand. We look for the information we want to find. This is called ‘scanning’. This reading skill is taught to make sure that readers know how to use the skill of scanning (teach for comprehension). Step 2 Around the world, people have beliefs about certain foods and drinks. Some people think that chicken soup is good for a cold. Others believe that ¡t is unhealthy not to eat meat. The question is, are any of these beliefs true? Belief: Chicken soup helps to fight a cold. Fact: For centuries, people have believed that chicken soup is a good cold remedy. Chicken soup contains a special chemical that stops a cold from getting worse. Also, heat from the soup can make a person feel better. Belief: A vegetarian diet is unhealthy. Fact: Meat, especially red meat, contains protein that the body needs. A person who doesn’t eat meat can get enough protein and be healthy by eating tofu, eggs, nuts, and certain vegetables. Belief: Chocolate causes pimples. Fact: This is a common belief that is not true! Many researchers say that eating chocolate does not cause pimples. More often, the cause is stress or not getting enough sleep. Belief: Tea is better than coffee. Fact: A study in 2002 showed that black or green tea contains substances that can protect your heart, fight cancer, and lower fat in your body. Coffee does not do this. Belief: Foods like bread and potatoes are fattening. Fact: Bread and potatoes do not contain much fat or many calories. Eating too much and not exercising can cause us to gain weight. Also, adding butter or other fattening things to bread and potatoes can raise the number of calories we eat. Now, doctors say that this belief may not be true.

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6. CONCLUSION This chapter set out to accomplish four goals. I believe that we have accomplished three of these four goals. We have discussed seven key concepts related to second language reading. You can define the following concepts central to an understanding of reading: silent reading, interactive reading, reading fluency, extensive reading, and intensive reading. You can demonstrate familiarity with practical classroom techniques for teaching reading. The single goal that we have not yet accomplished is having you set goals for improving your ability to teach reading. What goals do you now have to improve your ability to teach second language reading in the classroom? Reflect back over the content of this chapter and set two to three specific, measurable goals for yourself. These should be goals that you believe could be accomplished within the next six to nine months. Write the goals in a teaching journal you will have regular access to. Share these goals with a colleague, one that you trust and one that you know will help remind you of your commitment to become a better teacher of reading. Use the references listed in the Further Readings section as well as those listed in the References to provide you with background reading on the topics of your goals. Perhaps the best piece of advice that I can give you as you set goals to improve your teaching of reading is to enjoy what you are doing in the classroom. As ESL/EFL teachers of learners we have opportunities every day to interact with the learners in our classrooms. We can learn more from them than they will ever learn from us. Good luck on your adventure to improve your teaching of reading.

DidĂĄctica del InglĂŠs II

PART SIX

Teaching writing

Objectives 1. To understand the ways in which writing instruction can be built into the ESL/EFL class. 2. To show confidence in using process approach techniques in the classroom, including quickwriting, brainstorming, word mapping, drafting, and peer review. 3. To identify suitable assessment options, including writing comments on student work and using written guidelines (rubrics).

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TEACHING WRITING1 1. WHAT IS WRITING? Writing can be defined by a series of contrasts: •

It is both a physical and a mental act. At the most basic level, writing is the physical act of committing words or ideas to some medium, whether it is hieroglyphics inked onto parchment or an e-mail message typed into a computer. On the other hand, writing is the mental work of inventing ideas, thinking about how to express them, and organizing them into statements and paragraphs that will be clear to a reader.

•

Its purpose is both to express and impress. Writers typically serve two masters: themselves, and their own desires to express an idea or feeling, and readers, also called the audience, who need to have ideas expressed in certain ways. Writers must then choose the best form for their writing-a shopping list, notes from a meeting, a scholarly article, a novel, or poetry are only a few of the choices. Each of these types of writing has a different level of complexity, depending on its purpose.

•

It is both a process and a product. The writer imagines, organizes, drafts, edits, reads, and rereads. This process of writing is often cyclical, and sometimes disorderly. Ultimately, what the audience sees, whether it is an instructor or a wider audience, is a product—an essay, letter, story, or research report.

These contrasts may seem merely like clever or convenient ways to break down the larger concept. In fact, they point to the source of many conflicts and misunderstandings about writing and the teaching of writing. 2. BACKGROUND TO THE TEACHING OF WRITING Concern with the teaching of writing goes back thousands of years. However, up until the early twentieth century, writing instruction was based on a somewhat rigid set of assumptions: good writing was done from a set of rules and principles, the teacher’s duty was to relate these rules, and students then wrote in response to selected written texts, following the rules of good writing. A student essay was then graded for its grammatical accuracy and correct organization as well as its content. This idea is shown clearly in Harvard University’s entrance requirements of 1874: Each candidate will be required to write a short English composition, correct in spelling, punctuation, grammar, and expression, the subject to be taken from such works of standard authors as shall be announced from time to time. The subject for 1874 will be taken from one of the following works: Shakespeare’s Tempes?, Julius Caesar, and Merchant of Vertice; Goldsmith’s Vicar of Wakefield; Scott’s 1

Nunan, David (Ed.) Practical English Language Teaching. McGraw-Hill, New York, 2003.

Didáctica del Inglés II

Ivanhoe and Lay of the Last Minstrel. (Cited in Bizzell, Herzberg & Reynolds, 2000.)

In second language writing instruction during this time, as in native language instruction, the “rules of writing” were concerned more with correct-ness of form over function. In class, students spent a great deal of time in copying models rather than expressing their own ideas creatively. Writing was used to show that students had mastered a particular grammatical rule, rather than had a good idea about the subject matter. In fact, correct spelling, grammar, and overall organization were the most important evidence of second language proficiency. A student’s ability to form and write the future perfect tense correctly was seen as evidence of a student’s ability to write, and moreover, of the student’s overall English ability. A movement for more progressive writing instruction started in 1911, when the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) was founded. The NCTE protested against the American high school curriculum, which they felt was dictated by the large universities, and did not address the needs of the diverse population of high school students across the U.S. However, it wasn’t until the 1960s that a broader understanding of writing and the teaching of writing began to take hold in classrooms. Writing instruction began to include the entire process of writing-invention, drafting, feedback, and revision—and not just the product. Second language writing instruction generally included the principles and methods followed in first-language writing classes. However, additional concerns surfaced in the 1960s. ESL/EFL instructors began to recognize that certain writing problems seemed to be related to students’ first languages. In 1966 Robert Kaplan introduced the idea of contrastive rhetoric, or the comparison of different types of writing in terms of organizational patterns. In his landmark essay, Cultural Thought Patterns in Intercultural Education, he claims: “Each language and each culture has a paragraph order unique to itself, and ... part of the learning of a particular language is the mastery of its logical system.” (Kaplan, 1966, p. 14) This idea was represented in a drawing (Figure 1), showing the paragraph structures by speakers of different languages: extensive parallel constructions in the Semitic group, an indirect approach in the Oriental group, and repeated digressions in Romance and Slavic groups. This illustration is often criticized for being too simplistic and for assuming the English language writing to be linear or normal. However, it continues to attract attention, and there is a renewed interest in the influence first language has on an additional language (Connor, 1996).

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Figure 1 Contrastive rhetoric

Reflection 1. Have you been a student in a writing class? What was your experience like? 2. Could your writing instructors have considered your needs as a learner more effectively? Explain your answer. 3. Do you think Kaplan’s contrastive rhetoric model (Figure 1) can help teachers to understand student writing? Explain your answer.

Scholars of first language writing, such as Peter Elbow and Donald Murray, called for teachers to take student writers’ needs into consideration. This methodology has been called expressivism; in it, students are encouraged to write freely and personally. Writers explore their identities and writing processes in order to take control of their writing. Teachers are seen as “facilitators” who urge students to write without thought to “the rules” of writing. Peter Elbow, for example, encourages a type of writing called freewriting, in which students write on any topic they want for a specified period of time (usually about ten minutes), without concern for grammar, spelling, or punctuation. This writing exercise is intended to make students comfortable with the act of writing, and less afraid to make errors and experiment with ideas. Although many instructors think expressivism has added something important to writing instruction, this approach has had several critics within ESL/EFL. First of all, in some traditional academic settings, personal writing is discouraged, or at least not required by other disciplines. Students from some cultures will be unfamiliar with this style of writing for school purposes, or see the topics as inappropriate in an academic environment. However, aspects of this process, such as reading responses, journal-keeping, and quickwriting, are more and more comnion in the ESL/EFL writing classroom.

Didáctica del Inglés II

In the 1970s, interest in cognitive science and the sociology of language broadened writing instruction even further. The psychological processes of composing (see Shaughnessy, 1977), were seen as providing important insights into how students write and learn. In cognitivism, critical thinking and problem solving are of greatest importance. In the writing class, students define problems, investigate them thoroughly, and then after presenting their arguments, come to considered and logical conclusions. The cognitivist approach in ESL/EFL classrooms is also evident in aspects of a process approach that encourages brainstorming, drafting, and conferencing among students and with the instructor, in order to work out the substance of writing. Editing and proofreading are seen as a final, and less important stage, in the working out of the written text. These trends continued into the 1980s and 1990s, when, in ESL settings, concerns for diversity, bilingualism/multilingualism, and political issues informed the teaching of writing. Writers were seen as belonging to “discourse communities,” in what was called social constructionism. In this view, the language and form of writing arise from the target community. For native speakers in formal educational settings, this often means direct instruction in academic discourse, which in turn integrates them into the academic community. For second-language writers, there is a double burden: to learn the skills that will help them integrate into the new language community as well as into the academic community. A concrete way in which these concerns took shape was in the formation of Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) programs. In these programs, students were taught explicitly how to write in different disciplines, understanding that to write an essay for a literature class was a different task, and required a different style and vocabulary, than writing a laboratory report for biology. WAC appeared in second language learning in the form of adjunct programs. In these programs, students took “content” courses, such as psychology or political science and also attended adjunct courses, in which the specific writing and language issues related to the content course were addressed. Most recently, Larsen-Freeman (2000) encourages teachers to adopt some form of principled eclecticism. Principled eclecticism encourages instructors to consider carefully the different trends and ideas that have occurred historically, and to choose those that most closely fit the needs of a particular classroom or individual student. In fact, in the writing curriculum, many instructors have done just that for many years. 3. PRINCIPLES FOR TEACHING WRITING The following are a few principles that every teacher should consider while planning a course, whether it is a writing course, or a course in which writing will play a part. These principies can (and should) be adapted to the many different learning situations.

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

3.1. Understand your students’ reasons for writing The greatest dissatisfaction with writing instruction comes when the teacher’s goals do not match the student’s, or when the teacher’s goals do not match those of the school or institution in which the student works. It is important to understand both and to convey goals to students in ways that make sense to them. Are the students required to take other courses? If so, which ones? Will those courses require writing? If so, what kind of writing? This is not to say that your course should only be in service to other courses. However, if your curriculum includes a lot of personal writing, and the students’ other courses do not, what is your justification for including this kind of writing? What benefit do you think it has? How do the skills learned in personal writing apply to other types of writing? Answering these questions will help you to find a focus for the writing that is to be done in your class. Action 1. What are the ways in which you use writing? Make a list (think of everything from shopping lists to research essays) of all the ways in which you use writing. 2. Review your list and think of which could be converted into writing activities. Create one activity related to an item on your list. 3.2 Provide many opportunities for students to write. Writing almost always improves with practice. Evaluate your lesson plans: how much time is spent reading or talking about writing, and how much is spent actually writing? My students groan when they see how much writing is required, but I draw an analogy for them: Since writing is in part a physical activity, it is like other physical activities—it requires practice, and lots of it. If someone wanted to become an excellent basketball player, would she read and discuss basketball, or would she go out and shoot some baskets? Just as basketball players play basketball, writers write. However, you can lower the stakes. Not every piece of writing needs to be corrected or graded. You don’t keep score when you’re practicing free throws, so teachers shouldn’t grade “practice writing.” When practice writing sessions are integrated regularly into your syllabus, students will become more comfortable with trie act of writing. Practice writing should provide students with different types of writing as well. Short responses to a reading, Journal entries, letter writing, summaries, poetry, or any type of writing you find useful in your class should be practiced in class.

Didáctica del Inglés II

3.3 Make feedback helpful and meaningful Students crave feedback on their writing, yet it doesn’t always have the intended effect. If you write comments on students’ papers, make sure they understand the vocabulary or symbols you use. Take time to discuss them in class. Be cautious about the tone of your comments. The margins of a paper are small and can force you into short comments. When writing short comments, we tend to leave out the words that soften our message. While you may think, “I’m not sure I understand your point here,” the limited space may cause you to write simply, “UNCLEAR” or just “?”. Students can see comments such as these as unkind and unhelpful. Feedback need not always be written in the margins. You can experiment with different forms: individual conferences, taped responses, typed summary responses, and so forth. Finally, feedback should not entail “correcting” a student’s writing. In order to foster independent writers, you can provide summary comments that instruct students to look for problems and correct them on their own. So, instead of adding an -s to the end of every first person present tense verb, a comment at the end might say, “There are several verbs that are missing an -s at the end. Try to locate and correct these verbs in the next version of this paper.” 3.4 Clarify for yourself, and for your students, how their writing will be evaluated. Students often feel that the evaluation of their writing is completely subjective. Teachers often hear, “I just don’t understand what you want.” One way to combat that feeling is to first develop a statement for yourself about what is valued in student writing, either in your classroom or in your institution as a whole. Some questions you might ask are: 1. On a scale of 1-10, how important is creativity, or originality of ideas? 2. On a scale of 1-10, how important is following a particular written format (such as a research report, book report, letter, etc.)? 3. On a scale of 1-10, how important is grammatical accuracy? 4. On a scale of 1-10, how important is it that the assignment include recently taught material? 5. On a scale of 1-10, how important is accuracy in spelling and punctuation? Answering these (and other questions that are relevant to your situation) will help you to develop a rubric, a kind of scoring grid that elaborates the elements of writing that are to be evaluated. This rubric should outline the weight of grammar and mechanics in relationship to content and ideas, as well as other features of writing that you find important.

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

There are three general types of rubrics that you can develop for your assignments: Non-weighted rubric This type of rubric provides descriptions of writing quality by level across other writing criteria. A brief example of this type of rubric would look like the following: Excellent

Adequate

Inadequate

Contents

Description of what would be Description of adequate de- Description of inadequate excellent content velopment of content content

Organization

Description of superior orga- Description of nization adequate organization

Description of inadequate organization

Grammar

Statement of level of gram- Statement of an dequately matical accuracy expected grammatical paper

Statement of types of grammatical problems that lead to the paper’s inadequacy

Comments: The instructor’s general comments on the student’s assignment Figure 2 Non-weighted rubric

With this type of rubric, the teacher would circle or check the level the student had achieved in each of the three categories, and then provide some written comments on the bottorn of the page, or on the student’s assignment. Weighted rubric A weighted rubric is similar to the unweighted one, but it breaks the writing skills into categories and sub-categories. A specific point value is assigned to each. Converting the organization element of the non-weighted rubric on this page into an element in a weighted rubric might look like this: Organization: 10 points • has a clear introduction • has separate paragraphs • has a conclusion • uses transitions to join paragraphs • uses transitions when needed within paragraphs For each element listed, for example, the instructor might assign up to two points, for the total of ten. Holistic rubric A holistic rubric describes in general terms the qualities of excellent, good, fair, and unsatisfactory assignments. These descriptions can be tied to grades or stand on their own. The instructor then chooses the description that fits the assignment. An example of one part of a holistic rubric might look like this:

Didáctica del Inglés II

Grade

Description The ‘B’ paper shows:

•

an ability to interpret and develop ideas in the writer’s own words

•

a clear organizational pattern

•

vocabulary that is adequate in expressing ideas

•

generally correct use of punctuation or spelling, although with occasional errors

•

grammar that is usually accurate, and does not interfere with the reader’s understanding Figure 3 Holistic rubric

Students can help to form a rubric as well. Take class time to ask them what they value in writing. Ask them what features make writing enjoyable to read and what features distract from that enjoyment. This kind of discussion has two benefits: it not only gives students a voice in the evaluation of their own work, it also provides a common vocabulary with which the entire class can discuss their writing and the writing of others. To assist in this discussion, give students a piece of good writing and a piece of poor writing (from a different class than the one they attend, of course). Ask them to state which is the good and which is the poor piece, with an explanation. Then get them to say why one piece is good and the other piece is poor. In this way, they generate the criteria for good writing. 4. CLASSROOM TECHNIQUES AND TASKS This section presents a few techniques and tasks you can use to teach writing. All of these techniques are part of what has been called the process approach or process writing, although as Kroll correctly points out: [T]he “process approach” serves today as an umbrella term for many types of writing courses... What the term captures is the fact that student writers engage in their writing tasks through a cyclical approach rather than through a single-shot approach (2001, p. 220).

In other words, these activities serve to encourage brainstorming, drafting, writing, feedback, revising, and editing in a cyclical fashion. These types of activities encourage the idea that learning to write is more than creating a final product; it is the learning of a series of skills leading to that product.

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Invention techniques: brainstorming, wordmapping, quickwriting Instructors often feel a tension between providing students a topic for writing and allowing students to formulate their own topics. Whichever you decide upon, students will have to come up with ideas to use in their assignment. These ideas will not come fully formed, so it is helpful to provide activities that allow them to “think on paper.” In this way, they can develop their thoughts before spending time writing a more formal essay. Brainstorming can be done individually or in pairs or groups of students. In a brainstorming session, students list all the ideas they can think of related to a topic, either in writing or aloud, quickly and without much planning. If no topic is given, then the student can brainstorm possible topics. Give students plenty of time for this activity—the most obvious, and sometimes clichéd ideas, come early in the process. When they have time to get past these ideas, more sophisticated and original ideas often surface. From the lists of brainstormed ideas or topics, students can choose those they are most interested in, or feel they can write most proficiently about. Wordmapping is a more visual form of brainstorming. When students create wordmaps, they begin with an idea at the top or center of a blank piece of paper. They then think of related ideas or words and draw relationships with a series of boxes, circles, and arrows. Quickwriting is where students begin with a topic, but then write rap-idly about it. You can give the students a time limit, usually 10 to 15 minutes, and instruct them not to erase or cross out text, to keep writing without stop-ping, and to just let the ideas and words come out without concern for spelling, grammar, or punctuation. From their piece of quickwriting, they then identify key ideas or interesting thoughts by underlining them. These ideas are then used in the first draft of their essays. Writing: drafting, feedback, and revising After students have developed their topics and ideas, it is time for them to write their first draft. Ample time should be given for the first draft, and students should be reminded that at this point, they need to focus on the development of ideas and the organization of those ideas more than the development of perfect grammar, punctuation, or spelling. After the draft is handed in, the instructor can make comments, but only in keeping with the instructions given to students; make comments more on the ideas and organization than on the grammar and spelling. At this point, the instructor can also utilize peer feedback. Students exchange papers and provide each other with comments on the paper’s contents. If peer commentary is used, it is best to use some kind of structured feedback form, such as that found in Figure 4.

Didáctica del Inglés II

Peer Comment written by ____________________ for __________________ Read your partner’s paper. Answer these questions: 1. Is the introduction effective? Explain your answer. 2. What is the author’s main idea? Restate it here: 3. Does the writer support that idea with evidence? What is that evidence? 4. What evidence is missing, or incomplete? 5. What questions do you have about this writing? 6. Is the conclusión effective? How would you improve it? 7. Do you notice any grammar or word choice errors? Underline them. Give this sheet back to your partner, and then discuss your answers. Figure 4. Example feedback form for students

After students have received feedback, they then begin the process of revising their papers. Note that students often mistake the idea of revision with “correcting mistakes” (Sommers, 1980), so you should spend time talking about the process of reorganization, developing ideas, and so forth, as separate from editing for grammar or spelling. Proofreading and editing Before the final draft is turned in for evaluation, students should, of course, read for mistakes in spelling, grammar, punctuation, and so forth. Students can help each other to proofread and edit, although the instructor should keep his/ her involvement to a minimum. In developing independent writers, it is important that students learn to proofread and edit on their own as much as possible. And, a teacher should not correct a student’s draft by supplying all the correct forms of words, punctuation, and so forth. Students are often overwhelmed by the large amount of teacher’s writing on their papers, and feel paralyzed by what looks like an immense number of “errors.” Although these techniques are presented in a linear fashion, as mentioned in the introduction to this section, any of these steps can and should be per-formed, or “reperformed” at any stage in the writing process. For example, if a student’s essay is not well developed, doing another round of quickwriting or brainstorming may help to further flesh out her/ his ideas. And, while spelling and punctuation may not be of prime concern early in the process, students can, and should, make corrections any time they notice them, and not wait until the “last step.”

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin TĂtulo PedagĂłgico en Lengua Extranjera

5. WRITING IN THE CLASSROOM In this section, we will look first at exercises from some textbooks that implement the principles described in this chapter. These example exercises come from different levels. We will then look at short samples of student writing, and possible ways to comment on that writing. Textbook examples

Figure 5 Writing Workout: A Program for New Studenst of English, by Jann Huizenga and Maria Thomas-Ruzic, Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle, 1990, p. 120

Commentary Figure 5 shows how process writing can be integrated into a lower-level class. It uses a variation on brainstorming in which students first create a visual map, in this case a timeline, and write from the details that they first created. This activity would be best used after the instructions to write an essay. There is also a follow-up activity and the opportunity to rewrite their essay.

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ACTIVITY 2 In this activity, yon will have to write a very clear description for your classmates. Before Writing A. Study the two pictures of chairs. Make a list of descriptive details about each one. ______________________ ___________________________ ______________________ ___________________________ ______________________ ___________________________ Writing B. Choose one chair and write a description of it. Try to be as clear as possible, but do not compare it to the other chair. C. Exchange your paragraph with another group's paragraph. Read the paragraph from the other group. Can you pick out which chair it is describing? Is it number 1 or number 2? What parts of the description helped you pick the right one? What parts of the description confused you? Write some comments on the paragraph and then give it back to the group that wrote it. Revising D. When you get your paragraph back, read the comments and think about them. Then rewrite your paragraph so it is as clear as possible.

Figure 6 Ready to Write: A First Composition Text (Pearson Education Inc., 1994)

Commentary Figure 6 shows again a breaking down of the writing process into steps, beginning with a type of brainstorming list. It also uses peers in the reviewing of the written product. By having a goal, that is, creating a description that someone will be able to use to identify something, there is an added valué of having a built-in audience for the writing. Writing projects are often most effective when they have a “real-world” purpose; that is, the audience is authentic. This encourages students to write clearly and with an audience in mind.

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What position will you take toward your subject? Explain your choice. • Neutral: A neutral position tells only the facts. • Positive: A positive position praises the person for his or her accomplishments. • Negative: A negative position condemns the person for the life he or she has led. My reasons ______________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________

What part (or events or incidents) of the person’s life will you write about? From __________________ To __________________ Reasons____________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________

What topics will you cover? Reasons____________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________

How will you organize your essay? • Chronotegícally • bythemeormain ideas • other (explain): Reasons____________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________

What other things are you thinking about for your essay? Notes: _____________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________

Figure 7. Tapestry Writing 4 (Heinle/Thomson, 2000)

Commentary. Figure 7 presents a more advanced activity for students’ essays. Here, the assignment asks them to write a biography of a person of their choice. However, again, it breaks down the activity by guiding students through a series of topics and questions that help them formulate their ideas.

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Reflection Consider the three textbook samples in Figures 5-7. 1. In what ways are the activities similar? 2. Which do you find would be easiest to implement? Why? 3. Which do you think you would amend in some way? Explain how you would change each of the activities.

Sample student writing The following are samples of student writing. All essays are reprinted with the students’ permission. The first is a paragraph written in response to the question: Which room in the house is most important? Student Essay 1 The most important room in a home is the living room. Because living room is the place where our family joins together. The living room is the place where family watch TV together. The family can only communicate in the living room, we will have no place to see each other. Because when people got off from work or got off from school, people will go back to their bedroom. People will not see each other unless they come out of the room and go through the hall way at the same time. So living room offers a place that members of the family can have entertainment together, and it offers people in the family was doing on that day or recently. And they won’t become strangers as the days pass by. Action Make a copy of Student Essay 1 and write marginal comments. 1. Identify one grammar element that the student should focus on (but remember not to “correct” the problem). 2. Comment on the main idea; do you think it’s a good one? Can it be im pro ved? What should the writer focus on when he or she revises this paragraph? Give him/her one piece of advice about revision.

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The next two essays are from students writing in response to the question: Should class attendance be required at the university level? Student Essay 2 Attendance of University Most people feel more freedom when they attend at University than high

school because students at University can have more flexible time than students at high school. One of the biggest problems to freshmen at University is a time management. Usually, their teachers or parents set up the schedule of students at high school. They spend most of day time at school and last of time to do homework or go to preparatory schools. However, the system of University is different with high schools. In my opinion, students have to go to school. It does not matter if they go to high schools, Universities, or graduate schools. Why do we have to go to school? We need to learn something from professors who are specialist for some areas. It helps us very much to understand something that we do not know but want to know. For example, if there is a student who takes Mathematics and Native American History, and skips those classes a lot. The Mathematics and History classes are connected every class. So, if a student skips classes, it is very hard to catch up next time. According to theory X of Mcgregor who is economic psychologist in 20 century, ‘Most people are lazy, irresponsible, and work hard only when forced to do so.’ I agree with his theory because lots of people reluctant to work if they do not have to do. Study is not really fun all the time except some people. Also, it is true that we can live without studying. It is an option to go to University. People can study by themselves without going to school because there are plenty of books, videotapes, and other sources to learn. However, going to school means attending classes and studying with professors and other students regularly.

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Student Essay 3 Attendance University students should be require to attend class. Those who attend classes every time they have to, they have more possibilities of passing the class and not only that, but also they are exploring into different things to make sure what your major is going to be the same time they are being mature people which shows how serious education is them. If you attend class, you will follow up on what the whole class is doing. You are able to do what do all of the assignments, take notes for the final exam. Having a good understanding of what is going on the class it will be easier to do a good work and nave a good grade on your mid-terms and finals. The grading part is based on assignments, exams, and participation. Do you think you will get a good grade if you are not attending class and participating. Or what are you going to do when you will need to talk to the professor and the professor does not know you because you have not been attending class. Attending to class is not only about going into a room and sit until the class is dismiss, it can be more than that. When you attend to class you have the chance to know more of what you want to do or just been introduce to a new thing. If you have the class you wanted, you will enjoy it. But if you don’t, give it a chance to know what it is about and maybe you will like it. It is good to explore different things because it will help to make sure what you want to study. Attending to class is one responsibility that you should take care of because at this time it is expect a lot from you. You are on the stage where you start being independent and responsible of your actions. Probably you might think that is too much work, but in the reality is not. Put it this way, you will have to work more than you are used and do your best. But all of this hard work will be paid of when you see yourself in stage in front of your family and the people getting your diploma and thinking that you have accomplished one of your many goals.

6. CONCLUSION In this chapter, you have read about the many influences on writing instruction and been introduced to general techniques for writing and evaluating student writing. The most important principle, however, is to learn to adapt any of these ideas to the many different situations in which students write.

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Many people falsely believe that writing is a talent that is present in the lucky few, and cannot be taught to the rest. Fortunately for both native speakers and non-native speakers alike, writing is a teachable and learnable skill, and the instructor can play an invaluable role in making this skill an enjoyable one. First, the instructor can help the student understand the context of their writing assignments by discussing who the audience is, and what their expectations are. The instructor also aids the students in understanding the purpose of the writing assignment. Is it to demonstrate knowledge of new vocabulary or grammatical structures? Is it to show creativity in thinking? Is it to report events accurately? Defining the purpose for writing assists students in completing assignments in different contexts. Finally, helping students understand the process of writing by guiding them through the steps of invention, drafting, review, revision, and evaluation will help demystify writing and make it an important part of their learning of English. In addition, by reflecting on your own experience as a writer, and as a student of writing, you can help illuminate the path that your own students will walk as they become proficient writers of English.

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PART SEVEN

Teaching grammar

Objectives 1. To provide your own definition of the term grammar. 2. To explain the following concepts: declarative and procedural knowledge, form and function relationships, inductive and deductive teaching. 3. To demonstrate familiarity with practical classroom techniques including the following: substitution drills, input enhancement, grammar dictation, and the garden path.

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TEACHING GRAMMAR1

1. WHAT IS GRAMMAR? Grammar is generally thought to be a set of rules specifying the correct ordering of words at the sentence level. The Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics defines it as “a description of the structure of a language and the way in which units such as words and phrases are combined to produce sentences in the language” (Richards, Platt and Weber, 1985). Sentences are acceptable if they follow the rules set out by the grammar of the language. For example, in English, one rule states that “a subject followed by a verb followed by an object” is grammatical. The sequence of words “The bit dog man the” is ungrammatical because it violates this rule, while “The dog bit the man” is grammatical because it obeys the rule. (The sentence “The man bit the dog,” is grammatical, but would be considered unacceptable by many people for other reasons.) Grammarians distinguish between prescriptive grammars and descriptive grammars. A prescriptive grammar lays down the law, saying what is right and what is wrong. A descriptive grammar, on the other hand, sets out to describe the way that people actually use language. In recent years, the trend has been away from prescriptive and towards descriptive grammars. Each of the following statements would be judged ungrammatical by prescriptive grammarians. However, they were all produced by native speakers, and would therefore find their way into a descriptive grammar. In a recent study, the vast majority of native speakers and advanced non-native speakers of English judged the statements to be grammatically acceptable. The gang were plotting a takeover. Everybody is ready now, aren’t they? Neither Fred nor Harry had to work late, did they? Someone has deliberately made themselves homeless. Anyone running a business should involve their spouse. What the cat did was ate the rat. (Celce-Murcia and Olshtain, 2000)

Reflection 1

Nunan, David (Ed.) Practical English Language Teaching. McGraw-Hill, New York, 2003.

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Reflection Why would each of the sentences above be ruled ungrammatical by a prescriptive grammarian? Why do you think most native speakers and advanced users of the language find them acceptable? Do you find them acceptable? What would you prefer as a learner, a descriptive or a prescriptive grammar? Why? What would you prefer as a teacher?

2. BACKGROUND TO THE TEACHING OF GRAMMAR The place of grammar in the language classroom has had a rather checkered history. Thirty years ago, language teaching and grammar teaching were synonymous in most language classrooms. The primary aim of teaching was to ensure that learners mastered the grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary of the language. The dominant methodology at the time was audiolingualism, which, in fact, is still influential today. The principles underlying audiolingualism were derived from structural linguistics and behaviorist psychology. The behaviorists believed that learning was a matter of acquiring habits. A typical audiolingual lesson might look something like this. 1. Present the new language item to be learned, giving a clear demonstration of its meaning through nonverbal means such as by pictures or actions. (Do not give grammatical explanations.) 2. Model the target pattern, using a number of examples. 3. Get the whole class to mimic and memorize the new pattern following the teacher’s model. 4. Introduce a substitution drill, first to the whole class, then with the class divided into two, and then with individual responses. 5. Repeat the first four steps, using negative versions of the target structure. 6. Repeat the first four steps, using interrogative (question) versions of the target structure. 7. Check for transfer, using previously unrehearsed cues. Solicit both whole class and individual responses.

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Reflection What are two advantages of an audiolingual lesson? Audiolingualism ended up being heavily criticized (although it remains very popular to this day). Why do you think it was criticized, and why do you think it remains popular despite the criticism?

The heart of the audiolingual lesson set out above is the substitution drill. Such drills are a stock-in-trade for most teachers, and remain popular to this day. Unfortunately, in many audiolingual classrooms such drills tended to be rather mechanical. For example, the teacher might say: “That’s a book. Pen!” and the students were expected to reply. “That’s a pen.” These days, teachers and textbook writers try to give a communicative and meaningful dimension to such drills. Here is an example from one of my own textbooks, Expressions 1 (Heinle/Thomson, 1998). 1. The teacher and students brainstorm titles of movies to fit the categories: science fiction, comedy, thriller, drama, and action film. 2. Students listen to and then practice the following conversation: Alice: Do you want to see a movie? Rob: Which one? Alice: How about Arrival of the Visitors? Rob: Great! I love science fiction. (Or “Oh no, I don’t like science fiction.”) 3. Students practice the conversation again, using the film titles generated in Step 1, and giving answers that are true for them. Action Make up your own substitution type dialogue following the model above. You can either use the same content, or make up your own

In the 1970s, two developments were to have a far-reaching effect on language teaching. Firstly, researchers began to look at the order in which learners acquired the grammar of the language. Prior to this, it had been assumed that the learners’ first language would

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have a strong influence on the order in which grammatical items were acquired. It was also assumed that if a teacher taught a given item on a given day (and it was taught well), it would have a strong impact on what was learned. In fact, researchers came up with some surprising results: •

learners from very different language backgrounds (Spanish and Chinese, in the first instance) appeared to acquire grammatical items in the same order;

•

this order differed from the order in which items were taught in class;

•

the order did not appear to be alterable by instruction;

•

knowing a rule was no guarantee that the rule could be used for communication.

(Dulay and Burt 1973, 1974; Krashen, 1981, 1982) As a result of their investigations, researchers concluded that acquisition orders were determined by the nature of the language to be learned, rather than through a contrast between the first language and the target language. The fact that individual grammar items appeared to be impervious to instruction, along with the fact that many learners could state rules, but then violated those very rules in communication, led to the notion that grammar instruction was of limited value. Stephen Krashen argued that grammar teaching led to conscious learning, whereas what was wanted was subconscious acquisition. He went further in suggesting that grammar instruction was unnecessary for the acquisition of a second language. More recently, the consensus seems to be that some form of grammar instruction is useful. For example, two researchers recently wrote: Our view is that some degree of carefully timed and delivered focus on form is likely to be appropriate in most cases of L2 learning difficulty. ... we believe that leaving learners to discover form-function relationships and the intricacies of a new linguistic system wholly on their own makes little sense. This does not mean, however, that we advocate a constant focus on all forms for all learners all the time. (Doughty and Williams, 1998, p. 11)

The second development that had an important influence on the course of language teaching was a rethinking of the nature of language itself. Rather than being viewed as a set of linguistic systems, it was seen as a tool for communication. This reconceptualization led directly to the development of communicative language teaching. Two recent related trends in language teaching are focus on form (Doughty and Williams, 1998), and consciousness-raising (Fotos and Ellis, 1991). Focus on form refers to the practice of explicitly drawing students’ attention to linguistic features within the context meaning-focused activities. In other words, communication comes first, and a focus on form comes second. The advantage of this reorientation is that “the learner’s attention is drawn precisely to a linguistic feature as necessitated by a communicative demand”

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(Doughty and Williams, 1998:3). Learners are therefore more likely to see the relationship between language form and communicative function. (See Principle 2, p. 159.) Consciousness-raising is a type of focus-on-form approach to grammar teaching. According to Larsen-Freeman (2001, p. 39-40), these exercises do not require students to produce the target structures. Instead, students are made aware of the target grammatical item through discovery-oriented tasks. (Examples of consciousness-raising exercises are presented in this chapter in the section Classroom techniques and procedures.) The current interest in focus on form has grown out of research questioning the idea that as teachers all we need to do is to create opportunities for learners to be immersed in and to communicate in the target language, and that it is unnecessary to focus on form at all. Work carried out in immersion classrooms in Canada and elsewhere has shown that when a focus on form is entirely absent, the learners do not develop an adequate mastery of certain grammatical features. In fact, they appear to end up with a kind of classroom pidgin language. 3. PRINCIPLES FOR TEACHING GRAMMAR 3.1 Integrate both inductive and deductive methods into your teaching In the deductive classroom, the teacher gives a grammatical explanation or rule followed by a set of exercises designed to clarify the grammatical point and help the learners master the point. In deductive teaching, you work from principles to examples. Inductive procedures reverse this process. In inductive teaching, you present the learners with samples of language and, through a process of guided discovery, get them to work out the principle or rule for themselves. So, which is better, deductive or inductive teaching? The answer is-it depends. It depends on the grammar point being taught, and the learning style of the student. (Some learners appear to learn more effectively through a deductive approach, others appear to do better through an inductive approach.) In my own teaching, I try and combine both approaches. There are times when I will introduce a grammar point deductively and other times when I use an inductive approach. I know which approach most of my students prefer-deduction, I suspect because it requires less mental effort. I prefer induction because I believe that it demands greater mental effort and that this will result in more effective learning in the longer term. The disadvantage of an inductive approach is that it takes more time for learners to come to an understanding of the grammatical point in question than with a deductive approach. However, inductive techniques appear to result in learners retaining more of the language in the long term.

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Reflection Is the following teaching sequence an example of a deductive or inductive approach? What grammar point is being practiced? 1 Students have pictures illustrating the following actions. Students write the number of the activity next to the correct picture. 1. Take a cooking lesson. 2. Take driving lessons. 3. Study English. 4. Take singing lessons. 5. Take a swimming class. 6. Study computers. 2. Students listen to and practice the conversation. Glenda: What are you doing over the break? Valeria: l’m going to take a swimming class. Glenda: Oh really? Where? Valerie: At the Plaza Fitness Center. Glenda: That sounds like fun. 3. Students practice the conversation again using different activities from Number 1.

3.2 Use tasks that make clear the relation ship between grammatical form and communicative function Many grammar-based courses are relatively ineffective because they teach grammar as an abstract system, present the language as isolated sentences, and fail to give learners a proper context for the grammar point. Teaching was largely limited to the form of the new grammatical item. For example, when the passive voice was introduced, typically Students were given a list of sentences in the active voice (“The boy broke the window.” “The dog bit the man.” etc.) along with a model of how to form the passive. (“The window was broken.”) The task for the Students was to turn the active voice sentences into the passive. Such a procedure does not give students any insights into the communicative contexts in which they should use the passive rather than the active voice. However, the solution proposed by some—do away with teaching grammar altogether-is no solution. The solution is to present the grammar in a context that makes clear the relationship between the grammatical form and the communicative function. For example, when teaching the passive voice, show WHY the passive voice is used-to place the emphasis on the action rather than the doer, to hide the identity of the doer, etc.

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3.3 Focus on the development of procedural rather than declarative knowledge In the field of language learning, declarative knowledge is knowing language rules. Procedural knowledge is being able to use the knowledge for communication. Most of us who have been teaching for any time at all know learners who can give a more-or-less standard textbook explanation of a grammatical rule or principle, but who violate the rule when using language communicatively. For example, I have students who can tell me that you have to put an s on the end of the verb when making third person singular declarative statements. When making such statements themselves, however, more often than not, they leave off the s. These students have declarative knowledge (they can state or declare the rule), but not procedural knowledge (they can’t or don’t use the rule when using the language to communicate). There are also learners who have procedural but not declarative knowledge. In fact, the vast majority of native speakers fall into this category. Unless they have studied grammar formally, few native speakers can state the rule for third person s. While declarative knowledge can facilitate the development of procedural knowledge, it is not a necessary and sufficient condition for the development of such knowledge. Students need to develop mastery of target language items, not by memorizing rules, but by using the target items in communicative con-texts. This learning through use or learning by doing principle is one that has come to us through the approach to education known as experientialism. Action Examine one or two ESL/EFL textbooks and find examples of tasks that exploit the students’ procedural knowledge. What grammar items are taught through the procedure? What kind of context is provided for each grammar point? Compare your analysis with someone who has examined other grammar points.

4. CLASSROOM TECHNIQUES AND TASKS In this section, we look at some popular grammar teaching techniques. Most of the techniques can be used either for introducing a new grammar point for the first time or for recycling a point that has already been introduced. There are various ways in which grammar techniques are classified. Doughty and Williams (1998) distinguish between techniques in which the grammar point is relatively implicit and those in which the point is relatively explicit. Ur (1996) places techniques on a continuum from those that focus on accuracy to those that focus on fluency. I distinguish between reproductive techniques in which learners basically reproduce models provided

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by the teacher or the textbook and creative techniques in which learners have the freedom to use a range of structures to express their meanings. Input enhancement Input refers to the language that is made available to the learner. Input enhancement is a technique for getting students to notice the grammar item that the teacher wants to introduce. With this technique, teachers draw students’ attention to items that are meant to be noticed by “flagging” them in some way such as through highlighting, underlining, or coloring. Such awareness-raising techniques are at the accuracy end of Ur’s accuracy-fluency continuum. Example: (For third person singular possessive determiner) Once upon a time there was a king. He had a beautiful young daughter. For her birthday, the king gave her a golden ball that she played with every day. The king and his daughter lived near a dark forest.... (Doughty and Williams, 1998) Consciousness-raising Consciousness-raising activities are designed to get learners to notice a particular grammatical feature or principle. However, learners are not required to use or practice the target item. Example: Study the following examples, and work out the rule for the correct order of direct and indirect objects in English. We took a gift for the teacher. We took the teacher a gift. He recited a poem for his girlfriend. He recited his girlfriend a poem. Grammar dictation Grammar dictation (or Dictogloss, as it is called by its creator, Ruth Wajnryb) involves learners collaborating in small groups, actively using their language, and reflecting on the way grammar works in context (thus reinforcing form/function relationships). It also encourages students to reflect on their own output. The technique is a relatively simple one. The teacher dictates a passage containing target language forms at normal speed. Students take notes and then work in small groups to reconstruct the original passage. The following example is taken from Ruth Wajnryb (1990) who devised the technique.

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GARLIC, THE GREAT HEALER TOPIC

Health and medicine

LANGUAGE

Time expressions

POINTS

Present perfect simple tense Past simple tense Causal connections

PREPARATION

Bring to class a clove of garlic,

WARM-UP 1. In class, ask for a volunteer for a guessing game. 2. Blindfold the volunteer and ask him or her to try and identify the clove of garlic by touch alone, (This stage of the activity should be carried out with the volunteer’s back to the class.) 3. If the student is unable to guess, invite others to try, until the garlic has been identified. 4. Then point out to the students that people often have strong attitudes to garlic. Ask your class how they feel about it, and why. PRE-TEXT VOCABULARY

to use (v) to put into action for some purpose to heal (v) to make well again natural (adj) found in nature, not artificial safe (adj) free from risk or danger antibiotic (n) a medicine that kills bacteria juice (n) the liquid part of a plant infection (n) the spread of germs

TEXT 1. All through history people have used garlic for healing. 2. People used it in India and China over 5000 years ago. 3. Because it is a natural medicine, it is a very safe antibiotic. 4. During World War I, for example, doctors used garlic juice because it helped stop infection. Figure 1. Books for Teachers: Grammar Dictation (Oxford University Press, 1990)

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Garden path. This technique could be considered rather cruel. In order to encourage students to process the target structure somewhat more deeply than they might otherwise do, the task is set up to get students to overgeneralize. It thus leads them into error. This is a technique based on inductive learning. Students study examples of the language and come to an hypothesis or generalization. The generalization is too broad. They are given disconfirming evidence and then have to modify their hypothesis. Example: T: Look at these examples for forming superlative adjectives. (Writes on the board. cute →the cutest; grand →the grandest.) Now make superlatives out of “beautiful”, “outrageous”, “expensive.”... OK, now, what have you written? Sonia? S: Beautifulest, outrageousest, expensivest. T: No, for these words, the superlative forms are “the most beautiful,” “the most outrageous,” and “the most expensive.” Now, I want you to get into groups and figure out the rule Who thinks they have the answer? Jose’s group. S: It’s about how big the word is. If it’s a big word, you use ‘most’, T: Big. Hmm. How do we measure the size of words? S: The number of syllables. T: The number of syllables. OK. And how many syllables do “beautiful,” “outrageous,” and “expensive” have? S: Three. T: Three. OK. So, who can state the rule? S: Adjectives with three syllables form the superlative with “most.” (Note: This is an invented example based on White, 1998. It is not an authentic classroom extract.)

Action Design a grammar exercise to highlight the distinction between the simple past and the present perfect, or the distinction between “going to” and “will” for future actions. Use one of the techniques discussed in Section 4.

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5. GRAMMAR IN THE CLASSROOM The purpose of this section is to show you some of the ways that the concepts and techniques already discussed are realized in the classroom. In the first two sequences, Teachers A and B were using the same task, as were Teachers C and D. It is interesting to notice the very different ways in which a set of materials can be exploited by different teachers. Reflection Study the following teaching sequences (page 164) in which two different teachers (Teacher A and Teacher B) are using the book Expressions 1. Then think about these questions. In what ways are the lessons similar? In what ways are they different? What is the purpose of each teaching lesson? Which is the more effective teacher? Why?

Get Ready A) Look at the people and read the words, Write the number of the words in the correct place in the picture (1-10). Use each word once. 1. tall 2. glasses 3. young 4. middle-aged 5. blond hair 6. short hair 7. curly hair 8. large earrings 9. short 10. mustache B) Read the sentences. Write T for true, or F for false, 1._____Sandra has short hair. 2._____George has a mustache. 3._____Kathi has earrings.

4. ______ Amy is short. 5.______ Tony has curly hair. 6.______ Erick is tall.

Figure 2. Expressions 1 (Heinle/Thomson, 2001)

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In the extract, T stands for teacher and S represents a particular student. Ss stands for students. Teacher A

Teacher B

T: OK, now, look at the picture and the words. Can you see the people? Ss: Yes, yes. T: So, now we’re going to practice the words. Listen to me and repeat. “Erik is tall.” “Erik is tall.” Ss: Erik is tall. T: Again. Ss: Erik is tall, T: Good! Amy. Ss: Amy is tall. T: Good! Glasses. Jun? S: Amy is glasses. T: Is? S: Has. T: Yes...? S: Amy has glasses. T: Amy HAS glasses. Yes, right. Everyone. Ss: Amy HAS glasses. T: George. Ss: George HAS glasses.

T: Right everybody! Remember these words? Siu Ming? S: Yes. T: Tan? S: Yes. T: OK. l’m going to say a word, and I want you to make a statement. And NOT one you can see on the page, OK? Um ... George. Siu Ming? S: George has a mustache. T: (laughs Well, yes, that’s true, but NOT one that you can see on the page. Try again. S: Um ... George is middle-aged. T: George is middle-aged. Yes, right. Short hair. Tania. S: Kathi has short hair. T: She does? (shakes head) S: Oh ... Um... Tony has short hair. T: That’s good. Tony has short hair. Repeal everybody! Tony has short hair. Ss: Tony has short hair. T: Good. Tony’s almost bald! (laughs)

Commentary Both teachers are getting students to learn key vocabulary that they will need later in the lesson and to practice making statements about appearance using the simple present tense with “be” and “have.” Teacher A is using a classical audiolingual substitution drill. Unfortunately, the teacher is only concerned with grammatical accuracy, not with meaning. When a student makes the grammatically correct, but semantically incorrect statement “Amy is tall,” (Amy is NOT tall, she’s short!) the teacher responds by saying “Good!” Teacher B achieves the same goals, but within a communicative context. The students have to make statements that are grammatically correct and semantically true. The exercise is also slightly more creative, in that the students have a choice over who to describe and what aspect of their appearance to focus on. Action Imagine that you had just observed these teachers. List the questions you would like to ask them. Compare your questions with another student.

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Reflection Study the following teaching sequences (page 166) in which two different teachers (Teacher C and Teacher D) are using the book Expressions 1. Then think about these questions. In what ways are the lessons similar? In what ways are they different? What is the purpose of each teaching lesson? Which is the more effective teacher? Why?

FOCUS IN A) Look at the chart. When do we use does/doesn’t? When do we use do/don’t? Questions and answers with do/does Do you know George? Do they know your boss? Does he have glasses? Does she wear earrings? Does she have curly hair?

Yes, I do. No, they don’t Yes, he does. No, she doesn’t. No, he doesn’t. He has straight hair.

B) Match the questions and answers. Then practice them with a partner, l. Do you know Lisa 2. Does she have long hair? 3. Do they wear glasses? 4. Does he have curly hair? 5. Do I know him?

a. No, you don’t. b. Yes, they do. c. No, he doesn’t. d. Yes, I do. e. No, she doesn’t.

C) Fill in the missing information. Then ask your partner the questions 1._____ your parents wear glasses? 2._____ you know my English teacher 3._____ you know my best friend?

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4. ____ your best friend have curly hair? 5.____ your best friend speak English? 6.____ your sister wear earrings?

Didáctica del Inglés II

Teacher C

Teacher D

T: OK, then, I want you to work in your pairs. Kevin, who’s your partner? Jackie, is it?

T: I want you all to look at the grammar box. What... what does it show us? ... Anyone? Alice? S: About do/does.

S: (nods) T: Good. OK, look at the questions and answers in the, um, yellow box, I want you to practice the questions and answers in your pairs. OK? Kevin— Can you and Jackie do the first one for the class?

T: OK, good. It shows us when we use the verb do/ don’t, does/doesn’t in ques¬tions. Look at this table. (Puts the following table on the board.)

S: Do ... do you know George? S: Yes, I do. T: OK. Excellent. ... So –off you go. (Ss practice the questions and answers in pairs). T: Everyone finished? ... That sounded pretty good. Now, I’m going to ask you some questions, and I want you to answer me, OK? Sharmy, do you know Kevin? S: Yes, I do. T: Of course you do! (laughs) Kevin, do you wear earrings? S: No, I don’t. T: How about Sharmy, does she wear earrings? S: Yes, she does. T: Yes, she has great earrings, doesn’t she? Um, Lillian, do you have curly hair? S: Yes, I am. T: Yes, I...? S: Does ... sorry... do. T: Yes, I do. Yes, I do. Good. OK, so ... when do we use do/don’t and when do we use does/doesn’t? (Puts the following table on the board.) do/don’t

does/doesn’t

I, Sandra, you,

he, Erik and

we, your best

Amy, your

friend

boss, they

do/don’t

does/doesn’t

I, you, we, they

he, she, Erik,

George and Kathi T: Understand? Ss: (nod) T; OK, now I want you to look at Exercise B— matching the questions and answers. I want you to put a circle around all of the do and don’t words you can find, and underline all of the does and doesn’t words. OK, Fan? Understand? S: (nods) T; All right. And I want you to notice the pronouns they go with— /, you, he, she —maybe you can highlight them. OK? Right. Then I want you to match the questions with the right answers, and when you’ve done that, practice the questions and answers with your partner.

T: Some of these words are in the wrong box. Understand? Yes? Ss: (nod) T: OK, I want you to work with your partner. Copy the table, but put the words in the right box. Then see if you can add two more items to each box.

Figure 3. Expressions 1 (Heinle/Thomson, 2001)

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Commentary Teacher C begins by getting the students to practice the target language (yes/no questions with do/does; asking and answering questions about appearance). She then personalizes the exercise by getting students to answer questions about the appearance of their classmates. She then tries an inductive activity designed to focus students on the appropriate pronouns and noun phrases to match with do/don’t and does/ doesn’t. She does this through a spot-the-mistake exercise. This is a good exercise to introduce in a review/recycling lesson, but probably unwise if the grammar point is being introduced for the first time. Teacher D has the same pedagogical objectives as Teacher C. However, she tackles the task somewhat differently. She focuses the students on the grammar point to be studied, presents the grammar box deductively, and then gets students to find examples of the grammar item. Only after students have studied the grammar point does she get them practicing questions and answers using the point. Again, we see that two different teachers have exploited a set of materials in very different ways. Action Imagine that you have just observed these teachers. List the questions you would like to ask them. Compare your questions with another student. Reflection Reflection Study the textbook excerpt in Figure 4 and the teaching sequence that follows. Then think about these questions. Is Teacher E an effective teacher? Why or why not? What comment would you make about the teacher’s approach to grammar?

Figure 4. Expressions 1 (Heinle/Thomson, 2001)

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Teacher E T: Right, now are you ready to do the info gap task? Yes? We’ve done lots of these, now, haven’t we? Ss: (nod) T: The purpose of this task Is to give you T: more practice in the language we’re learning in this unit. What ARE we practicing? Remember? Johnny? S: Talk about what people like. T: Talking about what people like—good. And? S: Talking about gift giving. T: Talking about gift giving, Right. These are our communication goals. And what structures do we use to do these things? ... Anyone?... Yes, Mary? S: What do you like? /And what do you like doing? T: Great! And we use like to talk about things, right? And like doing to talk about activities. What about making gift giving suggestions? S: Let’s. T: OK, good, Let’s get him a CD, or Let’s get Tom a golf club. OK, now WHEN do we give people gifts? WHEN? Yes, Monica? S: Birthday. T: Birthdays are good. (Writes birthdays on the board.) Johnny? S: New….new baby. T: That’s a good suggestion. (Writes new baby on the board and continues eliciting until there are a number of events on the board.) OK, now get into your pairs and I want Student A to look at page 107, and Student B to look at page 108.... (Peers over students’ shoulder) Johnny, you’re the B student aren’t you? You’re looking at the wrong page. 108, please. Good. Now, Bill likes the things the A students can see in the picture, but he already has these things.

OK? Understand, Monica? right. So, tell your partner what Bill likes, and your partner will suggest gifts. Write the suggestions in the space, and then decide on the best idea. Oh, Student A —start off by suggesting a reason for buying a gift —look at the board— it’s his birthday, he’s going away, and so on. Right, off you go. (The students complete the task. As they do so, the teacher circulates and monitors. When she hears a mistake, she writes it in a notebook, but doesn’t interrupt the students.) T: OK, I think everybody’s finished now.Are you two finished? Right, good. So, now I want you to do the same thing for Connie. B, tell A what Connie likes. A will make suggestions. Write them down then decide, decide on the best one, OK? (Again, the teacher circulates and monitors. At one point she is stopped by one pair, listens to their question and says “It’s called a subscription –a subscription.”) T: OK, time’s up. Let’s hear what each pair decided. (Teacher elicits responses from the students and writes them on the board.) Well, that’s great –look at all these interesting gifts. Which of these gifts would YOU like to receive, Johnny?.. Sorry? S: The California Fitness Subscription. T: Yeah, I like that one, too. How about you, Sophie? (She continues, eliciting students’ preferences and writing their names next to the gift.) T: OK, now, you all did very well, but I noticed a few mistakes creeping in here and there. Look (She writes the mistakes from her notebook on the board and gets students to self correct.)

Commentary This teaching sequence is based on an Information gap task. The pedagogical objectives are asking about and making suggestions using Wh-questions with do as well as like, like +Ving. The task illustrates principle two-use tasks that show the relationship between form and function. Unlike the other teaching sequences in this section, the grammar is presented with-in a context that makes clear to the learners one communicative use for the structure. It also illustrates the way that both declarative knowledge and procedural knowledge can be worked into a pedagogical sequence.

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This teacher displays a number of attributes of the effective teacher. She begins by spelling out the purpose of the task, reminding students of the language point and communication goal. She elicits ideas from the students rather than simply telling them, checks to see that students are correctly set up for the task, provides models, monitors the students, acts as an informant for one pair, personalizes the task during the debriefing, and provides corrective feedback at the end of the task. Action Select a language function and a grammar point, and design your own information gap activity. For example: Function:

Making a polite request

Grammar point:

Modal verbs: could, can, may

6. CONCLUSION At the beginning of this chapter, I set out to define grammar and describe the rather unstable place that grammar has occupied on the language teaching stage. At various times it has occupied center stage, while at others it has been relegated to the wings. At one point, it was pushed off the stage completely. Having provided some background and context, I articulated three key principles to guide the selection, adaptation, or creation of grammar learning opportunities in the classroom. The rest of the chapter exemplified these principles by presenting a range of techniques. In the final part of the chapter, we looked at how the principles have been applied at the level of classroom action.

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PART EIGHT

Teaching language skills

Objectives 1. To understand how input and output are connected in the classroom. 2. To provide a basic model for integrating skills.

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TEACHING LANGUAGE SKILLS1 Teachers tend to talk about the way we use language in terms of four skills — reading, writing, speaking and listening. These are often divided into two types. Receptive skills is a term used for reading and listening, skills where meaning is extracted from the discourse. Productive skills is the term for speaking and writing, skills where students actually have to produce language themselves. As we shall see in Section A below, there is some concern about separating skills in this way, especially since they are seldom separated in real life. We might also want to question a once commonly-held view that receptive skills are somehow passive, whereas production skills are in some way more active. It is certainly the case that when we speak or write we are producing language, and no one would argüe with the idea that language activation takes place when we are doing this. But reading and listening also demand considerable language activation on the part of the reader or listener. We cannot access meaning unless our brains are fully engaged with the texts we are interacting with. In other words, we have to think to understand, using any or all of our language knowledge to get meaning from what we are seeing or hearing. But in any case, whether we are reading or speaking we often mix what we are doing with other skills, as we shall see below. A. SKILLS TOGETHER It makes little sense to talk about skills in isolation since, as Eli Hinkel points out, ‘in meaningful communication, people employ incremental language skills not in isolation, but in tandem’ (Hinkel 2006:113). When we are engaged in conversation, we are bound to listen as well as speak because otherwise we could not interact with the person we are speaking to (although some people, of course, are better listeners than others!). Lecturers frequently rely on notes they have written previously, and people listening to lectures often write notes of their own. Even reading, generally thought of as a private activity, often provokes conversation and comment. Writing, too, is rarely done in isolation. Much of today’s communication is electronic (via emails and text messages, for example). We read what people send to us and then reply fairly instantly. And even when we are writing on our own, we generally read through what we have written before we send it off. Sometimes, of course, this is not the case when dealing with emails and text messages, but writers and texters often regret sending their messages in haste! 1

Harmer, Jeremy. The Practice of English Language Teaching, Pearson-Longman, China, 2009.

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Clearly, therefore, if skill use is multi-layered in this way, it would make no sense to teach each skill in isolation. We will, therefore, look at how input and output are connected in the classroom, how skills can be integrated, and how skill and language work are connected. A1. Input and output Receptive skills and productive skills feed off each other in a number of ways. What we say or write is heavily influenced by what we hear and see. Our most important information about language comes from this input. Thus the more we see and listen to comprehensible input, the more English we acquire, notice or learn. This input takes many forms: teachers provide massive language input, as does audio material in the classroom and the variety of reading texts that students are exposed to. Students may read extensively (see below) or listen to podcasts (see page 188). They may interact with other English speakers both inside and outside the classroom. But students get other input, too, especially in relation to their own output. When a student produces a piece of language and sees how it turns out, that information is fed back into the acquisition process. Output –and the students’ response to their own output– becomes input. Such input or feedback can take various forms. Some of it comes from ourselves, whether or not we are language learners. We modify what we write or say as we go along, based on how effectively we think we are communicating. Feedback also comes from the people we are communicating with. In face-to-face spoken interaction, our listeners tell us in a number of ways whether we are managing to get our message across. On the telephone, listeners can question us and/or show through their intonation, tone of voice or lack of response that they have not understood us. Teachers can, of course, provide feedback, too, not just when a student finishes a piece of work, but also during the writing process, for example, or when, acting as prompters or as a resource, they offer ongoing support.

Students sees how it turns out

OUT PUT Speech Writing

Figure 1. shows the dynamic relationship between input and output.

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A2. Integrating skills In order to replicate the natural processes of skill-mixing which we mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, and also because we want to provide maximum learning opportunities for the different students in our classes, it makes sense to integrate different skills. That is why so many learning sequences are more like the Patchwork model, rather than following the Straight arrows or Boomerang lesson types. •

Speaking as preparation and stimulus: we often ask students to discuss a topic as a way of activating their schemata (see below) or engaging them in a topic that they are going to read or hear about. Speaking sessions allow students to investigate their thoughts and feelings about a topic. Frequently, too, speaking is part of a longer planning sequence.

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Texts as models: especially where students are working with genre-focused tasks, written and spoken texts are a vital way of providing models for them to follow. One of the best ways of having students write certain kinds of report, for example, is to show them some actual reports and help them to analyse their structure and style; when getting students to give spoken directions, they will benefit from hearing other people doing it first. Productive work should not always be imitative, of course. But students are greatly helped by being exposed to examples of writing and speaking which show certain conventions for them to draw upon.

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Texts as preparation and stimulus: much language production work grows out of texts that students see or hear. A controversial reading passage may be the springboard for discussion or for a written riposte in letter form. Listening to a recording in which a speaker tells a dramatic story may provide the necessary stimulus for students to tell their own stories, or it may be the basis for a written account of the narrative. In this way, we often use written and spoken texts to stimulate our students into some other kind of work.

• Integrated tasks: frequently we ask students to listen to something (a recorded telephone conversation, for example) and take a message or notes. We might ask them to prepare a spoken summary of something they have read, or read information on the Internet as preparation for a role-play or some other longer piece of work. Almost any speaking activity is bound to involve listening, of course, but sometimes when students are involved in some kind of cooperative writing they will be speaking, listening, writing and reading almost simultaneously. Indeed Task-based learning, or even just working on some single task, is almost predicated on the idea of skill integration, since it is usually impossible to complete a task successfully in one skill area without involving some other skill, too. Skill integration is a major factor in lesson planning. Weaving threads of different skills and topics is a major art of teachers who plan for a sequence of lessons. Skill

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integration also happens when students are involved in project work, which may well involve researching (through reading or listening), speaking (e.g. in discussions or when giving a presentation) and writing (e.g. submitting a report) - as we shall see in Section D below. A3. Language skills, language construction Work on language skills is often a precursor to work on various aspects of language construction. We often ask students to look at texts and discover facts about language for themselves. But whether they are trying to work out construction, or whether we are explaining things that occur in written and spoken texts, it makes considerable sense to use anything which students read as data for them to work on. For example, if we take the following text, we can see how it can be used to look at a range of different language points Forget satnav - it’s quicker using a map, Which? tells motorists Esther Addley Friday November 10, 2006 The Guardian Need to get from A to B? Don’t bother switching on that fancy piece of kit on your dashboard. The consumer magazine Computing Which? has confirmed what thousands of frustrated motorists already know from bitter experience; that the best source of directions is not an expensive satellite navigation system, but a map. In a trial that will delight Luddites and the long-suffering partners of gadget enthusiasts, the magazine tested four route-finding aids to determine the best way to reach a panicular destination. Three hl-tech systems, including a £220 satnav box, a Microsoft software package and the government’s own direction-finding website, were tested alongside the more old-fashioned method. The most effective? A copy of the AA’s Great Britain Road Atlas, priced £8 from most petrol stations.

We could ask students to find all the adjectives in the two paragraphs, and then divide them into one-word adjectives and then compound adjectives (adjectives made from two or more words). Students could discuss how journalistic writing allows for shortened questions like Need to get from A to B? and The most effective? - forms that would be unacceptable in more formal writing. We might see if students can find descriptions of types of people (Luddites, long-suffering partners, gadget enthusiasts). We can discuss the reason for the use of the present perfect as against the past simple to describe the study. There is also a good example of colon usage, and a particularly revealing clause-rich

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sentence showing how commas can operate rather like brackets (Three high-tech systems, including a..., a... and a..., were tested...). Any text or audio track can be ‘mined’ in this way. There is always some aspect of language that can be drawn from it. If we let the students read the whole article (from which the above is just an excerpt), it could first be the springboard for a discussion about old and new technology, and only later be used as the focus for the kind of language focus we have suggested. A4. Integrating skill and language work The ideal learning sequence, then, will offer both skill integration and also language study based around a topic or other thematic thread. The following example shows how it might work at the intermediate level. Stage 1: the students complete the following questionnaire about how they respond to physical appearance. This involves them in reading and speaking. 1. When you first meet someone, what do you Look at first? a their hair b their face c their eyes d their mouth e the front of their body f the back of their body g the clothes they are wearing h something else (please specify) 2. Which of the following will make you think most positively about someone (choose one only)? a they are well-groomed b they are well-dressed c they have a good physique d they look interesting 3. Think of two people that you find very attractive. What is the most physically attractive thing about them? 4. Think of two people whose appearance you find unusual or striking. What is the unusual/striking thing about them?

The class discuss their responses to the questionnaire.

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Stage 2: the students read the following text from a novel about a Cantonese couple living in London, where Chen works in a Chinese restaurant. Working in the fields Chen had once had a physique which had been lean, tanned, and sinewy; now it was almost impossible to see the outlines of his ribs for the plump flesh which clothed them. Not that he was chubby, just prosperous, as he was careful to explain to Lily. On Lily there were two opposing views. Chen did not think she was pretty. She had a long, thin, rather horsey face, and a mouth that was top big for the rest of her features, and she smiled too frequently for a woman. She had a largish bust, and her hands and feet were a fraction too big to be wholly pleasing to her husband. It was her face, though, which really let her down (Chen had decided), being over-full of expression, particularly her bright black eyes which she had a habit of widening and narrowing when listening to something she found interesting. Probably there was too much character in her face, which perhaps explained the lack of Cantonese male interest better than any particular wrongness of an individual feature or their relationship to each other. Westerners found her attractive, though. Lily was unaware of this but Chen had noticed it with great surprise. That was if second glances and turned heads on the street were anything to go by.

From Sour Sweet by Timothy Mo (Abacus) Stage 3: the students answer comprehension questions about the text before discussing Chen’s views of Lily’s appearance. They talk about whether or not beauty is a cultural concept. Stage 4: students look for any language in the text which describes physical appearance. This leads on to a study section where they first discuss whether words like thin, slim, skinny, fat, stout or chubby have positive or negative connotations, and then go on to say whether words like lean, sinewy, handsome, pretty, nubile, well-built and plain can be applied to men, women or both. Stage 5: students re-write the text from Sour Sweet as if Chen really approves of his wife’s appearance. Stage 6: students write physical descriptions of well-known figures. The class has to guess who they are writing about. Stage 7: students listen to a dialogue about a police line-up before role-playing police officers taking witness statements based on descriptions of people they have supposedly seen committing a crime.

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The sequence, which would, of course, be inappropriate in certain cultural contexts, provides both study and activation (see page 67). More importantly, from the point of view of this discussion, it involves the students in reading, writing, speaking and listening. As a result, students have been able to practise a wide range of language abilities. A5. Top-down and bottom-up A frequent distinction is made between top-down and bottom-up processing. In metaphorical terms, this is the difference between looking at a forest, or, instead, studying the individual trees within it. It has been said that in top-down processing, the reader (or listener) gets a general view of the reading or listening passage by, in some way, absorbing the overall picture. This is greatly helped if their schemata allow them to have appropriate expectations of what they are going to come across. In bottom-up processing, on the other hand, the reader or listener focuses on such things as individual words, phrases or cohesive devices and achieves understanding by stringing these detailed elements together to build up a whole. It is probably most useful to see acts of reading and listening (as well as speaking and writing) as interactions between top-down and bottom-up processing. Sometimes it is the individual details that help us understand (or put together) the whole; sometimes it is our overview that allows us to process the details. Without a good understanding of a reasonable proportion of the details gained or proposed through some bottom-up processing, we may find it difficult to come to a clear general picture of what a text is about, or about how to put together a coherent stretch of discourse. But without some global understanding of the topic that is written or spoken about, even an understanding of the details may not be enough. B. RECEPTIVE SKILLS Although there are significant differences between reading and listening, nevertheless the basic classroom procedure we often use is the same for both. B1. A basic methodological model for teaching receptive skills A typical procedure for getting students to read a written text or listen to a recording involves both Type 1 and Type 2 tasks. Type 1 tasks are those where we get students to read or listen for some general understanding, rather than asking them to pick out details or get involved in a refined search of the text. Type 2 tasks, on the other hand, are those where we get students to look at the text in considerably more detail, maybe for specific information or for language points. Moving from the general to the specific by starting with

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Type 1 tasks and going on to Type 2 tasks works because it allows students to get a feel for what they are seeing or hearing before they have to attack the text in detail, which is the more difficult thing to do. The procedure for teaching receptive skills generally starts with a lead in. This is where we engage students with the topic of the reading and we try to activate their schema (plural schemata), a term which was best described by Guy Cook as ‘our pre-existent knowledge of the world’ (Cook 1989: 69). This is the knowledge that allows many British, Australian, West Indian, Pakistani and Indian people (for example) to make sense of headlines like England in six-wicket collapse (a reference to the game of cricket), whereas many Canadians would instantly understand what it means to be sent to the penalty box and why being sent there might give another team a power play (both terms come from ice hockey, Canada’s national sport). All of us, at whatever age, but especially from late childhood onwards, have this preexistent knowledge which we bring with us to all encounters with topics and events. The job of the receptive skills teacher, therefore, is to provoke students to get in touch with that knowledge or schema. They can then predict what a text is likely to be about, and what they are going to see or hear. We can provoke this kind of prediction by giving them various clues, such as pictures, headlines or book jacket descriptions. We can give them a few words or phrases from the text and ask them to predict what these might indicate about its content. We can encourage a general discussion of the topic or ask students to make their own questions for what they are going to read about. Whatever alternative we choose, the point is that prediction is vitally important if we want students to engage fully with the text. Once students are ready to read, we set some kind of a comprehension task so that they will read or listen in a general way - trying to extract a mostly general understanding of what, superficially, the audio or written text is all about. The students read or listen to the text and then the teacher directs feedback. Here we may suggest that students go through the answers in pairs or small groups. This is partly so that they get more opportunities to work together, and partly so that when we go through the answers with the class, individual students do not get exposed as having failed in a task. Sometimes the teacher directs a text-related task immediately this Type 1 task has been completed. A text-related task is any kind of follow-up activity and might be either a response to the content of the text or a focus on aspects of language in the text. However, we will usually get the students to look at the text again for a Type 2 task in which they are required to examine it in more detail. The comprehension cycle is repeated and then the teacher involves the students in text-related tasks (of course, it is possible that students might be involved in more than one Type 2 task cycle). We can summarise this procedure in Figure 2.

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Figure 2. A basic methodological model for teaching receptive skills.

B2. The language issue What is it that makes a text difficult? In the case of written text, some researchers look at word and sentence length (Wallace 1992:77) on the premise that texts with longer sentences and longer words will be more difficult to understand than those with shorter ones. Others, however, claim that the critical issue is quite simply the number of unfamiliar words which a text contains. If readers and listeners do not know half the words in a text, they will have great difficulty in understanding the text as a whole. To be successful, they have to recognise a high proportion of the vocabulary without consciously thinking about it (Paran 1996). Both sentence length and the percentage of unknown words play their part in a text’s comprehensibility. When students who are engaged in listening encounter unknown lexis, it can be ‘... like a dropped barrier causing them to stop and think about the meaning of a word and thus making them miss the next part of the speech’ (Underwood 1989:17). Unlike reading, there may be no opportunity to go back and listen to the lexis again. Comprehension is gradually degraded, therefore, and unless the listeners are able to latch onto a new element to help them back into the flow of what is being said, the danger is that they will lose heart and gradually disengage from the receptive task since it is just too difficult. If, as Stephen Krashen suggested, comprehensible input aids language acquisition, then it follows that ‘incomprehensible’ input will not. We can try to get students to read or listen to texts that are way beyond their comprehension level, but the only effect this will probably have is to demotivate them. It is obvious, however, that the more language we expose students to, the more they will learn, so we need specific ways of addressing the problem of language difficulty. These could include pre-teaching vocabulary, using extensive reading/listening, and considering alternatives to authentic language.

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Pre-teaching vocabulary: one way of helping students is to pre-teach vocabulary that occurs in the reading or listening text. This removes at least some of the barriers to understanding which they are likely to encounter. However, if we want to give students practice in what it is like to tackle authentic reading and listening texts for general understanding, then getting past words they don’t understand is one of the skills they need to develop. By giving them some or all of those words, we deny them that chance. We need a common sense solution to this dilemma: where students are likely to be held back unnecessarily because of three or four words, it makes sense to teach them first. Where they should be able to comprehend the text despite some unknown words, we will explain to them that they should try to understand the general meaning of the text, and that we will look at the meaning of individual words once they have done their best to read in this general way. One useful technique is to use some (possibly unknown) words from a reading or listening text as part of our procedure to create interest and activate the students’ schemata; the words may suggest topic, genre or construction - or all three. The students can first research the meanings of words and phrases and then predict what a text with such words is likely to be about.

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Extensive reading and listening: most researchers like to make a difference between extensive and intensive reading and listening. Whereas the former suggests reading or listening at length, often for pleasure and in a leisurely way, intensive reading or listening tends to be more concentrated, less relaxed, and often dedicated not so much to pleasure as to the achievement of a study goal. Extensive reading and listening frequently take place when students are on their own, whereas intensive reading or listening is often done with the help and/or intervention of the teacher. Extensive reading - especially where students are reading material written specially at their level - has a number of benefits for the development of a student’s language. Colin Davis suggests that any classroom will be the poorer for the lack of an extensive reading programme and will be’... unable to promote its pupils’ language development in all aspects as effectively as if such a programme were present’ (1995: 335). He also claims that such a programme will make students more positive about reading, will improve their overall comprehension skills, and will give them a wider passive and active vocabulary. Richard Day and Julian Bamford agree, citing as two of the many goals for extensive reading ‘enabling students to read without constantly stopping’ and ‘providing an increased word recognition’ (Day and Bamford 1998). What these commentators and others are claiming is that extensive reading is the best possible way for students to develop automaticity- that is the automatic recog-

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nition of words when they see them. It is by far the best way to improve their English reading (and writing) overall. The benefits of extensive reading are echoed by the benefits for extensive listening: the more students listen, the more language they acquire and the better they get at listening activities in general. Whether they choose recordings of passages from textbooks, recordings of simplified readers, other listening material designed for their level or podcasts of radio programmes which they are capable of following, the effect will be the same. Provided the input is comprehensible, they will gradually acquire more words and greater schematic knowledge which will, in turn, resolve many of the language difficulties they started out with. •

Authenticity: because it is vital for students to get practice in dealing with written text and speech where they miss quite a few words but are still able to extract the general meaning, an argument can be made for using mainly authentic reading and listening texts in class. After all, it is when students come into contact with ‘real’ language that they have to work hardest to understand. Authentic material is language where no concessions are made to foreign speakers. It is normal, natural language used by native or competent speakers of a language. This is what our students encounter (or will encounter) in real life if they come into contact with target-language speakers, and, precisely because it is authentic, it is unlikely to be simplified or spoken slowly. Authentic material which has been carelessly chosen can be extremely demotivating for students since they will not understand it. Instead of encouraging failure, we should let students read and listen to things they can understand. For beginners this may mean roughly-tuned language from the teacher (see page 117), and specially designed reading and listening texts from materials writers. However, it is essential that such listening texts approximate to authentic language use. The language may be simplified, but it must not be unnatural. As Ronald Cárter and his colleagues suggest, ‘concocted, made-up language can be perfectly viable but it should be modelled on naturalistic samples’ (Carter et al 1998:86). Authentic material can be used by students at fairly low levels, however, if the tasks that go with it are well-designed and help students understand it better, rather than showing them how little they know. A gently paced sequence of activities with small tasks leading to bigger ones, for example, can enable students to watch television soap operas in English and help them understand far more than they might have thought possible (Farrell 1998). It is worth pointing out that deciding what is or is not authentic is not easy. A stage play written for native speakers is a playwright’s representation of spontaneous speech rather than the real thing, so it is, in a sense, both authentic and inauthentic. A father talking to his baby daughter may be employing ‘baby talk’ - rough-tuning the language

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so that it is comprehensible - but there is nothing inauthentic about it. The language which students are exposed to has just as strong a claim to authenticity as the play or the parent, provided that it is not altered in such a way as to make it unrecognisable in style and construction from the language which competent speakers encounter in many walks of life. B3. Comprehension tasks A key feature in the successful teaching of receptive skills concerns the choice of comprehension tasks. Sometimes such tasks appear to be testing the students rather than helping them to understand. But although reading and listening are perfectly proper mediums for language and skill testing, nevertheless if we are trying to encourage students to improve their receptive skills, testing them will not be an appropriate way of accomplishing this. Sometimes texts and/or the tasks which accompany them are either far too easy or far too difficult. In order to resolve these problems we need to use comprehension tasks which promote understanding and we need to match text and task appropriately. •

Testing and teaching: the best kind of tasks are those which raise students’ expectations, help them tease out meanings and provoke an examination of the reading or listening passage. Unlike reading and listening tests, these tasks bring them to a greater understanding of language and text construction. By having students perform activities such as looking up information on the Internet, filling in forms on the basis of a recording or solving reading puzzles, we are helping them become better readers and listeners. Some tasks seem to fall halfway between testing and teaching, however, since, by appearing to demand a right answer (e.g. Are these statements about the text true or false? or questions abut the text with what, when, how many and how often), they could, in theory, be used to assess student performance. Indeed, when they are done under test conditions, their purpose is obviously to explore student strengths and weaknesses. Yet such comprehension items can also be an indispensable part of a teacher’s receptive skills armoury. By the simple expedient of having students work in pairs to agree on whether a statement about part of a text is true or false, the comprehension items help each individual (through conversation and comparison) to understand something, rather than challenging them to give right answers under test-like conditions. If students are encouraged to try to predict the answers to such questions before they read or listen, expectations are created in their minds which help them focus their reading or listening (although we must be careful not to ask them to try to predict things they have no chance of being able to guess). In both cases we have turned a potential test task into a creative tool for receptive skill training.

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Whatever the reading task, a lot will depend on the conditions in which students are asked to perform that task. Even the most formal test-like items can be used to help students rather than frighten them! •

Appropriate challenge: when asking students to read and listen, we want to avoid texts and tasks that are either far too easy or far too difficult. As with many other language tasks, we want to get the level of challenge right, to make the tasks difficult but, nevertheless, achievable. Getting the level right depends on the right match between text and task. Thus, where a text is difficult, we may still be able to use it, but only if the task is appropriate. We could theoretically, for example, have beginners listen to the famous conversation between Ophelia and the prince in Shakespeare’s Hamlet (‘Get thee to a nunnery...’) and ask them how many people are speaking. We could ask students to read a few pages of Ulysses by James Joyce and ask them how many full stops they can find. Despite the difficulty of the texts, both of these tasks are achievable. Yet we might feel that neither is appropriate or useful. On the other hand, having students listen to a news broadcast where the language level is very challenging may be entirely appropriate if the task only asks them — at first — to try to identify the five main topics in the broadcast.

C. PRODUCTIVE SKILLS Although the productive skills of writing and speaking are different in many ways, we can still provide a basic model for teaching and organising them. C1 A basic methodological model for teaching productive skills A key factor in the success of productive-skill tasks is the way teachers organise them and how they respond to the students’ work. We can, here, set down a basic methodological model for the teaching of productive skills. In the lead-in stage, we engage students with the topic. Perhaps we ask them what they know about a certain subject (e.g. we ask them what experience they have of tourism if we are going to have a tourism debate), or we might, if we are going to role-play checking in at an airport, get them to think about the kind of conversation that usually takes place when people check in. When we set the task, we explain exactly what students are going to do. At this stage we may need to demonstrate the activity in some way. For example, if we want students to work in pairs, we can show the class how the activity works by being one of a public pair ourselves so that everyone sees the procedure in action. We may get students to repeat the task instructions back to us (either in English or in their Li, depending on which is ap-

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propriate). We will also make sure that students are given all the information they need to complete the tasks (e.g. role cards, etc. for a role-play). Once the students have started, we will monitor the task. This may mean going round the class, listening to students working and helping them where they are having difficulties. With writing tasks, we may become actively involved in the writing process as we respond to the students’ work and point them in new directions. When the activity has finished, we give task feedback. This is where we may help students to see how well they have done. We will respond to the content of the task and not just to the language the students used. We will show positive aspects of what they have achieved and not concentrate solely on their failings. Finally, we may move on from the task with a task-related follow-up. We may re-set the task (or something very similar to it) and go through the sequence again. We can summarise this procedure in Figure 3.

Figure 3. A basic model for teaching productive skills

C2. Structuring discourse In order for communication to be successful, we have to structure our discourse in such a way that it will be understood by our listeners or readers. In writing certain genres will push us to supply information in certain prescribed ways. But in order for writing to be successful, it has to be both coherent and cohesive. Coherent writing makes sense because you can follow the sequence of ideas and points. Cohesion is a more technical matter since it is here that we concentrate on the various linguistic ways of connecting ideas across phrases and sentences. These may be ‘chains of reference’ (Biber et al 1999:

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42) where we use language features such as pronouns, lexical repetition and synonymy to refer to ideas that have already been expressed. We can use various linkers as well, such as for addition (a/so, moreover), contrast (although, however, still), cause and effect (therefore, so) and time (then, afterwards). Conversational discourse, on the other hand, often appears considerably more chaotic. This is partly because it is ‘jointly constructed’ (Thornbury 20053:14) by however many people are taking part. In order for this ‘construction’ to be successful, participants need to know how to take turns, and what discourse markers, for example, they can use to facilitate the smooth progression from one speaker to the next. Such structuring devices include language designed to ‘buy time’, and quite specific organising markers, such as firstly, secondly or even and as if that wasn’t enough. It is worth pointing out that spoken English tends to have a higher proportion of formulaic lexical phrases than written English (Wray 1999: 227-8). Successful communication, both in writing and in speech, depends, to some extent, on knowing the rules. Thus, speakers know how and when to take turns, just as successful writers in a particular discourse community know the differences between accepted norms for writing emails and writing business letters. And there are more general sociocultural rules, too, such as how men and women address each other, whether there is any difference between talking to people of the same age or people who are considerably older, and finally, how to perform certain common speech events such as agreeing, inviting, suggesting, etc. We are not suggesting that students need to speak or write language exactly like a British or Canadian person (for example), nevertheless, sociocultural rules of various discourse communities exist in the public consciousness (even though they change over time) so that obeying them or purposefully flouting them become acts of belonging or rejection. C3. Interacting with an audience Part of our speaking proficiency depends upon our ability to speak differentially, depending upon our audience and upon the way we absorb their reactions and respond to them. Part of our writing skill depends upon our ability to change our style and structure to suit the person or people we are writing for. Where people are giving lectures, they are likely to adapt the way they are speaking and the words they are using on the basis of audience reaction. Just as good actors are expert at riding a laugh or changing their pace to suit the mood of their audience, so good presenters, salespeople and politicians keep their ears and eyes open to see how their words are going down and speak accordingly. Even when lecturers read their speeches, they will change their pace, repeat words or lines, and perhaps add in or take out some phrases on the basis of how their listeners are responding. Writers engaged in an email

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correspondence modify subsequent Communications on the basis of the reaction of the people they are communicating with. Novelists and playwrights, at a conscious or subconscious level, identify a prototypical audience to write for. In informal spontaneous conversations, we are constantly alert for the reactions of the people we are interacting with so that we make our communication as informative as required, amending it depending on how the other participants in the interaction behave. C4. Dealing with difficulty When speakers or writers of their own or of a foreign language don’t know a word or just can’t remember it, they may employ some or all of the following strategies to resolve the difficulty: •

Improvising: speakers sometimes try any word or phrase that they can come up with in the hope that it is about right. Such improvisations sometimes work, but they can also obscure meaning.

•

Discarding: when speakers simply can’t find words for what they want to say, they may abandon the thought that they can’t put into words.

•

Foreignising: when operating in a foreign language, speakers (and writers) sometimes choose a word in a language they know well (such as their first language) and ‘foreignise’ it (in other words, pronounce it as if it was an L2 word) in the hope that it will be equivalent to the meaning they wish to express in the foreign language. This will work reasonably well if an English speaker says content-o because they hope that what they are saying sounds Spanish and so will be understood. Luckily for them, there is a Spanish word contento which means happy. However, if they say that they want to go to the librario to try to find a book, their foreignisation is less successful because there is no such word, and the closest equivalent in Spanish (librería) means bookshop, not library as they had hoped.

•

Paraphrasing: speakers sometimes paraphrase, talking about something for cleaning the teeth if they don’t know the word toothbrush, or saying that they have very bad feelings about somebody when all they want to say is that they are cross with that person. Such lexical substitution or circumlocution gets many speakers out of trouble, though it can make communication longer and more convoluted.

Clearly some of these difficulty strategies are more appropriate than others. As teachers we should encourage paraphrasing and improvising as more useful techniques than discarding thoughts or foreignising words blindly. However, a major reason for having students perform oral communicative tasks in class is to give them practice in just these kinds of strategy.

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C5. The language issue Learners engaged in a productive task can become very frustrated when they just do not have the words or the grammar they need to express themselves. Sometimes, of course, they can research language they would like to use, but this can make writing a very cumbersome process, and in speaking, such an option is anyway not available, at least not in spontaneous speech. There are a number of steps we can take which will help students achieve success: •

Supply key language: before we ask students to take part in a spoken or written activity, we may check their knowledge of key vocabulary and help them with phrases or questions that will be useful for the task. However, where speaking is concerned, we should remember that language which students have only just met for the first time (whether grammatical, lexical or phrasal) is often not available for instant use in spontaneous conversation; more exposure and practice is usually necessary before people can use new language fluently. We should not expect, therefore, that we can introduce new language and have students use it instantly in communicative activities. Instead, we need to plan in advance.

•

Plan activities in advance: because of the time-lag between our students meeting new language and their ability to use it fluently, we need to plan production activities that will provoke the use of language which they have had a chance to absorb at an earlier stage.

Language production activities which fall at the communicative end of the communication continuum are not just practice activities, however. One of the strategies which speakers need to develop is the art of getting round language problems in communication; writers, too, will have to find ways of saying things even when a lack of language makes this difficult. D. PROJECTS Frequently, teachers ask their students to work on assignments that last for longer than say, 45 minutes or one or two lessons. Some TBL sequences are like this, but whatever methodology we are following, such longer-term projects have always been part of educational sequences. In schools in many education systems around the world, children may produce their own booklets or computer-based materials which combine a number of subjects they have been studying over a period of time - maths, geography, history, etc. They may produce ‘books’ on the life of indigenous people in their country before the arrival of settlers or conquerors from overseas, or they could write their own Aztec or ancient Egyptian cookbooks; they might do projects on animals or aspects of the natural world. Typically, their booklets will include pictures as well as writing.

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In order to complete their projects, the children will look at books, consult websites, watch videos and, perhaps, conduct their own mini-experiments. The project thus becomes a perfect vehicle for skill integration and information gathering. Project work is popular in EFL/ESOL teaching and learning, too, though its use is naturally constrained by the amount of time available for its implementation. It is far more popular, for example, on courses where students are full-time students and have access to a wide range of resources and people. There are many possible areas for project work in an EFL/ESL setting. Many teachers, for example, encourage their students to produce a class newspaper. Other classes produce guides to their town or books on history or culture. Some projects look at people’s altitudes to current issues or ask students to produce brochures for a public service or a new company. What these examples demonstrate is that the difference between a full-blown project and some writing or speaking tasks is chiefly one of scale. When we get students to prepare for a debate or have them analyse reviews so that they can write their own, we are involving them in a project of sorts. Projects are longer than the traditional essay or other written task. They demand significantly more research than a buzz group preparing for a quick communicative activity. D1. Managing projects Projects can be organised in a number of different ways, but they generally share the same sequence: •

The briefing / the choice: projects start when the teacher or the students (or the two in combination) decide on a topic. Sometimes students may bring their own ideas, sometimes the teacher may offer a list of possible topics, and sometimes the teacher may ask all the students to do the same project. Once the choice has been made, a briefing takes place in which teacher and students define the aims of the project and discuss how they can gather data, what the timescale of the project is, what stages it will go through and what support the students will get as the work progresses.

•

Idea / language generation: once a briefing has taken place, what happens next will depend on how directed the project is. If students have come up with their own ideas and topics, this is where they will start on the process of idea generation. They have to decide what is going into their project. They need to make a plan about what they have to find out, and think about where they can find that information. If, however, teachers are directing the project very carefully, students may be told what they are looking for and where they are going to find it.

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•

Data gathering: students can gather data from a number of sources. They can consult encyclopedias or go to the Internet to find what they are looking for. They can design questionnaires so that they can interview people. They can look at texts for genre analysis or watch television programmes and listen to the radio.

•

Planning: when students have got their ideas, generated some topic-specific language and gathered the data they require, they can start to make a plan of how the final project will be set out. If students are planning to end the project with a big debate or presentation, for example, this is where they plan what they are going to say.

•

Drafting and editing: if the project has a final written product, a first draft will be produced, consisting either of sections or the whole thing, which fellow students and/ or the teacher can look at and comment on. This draft will also be self-edited by the project writers.

•

The result: finally, the goal at which the whole project has been aiming has been reached. This may take the form of a written report or a blog accompanied by photographs, for example. It may be a big role-play where people who have been gathering data about different sides of an argument get together to discuss the issue. It might be a short piece of film, a drama production or a recording. But whatever it is, this is what the whole thing has been for.

•

Consultation/tutorial: throughout the lifetime of a project, teachers will need to be available as tutors, advising, helping and prompting students to help them progress. Such consultations and tutorials will, of course, focus on how the project is progressing. For example, we will want to be sure that students have been able to gather the data they have been looking for. We will want to be confident that they have understood the data and that they can use it effectively. A frequent problem occurs when students try to do too much in a project, so teachers may need to help them narrow down the focus of their work.

Victoria Chan, a lecturer at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, had her class do a newspaper project (Chan 2001). It is a typical example of such work. After the task briefing, students discussed newspapers and what goes into them. They analysed different aspects of newspapers (articles, reviews, comment, etc.) for both content and language, and then drafted their own stories, film reviews, etc. These were then subjected to peer review and editing before being used in the finished class newspaper. Throughout, the students were clear about the stages of the project and what they were doing and would do next. Victoria Chen reports that they were interested and motivated by what, for them, had been a highly innovative approach. Although projects may not be appropriate in all circumstances (principally, perhaps, because of the time which teachers and students have at their disposal), still they usually in-

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volve a satisfying integration of skills. They require detailed planning and idea generation and encourage students to gather data. At the end of the whole process, students have work they can show proudly to their colleagues and friends, or they have the chance to be involved in really significant presentations both oral and/or with presentation equipment, such as overhead projectors and computer-supplied data projectors. D2. A webquest project Webquests allow teachers to get their students to do research from the comfort of a computer terminal. As in that example (of a webquest about city housing in New York), teachers can design the various stages of a webquest and select the sites that students can go to to gather data so that they don’t waste their energies on fruitless searching. Like most webquest projects ‘Teacher, have you thought about me?’ (http://www.eslgo. com/classes/mi/index2.htm) starts with an Introduction in which the students are told that everyone learns differently and that during the webquest they are going to investigate seven or eight types of intelligence. When students have absorbed this (the teacher can discuss the introduction with the students), they click on Tasks and reach the task screen. This tells them what they are going to do and, crucially, gives them clear task outcomes (e.g. ‘After completing this webquest you will know about different kinds of intelligence’). It is worth pointing out that the authors of the webquest tell the students that this is more than just an assignment — it will help them learn. Students now start to collect data using the links built into the Process page. In Task 1, they are offered links to short and long Multiple Intelligence questionnaires which they have to complete to find their own MI profile as in the following example: Short www.mitest.com/o7inte~l.htm http://ivc.uidaho.edu/flbrain/MIassess.html All they have to do is to click on one of the links to go to a questionnaire. This, of course, is where the advantage of doing projects via the Internet become apparent. Task 2 gets students to click on links where they will find articles which explain the whole concept of Multiple Intelligences. Task 3 (on the same page) asks students to ‘discover more about your strongest intelligence’ and ‘consider what medium you will use to report to your lecturer’; Task 4 asks them to ‘choose another Multiple Intelligence to learn more about... to deepen further your understanding of Multiple Intelligences’; and Task 5 tells them to

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‘Plan and produce your report’. There is a further page of extra resources which students can reach by clicking on the appropriate links. When students have completed and delivered their report, they do a Self evaluation. Here, they rate themselves on a scale of 1-4 in different categories, such as ‘General knowledge’ and ‘Readiness for the future’. For example, in the first of these categories, if they choose ‘You learned a great deal about many types of intelligence’ they would get a score of 4; in the second category, choosing ‘You haven’t decided how to use your knowledge yet but you’re thinking about a few things that may help’ would give a score of 2. There is an evaluation grid for teachers too, and then, finally the webquest is over, and the designers end it with an upbeat message of encouragement: Congratulations! You now have the knowledge needed to take control of your own learning. You don’t have to worry about your teacher’s style because you are aware of your style and can learn in a variety of ways. This means you can help yourself understand difficult concepts using various kinds of intelligence at your disposal Walk into your next class (and all future classes) with confidence, because you control what you learn. But remember you never stop learning and ideas on how we learn are always changing. You are now on an exciting road to self discovery, a road that may lead you into new areas of multiple intelligences.

This webquest is a good example of a multi-skill project. There is reading and writing, and speaking and listening (in the discussion sessions with the teacher and other students which can occur at various stages of the process). The quest promotes and supports IT literacy, too. Other webquests and projects may be considerably more multi-faceted than this (and take more time). Nevertheless, this example shows how technology can be harnessed to enhance successful project work.

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PART NINE

Communicative activities

Objectives 1. To identify the characteristics of communicative activities. 2. To demonstrate how journals and project writing can contribute to the students’ ability to communicate in English.

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COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES*1

•

Oral communicative activities

• Projects

•

Written communicative activities

• Learner training

•

Correcting writing work

• Conclusions

In this part we will consider activities which comply as far as possible with the characteristics we said were necessary for communicative activities. In the first half of the part we will look at activities with a largely oral focus; in the second part we will consider written communication. Many teachers worry about the management of such activities and the students’ use of their mother tongue. 1. ORAL COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES The following activities are all designed to provoke spoken communication between students and/or between the teacher and the students. We will divide the activities into seven categories: reaching a consensus, discussion, relaying instructions, communication games, problem solving, talking about yourself, simulation and role play. (Where the organisation of the activities seems complicated, teaching stages have been included.) Reaching a consensus In these examples students have to agree with each other after a certain amount of discussion. The task is not complete until they do. Consensus activities have been very successful in promoting free and spontaneous language use and we can now look at three examples. (a) Going to New York1 In this activity students are told that they are going on holiday and have to decide what ten objects to take with them. They will have to reach a consensus on these objects. Stage 1: All the students are asked to write down the ten items they would choose to have in their luggage if they were going to stay in New York for two weeks. Stage 2: When all the students have completed their lists they are put into pairs. Each pair has to negotiate a new list of ten items. This will involve each member of the pair changing their original list to some extent. *

Harmer, Jeremy. The Practice of English Language Teaching, Longman, London, 1996.

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Stage 3: When the pairs have completed their lists two pairs are joined together to negotiate a new list that all four students can agree to. Stage 4: Groups can now be joined together and the lists re-negotiated. Stage 5: When the teacher thinks the activity has gone on for long enough a feedback session is conducted with the whole class in which each group explains and justifies its choices. This activity, which can be used from the elementary level upwards, is great fun and produces a lot of English. Of course there is no particular reason for selecting New York as the destination. Other places can be used. (b) Moral dilemmas Students are given a situation and alternative suggestions for acting in such a situation are given. The following is an example: Stage 1: Students are told that they are invigilating an important school/university exam. They see a student cheating with notes he or she has illegally brought into the exam room. They have four possible courses of action: •

Ignore the incident.

•

Warn the student that if she or he cheats again she or he will be reported to the authorities.

•

Ask the student to leave the exam, tear up his or her exam and mark him or her as absent.

•

Report the student to the authorities, in which case he or she will have to leave the school / university.

Stage 2: Students are put in small groups to reach a consensus on this issue. Stage 3: Pairs of groups are combined and have to reach a consensus on which alternative to adopt. Stage 4: The procedure can be repeated with groups joining each other. Alternatively after Stage 3 the teacher can conduct a feedback session in front of the whole class in which groups justify their choices. (c) Learning decisions There are many other occasions when we will ask students in groups to come to a consensus about things they are learning. Reading tasks might involve this kind of agreement (students decide which is the correct answer together); some vocabulary study involves reaching a consensus about which meanings are correct or which words to select for comprehension work.

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DISCUSSION2 Many teachers can be heard complaining that their students ‘have nothing to say’: they complain, for example, that they have no opinions and are not prepared to discuss anything. Part of the problem here is the way in which some teachers approach discussion as an activity. If students are asked to express themselves fluently on a difficult topic in front of their peers in a foreign language (often with no warning) they may find themselves reluctant to do so! Of course some discussions develop spontaneously during the course of a lesson. A student reacts to something that is said, another student joins in, and soon the whole class is bubbling with life. Such discussions are often the most successful sessions that the teacher and the class ever have together, but they can’t be planned. Between these two extremes (the students with nothing to say and the spontaneous outbreak of conversation) there are techniques that can be used to get students talking. Before looking at three examples, however, we can give some hints about organizing discussions: Put students in groups first. Before asking students to discuss as a whole class, put them in groups to try out the topic. This will allow them to give opinions in a less threatening environment than in front of the whole class. It will also give the teacher a chance to see if the topic is interesting for the students. If it is not and the teacher decides to end the discussion, this can be done without the ‘loss of face’ that accompanies the cancellation of a discussion session in front of a whole class. Give students a chance to prepare. Where a more formal discussion is due to take place students need a chance to prepare their opinions. If they are to discuss the role of the family or the relative merits of radio and television they need time to marshall their thoughts and come up with arguments to support their case. This is especially true for debates (see (c) below). Give students a task. One way of promoting discussion is to give students a task as part of the discussion process. They can be given a list of controversial statements about a topic and asked to score them from 0 (= very negative) to 5 (= very positive). They can do this in pairs and groups; once again this will be excellent preparation for any full-class session. We can now look at three types of discussion activity: (a) The buzz group One way of encouraging short sharp bursts of discussion is through the use of ‘buzz groups’. This is where students are put into loose groups of three or four (the number is

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unimportant) and asked to think of the topic. Frequently the teacher may ask them to think of ‘as many .... as possible’. Examples might be: the students are going to read a text about addiction. First the teacher puts them into groups for a two-minute session. They should think of as many forms of addiction as they can. The class pools the information. Perhaps the students are doing some work about seaside holidays (in an elementary group this might be for tense practice, e.g. ‘What’s Jenny doing?’ ‘She’s swimming’, etc.). They could be put into buzz groups to think of as many seaside activities as possible. Buzz groups can form the prelude to a larger discussion session (see 1 above). (b) Controversial topics In (2) above we said that controversial statements were good discussion provokers. Here is an example. The students are given the following statements about smoking and told that they have to circle the number which best reflects their agreement or disagreement with the statement (0 = totally disagree, 5 = totally agree). 1. Smoking should be banned in all public places.

2. Smokers should be forced to give up the habit.

3. People who smoke in no-smoking areas should be put in prison.

4. There should be separate areas for smokers in all restaurants, bars and cafés.

When they have done this they proceed as if for a consensus activity (they compare their answers in pairs and then groups and they have to agree a score). This technique is a good example of using a small task to provoke discussion. (c) The debate There is still room for the more formal debate - where two sides argue a case which is then put to the vote. The activity is suitable for more advanced classes. Students are given a controversial proposition such as People who buy fur coats should pay a 100% tax. They are then put into two groups which have to prepare arguments either in favour of the proposition or against the proposition. When the arguments are ready the teams elect a proposer and a seconder who make formal speeches to argue their case. All the other students can then take part with short interventions. At the end of the discussion the teacher can organise a free vote to see whether the proposition wins or not.

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A variation on the formal debate is the ‘Balloon’ debate. Students must each choose a character. They are then told that all the characters are in the basket of a hot-air balloon. The balloon is losing air and so people must jump from the basket to save the lives of others. Who should be chosen as the sole survivor? The ‘characters’ must make convincing arguments in favour of their own survival. A final vote decides which characters should jump and which should remain. Discussion activities are an important part of many lessons. The main thing to remember is that proper organisation can ensure their success. Lack of it can provoke their failure. RELAYING INSTRUCTIONS In this type of activity students have to give each other instructions. The success of the activity depends on whether the students to whom instructions are being given perform the tasks successfully - in other words, were the instructions the right ones, and were they understood? (a) Exercises Stage 1: The teacher writes down the names of a number of common exercises (e.g. press-ups, sit-ups squat jumps, etc.) - or better still has drawings of them. These are given to individual students (without the others seeing). Stage 2: Students have to get their colleagues to do the exercises using only words (no gestures, etc.). This activity can be very amusing, and certainly involves real communication. Apart from physical exercises, students can instruct each other in a dance, in certain mimes, etc. (b) Making models Stage 1: A small group of students is given material to make models with (e.g. building bricks, Lego, etc.) They are told to make a model. Stage 2: The original group now has to instruct another group or groups so that they can duplicate the original model. It is, of course, necessary for the original model to be hidden from the second group or other groups at this stage. (c) Describe and draw One of the most popular instruction games is ‘describe and draw’ in which one student is given a picture which the other student cannot see. The second student has to draw an identical picture (in content, not style) by listening to the first student’s instructions.

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The students must be put in pairs and they must be told not to look at each other’s pictures until they have finished the activity. It is because Student B cannot see Student A’s picture that the communication takes place. COMMUNICATION GAMES Communication games are based on the principle of the information gap. Students are put into a situation in which they have to use all or any of the language they possess to complete a game-like task. (a) Find the differences (or similarities)3 Students are put into pairs. In each pair Student A is given a picture and Student B is given a picture which is similar, but different in some vital respects. They are told that they must not look at each other’s material but that they must find out a certain number of differences between the two pictures through discussion only. In the following example4 Student A looks at this picture:

And Student B gets this picture:

(Note that the originals are in colour so that differences in shirts, etc. can be used.)

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(b) Describe and arrange Students are told they are going to work in pairs. In each pair Student A is given the following pictures and told not to show them to Student B:

Student B, on the other hand, is given the same pictures, but cut up so they are not in any order, e.g.

It is now Student B’s job to arrange the pictures in the same order as Student A’s. (c) Story reconstruction: The hospital case5 Students are given different parts of a picture story. They have to reconstruct the whole narrative even though individually they have seen only a small part of it. This is done because each member of the group has seen a different picture; by talking about their pictures together the narrative emerges. Here is a procedure for the technique:

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Stage 1: The class is divided into four large groups, A, B, C and D. Stage 2: Each group is given one of the following pictures and told to study it. Stage 3: After a couple of minutes the teacher takes the pictures back from the groups. Stage 4: The teacher makes new groups with one student from each of the original groups (i.e. one from A, one from B, one from C, one from D). Stage 5: The students in the new groups have to try and reconstruct the story by discussing what they saw on each of their pictures.

Stage 6: The teacher then gets the different groups to tell their stories. Often with picture sequences there will be more than one version of the story. The teacher then shows the students all the pictures. (d) Poem reconstruction The same principle (of reconstruction) can be applied to simple poems. Students have to reassemble lines which they are given. The activity mixes reading, listening and discussion.

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Stage 1: The students are put into groups. Stage 2: In each group each of the students is given one of the following cards and instructed not to show it to anyone else:

Stage 3: The groups are told that they must reassemble the poem - it is a one stanza poem. Students can read the lines aloud, but they may not show them to anyone else. Stage 4: The groups are told that they must decide on a title for the poem. PROBLEM SOLVING Problem-solving activities encourage students to talk together to find a solution to (a set of) problems or tasks. We will look at two examples: (a) Desert dilemma6 Students are given a complex situation and told to work out a means of survival All the students are told to read the following:

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THE SITUATION It is about ten o’clock in the morning in July, and you have just crashed in a small aeroplane in the Sonora desert in Northern México. The pilot and co-pilot are dead and the aeroplane is a burnt-out shell. One of the passengers is injured. The aeroplane had no radio, and the survivors think that they were about 100 kilometres off course when they crashed. Just before the crash the pilot told the passengers that they were 120 kilometres south of a small mining camp. From experience you know that daytime temperatures can reach 43° centigrade (110°Fahrenheit) and night-time temperatures reach freezing. All the passengers are dressed in light clothes. The area is flat and arid as far as the eye can see. Instructions The following is a list of items that came out of the crash in good order: •

Flashlight with four batteries

•

Jack knife

•

Detailed pilot’s chart of the area

•

Large plastic poncho

•

Compass

•

Instrument to measure blood pressure

•

Loaded .45 pistol

•

One red and white parachute

•

Bottle of 1000 salt tablets

•

One quart of water per person

•

Book Edible Desert Animals

•

One pair of sunglasses per person

•

Two bottles of vodka

•

One overcoat per person

•

One pocket mirror

Now do the following: a) Individually write down a list of the seven most important items on this list to ensure survival and/or rescue. b) Agree with the other members of the group what these items are.

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They are then put in groups. Each group must follow the instructions and work out how to survive this desert situation. The teacher can then check to see how ingenious (or otherwise) the solutions are. (One proposed solution is as follows: the seven important items are the mirror, the flashlight, one quart of water per person, the plastic poncho, sunglasses, overcoats and a parachute. Walking is inadvisable owing to the heat, so a signalling mirror (by day) and flashlight (by night) will be useful. The parachute can be used for shelter and as a sign for searching planes. Sunglasses can prevent blindness and overcoats keep people warm in the cold desert nights. The water is clearly important, and the plastic poncho can be used to create more water, e.g. stone

poncho

This reading/discussion exercise is suitable for intermediate students. Apart from organising the groups and conducting feedback, the teacher can leave the students very much on their own. (b) Fast food7 A welcome development in language teaching has been the introduction of computers into the classroom. Despite the scepticism of some teachers they provide a valuable aid for language learning8. Fast Food is one of a series of computer games where the user has to take decisions which will affect the outcome of the game. In this program students run a fast food stall and they have to decide how many rolls, sausages, drinks, etc. to order for their stall and what price to charge for them. They are given information about the weather, etc. If they make the right decisions they prosper, if they make the wrong decisions they start to lose money. After the game has been explained, the teacher puts students into small groups. Each group is assigned to a computer and told to run their stall. The discussion that takes place is frequently fast and furious with students anxious to ensure the success of the venture. Where a school only has one or two mini-computers activities like Fast Food can be reserved for students who finish other groupwork early; teachers can set up small English computer clubs so that students who are keen can work after class.

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TALKING ABOUT YOURSELF9 The students themselves are often an underused resource10: in particular we yourself can use their lives and feelings for any number of interpersonal exchanges. Such activities fall into the ‘Humanistic’ category and are often useful at the beginning of classes to warm things up (‘warmers’) or to create a good and positive atmosphere in new groups which are a bit ‘icy’ (‘ice breakers’). We will look at three simple activities that are quick and easy to organise: (a) Your name11 The teacher puts the students in pairs and asks them to tell each other: •

how they feel about their first name (do they like it, etc.)

•

what name they would choose for themselves if they had to choose one that was different from the one they have (and why)

Clearly this activity is very simple, but it demonstrates the advantages of ‘taking about yourself. Many people have strong opinions about their names and from such simple questions an interesting personal discussion can develop. (b) What we have in common12 This is an ideal ice breaker. Students are put in pairs at random and old to discover five things which they have in common. This encourages them to cover a number of areas and topics including musical tastes, sports, families (‘Do you have any brothers or sisters?’), etc. It is also a positive activity since it investigates what joins people together, not what breaks them apart! (c) Musical associations In this activity the teacher encourages the students to use the title of a song to provoke discussion of feelings and memories, etc. Stage 1: The teacher asks the students to write down the name of a song which they like. It can be a pop song, a folk song, a song from the opera, anything. They should not show this title to anybody else for the moment. Stage 2: The teacher then tells the students that they are going to discuss this song with a partner. They should tell their partner the title of their song and the following: •

how the song makes them feel

•

what the song makes them think of

•

what the song makes them feel like doing

•

where they would most like to hear the song

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Stage 3: When the students have had enough time to tell each other about their songs the teacher can ask if anyone heard anything particularly interesting that they would like to share with the group. Most students seem to enjoy this activity since, like (a) and (b) above, it is positive in tone and allows them to talk about themselves. Any activities which invite students to share themselves with others –even though they are fairly light like the ones here– should be done in a calm and supportive atmosphere. Teachers must decide whether students want to do activities like this and how far they should be encouraged to reveal their feelings. SIMULATION AND THE ROLE PLAY13 The idea of a simulation is to create the pretence of a real-life situation in the classroom: students ‘simulate’ the real world, Thus we might ask them to pretend that they are at an airport, or we might organise them to get together to plan an imaginary reunion. What we are trying to do - artificially of course - is to give students practice in real-world English. For a simulation to work it needs certain characteristics. Jones (1982) says that there needs to be a ‘reality of function’ (students must accept the function; they must not think of themselves as language students but as the people in the simulation), a simulated environment (we do not take the students to a real airport –that would no longer be a simulation, it would be the real thing!) and structure (there must be some structure to the simulation and essential facts must be provided). Within these guidelines we can add another variable: sometimes the students take part as themselves (if we ask them to organise a party, for example, we are not asking them to pretend to be someone else) and sometimes we ask them to play a role, pretending to be someone that they are not (we may ask them to be a distraught policeman or a bad-tempered child). In the latter case we are taking about role plays, All role plays are simulations, in other words, but not all simulations are role plays. However, even where the students are not asked to play a role they must still accept Jones’ ‘reality of function’: they must still be themselves at an airport (even though it is simulated) rather than students in a classroom. And this acceptance means that students will have to be prepared to enter into the activity with enthusiasm and conviction. There is some controversy about the usefulness of simulations, particularly where students are asked to play roles, but many teachers feel that they have certain advantages because students do not have to take responsibility for their own actions and words –in other words, it’s the character they are playing who speaks, not themselves. It has certainly been noticed that some shy students are more talkative when playing roles.

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During a simulation teachers may act as participants, that is to say as one of the people involved. The advantage of this is that they can help the simulation along if it gets into difficulty. Where simulations get off to a shaky start - and where the teacher is not a participant he or she may want to act as a prompter, making suggestions about what the students could say and do next. But this must be done as unobtrusively as possible and only when absolutely necessary for the success of the activity. Otherwise the simulation becomes teacher-dominated and this restricts the students from communicating amongst themselves. After the simulation has finished the teacher will want to conduct feedback with the students. The object here is to discuss with them whether the activity was successful, why certain decisions were reached, etc. If the teacher has been recording the proceedings (either by writing down good and bad points, or by using a tape recorder or a video) this will be a good opportunity to show where students performed particularly well (they may have used a convincing argument or a particularly effective piece of English) and to point out where poor English, for example, made communication less effective. It is important for the teacher to conduct feedback about the content of an activity such as simulation as well as discussing the use of English. If only the latter is focused on the students will perceive the object of the exercise as being concerned only with linguistic accuracy rather than the ability to communicate efficiently - which is the main motive for this kind of activity. We will now look at four examples of simulations. (a) The travel agent In this example students are divided into pairs in which they play the roles of a travel agent and a customer. The latter wants to book a holiday in a hotel, but insists that the hotel should have a number of qualities (such as the right price, good food, etc.). The travel agent has all the information about the hotels. Stage 1: Students are told that they are going to work in pairs. Stage 2: Students in each pair are given the letters A and B. Stage 3: Students are told that A is a travel agent and B is a customer who wants to book a holiday in Miami. Stage 4: The teacher tells the students not to show each other the information they are going to get, and then gives the following piece of paper to B.

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CUSTOMER You want: a) to go to a hotel in Miami for a week and you can spend up to $1400 on a hotel b) to be as near as possible to the town centre c) to go to a hotel with a good discotheque d) there to be a children’s swimming pool for your small son e) there to be someone to look after your son at the hotel f) the hotel to serve good food g) a comfortable room (with a good view) Get all the information from the travel agent and then write down the hotel of your choice. A gets the following hotel list: A. TRAVEL AGENT Study the following Information carefully so that you can answer B (the customer) SUN INN

REGENCY-PARK

PARADISO

OASIS

$180

$175

$210

$130

10 kms.

12 kms.

20 kms.

3 kms.

***

Restaurant

***

View

***

* *

Cost (double) Per night Distance from Centre Disco

Swimming pool Adults Children

***

Childcare Facilities

Note: Various features (e g .g. view, discos, restaurants, etc.) have been given stars to indicate quality. *** =very good, ** = good, * = fair. As an example we can say that you get a better view if you´re staying at the Paradiso than if you´re staying at the Regency Park.

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The students are told to study their information for a short period. Stage 5: B is told to select a hotel based as far as possible on the six qualities he or she is looking for. The activity commences. Stage 6: When all the pairs have completed the activity (or when the majority have finished) the students and the teacher will discuss what choices have been made. Clearly, in this simulation the, Regency Park is the logical choice since it has most of the qualities that B is looking for. (b) Arranging to meet In this simulation groups of students are going to arrange a reunion to celebrate some event (a birthday, anniversary, etc.). They have to agree when and where the reunion will take place. Stage 1: The teacher tells the class that they are going to work in groups of five, and that they are going to arrange to meet in honour of ... (here the teacher can invent a reason based on the members of the class). Stage 2: The teacher explains that each group must decide where they should meet and when, based on the information that they will be given. Stage 3: The teacher tells the students that they are going to get some pieces of paper, and that they should not show them to each other. The teacher then distributes the following: STUDENT A:

STUDENT C:

You want to have lunch in a restaurant.

STUDENT B: You want to have dinner at your home.

You should think of reasons why this is the best choice.

You want to have lunch at your home.

STUDENT D: You want to have dinner at a restaurant.

You should think of reasons why this is the best choice.

STUDENT E: You are undecided. You should listen to the others’ ideas and then agree with the suggestion you like best.

Stage 4: The teacher tells the students to think about their instructions for a short time. Then they are told to start the activity. This activity is very successful and produces a great deal of spoken English. The teacher will need to keep an eye on each group and perhaps act as a prompter to make sure that they realise there are two variables - where they are going to meet and when.

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(c) The Loch Ness monster14 The monster, who is supposed to inhabit Loch Ness in Scotland, has long been the object of interest and speculation. In this simulation, which forms part of a unit about ‘Nessie’, four people have seen the monster and describe it to a police inspector who has to build up an ‘identikit’ picture. Stage 1: The class discusses the Loch Ness monster and the teacher tells them they are going to take part in an activity about it. Students are told that the monster has been seen by a number of people who are going to describe it to the local police in Scotland. Stage 2: Students are told they are going to work in groups of five. One student in each group will be the police inspector who should question the other students (witnesses) about what they saw and - then fill in the following identikit form and draw a picture of the monster in the space provided.

Form PK IR4

Identikit picture

Age : Sex : Height : Weight : Distinguishing features :

Stage 3: The students in each group are given the following role cards: 1ST WITNESS You were having a stroll along the shore and you distinctly saw a small, flat thing moving on the surface of the water. You believe it was the head of the monster. It had a large mouth, two bulging red eyes and two small horns. 2ND WITNESS You were having a nap in the grass when you were woken up by loud tramping noises. When you got up you had just enough time to see a very large greenish animal diving into the water.

3RD WITNESS As you were fishing early one morning, you saw the monster splashing on the surface of the water. You estimated its overall length to be perhaps between 20 and 30feet and it had a very small head in comparison with the size of its body.

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4TH WITNESS You were surveying the loch from the top of the hill with a pair of binoculars. You saw a large animal with a stout body, two humps on its back, four legs and a long neck, grazing on the shore of the loch. INSPECTOR CAMERON Ask each witness how and when he saw the monster. Draw up an identikit picture by putting together the various accounts you get.

The activity can start after each ‘witness’ has had a chance to study the role card. Stage 4: The different groups study the final identikit picture of the monster to compare their versions. This simulation is highly amusing, and although designed for intermediate groups could also be suitable for elementary students since it mixes the best elements of simulation with the describe and draw technique we discussed before. (d) Knife in the school In the following simulation all the participants have definite roles to play - they are asked to assume personalities and realities that are not their own. The situation revolves around a troublesome boy at a secondary school. After a report that the boy has been seen at school with a knife, the head teacher decides to call the parents and the boy in to discuss the incident. Stage 1: The teacher puts students into buzz groups and asks them to list various ‘crimes’ for which school children are punished. Stage 2: The teacher gets feedback from the groups and then asks the students what they would expect a head teacher to do if a student was found at school with a flick knife. Stage 3: The teacher then tells the students that they are going to role play an interview between a boy who reportedly brought a knife to school, his parents and the head teacher of the school. Stage 4: The students are put into groups of four. They are given the roles of head teacher, mother, father, Brian (the boy). They are given the following role cards and told not to show them to anyone else:

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Head teacher You have been told that Brian was seen in the school with a knife. The problem is that no teacher actually saw it; they were told about it by the other pupils. You must not let this fact slip out. If the situation becomes impossible you may consider suspension from the school. Otherwise a severe warning about Brian’s behaviour will do. Father You are aware that Brian is a persistent troublemaker and your own patience with him has worn a bit thin. You suspect, though, that he is always led on by Sam Richards, and you will try to use the interview to establish this fact. Mother You think Brian is a rauch nicer boy than people give him credit for. You think the school is unfairly prejudiced against him and will do everything in the interview to support him. Brian It is true that you had a knife: it belonged to Sam Richards and you don’t want anyone to know about this because Sam is your friend - and you are afraid of what he will do if you give him away. You will either pretend that it is your knife or that the whole story is a lie - after all, did any teacher actually talk to you about it? The one thing you are really frightened of is suspension from the school. You will do anything to avoid it.

Stage 5 When the role play is over the teacher will lead a feedback session discussing what happened in each group and whether the boy, the parents and the head teacher behaved appropriately. The issues raised by the situation will be discussed and only then will the teacher discuss any language errors that he or she collected while listening to the groups. Simulations are a valuable part of the teacher’s armoury. The examples shown here are on a fairly small scale. Of course they can be considerably bigger and last for longer than the ones here, but whatever the size and design of the activity they give students a chance to step out of the role of language students and to use their language in realistic (but safe) contexts. 2. WRITTEN COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES It is often easier to provide opportunities for spoken communication in the classroom than it is for the written medium. Frequently writing is relegated to the status of homework. This is a pity since writing, especially communicative writing, can play a valuable pan in the class.

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We will look at Relaying instructions, Writing reports and advertisements, Co-operative writing, Exchanging letters and Writing journals. RELAYING INSTRUCTIONS One group of students has information for the performance of a task, and they have to get another group to perform the same task by giving them written instructions. We will look at three examples. (a) Making models Stage 1: A small group of students is given material to make a model with (e.g. buildingbricks, Lego, etc.) and they are told to make a model. Stage 2: The group now writes instructions which will enable other people to duplicate the model. Stage 3: Other students are given the instructions and told to build the model by reading the instructions. There is, of course, immediate feedback. The original group can see how well they have written instructions by watching the efforts of the other students to duplicate their model. b) Giving directions In this activity students write directions which other students have to follow. Stage 1: Students are told to write directions from the place where they are studying to some other place in the same town or city. They are told not to mention the destination by name. Stage 2: Students give their directions to a partner who has to guess what the destination is by following the directions. The same effect can be created by letting the students work from a street plan of a town with clearly marked buildings, etc. c) Writing commands15 Students write each other messages which contain commands. Stage 1: The teacher tells students to write a command for one of their classmates on a piece of paper. The student might write something like this: Maria: Take off your left shoe!

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Stage 2 The written messages are then passed to the students who have to obey the commands. This activity is especially appropriate for beginner students and is rnost enjoyable. WRITING REPORTS AND ADVERTISEMENTS We will look at three activities in which students write news reports or advertisements. (a) The news broadcast16 Students write items for a news broadcast which they then organise for ‘transmission’. Stage 1: The teacher asks all the students in the class to write two news items on a piece of paper. Stage 2: The teacher then collects all the pieces of paper and forms the class into small groups. Stage 3: The teacher then distributes the pieces of paper equally between the groups in no special order. The students are asked to combine the items (making changes where necessary) to make up a complete news broadcast. Stage 4: Each group then reads its broadcast to the rest of the class. Ideally, of course, each group could record their broadcast to make it more realistic. This activity is attractive because it involves all the skills, as well as the ability to order and organise ideas. It also involves current events and is thus interesting and motivating. (b) The tourist brochure In much the way as the news broadcast, students can be asked to join together to write a brochure about the place they live in or are studying in. Stage 1: The students are all told to write two sentences (or more) about the attractions of the place they live or study in. Stage 2: The class is then divided into small groups. Stage 3: In each group the students pool their sentences and use them to devise a short brochure about the place they live or study in for a tourist magazine. Stage 4: Students from each group may read out their final version. A better alternative, however, is to put the texts in a folder which can be passed round the class or to stick them to a notice board in the classroom.

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(c) The advertisement After discussing what successful advertisements contain, students can write and design their own. Stage 1: The class discusses (together and/or in pairs/groups) what makes a successful advertisement. Stage 2: The class is divided into groups. They are told that their task is to select a product and write an advertisement for it which will appear in a magazine. Stage 3: When they have completed. their advertisements they can pass them round the class. Alternatively they can be given a period of time (e.g. a weekend) to design the artwork for their text. The advertisements can then be pinned to the class notice board. CO-OPERATIVE WRITING In this section we will look at more activities where students actually writing write things together; where the process of co-operation is as important as the actual fact of the writing itself. In the first two of these activities there is a definite game-like quality present. (a) The fairy story In this activity students are put into groups and told that they are going to write joint stories. This example shows a fairy story being used for this process. Stage 1: Students are put into groups. Where possible, they should be of equal numbers. Stage 2: Students are told to tear a page from their exercise books and write the following sentence on it: Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess who lived in a large castle at the edge of a forest. Stage 3: The students are then instructed to continue the story by writing next sentence. Stage 4 : The students are then told to give their piece of paper to the student on their left. They should now continue the (new) story the; have in front of them by writing the next sentence. The procedure repeated until the papers have gone round the whole group but one The teacher then tells the students to write the penultimate sentence. Stage 5: The stories are now returned to their originators (by passing the papers to the student on the left). They must write the concluding sentence. Students can read the resulting tales to the rest of the class.

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This activity can be immensely enjoyable, and often produces wildly differing stories. Of course there is no reason why the activity should concern a fairy story. Another alternative is not to supply the original sentence. (b) Story reconstruction This activity follows a similar procedure to that for oral story construction. In other words, students are put into four groups (A, B, C, D) each of which is shown a picture from a story sequence, Instead of talking about the pictures, however, the activity continues as follows: Stage 1: The students individually write two sentences (in the past) about the pictures they have seen. Stage 2: The teacher forms new groups of four (i.e. one student from the original group A, one from the original group B and so on). Stage 3: The students show each other their sentences and they then use them to construct a narrative. The finished stories can be circulated round the class, put on the board or used for student-student correction. (c) The word processor17 One of the best uses for the computer in language teaching is as a word processor. When students have been asked to complete a written task - the writing of a story, a letter, a report, etc. - they can, of course do it on their own in their books or on their own with a word processor. However, we have already seen the benefits to be gained from students writing in groups in the two examples above. There seem to be distinct advantages when such co-operation takes place in front of a screen. Groups working on a piece of writing with a word processor seem to focus much more clearly on the language. Editing decisions can be taken far more quickly, and changes can be effected simply and clearly. The end result looks neat and tidy, not a mess of crossing out. And the piece of work can be stored so that it can be continued over a series of classes. EXCHANGING LETTERS In this section we will consider ways of getting students to exchange letters with each other. Particularly with the more realistic tasks students have a good chance to practise real written communication.

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(a) Writing messages The most basic form of letter writing is the message. This can be used at beginner levels to generate written questions and answers, as in this example: Stage 1: Students are told to write a message to another member of the group which demands an answer. Stage 2: The completed messages are then given to the student who has been written to. Stage 3: The student who has received the message then writes a reply which is passed back to the original writer. The original message might be something like this: To Maria What kind of house do you live in? From José and the reply might be: To José My house has three bedrooms and a small garden at the front. From Maria. (b) The agony column This activity has long been a favorite with both teachers and students. It involves students writing letters to ‘agony columns’ - those parts of newspapers and magazines where supposed experts give advice on everything from marital problems to trouble with the neighbours. In this activity students invent some problem and then have it answered by other members of the class. Stage 1: The class and the teacher discuss ‘agony columns’, getting examples from the students’ knowledge of their own countries. Where students say there is no such thing in their newspapers and magazines the teacher will show them examples from English or American agony columns. Stage 2: The teacher arranges the class into small groups and asks each group to think of a problem and then write a letter. Stage 3: The letters from each group are then given to another group who have to consider the best answer and then write a reply.

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Stage 4: The replies are then given to the original groups to consider. The teacher can put them into a folder which can be passed round the class. If there is a notice board the best and/or most amusing letters can be pinned up for all to see. This activity is particularly suitable, of course, after the students have been working on the language of advice. It can be used at a fairly elementary level, but is even more successful with intermediate and advanced students. (c) The complaining customer In this activity students write complaining letters about goods they have bought after seeing an advertisement. The students representing the company who make the goods then have to reply to these letters. Stage 1: Students are divided into small groups. Each group is given an advertisement. It would be ideal if they could be given advertisements prepared by their classmates. Stage 2: The groups are told to imagine they have bought the item that is advertised but are not satisfied with it for some reason. They should write a letter of complaint to the company. Stage 3: The letters are then given to different groups. The new group has to study the letter of complaint and decide what to do about it. When the decision has been reached they can write a reply to the original letter. Stage 4: The letters are then returned to the original groups who read themand discuss what they have been sent. This is an enjoyable and useful activity involving a number of different skills. It is particularly suitable, for intermediate and advanced classes. (d) The job application This activity involves applying for a job. The application will then be judged and a decision taken about whether it should be successful. There is no reason why students should not be given role cards. In this example, however, we will ask them to create their own roles. Stage 1: Students are shown the following advertisement: GREAT FUTURE: GREAT PAY Work in Public Relations for A Major Airline. Experience in transport not necessary, but good personality and bright ideas are essential. Applications in writing are requested, giving any information about yourself you think might be relevant. Write to: The Manager, Box 247.

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Stage 2: Students are asked to apply for the job in writing, making their applications as attractive as possible. Stage 3: The teacher divides the class into small groups. The groups are then given some of the letters (which must not be the work of anyone in the group). Stage 4: Each member of the group must read each letter, giving the applicant a score of O (= very poor) to 5 (= excellent) depending on suitability for the job. Stage 5: The scores are added together and the winning applicant chosen. Stage 6: The group writes two letters. One is to the successful applicant. Asking him or her to come to a meeting. The other is the letter they will send the applicants who were not successful, Stage 7: The letters of the winning applicants can be read to the whole class and comments made on them. This is a good exercise for skill integration and forces the students to write for a purpose. It is particularly suitable for intermediate and advanced classes. WRITING JOURNALS One area of writing that we have not touched on so far is the written communication between students and teachers. In an important article Mario Rinvolucri described how he had become involved in letter writing with his students18. At the beginning of the course he wrote to them telling them something about himself and inviting them to write letters to him which he would reply to personally (they all got the same letter). Some of them took up his offer, and over the period of the course he engaged in a lengthy correspondence about language learning, the students’ experiences, how he and they felt about the classes, etc. The advantage of this activity is that students get a chance to use writing for genuinely communicative purposes and they get an extraordinary level of individual attention from the teacher. The disadvantages of this procedure, as Rinvolucri readily admits19, are firstly that some students get ‘too close’ to the teacher and secondly that it takes a lot of time. His group was small, but imagine doing it with a group of thirty or forty students! Reading and writing that number of letters every week on top of preparation and other kinds of homework marking would be quite impossible. There is a way of using this communication which is not so impractical, however, and that is the use of student journals. In these diaries students can write what they want about anything that interests them. They can comment on the classes they are experiencing, they can write about their personal lives, they can talk about politics (not an easy subject in the classroom) or they can write stories. On more than one occasion teachers have

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been surprised and delighted by the level of English displayed in journals and by the interest and creativity which they have found there20. Two issues have to be considered if students are to be asked to keep diaries, however. When should they write them and what should the teacher do with them if and when he or she reads them? Lonon Blanton (1987) got her students to write their journals for five minutes at the end of every class, but others feel that students should write their journals when they themselves want to, not when they are told to. There are advantages in the regular journal-writing spot: it ensures frequent writing practice and it means that all students have a chance to use English to reflect their own thoughts and feelings. On the other hand it is a bit arbitrary in the sense that students may not have much to say in those particular five minutes. When students have written the journals teachers have to decide whether they should read them or not. If the answer is yes - and the teacher collects the journals every week or fortnight, for example - they must then decide how to react to them. What is important is that teachers should not treat these diaries as they do other pieces of written work. They are not there primarily to be corrected, but rather to be reacted to. Content feedback is clearly more important than form feedback here. Teachers can write short reactions to what they read. These do not have to be lengthy, but they should respond to the spirit of the journal. Areas of language difficulty can be pointed out, of course, but this should be done more in a written conversational way than in a ‘marking’ way. Students respond well to teachers who are interested in their journals: teachers have the advantage of interacting with their students as individuals. 3. CORRECTING WRITTEN WORK21 The correction of written work can be organised on much the same basis as the correction of oral work. In other words there may well be times when the teacher is concerned with accuracy and other times when the main concern is the content of the writing. Certainly the tendency is for teachers to be over-preoccupied with accuracy. This means that the student’s work is often covered with red ink and no comment is made about whether the work was interesting or succeeded in its purposes. Correction of written work can be done by both teacher and student. If you are correcting written work always remember to react to the content of the work, showing the student where the work was effective and where it was not. Where teachers wish to correct the English in the written work. they may wish to use a variety of symbols. They can underline the mistake in the written work and put a mark in the margin to show what kind of mistake it was. The following example shows how the teacher can indicate that the student has made an error in word order:

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I like very much tennis

The teacher will need symbols for spelling, wrong tense usage, concord (the agreements between subject and verb), wrong word order, inappropriate language, punctuation, a word missing and unclear meaning, among others. Whatever the symbols are the students should understand clearly what they mean. When teachers first use the system of symbols they may underline the word in the text and put the symbol in the margin. Later it will only be necessary to put the symbol in the margin for the students to indentify the error. When students correct each other’s work (see below) no symbols will be necessary. When teachers hand back written work with comments on content and the correction symbols in the margin, they should allow the students time, during the class, to identify their mistakes and correct them. In this activity the teacher is acting as a resource, and can help where students do not know what is wrong. If this kind of stage is not gone through, however, students may not be able to take advantage of the system of correction symbols. Ideally written work can form the basis for student-student correction, which in itself can be classed as a communicative activity. Students work in pairs, exchanging their work. They then look for mistakes in each other’s writing and attempt to correct them. Where a piece of student writing contains a number of common errors, the teacher may want to photocopy the work (erasing the writer’s name) and show it to the whole class, asking them to identify problems. In this way the attention of the class can be drawn to common mistakes and the photocopied document can form the basis for remedial work. Another variation which will help students to concentrate on particular aspects of language is to tell them that you are going to correct a piece of work for only one thing. It could be tense usage, it could be spelling, it could be punctuation. By doing this you ensure that the students’ work will not be covered by red marks, and you also encourage them to concentrate on particular aspects of written language use. 4. PROJECTS22 One way of ensuring genuinely communicative uses of spoken and written English is through the use of projects - longer places of work which involve investigation and reporting. The end-product is the most important thing here, and all the language use that takes place is directed towards the final version. Although students studying in target language communities (Britain, the USA, etc.) obviously have much greater access to English speakers, TV stations, radio and written material, etc., there are a whole range of project types that do not require this kind of contact. We will look at only two kinds of project here.

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(a) The smoking report In this project students devise a questionnaire and then use it to get results which are interpreted and written up as a report. The project can easily be used in non-target language situations since students can interview each other - or students in other classes - to get the results they want. The project is organised in the following way: Stage 1: Students are told they are going to work in groups to write a report on attitudes to smoking based on a questionnaire that they will design. Stage 2: The teacher discusses with the class what kind of information they might want to obtain and the kind of questions they could use to get it. For example the following areas might be selected: Smokers: •

their smoking habits

•

their reasons for smoking

•

their feelings about smoking in public places and on public transport

•

their attitude to smokers who complain

Non-smokers: •

their reasons for not smoking

•

their reasons for having given up (in some cases)

•

their attitude to smoking in public places and on public transport

•

their suggestions for change

Stage 3: The groups write their different questionnaires. The teacher can act as a resource or as a prompter. Stage 4: The groups then administer their questionnaires. In an English-speaking community they can question members of the public. In other countries they can question fellow classes and fellow students (see above). Stage 5: The groups study the information they have collected and write a report in which they reach conclusions about the results of their investigations. The reports can then be compared. Groups can read other groups’ work and discuss the similarities and differences with their own. Clearly this project requires commitment and dedication from the students. It could well occupy two weeks of an intermediate class’s time. Smaller versions could be done, however, simply focusing on how many people smoke and how many cigarettes they smoke a day. The same kind of thing could be done with other topics like hobbies, travel to and from work/study, eating habits, etc.

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(b) Wheelchairs One of the best-known projects for advanced students has been the ‘Wheelchair User’s Guide to Bath’ reported in the EL T Journal by Diane Fried-Booth (Fried-Booth (1982)). 5. LEARNER TRAINING Students at the Bell School in Bath, England, surveyed Bath to see how easy it was for people in wheelchairs to gain access to public buildings, shops, etc. This involved making a number of visits, using wheelchairs, interviewing wheelchair users and theatre managers, etc. The final result of all these investigations was a guide for wheelchair users telling them which sites and buildings were appropriate/inappropriate for them in terms of access. The guide was a genuinely useful piece of work which achieved a real communicative purpose and which, along the way, involved students in a wide range of interactions both written and spoken. This particular project, like many others of the same scope and size, was possible because it was done in an English-speaking environment. ~ Similar large-scale projects are possible in non-English environments, however, and students can use tape-recorders and video cameras to record interviews with any native-speakers they can find, or they can consult libraries, the British Council, etc. for source material. In recent years emphasis has been placed on training students to take. charge of their own learning. The three main areas that are involved in this are Personal assessment, Learning strategies and Language awareness. (a) Personal assessment One of the aims of learner training is to make students think about what kind of learners they are and about what they can do to help themselves. A vital stage in this process is getting students to think about their own learning behaviour, as in this exarnple23:

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Try the following quiz. Tick (√) your answers to the questions. Usually

Sometimes

(Almost) never

Don’t know

1. Did/do you get good results in grammar test? 2. Do you have a good memory for new word? 3.

Do you hate making mistakes?

4. In class, do you get irritated if mistakes are not corrected? 5. Is you pronunciation better when you read aloud than when you have a conversation? 6. Do you wish you had more time to think before speaking ? 7. Did do you enjoy being in a class? 8. Do you find it difficult to pick up more than two or three words of a new language when you are on holiday abroad? 9.

Do you like to learn new grammar rules, words, etc. by heart?

The students are now given a score for usually/never, etc. and based on their total score have their answers evaluated, e.g. ‘Your score does not mean that you are not a good language learner. Perhaps this is the first time that you have thought about the way you learn ….’ (Ellis and Sinclair 1989:8) In the same book, students are encouraged to keep a personal motivation graph, talk about the best way of tackling reading or extending vocabulary knowledge, etc. The point of all these activities is to let students think hard about their learning and to use the insights they gain to help them to become more effective as learners. (b) Learning strategies If the teacher’s job is to help students learn in a better way (see above) then he or she will have to encourage students to develop learning strategies. This will involve the students in personal assessment (see above) but it will also involve actually training students to behave in certain ways. This will include: 1. training students to use textbooks. Teachers can spend some time taking students through a new textbook, showing them how to make the best use of it. 2. training students to use communicative activities properly. This involves the issue of mother tongue use. Most of the activities in this chapter will be rather ineffective if the students use their own language.

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3. training students to read for gist. We must give students the ability to cope with texts outside the classroom and if we can help them to approach such texts confidently –and not to get hung up on every word they do not understand –then we will have done them a service. 4. training students to deal with unfamiliar vocabulary. How should students cope with new words? 5. training students to use dictionaries. (c) Language awareness Teachers can design material that makes students more aware of the way in which language is used. One way of doing this is to make students do an exercise about language just as they do exercises about other topics like hobbies, films, adventure, etc. Frequently such activities can be done by the students studying on their own. The pay-off is that as students complete the exercise they are being made more aware of how language works. A small example will show the idea. Here students are involved in studying the way in which phrasal verbs operate24. This is the exercise they have to do: Complete the following with ‘before’ and ‘after’: Sometimes the particle (on, up, down, away, etc.) comes

— the

object. Sometimes it comes ____ the object. It always comes ____ an object which is a pronoun (it, him, her). If the object is a noun, it can come _____ or _______ the object.

6. CONCLUSIONS Learner training is vital if students are to achieve their full potential as learners. In its different forms it encourages them to think about their experiences, discuss them with the teacher and take action to make the whole process more effective. In this chapter we have looked at activities designed to have the characteristics we said were desirable for communicative activities. We have looked at both spoken and written activities, and we have seen how journals and project writing can contribute to the students’ ability to communicate in English. We have also seen how learner training contributes to the students’ success.

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The feedback that a teacher gives in such activities is seen as vitally important. It cannot be stressed enough that we have a responsibility to react to content and not just to the language that we hear from our students. Communicative activities mean getting students to actually do things with language, and it is the ‘doing’ that should form the main focus of such sessions. EXERCISES Design your own oral communicative activity for a beginners’ class based on the ideas in this chapter. Design your own written communicative activity for an elementary class based on the ideas in this chapter. Take any simulation activity from a coursebook that you are familiar with and write out a procedure for using that activity using the ‘stages’ type of procedure which we have used in this chapter. Then give your plan with its stages to colleagues and ask them to try the activity following your stages. Design your own symbols for the correction of written work. REFERENCES 1. I first saw this activity demonstrated by Peter Taylor. 2. On discussions see the excellent P Ur (1981). 3. This type of activity (and the one that follows it) were described in M Geddes and J McAlpin (1978). Communication games like this are still widely in use. 4. From J Richards, J Hull and S Proctor (1990). 5. I first saw this technique demonstrated by Alan Maley. The picture sequence is from D Byrne and S Holden (1978). 6. I have never been able to trace the source of this activity which was used by teachers at the Instituto Anglo Mexicano de Cultura in Guadalajara. 7. Developed by the British Council and published by Cambridge University Press. 8. See C Jones and S Fortescue (1987). In Chapter 9 they discuss activities similar to (and including) Fast Food although they describe them as role plays. I would dispute this categorisation (see 8.1.7). 9. See P Davis and M Rinvolucri (1990) for a series of activities which centre on having students talk about themselves in order to become more confident.

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10. See S Deller (1990) who shows how students can be encouraged to generate their own language activities. 11. I was first told about this activity by Gillie Cunningham. 12. From C Frank and M Rinvolucri (1983). 13. For more on simulation see especially K Jones (1982). See also G Sturtridge (1981) who discusses the difference in meaning between simulation and role play. 14. Taken from D Hicks et al. (1979). 15. See D Byrne (1988) pages 40-2. 16. For this and other ideas in 8.2.2 see D Byrne (1988) Chapter 5, although I have often adapted his ideas. 17. For more on the use of the word processor in groupwork see the excellent article by Alison Piper (Piper 1982). For a variety of word processing activities see C Jones and S Fortescue (1987). 18. See M Rinvolucri (1983). 19. Personal communication. 20. A slightly different example can be found in T Lowe (1987) who records an experiment where teachers of English kept journals while they were taught a foreign language. 21. For more on correcting written work see J Willis (1981) pages 172-4, R White (1980) pages 106-9 and D Byrne (1988) Chapter 10. 22. For more on project work see especially D Fried-Booth (1986). G Carter and H Thomas (1986) and L Munro and S Parker (1985). T Hutchinson (1985) based a course for secondary students around a series of small projects. 23. From G Ellis and B Sinclair (1989). 24. From J Harmer and R Rossner (1991).

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BACKGROUND TEXT: PREPARING FOR COMMUNICATION* Our aim in practising oral English is to develop students’ ability to communicate freely and spontaneously in English. To achieve this aim, we need to ask the following questions: What is real communication like? How is it different from the kind of controlled practice that usually takes place in language classes? How can we bring features of real communication into language practice? Consider the two examples below. Conversation A shows a controlled exercise practising the structure ‘should’; conversation B shows how the same structure might be used in real communication. A. T: I feel tired. S: You should have a rest. T: I feel ill. S: You should see a doctor. T: I feel hungry. S: You should have a sandwich.

B. I’d like to try and study in Britain for a few months. What do you think I should do? - Well, first of all you should go and see the British Council. They’ll give you a list of language schools in Britain where you could go and study, and they’ll also tell you if there are any ways of getting a grant or a scholarship. And then you could try...

As well as being at a more advanced level, there are several ways in which the language in B is different from that in A: 1. In B, the friend giving advice uses not just the single structure ‘should’, but a whole range of structures (will’, ‘if’, ‘could’, ‘ways of. . . -ing’), expressing a variety of different functions (giving advice, making predictions, discussing possibilities). In order to communicate, he or she needs to know how to combine different structures together in context. 2. In B, the language is unpredictable. The friend uses the structure ‘should’, but he or she could have replied in many other ways: by using a different structure (e.g. ‘If I were you . . .’) or by giving a different response altogether (e.g. I’ve no idea’ or ‘What’s the matter? Don’t you like it here?’). To continue the conversation, the two speakers have to pay attention and respond to what the other person is saying. In A, the language is almost completely predictable; the responses are more or less fixed, and there is no chance for a conversation to develop. *

Doff, Adrian. Teach english. Cambridge University Press, UK, 2002.

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3. In B, the speakers are using language for a purpose; there are things the first speaker does not know, and that is why he or she is asking the friend’s advice. Although of course the speakers need to use structures correctly, their attention is focussed on conveying a message, on what they are talking about, not on the language they are using. In A, the only reason for using language is to practise ‘should’ - the teacher is not really seeking advice or even pretending to. The practice is ‘meaningful’ in the sense that students must be aware of the meaning of what they are saying; but their attention is mainly focussed on ‘getting the structure right’, not on the message they are conveying. They do not even have the option of expressing the same message in a different way, e.g. ‘Why not have a rest?’ The two friends in B are probably talking directly to each other in private; at most, there might be one or two other people listening to the conversation or taking part in it. It is private, face-to-face interaction; the two speakers react to each other and their personalities affect the way the conversation develops. In A, the ‘conversation’ is a public, formalised interaction, dominated by the teacher and with the whole class listening. There is nothing personal about the responses; they will be the same whichever student makes them. This comparison highlights a considerable gap between traditional structural practice and the way we communicate in real life. This does not mean that traditional structural practice is therefore a waste of time; on the contrary, it is a very useful way of practising the structure ‘should’. But it does suggest that this kind of practice alone will not prepare students very well for real communication in English. This might be achieved by giving practice which is controlled but which also includes some of the features of real communication. The analysis above suggests some ways in which this could be done: •

By giving practice involving more than just single sentences, so that students have a chance to use combinations of different functions and structures.

•

By encouraging students to give a variety of responses, rather than insisting on one ‘set’ answer; by encouraging students to give personal responses; and by doing practice which naturally leads to unpredictable, creative language.

•

By giving students a purpose for using language (e.g. through discussion, games, problem-solving, information gap activities); and by paying attention to what students are saying, not only to whether they are using language correctly.

•

By organising activities in pairs and small groups, to give students the opportunity to use language in private, face-to-face interaction.

These activities will complement other more structure-based practice and should involve your students in real communication.

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ABOUT COMMUNICATION1 STARTER ACTIVITIES 1. Look at the pictures. Do you think these animals are communicating? What might they be saying?

2. Look at the list below and tick those things which humans use to communicate with each other. Then compare your answers with a partner. style of dress

body posture

gestures

fluency

listening

hair style

facial expressions

vocabulary

accurate use of language structures

behaviour

eye movements

accent

3. In your opinion, which of the items in the list above contribute most to communication? Number the five most important (1 = most important). Then compare your answers with a partner.

Spratt, Mary. English For The Teachers. Cambridge University Press, UK, 1994.

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READING 1. If you students of English went on an exchange trip to an English-speaking country for a month, which aspect of their communication in English would you expect to improve most? Choose from the list below an then discuss your choices with a partner. Accent

accuracy in use language structures

vocabulary

other (please specify)

fluency 2. Now read the article below which reports research findings on the language benefits of exchange trips for teenagers. Does it confirm your opinions?

YOUNG GAIN MOST FROM EXCHANGES Younger pupils benefit most from exchange language trips to France, a research project has concluded. It confirms that all pupils’ performances in French improve as the result of an exchange trip, writes Diane Spencer.

However, a longer stay did not always result in a higher improvement in all linguistic aspects tested. The fluency of 17- to 19-year-olds who had stayed nine days had improved by about 19 per cent whereas for those Dr Kate Seager from the School staying a month the improveExaminations and Assessment ment was about 15 per cent. Council carried out a three-year Younger pupils showed a greater study of just over 100 pupils to improvement in accuracy, betest their French language skills tween 21.5 and 25 per cent, following cross-Channel visits. than older ones who improved Five groups were aged 17 to 19 by 13.6 per cent after nine days and five were in the 13 and 14 and 19 per cent after a month.

two-thirds retained the same score after the visit, ‘indicating that the accent acquired when first learning the language is, for the most part, retained’. ‘At a time of an acute shortage of modern language teachers, it is important not to compromise on the accent of any teacher, but above all the teacher who introduces the language,’ commented Dr Seager.

age band. Visits lasted between She noted ‘dramatic improvements’ in both age groups in nine days and a month. Dr Seager was able to report the use of vocabulary and adon accent, accuracy, fluency, jectives: about 38 per cent for vocabulary and language struc- both age groups for adjectives tures. She found that the average and in vocabulary, 17 per cent overall improvement in language for the older students for the performance of most of the pupils short stay and 49 per cent for tested after one month’s stay was the young ones after a month. between 20 and 25 per cent and But there was less success with after the shorter stay it was 13.5 accent: only a 4.5 per cent average improvement. More than per cent.

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3. Look at the words below. Put a dot (*) above the stressed syllable in each word or group of words. a) exchange trip

f) vocabulary

b) performance

g) structures

c) accent

h) average

d) accuracy

i) improvement

e) fluency

j) adjectives

Now check your answers with the cassette and repeat the words. Explain the meaning of (a) - (j) to a partner as if you were talking to a group of intermediate students. For example: A:

What does X mean?

Well, . . .

4. Read the article again and complete the chart below which summarises the research. Number of pupils tested

Just over 100

Number of groups in study Age range of groups Amount of overall language improvement after stay of: • one month • less than one month Improvements in: • fluency • accuracy • vocabulary • accent

15-19%

5. Talking points Talk about one or two of the points below with a partner or partners. •

Do any of these research findings surprise you?

•

Why do you think accent seems to improve less than other aspects of communication?

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•

What benefits might you yourself get out of an exchange trip?

•

Discuss the benefits of any exchange trips you have heard about.

WRITING: A LETTER 1. Read the advertisements below for student exchange trips. Which would be best for your students? Why? Discuss the reasons for your choice with a partner. My students and I would very much like to set up a penfriend scheme with students from Scotland and then arrange an exchange or visit programme. They are aged 13-14, and we live in a beautiful, sunny and historical town in Portugal. The people here are also very friendly. Pedro Alvarez, Rua de Misericordia 55, Evora, Portugal I work with adult students of English. We are very interested in making contact with other adult learners to make friends, exchange ideas and information and also arrange exchange visits. Carmen Pérez, Calle Oriental 102, Punta Arenas, Chile I’m a teacher of English to primary-school students aged between 7 and 11. I’d like to make contact with a UK primary teacher so that our students could exchange letters and visits. Úrsula Seitl, Bajcsy - Zs u 29, Budapest, Hungary

2. Now write a letter replying to the advertisement that interests you most, or write your own advertisement. STUDENT LANGUAGE: ASSESSING ORAL COMMUNICATION 1. You are going to listen to a conversation between two students: a Japanese woman and a Spanish man. Listen and find out the subject of their conversation and their general level of English. 2. Listen again and complete the chart opposite. Give each student a score for their ability in each aspect of communication (O = poor, 1 = fair, 2 = good, 3 = excellent). Then discuss your assessments with a partner.

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Japanese woman

Spanish man

You

Pronunciation (sounds, stress, intonation) Vocabulary Accurate use of language structures Fluency

3. If you were these students’ teacher, what aspect of communication would you try and help them with most? Why? Discuss. 4. Complete the last column of the chart with an assessment of your own ability to communicate in English. Which of the aspects of communication Usted here would you most like to improve? Discuss your language needs with a partner. LISTENING 1. You are going to listen to an excerpt from a documentary programme about two characters called Booee and Bruno. Listen and find out why the title of the programme is Communication witb a Difference. 2. Listen again and complete the summary of the excerpt below. Booee and Bruno are two (a)............ They ‘speak’ using a language called (b)......... which is a (c) ........ language. It contains ................ cheremes and has a (e) ............. of its own. The chimpanzees have been taught Ameslan as part of an (f) ......... to see if language is (g)........... to humans. Another chimpanzee, Ally, has been taught (h) ......... as well as Ameslan. Because of the linguistic successes of the chimpanzeees some scientists are now wondering whether the reason why chimpanzees don’t speak is (i) ......... rather than neurogical.

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3. Do you think that chimpanzees can communicate in the same way as humans, or is language unique to humans? Discuss with a partner. SPEAKING 1. Read the statements below about communication. Put a tick next to those you agree with and a cross next to those you disagree with. 1

We should teach students communication, not language.

You can’t fully communicate in a language unless you know its culture.

A shy person can never be a good communicator, regardless of how well they speak a language.

You can’t learn how to communicate in a foreign language at school.

2. Language function Read the expressions below and then put them into two groups: expressions of agreement and expressions o f disagreement. I doubt it.

That’s just not the case.

Right.

I don’t agree.

That’s very unlikely.

Exactly.

Absolutely.

That’s it

Add any other expressions you know, and then compare your lists with a partner’s. 3. Discuss your answers to Activity 1 above with a partner, using as many of the expressions of agreement and disagreement that you find appropriate. CLASSROOM INSTRUCTIONS: INTRODUCING A LISTENING ACTIVITY 1. A teacher might introduce Section 5, Activity 2, on page 11 with the following instructions. Read them and then fill in the blanks.

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‘QK, now this time we’re going to listen (a) ..... the excerpt again but in greater detail. I want (b) ...... to (c) ...... the summary of the excerpt as you listen. OK? That’s right, fill (d) ...... the blanks in this passage. ‘Now, before you listen again, (e) ...... you read the summary to make (f) ...... you understand it and to know what you’re listening (g) ......? If there are any words you don’t understand, just (h) ...... me.’

2. Now introduce the same activity to a partner as if you were speaking to a class. Use your own words or those above. CONCLUSIONS 1. Teaching-related vocabulary Look at the chart below which lists some of the kinds of activities in this unit. Find the activities in the unit and complete the first column of the chart with the correct section and activity number. Compare your answers with a partner.

Section and activity number Reading for detail

Most enjoyable

Most useful

2.2, 2.4

Work on word stress Fluency practice Self-awareness activities A gap-filling activity An opinion-gap activity Letter writing

2. Reflections on teaching •

Complete the remaining columns in the chart above. Number the activities from 1 to 7 (1 = most enjoyable/useful, 7 = least enjoyable/useful). Then discuss your answers with a partner.

•

What can you conclude from your answers for yourself as a learner? And for your teaching?

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PART TEN

Educational technology and other learning resources

Objectives 1. To understand the role of technologies and other learning resources in the classroom. 2. To identify different learning resources.

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EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY AND OTHER LEARNING RESOURCES 1 A. THE TECHNOLOGY PYRAMID If you walk into some classrooms around the world, you will see fixed data projectors, interactive whiteboards (IWBs), built-in speakers for audio material that is delivered directly from a computer hard disk (rather man from a tape recorder), and computers with round-the-clock Internet access. Whenever teachers want their students to find anything out, they can get them to use a search engine like Google and the results can be shown to the whole class on the IWB. In other classes, even in many successful private language schools around the world, there is a whiteboard in the classroom, an overhead projector (OHP) and a tape recorder. Other schools only have a whiteboard - or perhaps a blackboard - often not in very good condition. In such schools there may well not be a photocopier, though hopefully the students will have exercise books. Finally, there are some classroom situLanguage laboratories, videos, computer ations where neither teacher nor stuPowerPoint dents have anything at all in terms Cassete recorders, OHPs, of educational technology or other photocopiers learning aids. Jill and Charles Hadfield Whiteboards, books represent these differing realities in a Paper and pens ‘reversed pyramid’ of resources (see Blackboard Figure 1). In a world in which the pace of technological change is breathtakNothing ingly fast (so that between the writing and publishing of this book new technology will have been produced that Figure 1: Reversed resources pyramid most of us are as yet unaware of), it seems that being at the bottom of the pyramid is likely to be a bar to language learning. However, Jill and Charles Hadfield argue passionately, this is not the case (Hadfield and Hadfield 2003a and b). There is a lot you can do with minimal or even no resources. For example, in one situation, they taught in, there was a board and the children had exercise books, but apart from that there were no other educational aids, not even coursebooks. However, with the help of a washing line and clothes pegs they were able to hang up pictures for students to work with. Simple objects like a selection of pebbles became the focus for activities such as telling the story of the pebbles’ existence; different words 1

Harmer, Jeremy. The Practice of English Language Teaching. Pearson-Longman, England, 2007.

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from sentences were written on pieces of paper or card and then put on students’ backs - and the rest of the class had to make them stand in order to make a sentence from the word; paper bags with faces drawn on them became puppets; the classroom desks were rearranged to become a street plan so students could practise giving (and responding to) directions. Finally, and most importantly, the students themselves were used as source material, whether as participants in quizzes about the real world, as informants in discussions about families or as imaginers of river scenes based on teacher description. The internal world of the student is ‘the richest, deepest seam of gold that you have’ (Hadfield and Hadfield 2003b: 34). Indeed, (see Figure 2) Jill and Charles Hadfield propose turning the pyramid the other way up. The resources that are currently available are truly amazing. As we shall see, they offer an amazing variety of People routes for learning and discovery. Yet Blackboard we should not see them as methodoloPaper and pens gies for learning, but rather as tools Whiteboards, books to help us in whatever approaches and techniques we have chosen to Cassete recorders, OHPs, use. And we need to remind ourselves photocopiers constantly of the fact that many classLanguage laboratories, videos, computer rooms both in the ‘developing’ and ‘dePowerPoint veloped’ world do not have access to Figure 2: ‘Other way up’ resources pyramid very modern technology. Yet this does not prevent students - and has never prevented them –from learning English successfully. In this chapter, therefore, we will look at a range of classroom resources (both hi- and low-tech) before considering the questions we need to ask when trying to decide whether to adopt the latest technological innovation. B. THE STUDENTS THEMSELVES By far the most useful resources in the classroom are the students themselves. Through their thoughts and experiences they bring the outside world into the room, and this is a powerful resource for us to draw on We can get them to write or talk about things they like or things they have experienced. We can ask them what they would do in certain situations or get them to act out scenes from their lives. In multilingual classes, we can get them to share information about their different countries. Students can also be very good resources for explaining and practising meaning. For example, in young learner classes we can get them to be ‘living clocks’. They have to demonstrate the time with their arms (using a pointing finger for the minute hand and a fist

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for the hour hand) and the other students have to say what the time is. We can also get them to stand in line in the order of their birthdays (so they have to ask each other When is your birthday?) or in the order of the distance they live from the school. They can be made to stand in the alphabetical order of their middle names (so they have to ask), or in the order of the name of another member of their family, etc. Students can elect one of their number to be a ‘class robot’. The others tell him or her what to do. Students can mime and act out words and phrases (e.g. Hurry up! Watch out!) for the rest of the class to guess. They can perform dialogues taking on the personality of some of the characters the other students know (e.g. for 10- and 11-year-old beginners, Clever Carol, Horrible Harvey, etc.), and the rest of the class have to guess who they are. Most students, especially younger learners, enjoy acting out. C. OBJECTS, PICTURES AND THINGS A range of objects, pictures, cards and other things, such as Cuisenaire rods, can be used for presenting and manipulating language, and for involving students in activities of all kinds. We will look at four of them. C1. Realia We mentioned above how a simple pebble can be used as a stimulus for a creative activity. However, this is only one possible use for real objects: realia. With beginners, and particularly children, using realia is helpful for teaching the meanings of words or for stimulating student activity; teachers sometimes come to class with plastic fruit, cardboard clock faces, or two telephones to help simulate phone conversations. Objects that are intrinsically interesting can provide a good starting-point for a variety of language work and communication activities. Jill and Charles Hadfield suggest bringing in a bag of’ evocative objects’ that have a ‘story to tell’ (Hadfield and Hadfield 2003b: 32). These might be a hair ribbon, a coin, a button, a ring, a paperclip, an elastic band, an old photo frame, a key and a padlock. Students are put into groups. Each group picks an object from the bag (without looking in first). Each student in the group then writes one sentence about the object’s history as if they were that object. Members of the group share their sentences to make the object’s autobiography. They then read their autobiographies to the rest of the class. We can find an object with an obscure use and ask students to speculate about what it is for (it might/could/probably is) and/or design various explanations to account for it (it is used for-ing). The class could vote on the best idea. If we bring in more than one object, especially when they are not obviously connected, students can speculate on what they have in common or they can invent stories and scenarios using the various objects. They can choose which three from a collection of objects they will put in a time capsule,

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or which would be most useful on a desert island, etc. Some teachers use a soft ball to make learning more enjoyable. When they want a student to say something, ask a question or give an answer, they throw a ball to the student, who then has to respond. The student can then throw the ball to a classmate who, in turn, produces the required response before throwing the ball to someone else. Not all students find this appealing, however, and there is a limit to how often the ball can be thrown before people get fed up with it. The only limitations on the things which we bring to class are the size and quantity of the objects themselves and the students’ tolerance, especially with adults who may think they are being treated childishly. As with so many other things, this is something we will have to assess on the basis of our students’ reactions. C2. Pictures Teachers have always used pictures or graphics - whether drawn, taken from books, newspapers and magazines, or photographed - to facilitate learning. Pictures can be in the form of flashcards (smallish cards which we can hold up for our students to see), large wall pictures (big enough for everyone to see details), cue cards (small cards which students use in pair- or groupwork), photographs or illustrations (typically in a textbook). Some teachers also use projected slides, images from an overhead projector (see E2 below), or projected computer images (see E4 below). Teachers also draw pictures on the board to help with explanation and language work (see E1 below). Pictures of all kinds can be used in a multiplicity of ways, as the following examples show: •

Drills: with lower-level students, an appropriate use for pictures-specially flashcards -is in cue-response drills (see Chapter 12, B2). We hold up a flashcard (the cue) before nominating a student and getting a response. Then we hold up another one, nominate a different student, and so on. Flashcards are particularly useful for drilling grammar items, for cueing different sentences and practising vocabulary. Sometimes teachers use larger wall pictures, where pointing to a detail of a picture will elicit a response, such as There’s some milk in the fridge or He’s just been swimming, etc. We can show large street maps to practise shop vocabulary or to get students giving and understanding directions.

•

(Communication) games: pictures are extremely useful for a variety of communication activities, especially where these have a game-like feel, such as ‘describe and draw’ activities, where one student describes a picture (which we have given them) and a partner has to draw the same picture without looking at the original. We can also divide a class into four groups (A, B, C, D) and give each group a different picture that shows a separate stage in a story. Once the members of the group have studied their

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picture, we take it away. New groups are formed with four members each - one from group A, one from group B, one from group C and one from group D. By sharing the information they saw in their pictures, they have to work out what story the pictures together are telling. Teachers sometimes use pictures for creative writing. They might tell students to invent a story using at least three of the images in front of them. They can tell them to have a conversation about a specified topic, and, at various stages during the conversation, to pick a card and bring whatever that card shows into the conversation. •

Understanding: one of the most appropriate uses for pictures is for the presenting and checking of meaning. An easy way of explaining the meaning of the word aeroplane, for example, is to have a picture of one. In the same way, it is easy to check students’ understanding of a piece of writing or listening by asking them to select the picture (out of, say, four) which best corresponds to the reading text or the listening passage.

•

Ornamentation: pictures of various kinds are often used to make work more appealing. In many modern coursebooks, for example, a reading text will be adorned by a photograph which is not strictly necessary, in the same way as happens in newspaper and magazine articles. The rationale for this is clearly that pictures enhance the text, giving readers (or students) an extra visual dimension to what they are reading. Some teachers and materials designers object to this use of illustrations because they consider it gratuitous. But it should be remembered that if the pictures are interesting, they will appeal strongly to at least some members of the class. They have the power (at least for the more visually oriented) to engage students.

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Prediction: pictures are useful for getting students to predict what is coming next in a lesson. Thus students might look at a picture and try to guess what it shows. (Are the people in it brother and sister, husband or wife, and what are they arguing about – or are they arguing? etc.) They then listen to an audio track or read a text to see if it matches what they predicted on the basis of the picture. This use of pictures is very powerful and has the advantage of engaging students in the task to follow.

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Discussion: pictures can stimulate questions such as: What is it showing? How does it make you feel? What was the artist’s/photographer’s purpose in designing it in that way? Would you like to have this picture in your house? Why? Why not? How much would you pay for the picture? Is the picture a work of art? One idea is to get students to become judges of a photographic competition. After being given the category of photographs they are going to judge (e.g. men in action,

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reportage, abstract pictures), the students decide on four or five characteristics their winning photograph should have. They then apply these characteristics to the finalists that we provide for them, before explaining why they made their choice. Pictures can also be used for creative language use, whether they are in a book or on cue cards, flashcards or wall pictures. We might ask students to write a description of a picture, to invent the conversation taking place between two people in a picture or, in one particular role-play activity, ask them to answer questions as if they were the characters in a famous painting. We can make wall pictures, flashcards and cue cards in a number of ways. We can take pictures from magazines and stick them on card. We can draw them. We can buy reproductions, photographs and posters from shops or we can photocopy them from a variety of sources (though we should check copyright law before doing this). It is possible to find pictures of almost anything on the Internet and print them off. The choice and use of pictures is very much a matter of personal taste, but we should bear in mind three qualities that pictures need to possess if they are to engage students and be linguistically useful. In the first place, they need to be appropriate not only for the purpose in hand but also for the classes they are being used for. If they are too childish, students may not like them, and if they are culturally inappropriate, they can offend people. Ultimately, the most important thing is that pictures should be visible. They have to be big enough so that all our students - taking into account where they will be sitting - can see the necessary detail. Lastly, we will not want to spend hours collecting pictures only to have them destroyed the first time they are used! Thought should be given to how to make them durable. Perhaps they can be stuck to cards and protected with transparent coverings. C3. Cards Apart from flashcards with pictures on them, cards of all shapes and sizes can be used in a variety of ways. Cards, in this sense, can range from carefully prepared pieces of thick paper which have been laminated to make them into a reusable resource to small strips of paper which the teacher brings in for one lesson only. Of the many uses for cards, three are especially worth mentioning: â&#x20AC;˘

Matching and ordering: cards are especially good for matching questions and answers or two halves of a sentence. Students can either match them on the desk in front of them (perhaps in pairs or groups), or they can move around the classroom looking for their pairs. This matching can be on the basis of topic, lexis or grammatical construction. We can also use cards to order words into sentences or to put the lines of a poem in order.

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Using cards in this way is especially good for kinaesthetic learners, of course. But it is good for everyone else, too, especially if we can get students walking around the classroom for at least a brief period. •

Selecting: cards work really well if we want students to speak on the spot or use particular words or phrases in a conversation or in sentences. We can write words on separate cards and then, after shuffling them, place them in a pile face down. When a student picks up the next card in the pack, he or she has to use the word in a sentence. Alternatively, students can choose three or four cards and then have to incorporate what is on the cards into a story. Students can also pick up a card and try to describe what the word on it feels, tastes or smells like so that the other students can guess it.

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Card games: there are as many card game possibilities in language learning as there are in real life. We can turn the card selection into a game by introducing a competitive element –having students in pairs play against each other or against other pairs. A simple vocabulary game can be played in which students have cards with pictures on one side and words on the other. If they pick the picture side, they have to produce the word. If they pick the word side, they have to draw it and then compare it with the original picture. The old game of Snap can be adapted so that two players have a set of cards, with the same objects, etc., but whereas one player has only pictures, the other has only words. The cards are shuffled and then the players put down the cards one at a time. If a picture and word card match, the player who shouts Snap! first wins all the cards on the table. The object of the game is for one player to end up with all the cards.

C4. Cuisenaire rods Originally invented by the Belgian educator Caleb Gattegno, these small blocks of wood or plastic of different lengths (see Figure 3) were originally designed for maths teaching. Each length is a different colour. The rods are featureless, and are only differentiated by their length and colour. Simple they may be, but they are useful for a wide range of activities. For example, we can say that a particular rod is a pen or a telephone, a dog or a key so that by holding them up or putting them together a story can be told. All it takes is a little imagination. The rods can be used to demonstrate word stress, too: if one is bigger than the others (in a sequence representing syllables in a word or words in a sentence), it shows where the stress should be. We can also assign a word or phrase to each of, say, five rods and the students then have to put them in the right order (e.g. I usually get up at six o’clock). By moving the usually rod around and showing where it can and cannot occur in the sentence,

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the students get a clear visual display of something they are attempting to fix in their minds. Rods can be used to teach prepositions. Teachers can model with the rods sentences like The red one is on top of/beside/under/over/ behind (etc.) the green one. They can show rods in different relative positions and ask students to describe them. Students can then position the rods for other students to describe (in ever more complex arrangements!). Cuisenaire rods are also useful for demonstrating colours (of course), comparatives, superlatives, and a whole range of other semantic and syntactic areas, particularly with people who respond well to visual or kinaesthetic activities.

Figure 3: Cuisenaire rods

D. THE COURSEBOOK For years, methodologists have been arguing about the usefulness of coursebooks, questioning their role (Allwright 1981), defending their use (O’Neill 1982), worrying that they act as methodological straitjackets (Tice 1991), promoting their value as agents of methodological change (Hutchinson and Torres 1994), or arguing yet again about their relative merits (Harmer 2001, Thornbury and Meddings 2001). D1. Coursebook or no coursebook? The benefits and restrictions of coursebook use can be easily summarised: •

Benefits: good coursebooks are carefully prepared to offer a coherent syllabus, satisfactory language control, motivating texts, audio cassettes/CDs and other accessories such as video/DVD material, CD-ROMs and extra resource material. They are often attractively presented. They provide teachers under pressure with the reassurance that, even when they are forced to plan at the last moment, they will be using material which they can have confidence in. They come with detailed teacher’s guides, which not only provide procedures for the lesson in the student’s book, but also offer suggestions and alternatives, extra activities and resources. The adoption of a new coursebook provides a powerful stimulus for methodological development (see Hutchinson and Torres 1994). Students like coursebooks, too, since they foster the perception of progress as units and then books are completed. Coursebooks also provide material which students can look back at for revision and, at their best, their visual and topic appeal can have a powerfully engaging effect.

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•

Restrictions: coursebooks, used inappropriately, impose learning styles and content on classes and teachers alike, appearing to be ‘”fait accompli” over which they can have little control’ (Littlejohn 1998:205). Many of them rely on Presentation, Practice and Production as their main methodological procedure, despite recent enthusiasm for other teaching sequences. Units and lessons often follow an unrelenting format so that students and teachers eventually become demotivated by the sameness of it all. And in their choice of topics, coursebooks can sometimes be bland or culturally inappropriate. One solution to the perceived disadvantages of coursebooks is to do without them altogether, to use a ‘do-it-yourself`’ approach (Block 1991, Maley 1998, Thornbury and Meddings 2001). Such an approach is extremely attractive. It can offer students a dynamic and varied programme. If they can see its relevance to their own needs, it will greatly enhance their motivation and their trust in what they are being asked to do. It allows teachers to respond on a lesson-by-lesson basis to what is happening in the class. Finally, for the teacher, it means an exciting and creative involvement with texts and tasks. In order for the DIY approach to be successful, teachers need access to (and knowledge of) a wide range of materials, from coursebooks and videos to magazines, novels, encyclopedias, publicity brochures and the Internet. They will have to make (and make use of) a variety of home-grown materials (see below). They will also need the confidence to know when and what to choose, becoming, in effect, syllabus designers in their own right. This not only makes preparing lessons a very timeconsuming business, but also runs the risk that students will end up with incoherent collections of bits and pieces of material. However, where there is time for the proper planning and organization of DIY teaching, students may well get exceptional programmes of study, which are responsive to their needs and varied in a way that does not abandon coherence. Such an approach also ties in with a dialogic, ‘Dogme’style of teaching.

D2. Using coursebooks Around the world, however, the vast majority of teachers reject a coursebook-free approach and instead use them to help their learners and, what’s more, to give structure and direction to their own teaching. The most important aspect of coursebook use is for teachers to try to engage students with the content they are going to be dealing with. This means arousing the students’ interest in a topic, and making sure that they know exactly what we want them to do before we get them to open their books and disappear, heads-down in the pages, while we are still trying to talk to them. Many teachers want to use their coursebooks as a kind of springboard for their lessons, rather than as a manual to be slavishly followed. In other words, while they base much of

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their teaching on the contents of the coursebook, they reserve the right to decide when and how to use its constituent parts. There are two main ways they can do this: •

Omit and replace: the first decision we have to make is whether to use a particular coursebook lesson or not. If the answer is ‘no’, there are two possible courses of action. The first is just to omit the lesson altogether. In this case, we suppose that the students will not miss it because it does not teach anything fundamentally necessary and it is not especially interesting. When, however, we think the language or topic area in question is important, we will have to replace the coursebook lesson with our own preferred alternative. Although there is nothing wrong with omitting or replacing coursebook material, it becomes irksome for many students if it happens too often, especially when they have had to buy the book themselves. It may also deny them the chance to revise (a major advantage of coursebooks), and their course may lose overall coherence.

•

To change or not to change? When we decide to use a coursebook lesson, we can, of course, do so without making any substantial changes to the way it is presented. However, we might decide to use the lesson but to change it to make it more appropriate for our students. If the material is not very substantial, we might add something to it – a role-play after a reading text, perhaps, or extra situations for language practice. We might re-write an exercise we do not especially like or replace one activity or text with something else, such as a download from the Internet or any other home-grown items. We could re-order the activities within a lesson, or even re-order lessons (within reason). Finally, we may wish to reduce a lesson by cutting out an exercise or an activity. In all our decisions, however, it is important to remember that students need to be able to see a coherent pattern to what we are doing and understand our reasons for changes.

Using coursebooks appropriately is an art which becomes clearer with experience. If the teacher approaches lesson planning in the right frame of mind, it happens almost as a matter of course. The options we have discussed for coursebook use are summarized in Figure 4.

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No Change Yes Change Use the Coursebook?

Add Re-write Replace ac vites Re-order Reduce

Omit No Replace

Figure 4. Options for coursebook use

E. WAYS OF SHOWING Over the years, Tecnology has changed the way that teachers and students are able to show each other things (one of the most important functions of classroom equipment). We will look at four major presentation aids. E1. The board The most versatile piece of classroom teaching equipment is the board - whether this is of the more traditional chalk-dust variety, a whiteboard written on with marker pens, or an IWB. Boards provide a motivating focal point during whole-class grouping. We can use boards for a variety of different purposes, including: •

Note-pad: teachers frequently write things up on the board as these come up during the lesson. They might be words that they want students to remember, phrases which students have not understood or seen before, or topics and phrases which they have elicited from students when trying to build up a composition plan, for example. When we write up a word on a board, we can show how that word is stressed so that students can see and ‘hear’ the word at the same time (see Figure 5). We can sketch in intonation tunes or underline features of spelling, too. We can group words according to their meaning or grammatical function. Some teachers use different colours for different aspect of language.

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Pho‛tograper Photograper

Photograper

Figure 5. Different ways of recording

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•

Explanation aid: boards can be used for explanation, too. For example, we can show the relationship between an affirmative sentence and a question by drawing connecting arrows (see Figure 6). We can show where words go in a sentence by indicating the best positions diagrammatically, or we can write up phonemic symbols (or draw diagrams of the mouth) to show how a word or sound is pronounced. The board is ideal for such uses.

winning.

wining?

Figure 6: Using the board to show sentence/question relationships (elementary)

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Picture frame: boards can be used for drawing pictures, of course, the only limitation being our artistic ability. But even those who are not artistically gifted can usually draw a sad face and a happy face. They can produce stick men sitting down and running, or make an attempt at a bus or a car. What’s more, this can be done whenever it is required because the board is always there, helping students to understand concepts and words.

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Public workbook: a typical procedure is to write up fill-in sentences or sentence transformation items, for example, and have individual students come up to the board and write a fill-in item, or a transformed sentence. That way the whole class becomes involved in seeing what the correct version is. Teachers sometimes write mistakes they have observed in a creative language activity on the board. They can ask class members who think they know how to correct them to come up and have a go. Such activities are very useful because they focus everyone’s attention in one place.

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Game board: there are a number of games that can be played using the board. With noughts and crosses (also called Tic-tac-toe), for example, teachers can draw nine box frames and write different words or categories in each box (see Figure 7). Teams have to make sentences or questions with the words and if they get them right, they can put their symbol (O or X) on the square to draw their winning straight line. A popular spelling game involves two teams who start off with the same word. Each team has half the board. They have to fill up their side with as many words as pos-

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sible, but each new word has to start with the last letter of the word before. At the end of a given period of time, the team with the largest number of correct words is the winner. Can’t

Won’t

must

enjoy

Want

dislike

hate

has to

Figure 7. Noughts and crosses (Tic-tac-toe)

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Noticeboard: teachers and students can display things on boards – pictures, posters, announcements, charts, etc. It is especially useful if the boards are metallic so that magnets can be used. Handwriting on the board should be clear and easy to decipher; we should organize our material in some way, too, so that the board does not just get covered in scrawls in a random and distracting fashion. We could, for example, draw a column on one side of the board and reserve that for new words. We could then put the day’s or the lesson’s programme in a left-hand column and use the middle of the board for grammar explanations or games. It is probably not a good idea to turn our back to the class while we write on the board, especially if this goes on for some time. This tends to be demotivating and may cause the class to become restless. Indeed, it is better to involve the students with boardwork as much as possible, either getting them to tell us what to write, or asking them to do the writing themselves.

E2 The overhead projector (OHP) Despite modern computer-based presentation equipment and programs, the OHP (and the transparencies we use with it) still retains a unique versatility (see Figure 8), and, except for problems with electricity or a bulb, is much more likely to be problemfree than other more sophisticated pieces of equipment. Just about anything can go on overhead transparencies (OHTs): we can show whole texts or grammar exercises, pictures, diagrams or students’ writing. Because transparencies can be put through a photocopier or printed from any computer, they can be of very high quality. Especially where teachers have handwriting that tends to be unclear, the overhead transparency offers the possibility of attractive well-printed script.

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One of the major advantages of the overhead projector is that we don’t have to show everything on an OHT all at once. By covering some of the transparency with a piece of card or paper, we can blank out what we don’t want the students to see. So, for example, we might show the first two lines of a story and ask students what is going to happen next, before revealing the next two lines and then the next, gradually moving the paper or card downwards. We might have questions on one side of the transparency and answers on the other. We start the teaching sequence with the answers covered, and use the same gradual revelation technique to maintain interest. Because transparencies are, as their name suggests, transparent, they can be put on top of each other so that we gradually build up a complex picture, diagram or text. A diagram can start with one simple feature and have extra elements added to it. We can put up a gapped text and have students say what they think goes in the blanks before putting a new transparency with some or all of the filled-in items on top of the gapped one. Sometimes we can put a text with blanks on the OHP and then lay a blank transparency on top of it so that students, using OHP pens, can come up and write in what they think should go there. Alternatively, students working in groups can list the points they want to make after they have discussed a topic (e.g. whether or not children under twelve should have a curfew from ten o’clock every evening) and show their transparency to the class while they make their presentation. Overhead projectors are extremely versatile, but they can pose some problems, too. They need electricity, of course, and bulbs do fail from time to time. Some models are quite bulky, too. They are not that powerful either, especially when they are up against natural Figure 8. Overhead projector light coming in from windows and doors. When images are projected onto shiny surfaces, such as boards, they can be uncomfortable to look at, and when they are projected onto some other surfaces, it can be very difficult to make out details. A lot depends on how big or small the projector ‘square’ is on the wall or screen and whether the image is in focus. A mistake that some users make is to put too much on the transparency so that when they ask Can people see this at the back? the answer they get is a frustrated shaking of the head. However, if all these potential problems are taken into account and resolved, the OHP is an extremely useful resource.

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E3. The flip chart Flip charts are very useful for making notes, recording the main points in a group discussion, amending and changing points, and for the fact that individual sheets of paper can be torn off and kept for future reference. Many of these qualities (and more) are, of course, shared by computer –based technology, but flip charts are portable, relatively cheap and demand no technical expertise. Flip charts work best in two particular situations. In the first, a teacher, group leader or group scribe stands at the flip chart and records the points that are being made. The participants –because they can see what is being written up– can then ask for changes to be made. When possible, it is ideal if groups can each have flip charts of their own. When an activity is finished, students can walk round the room seeing what the different groups have written (or what points they have noted down). Flip charts can also be posted at different points in the room, each flip chart standing for a topic or a point of view. Students can walk around, adding to what is on each of the flip charts, writing up their opinions, disagreeing or merely getting an idea of what the other students are thinking, based on what is already written there. E4. Computer-based presentation technology Computers have changed the world of classroom presentation forever –that is for those fortunate enough to have the money and resources for both hardware and software. The two crucial pieces of hardware are a computer and a data projector. Anything that is on our computer screen can be shown to the whole class using a data projector to put up an enlarged version of it on a screen or a white wall. This means that all the class can see a word-processed task at the same time, or we can project a picture, diagram or map, for example. Presentation software, such as Power Point, increases our capacity to present visual material (words, graphics and pictures) in a dynamic and interesting way. However, the most commonly used Power Point template (a heading with bullet points) has suffered from overuse and may not be the most effective use of the medium. In fact, the software offers a more interesting option where we can mix text and visuals with audio/video tracks so that pictures can dissolve or fly onto and off the screen, and music, speech and film can be integrated into the presentation. Some people, of course, may find this kind of animated presentation irksome in its own way, but there is no doubt that it al-

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lows teachers to mix different kinds of display much more effectively than before such software come along. One of the major technological developments in the last few years has been the interactive whiteboard, the IWB. This has the same properties as a computer hooked up to a data projector (i.e. you can present visual material, Internet pages, etc. in a magnified way for everyone to see), but it has three major extra advantages, too. In the first place, teachers and students can write on the board which the images are being projected onto, and they can manipulate images on the board with the use of special pens or even with nothing but their fingers. The pen or finger thus acts as a kind of computer mouse. Secondly, what appears on the board (just like the screen of a computer) can be saved or printed so that anything written up or being shown there can be looked at again. Enthusiasts for IWBs point to this extraordinary versatility and to other tricks (such as the ability to mask parts of the board and gradually reveal information). They say that the ability to move text and graphics around the board with pen or finger is extremely attractive, especially for younger learners. They emphasise the fact that text, graphics, Internet capability, video and audio material can all be controlled from the board. Critics of IWBs worry about the amount of money they cost. There is some concern, too, about the fact that currently most IWBs are at the front of the classroom and thus tend to promote teacher (and learner)-fronted behaviours, and are less favourable for groupwork. There are also worries about projector beams (especially in ceiling-mounted projectors) affecting the eyes of teachers who frequently find themselves looking directly at them. F. WAYS OF LISTENING Students get exposure to spoken language from a variety of sources. Much of it comes from the teacher, whose voice represents the single most important source of language input. Students also get language input from listening to each other and from any visiting teachers, lecturers or classroom guests. It is still extremely common for teachers and students to listen to recorded audio material on cassette recorders. Tape recorders are versatile, cheap and convenient and, when they have efficient rewind and fast forward buttons and tape counters, they are extremely easy to use. Many teachers also use CD players, which have some of the same advantages as tape recorders, though they are often bulkier and have counter systems that are sometimes more difficult to use efficiently than those of older tape recorder models. However, recorded material is now available (as is video material) in digital formats such as WAV and MP3. What this means in practical terms is that we can play material directly from computers and MP3 players. This has revolutionised access to listening, especially for individual listeners. The availability of podcasts (that is, downloadable files

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which the user can load onto their own personal MP3 players such as iPods _ or, increasingly, mobile phones), means that students (and teachers) can listen to a range of material whenever they want to on devices that are so small that they are not difficult to carry around. Teachers and students can go, for example, to Podcast.net and search the site for ESL material. A search engine like Google will also enable us to find a huge variety of ESL and general podcast material. G. WAYS OF FINDING OUT It has never been as easy to find things out as it is in the twenty-first century. The wide range of reference material both online and offline (in the form of CDs) is almost infinite. This is especially useful for language learners. G1. Dictionaries Students can access dictionaries in book form, on CD-ROMS, using small electronic handsets and on the web. We will look at these in turn. •

Paper dictionaries: dictionaries printed in book form have changed dramatically in the last few years. Whereas in the past, they were monochrome, with forbidding-looking entries which used various codes to denote different aspects of meaning, now they are colourful and laid out in a way that makes issues such as frequency, collocation, different meanings, pronunciation, etc. extremely clear. Dictionaries can be either bilingual or monolingual. In the past, teachers tended to be dismissive of the former since they frequently failed to give users sufficient information about what words meant and how they were used. Modern learners’ bilingual dictionaries, however, are considerably more sophisticated, as can be seen in Figure 10. Have the day off 5 libre impuestos tax-free ►ver aire, lucha, tiro librería s bookstore (AmE), bookshop (BrE) ►En inglés existe la palabra library pero significa biblioteca. Librero, -a sustantivo ■ s (personal) bookseller ■ librero s (mueble) bookcase: Regresa el dicciona-

Figure 10. Entry for librería from Diccionario Pocket (Pearson Education) for Latin American Spanish-speaking students of English

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Here the users are given both British and American equivalents of the Spanish word librería, and they are also told about the fact that the En glish word library (which sounds like librería of course) actually translates into Spanish as biblioteca. Monolingual learners’ dictionaries (MLDs), which are designed for students who can generally manage without bilingual dictionaries, use a special defining vocabulary (i.e. for the words used in the definitions) which explains meanings in clear and simple terms. They also give a wealth of information, as in the first part of the entry for hospital in Figure 11. Hospital is in red in the dictionary, which means it is one of the 3,000 most frequent words in English (Si means it is one of 1,000 most common words in spoken English, Wi means that it is one of the 1,000 most common words in written English - therefore it is as common in writing as in speech). Users are given British and American pronunciation. There is a definition and then, most dramatically, a blue box Figure 11. Entry for hospital from the Longfull of the most common collocations and man Dictionary of Contemporary English lexical phrases that hospital occurs in. As a (Pearson Education Ltd) result, students are made instantly aware of how the word hospital behaves in English and they understand where they are likely to meet it and how to use it. •

CD-ROMs: paper dictionaries are limited by the size of book that users are prepared to carry around with them. The same is not true of CD-ROMs, which can include a significantly greater amount of information (including audio material). Not only that, but CD-ROMs have one huge advantage, which is that users no longer have to search alphabetically (a skill that some people find difficult in both L1 and L2). They can type in a word or phrase and it will appear on the screen, together with features such as collocation information, more corpus examples, a phrase-store, and even thesaurus-type word stores. Students can also hear the words being spoken and, perhaps, record themselves to compare with the spoken original.

•

Electronic pocket dictionaries: many students like to carry around small electronic dictionaries which fit snugly into their pockets. Teachers sometimes find these problematic since students tend to refer to them frequently in lessons at times when we would prefer them not to be accessing such little machines. However, a more prob-

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lematical issue has, in the past, been the size of the display screen and the information that is included in the dictionaries. Small screens mean that users are never going to get any of the incidental or insightful (and frequently unexpected) detail that we get when we look at a dictionary page or a computer screen. Furthermore, students have to scroll up and down continuously to find what they are looking for. Recently, however, electronic dictionaries have improved somewhat. In the first place, the screens are bigger, and in the second place, more than one dictionary is often included. Users can hear the words being spoken, too, and there are often extras such as spellcheckers, currency converters, etc. Many teachers would still prefer students to use paper or computer-based dictionaries. But the lure of the small electronic models is powerful. We must hope that they continue to improve if students continue to buy them. â&#x20AC;˘

Online dictionaries: finally, many dictionaries are now freely available online (although users may have to go through a complex registration process to be granted access). Many online dictionaries have clear definitions and useful information as in the example in Figure Figure 12: Entry for hospital from the Macmillan English Dictionary Online

Users are once again given frequency information (the entry is in red on the site), the three red stars indicating that hospital is one of the most frequent words in the language. By clicking on the loudspeaker symbol, users can hear the words being spoken. G2. Concordancers Concordancers search large corpora of language for a word or word-string that we want to know about. There are many powerful concordancing packages, but first-time users may want to try a free site at www.lextutor.ca. Users can type in a request to see 50 lines which include the search word by completing various boxes. By checking the correct boxes we can ask for the lines to be sorted alphabetically, based on the word that comes immediately before the search word. This is sometimes called left-sorting (because the words listed alphabetically are to the left of the search word).

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Concordances are especially useful for students and teachers who want to do word research. We can also use them to design material. For example, we could print off a concordance but blank out the search word; the students have to guess what the word is. We could ask student to predict the most common words that come before and after the search word and then get them to look at the concordance lines to see if they were right. G3. Searching the internet The greatest source of information not in book form is, of course, the Internet. However. its sheer size and range make it potentially awkward for users, who often find it difficult 10 locate the exact information they are looking for. This is partly because searching is a skill in itself which students and teachers need to acquire. For example, suppose students were doing a project on the theatre where Shakespeare’s plays were first performed and they wanted to know its location, it would be unwise of them just to type the word Shakespeare into the popular search engine Google, because they would be offered more than 51 million sites and the vast majority of them would be irrelevant. However, if they typed in what they were really looking for in more detail (e.g. Shakespeare Elizabethan theatre location), they would only be offered around 420,000 sites (at the time of writing), and the first few would be of immediate relevance. Many of the others would include the words theatre and location, but would have nothing to do with Shakespeare. A way of searching precisely, however, is to type what we are looking for between inverted commas, e.g. ‘Shakespeare in Love’ (the name of a fictional film about Shakespeare’s life). We will then get references to that film, whereas if we type in the phrase without the inverted commas, we will get many hits about Shakespeare, and many unconnected hits on the subject of love. It is important if we want student searches to be successful, therefore, that the students know how to search effectively. Both teachers and students can, as we have said, find almost anything they want on the Internet. They can go to online newspapers or broadcasting associations such as the BBC or CNN; they can find song lyrics or access history sites; they can find film guides and jokes sites. Two particular kinds of site are worth talking about in more detail, however. •

Using encyclopedias: there are a number of encyclopedia sites (and other information sites, such as biography.com) on the Internet. In their book about using technology in language teaching, Gavin Dudeney and Nicky Hockly suggest giving students charts to fill in about, say, a country, as part of a longer project (Dudeney and Hockly 2007:46-51). They can be asked to locate the capital city, population, main languages, main cities, economy, geography, sea ports, political system, etc. Students in groups of three can look for this information on three different sites: encyclopedia.com, britannica.com and wikipedia. com (Wikipedia is an encyclopedia where any user can add to or change the information available). They can then share their information and see if the three sites agree on the information they looked for.

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•

Webquests: a particular type of information is provided by a kind of (Internet-based) extended project called a webquest. This employs Internet resources for students to use for researching, but rather than have students search on the Internet for themselves, in a webquest the teacher has prepared an introduction and then given students ‘clickable’ sites to visit. In the following webquest, designed by Philip Benz with help from Frederic Chauthard and Michele Maurice, students have to write a report about living conditions in the tenements built for immigrants to New York in the 1820S and 1830S. In the Introduction phase, students are told about the construction of tenement houses and how people were crammed into them as tightly as possible. They are told: You are a member of the Council of Hygiene of the Citizen’s Association of New York. Your job is to investigate the living conditions in tenements and make recommendations to city officials concerning changes that need to be made. In the Task phase, students are told that they must investigate the living conditions and write a report summarising the situation and offering solutions. They are told to use worksheets provided for them and follow the report template they are given. They are advised that they can always consult the additional resources sections on the website. In the Process stage, (see Figure 13), students are given investigation stages, and, crucially, links to click on which will take them to websites that the teacher has selected so that they can complete their task.

Figure 13: The Process (from ‘Life in the Tenements’ at www.ardecol.ac-grenoble.fr/english/tenement/tenementquest.htm)

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Finally, in the Evaluation phase, students are shown how (and according to what criteria) their work will be assessed. The point about webquests is that the Internet research is a stage towards some other goal (in this case a report). And, thanks to the wealth of material available on the Internet, students can do significant research (including text, film and audio clips) at a computer screen rather than having to go to a library. H. PRACTISING LANGUAGE ON THE INTERNET AND ON CD-ROM There are many websites on the Internet for students to practise language. Some of them are based round a school or an organisation (and need the user to register for the site), whilst others are free. Practice material is also available on CD-ROM. Some of the material is related to a particular coursebook, while other material is free-standing (i.e. it is not associated with any particular program). I. WAYS OF COMPOSING Computers and the Internet offer many opportunities for students and teachers to compose material in ways other than using pencils, pens and paper. We will examine some of the increasingly common methods of creating material both by and for students and teachers. I1. Word processing, word editing In our everyday lives computers are used for writing letters, putting books together, composing reports, completing homework assignments and making lists. Of course, this can all be done by using a pen and paper. In a classroom situation when groups of writers are involved in a joint composition, we can group the students around a flip chart and have them work together with one student acting as scribe. However, when students working in groups are using word processing software, anyone can offer and execute changes without causing unattractive crossing out, or forcing the scribe to throw a page (or sheet of paper) away and start again. Word processed work allows teachers to give feedback in a different way, too. We can use dedicated software sub menus such as Track Changes in Microsoft Word to show where things have gone wrong or simply give comments and corrections in a different font colour from the student’s original text. I2. Mousepals, chat and blogging Before computers, teachers were keen for their students to correspond with penpals in different countries. This was to give students both meaningful and memorable experi-

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ences of using English, and also to help them to an appreciation of different cultures around the world. Penpals have now morphed into mousepals and keypals; students can send each other emails instead of letters, and where such contact is well supervised and actively promoted by teachers, the benefits are soon evident. However, students will need constant attention to help them to sustain their motivation for the task. Students can also be involved in chatting online. Indeed, many of them already do it both in their first language and in English. Teachers can organise real-time chatting events using programs such as Googletalk or MSN Messenger. It is also easy to set up groups where people exchange messages with each other, such as Yahoo Groups where people who share the same interest can post messages and reply to them. All of this connectivity allows people to talk, whether or not they are geographically near each other. Indeed one of the great glories of the Internet is precisely this breaking down of physical barriers so that we can be in contact with each other, wherever we are and whatever the time is! One of the most potent ways of telling people what we are thinking (and for sharing facts and events in our lives) is the weblog or blog. This is, in a sense, a public diary which anyone can read. Teachers sometimes write a blog to tell students how they are doing and what they should do next. Students or groups of students can write a diary – an instant autobiography – to tell others what they are doing and to provide feedback on how their learning is going. Blogging is not difficult and there are many sites, such as blogger.com, which tell users how to make use of this particular resource. I3. Authoring Of considerable interest to teachers are the many sites that allow us to download software to enable us to design our own web-based material. (This enables us to provide practice material for our students that is especially appropriate to them.) The aim of such sites is to allow teachers to key in or import their own text and then, by using the software provided, create a variety of different exercises. Perhaps the most popular of these is the Hot Potatoes site at http://hotpot.uvic.ca. We can choose whether we want students to be given multiple-choice exercises, short answer exercises, jumbled sentences, crosswords, etc. and the authoring software provides us with the type of exercise we have requested. I4. Designing websites Many teachers design their own websites and even get students to make their own class websites, too. When these are put on the worldwide web (thanks to Tripod and Geocities — services of Lycos and Yahoo! respectively), anyone is allowed to visit them.

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Web design is not nearly as complex as it might seem. While professional software such as Macromedia Dreamweaver and Adobe GoLive might seem a bit daunting to the beginner, Microsoft FrontPage, for example, is relatively straightforward. Students will enjoy making their own website. Teachers can put anything they want on the web, and for private teachers, a website is an excellent way to advertise their presence. J. VIRTUAL LEARNING: FROM EMAILS TO SIMULATED ENVIRONMENTS The easiest way of organising teaching, swapping material and giving feedback to students using IT is via email. Teachers can set assignments, have ‘conversations’ with students and give feedback on student work. However, there are Internet-based software programs designed specifically to offer teaching and training environments online. There are a number of online courses for both students and teachers of English. These range from the downright shoddy (i.e. not worth the time that users spend on them) to serious attempts to facilitate successful learning even when groups of students are not physically present in the same space. It is now possible to train for almost anything online, and training for English teachers is no exception. However, there is a significant difference between teacher training courses that can, apparently, be completed on websites in just a few hours, and well-designed virtual learner environments (VLEs). The idea of a VLE is that course content (including written text, audio and video lecture clips) can be stored on a website which only course participants can access. Some VLEs also contain blogs (see above) and have chat sites both in pre-arranged real time and on message boards where users can post their comments and read what others have to say. There are various platforms for VLEs (or learner management systems as they are sometimes called), including the increasingly popular Moodle (which is free), and Blackboard and First Class (which are not). Most VLE sites also allow for real-time tutoring so that wherever participants are situated geographically, they can participate in tutorials and even virtual classes. A more profound learning experience takes place when we enter a new virtual world where we can move around in different buildings and different environments. EduNation is such a place, where people can ‘go to’ an island and walk around it, taking part in training activities in different buildings (see Figure 14).

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Figure 14. EduNation demonstration pictures

K. SIX QUESTIONS With so much technology and so many new software options available, it is sometimes difficult for teachers, directors of study and curriculum planners to know how to make choices. Almost everything sounds wonderful, and there is a temptation, sometimes, to think that all teaching and learning problems can be resolved with the purchase of a new piece of hardware or a change over to some new software-powered procedures. The issue for decision-makers (or anyone trying to decide what to choose for their own teaching or learning) is that many of the new ‘technology solutions’ which are offered and updated on an almost daily basis are, indeed, very attractive. However, to adopt any one of them would require (sometimes significant) investment and, at the very least, time to learn how to make best use of it. In order, therefore, to try to think rationally and constructively about new classroom equipment of any kind, the following six questions highlight some of the considerations that should be taken into account. These questions apply not just to new technology, but also to any new methodology, procedures, coursebook or program that is offered to teachers. Question 1: What is the pedigree? We need to know where a new idea or piece of equipment comes from. Do its originators have a good track record in the field? A good rule of thumb is always to be

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suspicious, for example, of websites where you cannot find out who is responsible for them. We are not suggesting that all new ideas have to come from tried and trusted designers or publishers. On the contrary, new people can offer new and exciting possibilities. But we still need to know who makes this thing, and what their motives are. This is partly because of question 2. Question 2: Who gains? If we adopt this new methodological procedure or buy this new computer or IWB, who will be the beneficiary of our purchase? If we can be sure that students will benefit, then it may be worth investing time and money in the project. The same would be true if we could say with certainty that teachers would really benefit by having their workload reduced, for example, or because their professional quality of life would somehow be enhanced. The owner of the new technology or the proselytiser of the new method will also gain if we take on what they are offering, and there is no reason why this should not be so. However, in asking the question Who gains? we need to be sure that we or our students get at least as much out of what is being proposed as they do.

FIGURE 15: Soundwave for multicultural

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Question 3: Why is this the best way to do this? With the provision of cheap sound-editing software, it is now possible to record our voices, and, what is more, have a visual graphic of the soundwaves (Figure 15 shows the soundwave of the author saying the word multicultural). It certainly looks more fun than having a teacher write the word multicultural on the board and marking it with a board marker to show the main stress on the third syllable. Yet most students (and teachers) are unfamiliar with soundwaves and, furthermore, do not have enough time to record and print out graphics of them. It turns out that writing words up on the board and marking them for stress actually works better (and is more cost-effective in terms of time and money) than the more high-tech option. Using soundwaves, therefore, while apparently attractive may not be the best way of showing stress. However, there are ways of using computer graphics to support pronunciation work. Question 4: Does it pass the TEA test? If teachers are expected to adopt a new procedure or use a new piece of technology, it needs to pass the ‘TEA’ test. T stands for training. Unless teachers and students are helped to understand the new thing, and then given training opportunities to try it out, it will usually fail. E stands for the whole area of equipment. We need to be sure that the new procedure or hardware, for example, is properly supported technically. This may sound like an obvious point, but with major government-selected systems in various areas of life (health, education) sometimes failing even after huge financial investment, we should not underestimate the absolute need for teachers to be sure that the equipment is appropriate, is in place, and is properly supported by qualified professionals. Finally, A stands for access. If the new technology, set of flashcards or collection of supplementary books is locked away in a cupboard for safety, it becomes inaccessible. If we have to take students down a long corridor to a computer room that has to be booked three weeks in advance, then the whole idea becomes significantly less attractive. Question 5: What future possibilities does it open up? When we adopt a new methodological procedure or piece of classroom equipment (or software), it is important for us to believe that it has a future. As we saw, many people are uneasy about one-size-fits-all methodologies, partly because they are closed to innovation and infiltration from the outside (this is especially so with procedures such as the Silent Way). In the same way, we need to be confident that what we are investing time and money in is not a closed system – and that it has potential for expansion and future growth.

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Question 6: How can I make it work? After reading questions 1-5 above, it may seem as if we are suggesting that teachers should be extremely sceptical about new ideas and technologies, and that, in general, we should reject the new in favour of the old. However, this is far from the truth and instant rejection is just as deadening as instant acceptance can be careless. Before rejecting any new idea or equipment, we should ask ourselves how we can make it work for us and for our students. We need to look at the ‘best-case scenario’ and use that to evaluate what we are being offered, not only in a cynical, but also in a positive light. That way we have a chance of judging its real worth.

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PART ELEVEN

Action research

Objective 1. To understand the nature of action research. 2. To identify the procedures for conducting action research.

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ACTION RESEARCH1 THE NATURE OF ACTION RESEARCH Action research refers to teacher-conducted classroom research that seeks to clarify and resolve practical teaching issues and problems. The term “action research” refers to two dimensions of this kind of activity: The word research in “action research” refers to a systematic approach to carrying out investigations and collecting information that is designed to illuminate an issue or problem and to improve classroom practice. The word action refers to taking practical action to resolve classroom problems. Action research takes place in the teacher’s own classroom and involves a cycle of activities centering on identifying a problem or issue, collecting information about the issue, devising a strategy to address the issue, trying out the strategy, and observing its effects. The nature of action research, however, with its cycle of observing, analyzing, acting, and reviewing, indicates that it is an activity that takes time to carry out and hence requires a considerable time commitment. For this reason, it is often more usefully viewed as a collaborative activity. The practical improvements action research seeks to bring about are not its only benefits, however. Through the process of planning and carrying out action research, teachers can develop a deeper understanding of many issues in teaching and learning as well as acquire useful classroom investigation skills. Action research has the following characteristics: •

Its primary goal is to improve teaching and learning in schools and classrooms and it is conducted during the process of regular classroom teaching.

•

It is usually small-scale and is intended to help resolve problems rather than simply be research for its own sake.

•

It can be carried out by an individual teacher or in collaboration with other teachers.

The following vignette shows how a teacher makes use of action research.

Richards, Jack and Thomas Farrell. Professional Development for Language Teachers. Cambridge University Press, New York, 2005.

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Vignette I have been interested for some time in the affective dimension of my classes and decided to carry out an action research project to explore this issue. My research was prompted by the fact that I felt my classes of teenage learners were sometimes becoming predictable and that students’ attention seemed to be lagging. To address this issue I decided to investigate the effects of introducing a number of changes into my classes. These consisted of one or more of the following: (a) playing calm music at intervals during the lesson (a 2-minute “music break”); (b) stopping the lesson to play a short game, to break up the lesson; (c) playing a short Total Physical Response-type activity. After trying these strategies for a number of weeks, I asked the students to complete a questionnaire, telling me whether they enjoyed my classes more. I found that most students thought the lessons were now more interesting; a few thought they didn’t make much difference, and no one objected to them. One thing I have learned from this is the importance of experimenting with different teaching and motivational strategies on a regular basis and asking students for their impressions of their usefulness. Robert Dickey Reflection – What benefits do you think teachers can obtain from researching their own classroom practices? – What constituted the “research” in this vignette and what constituted the “action”?

PURPOSE AND BENEFITS OF ACTION RESEARCH The day-to-day activities of teaching normally constitute a sufficiently demanding workload for most teachers, so an appropriate question is, why add research to a teacher’s workload? Advocates of action research suggest that this concern reflects a misunderstanding of action research. Because action research is research based on teaching, it is best thought of as adding a research dimension to existing practice as a way to better understand and improve such practice. It also seeks to redefine the role of the teacher by giving teachers the means to set their own agendas for improvement and by shifting the responsibility for change or improvement from an outsider (a school board, a principal, a supervisor, a researcher) to teachers themselves. As Sagor (1992, p. 5) comments, “By changing the role of teachers, we can profoundly change the teaching and learning process in our schools.”

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Teachers who have carried out action research often report significant changes to their understanding of teaching. For example, a teacher in Korea commented on his recent experiences with action research when he was teaching English to young learners.

Vignette My first experience with action research was quite positive, dare I say enlightening? Two questions prompted my investigation. The topics were homework and student-teacher interaction. Both issues were problems at the time. Students often did not complete their homework. They claimed they hadn’t enough time to complete their work, as they were busy with other classes and homework. The second issue dealt with teacher complaints that students were reluctant to interact during class. Teachers frequently complained that students were one-sided and lacked individual character and personality. The solution? Write up a questionnaire investigating students’ extracurricular activities, schedules, and free-time activities (and a number of related questions as well). The questionnaires were written in the students’ L1 in order to accommodate less proficient students. The survey was given to 150 students at a private institute. They ranged in age from 8 years old through 17 years old. Additionally, 180 middle school students at a public school answered the survey. The results of the survey were enlightening. When shared with other staff members, the results were put to use, again with positive results that even dispelled cultural misperceptions. The results of the survey went against current perceptions by students, parents, and teachers. Often parents claim that their children study constantly and have little time for extracurricular activities. Teachers, especially Western teachers, cling to the belief that their students attend private institutes continuously from after school until late at night, often till midnight, which naturally led to the conclusion that students were tired, bored, and unmotivated. However, students reported having sufficient time for excessive computer game playing, TV and video watching, sleeping, soccer, attending church, visiting downtown on weekends, chatting on the Internet with friends and strangers until 2 to 3 a.m., listening to music, and generally “killing time.”

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Only three respondents claimed to have a full schedule of private institutes or private lessons, thereby making my school’s homework a difficult task to complete. It seems the others were “crying wolf.” As a result, a home work policy was instituted. Within 6 months, homework completion rates were over 90 percent. The few who do not complete their homework prefer to stay after classes to do their homework regardless of penalties. The other positive effect from this action research project was the introduction of cultural/age-based workshops in teacher-training meetings. The student interest reports were shown to teachers. Teachers then worked together to learn about topics of interest to students. This information was used by teachers in the class to promote student-teacher or student-student interaction, especially in times of silence caused by reluctant students or restrictive textbooks. Student motivation and participation increased. I no longer hear many teacher complaints that students lack character or are dull and apathetic. On the contrary, teachers now talk with enthusiasm about students’ personal anecdotes in the teachers’ room. Why the positive results? Perhaps because the questionnaire, in L1, prompted the children and teenagers to feel important; perhaps because we, the school and teachers, were truly interested in them as real people and not as robotic students. That was my first experience with action research. The results may not be applicable to all young learner classes in every country, but in my context, the results are applicable. I have used the information to inform teachers to be more sensitive to young learner interests. Action research has also given me a sense of professionalism and a desire to continue researching. Jake Kimball

Reflection 1. What sort of demands did Jake’s research involve? 2. What are the main benefits of the research (a) for the teacher and (b) for the learners?

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PROCEDURES USED FOR CONDUCTING ACTION RESEARCH Action research consists of a number of phases, which often recur in cycles: • Planning • Action • Observation • Reflection The teacher (or a group of teachers): 1. Selects an issue or concern to examine in more detail (e.g., the teacher’s use of questions). 2. Selects a suitable procedure for collecting information about the issue (e.g., recording classroom lessons). 3. Collects the information, analyzes it, and decides what changes might be necessary in his or her teaching. 4. Develops an action plan to help bring about the desired change in classroom behavior (e.g., a plan to reduce the frequency with which the teacher answers questions). 5. Observes the effects of the plan on teaching behavior (e.g., by recording a lesson and analyzing the teacher’s questioning behavior) and reflects on its significance. Initiates a second action cycle, if necessary. (Richards & Lockhart,1994,pp. 12-13) Burns (2002) expands this process to a cycle of eleven events that characterize action research projects she has conducted with teachers in Australia. •

Exploring (finding an issue to investigate)

•

Identifying (analyzing the issue in more detail to understand it more fully)

•

Planning (deciding what kind of data to collect about the issue and how to collect it)

•

Collecting data (collecting data about the issue)

•

Analyzing/reflecting (analyzing the data)

•

Hypothesizing/speculating (arriving at an understanding based on the data)

•

Intervening (changing classroom practice based on the hypothesis one arrived at)

•

Observing (observing what happened as a result of the changes)

•

Reporting (describing what one observed)

•

Writing (writing up the results)

•

Presenting (presenting the findings to other teachers)

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Burns (2002, pp. 14-15) gives the following example of how these processes influenced the design of a collaborative action research project carried out by Burns and Cheryl Pfister (the teacher). Vignette Cheryl, a teacher from Hobart, Tasmania, wanted to develop a teaching program that would help her students to individualize their learning of English for specific purposes (ESP). She chose this focus because she had become increasingly aware of the frustration experienced by students who were unable to describe their vocational skills, experiences, and recreational interests because of a limited range of vocabulary. She realized that it did not seem to matter how competent a student was in general English, vocabulary in English for specific purposes (ESP) was consistently lacking. With her post-beginner class she adopted a teaching approach which allowed her students to develop vocabulary on a topic of their choice. First, the students chose an area of specific vocabulary they wanted to develop through independent study. Next, Cheryl ensured that the students could get access to resources and made it clear that she was available to support them. She provided them with visual and reference materials, dictionaries, technical books, ESL/ESP textbooks, newspapers and journals, a variety of CD-ROMs, and computers with Internet access. Cheryl saw her role as helping the students to establish realistic, short-term, and achievable goals. She wanted the students to take responsibility for their own learning and establish self-monitoring strategies for assessing which words were appropriate and useful. Cheryl then offered the students three classroom sessions with her. In these sessions, she drew attention to things such as vocabulary definitions and categories, verbs and phrases, and words and clauses in context. She encouraged the students to go outside the classroom for their projects, so they also made use of resources in the community. For example, one student spoke to a music student about how to read music, two students audited a tourism lecture at the local technical college, and another student spoke to a salesman in a car yard. The ESP interests of the students were very varied and were based on their personal or career interests. They included Genetics, Biology, Travel and Tourism, Cards, Graphics in Computers, Guitars and Music, Soccer Clubs and Sponsorship, Journalism, Magnetism and Energy in Physics, Bangkok, the Structure and Operation of Import/Export Companies, and Enzymes in Humans.

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Finally, Cheryl scheduled a fourth classroom session for students to present their work to others in the class. The presentations were an opportunity for them to display their new vocabulary. The students showed a great deal of inventiveness in the way they did their presentations: a song written and sung in English; an explanation of the computerized Galileo system of international travel and hotel reservations; a simulated bus tour of Bangkok; a car salesman giving a sales pitch; and a description of how to get a hot tip for a newspaper story. To collect data, Cheryl monitored the students’ responses to the course through discussions with individual students and her own observations. She also used a questionnaire to survey the students on where they got their new vocabulary. In order of importance and frequency these were books, the Internet, people, newspapers, brochures, visits, CDROMs, and other resources, such as video. Cheryl argued that her new teaching approach means that the students become more confident in taking responsibility for ESP vocabulary development once they have been given a starting point and strategies. She concluded that ESP requires setting up opportunities, offering support, and, above all, trusting the students to use their time effectively. Reflection 1. What benefits do you think Cheryl obtained from her project? 2. What are some other strategies she could have used to expand her students’ vocabulary? We will now examine in more detail the different steps normally involved in conducting action research. Select an issue Action research begins with a concern a teacher has about his or her classes or with an issue the teacher would like to explore and learn more about. The following are examples of issues that could be the focus of action research: •

Some of the students in my speaking class never seem to take part in speaking activities.

•

No matter how many times I correct certain errors in my students’ writing, they seem to continue making them.

•

I’d like to change the way I do group work. It doesn’t seem to be very effective in my classes.

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•

I’d like to know more about how I correct students’ oral errors and whether my correction strategies are effective or not.

•

I’d like to try out some collaborative learning techniques with my students.

In developing topics for action research, we emphasize the importance of choosing issues that can be fairly readily explorad and that are likely to lead to practical follow-up. The focus of an action research project is an essential factor in determining its successful completion. Sagor (1992, p. 23) has remarked: Teams who began their work with a clear idea of what they were studying and why they were studying it tended to find the motivation to complete their work. Conversely, the teams who lacked clarity on what they were about tended to lose interest in their collaborative work. Once an issue or question has been identified, it needs to be made more specific in order for it to become part of an action research project. This involves turning it into a more specific question. Such a question will usually focus on some aspect of teaching, learner behavior, or the use of materials. For example, the issues just identified could be turned into the following more specific questions: •

Some of the students in my speaking class never seem to take part in speaking activities. More specific question: What kinds of speaking activities involve all of the class in speaking?

•

No matter how many times I correct certain errors in my students’ writing, they seem to continue making them. More specific question: What change in error correction strategies might improve the accuracy of students’ writing?

•

I’d like to change the way I do group work. It doesn’t seem to be very effective in my classes. More specific question: What procedures for using group work will work well with my learners?

• I’d like to know more about how I correct students’ oral errors and whether my correction strategies are effective or not. More specific question: What error correction strategies do I use in my oral classes and how effective are they? •

I’d like to try out some collaborative learning techniques with my students.

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More specific question: How effective are collaborative learning activities with my students? A decision must also be made as to whether the issue chosen can be explored on one’s own or whether it is best explored in collaboration with other teachers. Some proponents of action research argue that it is always best viewed as a collaborative activity, and indeed, the practical difficulties of carrying out action research are often best resolved through a team approach. Nevertheless, many teachers we have worked with have also reported successful experiences with individual action research projects. COLLECT INFORMATION ABOUT THE ISSUE In order to further explore some aspect of teaching, it is first necessary to collect information on what the current characteristics of one’s teaching are or what is happening in the classroom in relation to the issue in question. For example, in relation to the specific questions just identified, the following information could be collected: 1. What kinds of speaking activities involve all of the class in speaking? In order to investigate this question, it will be necessary to determine what speaking activities you currently use and the types of interaction and language use they generate. Lessons could be audiotape or videotaped to provide this information. 2. What change in error correction strategies might improve the accuracy of students’ writing? This question requires collecting information on the types of error correction strategies you currently use and their effects on learner performance. Alternative strategies can be tried and monitored for their effects. 3. What procedures for using group work will work well with my learners? Here it will be necessary to find out how you currently use group work and what problems group work currently poses. By systematically varying characteristics of group work, such as preparation activities, group size, and group membership, more effective group-work strategies can be determined. 4. What error correction strategies do I use in my oral classes and how effective are they?Again, this question requires collecting information on the types of error correction strategies you currently use through audio taping or videotaping lessons, trying alternative strategies, and monitoring their effectiveness. 5. How effective are collaborative learning activities with my students? This could start with a description of the type of teaching you currently do and the type of classroom interaction that typically characterizes your lessons. Lessons could then be taught usingcollaborative learning procedures and the two approaches to teaching compared.

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Knowing what the intended outcome of the research is will often help the teacher decide on what issue to investigate. Is it for the teacher’s own in-terest? Is it in order to resolve a problem that is common in the school? Is it a topic the teacher would like to present at a seminar or write about in a newsletter? There are two points at which data will normally need to be collected: before carrying out the action research, and after the research strategy has been implemented. Data collected before the action research enables one to examine the issue or problem in depth in order to arrive at a way of addressing the problem. Data collected after the intervention will enable the teacher to decide if the action taken solved the problem. There are many different ways of collecting data on classroom events. Burns (1999, p. 79) includes the following as examples of observational approaches to collecting classroom data: •

Notes. Descriptions and accounts of observed events, including nonverbal information, physical settings, group structures, interactions between participants

•

Diaries/journals. Regular dated accounts of teaching/learning plans, activities, and events, including personal philosophies, feelings, reactions, reflections, explanations

•

Recordings. Audio or video recordings providing objective records of classroom interactions

•

Transcripts. Written representations of recordings, using conventions for identifying speakers and indicating pauses, hesitations, overlaps, and nonverbal information

•

Diagrams. Maps or drawings of the classroom indicating physical layout and/or studentteacher interactions or locations

Other no observational methods of collecting information may also be needed, such as: •

Interviews and discussions. Face-to-face personal interactions that generate data about the research issue and allow specific issues to be discussed from other people’s perspectives

•

Questionnaires and surveys. Written sets of questions used to gain responses to nonface-to-face situations (usually focused on specific issues and may invite either factual or attitudinal responses)

•

Life/career histories. Profiles of students’ previous life and learning experiences told from the perspective of the individuals concerned and which may be compiled over a period of time

•

Documents. Collections of various documents relevant to the research questions, which can include students’ written work, student records and profiles, course overviews, lesson plans, and classroom materials

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There are, of course, advantages and disadvantages to each form of data collection. Some procedures allow a large amount of information to be collected fairly quickly (e.g., a questionnaire), whereas others take more time but allow for more in-depth information to be collected (e.g., an interview). It is important that the information collected be reliable, that is, that the procedures used measure what they claim to measure and measure it accurately. One way to ensure this is by collecting information from several different sources about the issue that is being investigated. This is known as triangulation. Sagor (1992, p. 44) gives this example: Say I wanted to investigate my use of cooperative learning structures in my classroom. I might choose to have a colleague observe my class, I might evaluate my own performance as captured on a videotape, and I might have another colleague interview my students. If all three windows on my cooperative learning lesson ended up showing the same picture, then that picture is a valid portrait of my teaching. As a result of collecting information about the question that was being investigated, the teacher is now in a position to examine the information and try to make sense of it. This involves sifting through the data to find out what the most important themes are which emerge from it. For example, imagine that the following information was collected in response to the issues and questions discussed above: 1. Current practices in regard to speaking activities Findings: Discussion tasks in pairs were the primary means of encouraging discussion in class and group problem-solving tasks were less frequently observed (limited to 10 percent of the time). 2. Error correction strategies used in correcting studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; writing Findings: Teacher corrected all grammar errors 100 percent of the time; use of underlining and symbols to indicate errors; students corrected errors by writing corrected words only; they did not rewrite the essay. 3. Group-work procedures Findings: Teacher modeled the task prior to group work and the students practiced what was expected. All group participants (groups of four) were assigned roles prior to discussion: group leader, group recorder, group timekeeper. 4. Effectiveness of error correction strategies Findings: The primary mode of error correction observed was when the teacher interrupted the learner and provided the correct language example. Some students selfcorrected about 5 percent of the time. 5. Classroom interaction patterns Findings: Teacher-fronted and whole-class teaching observed 80 percent of the time; 20 percent of the time students were interacting with each other in pairs or in groups. Desks set up in rows.

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DEVELOP AN ACTION PLAN AND OBSERVE ITS EFFECTS On the basis of the information collected about the current situation, a plan can be developed for acting on this information to bring about changes in the classroom. Action research sets out with the explicit aim of improving teaching and learning. Because action research is often tentative and exploratory, it can go through two or more cycles (see Figure 1). This means that the cycle can take place in a spiral rather than in sequential steps. As a result of identifying a problem and collecting information about it, the teacher is in a position to try to do something about it. This will normally involve making changes in the way the teacher teaches, in the materials he or she makes use of, or in the forms of assessment that are employed. Once a strategy for implementing the change has been developed, it then needs to be implemented in the classroom and the effects of the change observed. For example, the five example issues discussed in the preceding section could lead to changes in the way group work and error correction are carried out. This could be followed up by investigation of the effects of these changes on classroom participation patterns and error rate. Often, however, an initial change of teaching strategy, materials, or form of assessment, leads to a further cycle of changes and monitoring, as several successive strategies are tried out. The following vignette illustrates how a teacher adopted this process of action research to look at his questioning behavior in his classes.

Figure 1: Cycle of action research. Plan, gather data, intervene, reflect, plan, gather data, intervene, reflect, plan, gather data, intervene, reflect...

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Vignette For a long time I was curious about the number and type of questions I asked in my English conversation classes. However, I never really had the time to look into this issue. Anyway, one day I was determined to investigate this issue and I even asked my colleagues at the same school if they were curious or interested in joining me in looking at this issue. One colleague said she was interested and so I said I would read up a bit on the issue of teacher questioning behavior in ESL classes. I read a few articles in the library and was surprised to see that teachers generally ask “display”-type questions we teachers already know the answer to the questions we ask __ rather than asking more intellectually demanding questions (“referential questions” that we do not know the answer to before we ask). I invited my colleague to come observe my listening comprehension class one day. I was using CBS’s 60 Minutes TV show __ 15-minute segments of news. I planned to show one 15-minute segment twice. I asked my colleague to write down every question I asked during this class. After the class, my colleague and I discussed the number and type of questions I had asked. To my great surprise, I learned that I had asked forty-five questions during the time the tape was not playing__in 15 minutes before and after the tape-playing. Furthermore, my colleague showed me that forty of these questions were of the “display” type. With this new information about my questioning behavior in the classroom, I decided that I wanted to change the number and type of questions I asked in my listening comprehension classes. I decided to write down a few (ten) referential-type questions that I would ask during the next class and I again invited my colleague to observe. After the class, my colleague noted that I did, in fact, ask the ten referential questions I had prepared and that these questions generated more discussion (sustained) in the class. I am more sensitive now about the number of questions I ask in class and the different types of questions that can generate different types of answers from my students. Eric Harmsen Reflection 1. What were the benefits of transcribing the sections of the lesson the teacher was interested in? 2. What other strategies could the teacher have used to change his questioning behaviors?

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SHARE THE FINDINGS WITH OTHERS Part of the philosophy of action research is sharing the results of the research with other colleagues. This both leads to a better understanding of the findings and helps “build a community of practitioners aligned towards teacher research and a professional climate that is open to public scrutiny and constructive critique” (Burns, 1999, p. 183). The results of an action research project can be shared in a number of ways: •

an oral or written presentation to colleagues

•

writing an article for a teacher’s magazine

•

communicating with an Internet forum or discussion group giving a workshop

•

creating and displaying a poster about the action research

•

preparing a video presentation about the action research

IMPLEMENTING ACTION RESEARCH In planning action research, it is useful to keep these questions in mind: 1. Purpose. Why am I starting this action research project? Is it to solve a problem that has occurred in my classroom? Or is it something else? 2. Topic. What issue am I going to investigate? What is going on in my classes that is causing me concern? 3. Focus. How can I narrow down the issue to investigate to make it manageable within a specific time frame? What is the precise question I am going to ask myself ? 4. Mode. How am I going to conduct the research? What data-collecting methods will I need and why? 5. Timing. How much time will it take and how much time do I have? 6. Resources. What are the resources, both human and material, that I can call upon to help me complete the research? How can my institution help? 7. Product. What is the likely outcome of the research, as I intend it? 8. Action. What action will I expect to take as a result of conducting this research? How will I carry out this action?

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9. Reporting. How will I share the finding of this research with other teachers? What forum will I use for this and why? SUMMARY Action research can be a powerful way for language teachers to investigate their own practice. It is usually undertaken with the idea of improving a teacher’s classroom practice. This type of research requires that the teacher investigate an issue that he or she has been puzzled by for a period of time by engaging in a process of planning, action, observation, and reflection. As a result of insight gained from undertaking an action research project, language teachers not only learn a lot about their own teaching but can also become more expert at investigating their own practice. Teachers can also share their results with other teachers by going to conferences or publishing their work in language teaching journals. In this way, other teachers may be encouraged to explore their own teaching by replicating these action research projects or by carrying out new action research studies on topics and issues they consider important or even unique to their particular contexts. EXAMPLES OF ACTION RESEARCH 1. The reflective cycle Sabrina Almeida Ribeiro SETTING Most language teachers would agree that the communicative approach emphasizes fluency, and minor inaccuracies should be overlooked. This, however is only the first step of an approach that is truly communicative: Once students have reached a satisfactory level of fluency, what was once overlooked should be reconsidered so that communication can become even more effective. For this reason, not even the most “communicative” teachers should neglect accuracy, or forget to raise their students’ awareness about their “growth edges” as language learners. Having been a teacher for 10 years in Brazil, I frequently encounter the problem of the “intermediate plateau” in many of my learners. It seems that even though students visibly improve their rate of delivery, mistakes keep recurring in the same basic structures. Furthermore, most of the new vocabulary presented at their level becomes passive, and learners continue using words of Latin origin that resemble Portuguese. I decided to investigate this problem, and reflect upon how my teaching could motivate my learners to improve their language skills.

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FOCUS A lot has been written on the topic of striking a balance between fluency and accuracy in second language learning. It is not difficult to find books or articles full of enlightened ideas and practical procedures to be carried out in the classroom. I decided to follow the hints given in a number of books at my disposal, and to monitor the performance of the students in an intermediate group at CEL-LEP, a language school in São Paulo. When I started teaching this group, my expectations about their English were quite high, as they were in the last stage of the intermediate course. What I found out, however, was that despite their openness and enthusiasm for learning, they were careless when speaking and unwilling to try new discussion topics that contained unlearned lexis. Once on task, most were blithely inaccurate in their communicative strategies, once they were able to figure out the aim and focus of the tasks in class. I did not want to tell them to feel ashamed about their level of English proficiency, but I wanted to find a way to encourage accuracy as well as fluency. INVESTIGATION The tools aiding my research were audio recordings of my classes and feedback questionnaires from students. The first issue to be investigated was my teaching. For that, the plan was to make an audio recording of one of my lessons. The aim was to look at my attitude toward error correction, teacher and student talking time, pace, and rapport, and to analyze the quality of the learners’ language production, as well as their most frequent mistakes. After all the data was collected, the next step would be to establish action plans for any area that I felt needed improvement. Listening to the recording, I found out that my error correction was not as effective as I hoped it to be. The reason for that was that many times students were so engaged in what they wanted to say that they either did not pay attention, or were unaware of my corrections. It became clear that I needed to prepare my class to be more open and receptive to correction, because no matter how much I could improve my methods for offering instruction to learners, if they were not open to it, intake would be minimal. During the following class, I took the recorder again. This time, I told them the focus would be on their English. A new recording was made for each communicative activity in class. I listened to the recordings at home, and made a list of some of the mistakes they had made. In the beginning of the following class, I showed them the list, and asked them to correct it in pairs. After we had gone over all the utterances, I asked them to spot the mistakes on the list they thought they had made. Then I asked them to choose one error they did not want to make again in that week, circle it and return the list to me (see Figure 2). That week, I paid a lot of attention to what the learners said. The following week, I gave each of them the sheets back, with a little feedback note that either offered praise or my

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observations of how many times the wrong form had come up. This new procedure served its purpose, not only of the correction it-self, but also of showing the students some strategies that they could use independent of the teacher.

LEARNING DIARY NAME:___________________________________________________________ In pairs, correct these mistakes. Then spot the ones you have made, and choose ONE mistake you don’t want to make again.

Correct form

Mistakes 1. There is a lot of bizarre excuses. 2. I’ve got to take my grandmother to bingo. 3. When I don’t want do something I gave the person a lot of excuses, but not strange excuses. 4. You don’t need be on a diet. 5. I stopped to eat a lot. 6. I changed my mind to loose weight. 7. I have a strong hurt in my back. 8. I arrived to the doctor crying. 9. I never know say this word. 10. We bring to class with another ideas. 11. If I had started more serious in the past, study English, I would be in a better position. 12. A head Ferrari. 13. I know her since seven grade. Six years. 14. She has eyes of Japanese. Figure 2

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RESPONSE Geared to reach my goal of learner training, I prepared a form (Figure 3) where learners could keep weekly records of their mistakes and the correct forms. I encouraged them to choose only one form for each lesson. In that way, learning would be focused, personal, and meaningful. Sometime later, I made the recordings again. This time, I asked the students to listen to the recordings and prepare a list of mistakes the class had made. They would then select the errors on which they wanted to focus. We recorded a fluency activity that was part of the planned lesson and listened to it during the last 15 minutes of class. Students had to raise their hands every time they thought they had heard a mistake, and then discuss the most suitable correction. At the start, they were embarrassed to point out other students’ errors, but by the end of the activity, students were pleased, as there was no atmosphere of criticism or judgment. I used the audio recording once more, but later on during the course so that it did not become repetitive, and with a slightly different purpose. Students were recorded giving simple directions to each other, and then they participated in a vocabulary expansion activity. At the end of the activity, they were recorded giving directions again. Without focusing on correction, their final task was to listen for changes and for richer vocabulary. At the end of this cycle of action research, I developed a feedback questionnaire to discover the students’ impressions of the process (see Appendix). I was very happy to find out that they could notice progress in their learning.

LEARNER DIARY Date

What I said (or wrote)

Best form

Figure 3

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REFLECTIONS Hubbard, P., Jones, H., Thornton, B., and Wheeler, R. (1985, p. 37) state that “every language teacher should begin by considering what the aims of his pupils are, both in the short and the long run, and judge the success by whether these are achieved.” The main advantage of what was accomplished in this reflective cycle was to equip students with the tools necessary for observing their performance. As I reflect personally upon this action research project, I believe that a teacher’s focused awareness of what is taking place in the classroom is the greatest contributing factor to raising students’ awareness. The more the teacher is driven to reflect upon and deal with what is happening in the classroom, the greater the chance of students noticing issues about their own learning. Some might claim that teachers should not expose students to the wrong forms they have produced, that this could reinforce the storage and retrieval of that form. However, I strongly believe that learners should be able to recognize, notice, and compare both correct and marked forms of the target language. Often as learners, understanding why something is wrong can aid us in making the right language decisions. This reflection helped me understand that, as language teachers, we should make more room in our instruction for the teaching of learning strategies. Doing so will empower students to learn independently from the teacher, and to make the most of their classroom experience.

2. DISCOVERING THE CLASSROOM COMMUNITY David Mayo SETTING I teach at a private college in Japan; my students are young women studying English for its general value in international communication. I have long admired the hard-won accomplishments of people striving to learn the language without, in most cases, experiencing life in the environment where it is widely used. My students’ needs are in many ways similar to learners in other Asian EFL settings, where an enduring cultural dynamic influences the quality of interaction in language classrooms. In Japan, as in other rice-based Asian societies, close cooperation among neighbours was indispensable. Heavy dependence on others, while mutually beneficial, tended to inhibit people from pursing their personal goals for fear of the disapproval or ridicule of their community. With industrialization, it soon became necessary for many Japanese to adapt to an educational system in which, from secondary school onward, they must function as individuals competing for coveted careers. They lost the benefits of neighbourly cooperation, yet remained haunted by the vulnerability to “people’s eyes”: now, the eyes of rivals rather than protectors.

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FOCUS The implicit view of students as solitary runners in a race pervades even women’s colleges, where competitive pressure is relatively light and social relations thrive. Like other teachers, I have tried to relieve the academic isolation of students in my own classes by reviving the principle of cooperation. I had often adopted two forms of student cooperation that are common in EFL classes: small groups (typically, four students) and pairs. I had found each form good in its way, at least for tasks that were product-oriented. I felt the need to rethink cooperation while planning a new course that valued more student initiative in the process of learning. Learners in the new course were organized into groups of four for discussion, writing, and oral reporting. INVESTIGATION To evaluate the small-group arrangement as a basis for student-centered learning, I decided to keep a classroom diary: a research instrument that necessitates simultaneously supervising class activities and recording de-tailed observations of them for later analysis (Nunan, 1989, pp. 55-60). Although difficult, I could do this while observing students as they worked in groups. Keeping the diary began before the first class, with a long entry on the preparation of the course. Here, I attempted to establish certain objectives for the research project that roughly corresponded to those of the course. This “early reflection” served to maximize the usefulness of the classroom observations, while giving me a chance to avoid errors in the course design. Because the course rewarded highly motivated students with satisfying and productive opportunities to use English, I wanted to be alert to the factors affecting the active participation of individual students. I devised the following framework for my classroom diary entries: 1. Aims Each day’s record begins with a statement of aims for that day. 2. Attendance As the success of group work may depend on regular participation, each record will note the absence of group members. 3. Events The main section of each record will report the events of the day’s class, consistently noting the attainment of specific aims and apparent student satisfaction. It was important to report classroom events as they unfolded, thereby capturing my own immediate impressions and responses. As a secondary measure to ensure accuracy and to compensate for unavoidable lapses in real-time reporting, all classes were recorded on audiotape

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cassettes. Repeated listening to portions of these recordings also enriched my analysis of the diary. The value of data obtained from this kind of research is something akin to the psychoanalytic process of bringing buried knowledge to light. The observations set down in the Events section of my diary soon began to show a progressively incisive narrative pattern. Some excerpts: Day 2: ... students finish reading but do not start talking. I realize that I have made a mistake in failing to give them a discussion mechanism. I suggest that they should first choose their representative. Then she will solicit the impressions of the others and jot them down as a basis for the report. Day 3: They tend to write their remarks for the representative to consolidate, instead of having a discussion. The representative of Group 2 is a very capable student, but when I prompt her to get something started, she just gives me a knowing look. Day 12: Group 2 still has trouble getting under way, although the members seem well enough acquainted now. They tend to sit and stare at the papers till I sit down and work with them ... I think I know the cause of the awkwardness here. Unlike the other groups, each of which includes one student who can serve as “big sister” to the rest, this one includes three such students. They recognize each other’s ability, respect it, and endlessly defer to it. This conscious accumulation and refinement of observations revealed students’ needs that might have escaped my notice if I had been present only as a teacher and not as a teacherresearcher. In some groups, the students apparently needed freedom from the necessity of performing before the “eyes” of certain peers, because they either lacked self-confidence or felt that displaying their superior ability would be alienating. In Group 2, three proficient students simply needed to seek cooperation unselfconsciously. They ultimately became good friends who enjoyed combining their strengths. It seemed that I had obstructed that development by throwing them together with the implicit command to “cooperate.” RESPONSE This new insight led me to look for an alternative to small groups as a way of promoting cooperation in the learning process. With the ultimate aim of realizing differentiated classes in which “both what is learned and the learning environment are shaped to the learner” (Tomlinson, 1999, p. 2), I designed a flexible collaborative learning arrangement that balances mutual support with individual initiative more dynamically than the small-group model. There are no established groups. Instead, students working on individual learning tasks are free to move about the room and consult one another as neighbours or co-workers do,

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to form ad hoc groups, or to work alone. Although encouraged to seek each other’s help in the learning process, they are responsible for demonstrating effective engagement in their own tasks. I have subsequently adopted a modified form of this arrangement in other classes. By allowing mutual assistance to take place spontaneously, free collaboration opens the way for wholehearted support between classmates who might not be grouped together otherwise. REFLECTION Many writers have advocated the organization of students in small groups as an alternative to teacher fronted classes. Since the mid-1990s, the status of group work in communicative language teaching methodology has been so secure that a list of its advantages might be juxtaposed with “excuses for avoiding group work,” every one of which was disallowed (Brown, 1994, pp. 173-178). Nevertheless, the insight gained from this action research project has prompted me to move beyond classroom procedures based on work groups. As I reflect on my findings, I believe there are two weaknesses in the group work principle. First, it has an authoritarian aspect that may go unnoticed by teachers intent on promoting learner autonomy. If one accepts that the teacher decides the form and composition of groups, then one should also accept that some students would be obliged to cooperate unwillingly. The problem is unsolved by letting the students form their own groups, because it remains understood that all must do so. Second, adding a grouping ritual to more traditional classroom rituals achieves only a minor relaxation of form. The prearranged group of four, with its facing desks and its imposed relationships, is hardly less rigid a concept than the teacher-fronted class. These reasons lead me to believe that the small-group model was a fundamentally flawed expression of the teacher’s will in promoting learner autonomy. This action research helped me to become more attentive to the principle of collaboration, which stresses mutuality among responsible individuals rather than mere labor-sharing (Roschelle & Teasley, 1995). I was able to bring this principle to bear on the larger task of meeting the different needs of individual students in my classes. Like throwing new light on an old scene, this action research project illuminated the possibility of enabling students to collaborate in a more natural way. As classroom neighbours sharing insights, and new ideas, my learners were able to enjoy the fruits of language learning in a way that complemented their cultural values.

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APPENDIX Feedback Questionnaire STUDENT FEEDBACK Name:_____________________________________________________________ 1. Think of something you can do now that you couldn’t do in the beginning of the course. Then write or draw it. 2. How much has your English improved in each of these areas? Mark the appropriate box. A lot of improvement

Same improvement

Little improvement

Speaking Listening Reading Writing Grammar Vocabulary 3. Which area do you think you need to focus more on? ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ 4. What can you do to improve your English in these areas? Speaking Listening Reading Writing Grammar Vocabulary

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5. Mark the appropriate box. Have you been:

Yes

Sometimes

Coming to classes regularly? Participating orally? Going to the lab regularly? Doing your written work? Doing anything extra? 6. What class activities did you like best? _____________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 7. What suggestions would you like to make? _____________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ TEACHER FEEDBACK _____________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Aebersold, J. A. and M. L. Field 1997. From Reader to Reading Teacher: Issues and Strategies for Second Language Classrooms. New York: Cambridge University Press. Allington, R. L. 1984. Oral Reading. In P.D. Pearson (ed.), Handbook of Reading Research. New York: Longman. Allwright, D. and K. M. Bailey 1991. Focus on the Language Classroom: An Introduction to Classroom Research for Language Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Anders, P. L., J. V. Hoffman, and G. G. Dufly 2000. Teaching Teachers to Teach Reading: Paradigm shifts, persistent problems, and challenges. In M.L. Kamil, P.B. Mosenthal, P.B. Pearson, and R. Barr (eds.) Handbook of Reading Research, vol. 3. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Anderson, N. J. 1991. Individual Differences in Strategy Use in Second Language Reading and Testing. Modern Language Journal, 75:460-472. Anderson, N. J. 1999. Exploring Second Language Reading: Issues and strategies. approach. TESOL Quarterly, 25(4):605-628. Bahns, J. 1993. Lexical collocations: A contrastive view. ELT Journal 7(1): 56-63. Bailey, K. M. and L. Savage (eds.) 1994. New Ways in Teaching Speaking. Alexandria, VA: TESOL. Beck, I.L., M. G. McKeown, R. L. Hamilton, and L. Rucan 1997. Questioning the Author: An approach for enhancing student engagement with text. Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle. Brown, G. 1995. Dimensions in difficulty in listening comprehension. In Mendelsohn, D. and J. Rubin (eds.) A Guide for the Teaching of Second Language Listening. San Diego, CA: Dominie Press. Brown, G. and G. Yule 1983. Teaching the Spoken Language: An Approach Based on the Analysis of Conversational English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Brown, H. (1994). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents. Brown, S. 2000. Listening at the Turn of the Century. Three Rivers TESOL Fall Conference. Pittsburgh.

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Brown, S. and L. Menasche 1993. Authenticity in Materials Design. TESOL Convention. Atlanta. Buck, G. 1995. How to Become a Good Listening Teacher. In D. Mendelsohn and J. Rubin (eds.) A Guide for the Teaching of Second Language Listening. San Diego, CA: Dominie Press. Burns, A. (1999). Collaborative action research for english language teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Burns, A. (2002). Teachers’ voices: Exploring action research in Australia. New Routes Magazine (São Paulo) (July 2002) Campbell, C. 1998. Teaching Second Language Writing: Interacting with text. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle. Carrell, P. L. 1983. Background Knowledge in Second Language Comprehension. Language Learning & Communication, 2: 25-34. Carrell, P. L. and U. Connor 1991. Reading Sí Writing Different Genres. Paper presented at the twenty-fifth annual conference of TESOL, New York, Cassidy, J. and D. Cassidy 2002. What’s Hot, What’s Not for 2002. Reading Today, 19(1)-.18-19. Celce-Murcia, M. and E. Olshtain 2000. Discourse and Context in Language Teaching: A Guide for Language Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Celce-Murcia, M. and E. Olshtain 2000. Discourse and Context in Language Chamot, A. U. and J. M. O’Malley 1994. The CALLA Handbook. Reading, MA: AddisonWesley. Chaudron, C. and J. Richards 1986. The Effect of Discourse Markers on the Comprehension of Lectures. Applied Linguistics. 7(2): 113-127. Corder, P. 1973. Introducing Applied Linguistics. Baltimore: Penguin Books. Curtis, A. and K. M. Bailey 2001. Picture Your Students Talking: Using pictures in the Language Classroom. ESL Magazine, July/August:10-12. Davis, P. and M. Rinvolucri 1988. Dictation: New methods, new possibilities. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Day, R. andj. Bamford 1998. Extensive Reading in the Second Language Classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Day, R. R. 1993. New Ways in Teaching Reading. Alexandria, VA: TESOL. Doughty, C. and J. Williams (eds.) 1998. Focus on Form in Classroom Second.

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Dulay, H. and M. Burt 1973. Should We Teach Children Syntax? Language Dulay, H. and M. Burt 1974. Natural Sequences in Child Second Language Farstrup, A. E. 2002. There is More to Effective Reading Instruction Than Research. In A. E. Farstrup and S. J. Samuels (eds.), What Research has to Say about Reading Instruction, Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Ferris, D. andj. S. Hedgcock 1998. Teaching ESL Composition: Purpose, process, and practice. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Fotos, S. 2001. Cognitive Approaches to Grammar Instruction. In M. Celce-Murcia (ed.) Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle. Fotos, S. and R. Ellis 1991. Communicating About Grammar: A task-based Goodman, K. 1976. Reading: A psycholinguistic guessing game. In H. Singer & R. B. Ruddell (eds) Theoretical Models and Processes of Reading. Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Grabe, W. 1991. Current Developments in Second Language Reading Research. TESOL Quarterly, 25:375-406. Grabe, W. and F. Stoller 2001. Reading for Academic Purposes: Guidelines for the ESL/EFL teacher. In M. Celce-Murcia (ed.) Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle. Hakuta, K. 1974. Prefabricated patterns and the emergence of structure in second language acquisition. Language Learning 24, 287-297. Helgesen, M. and S. Brown 1994. Active Listening 1: Introducing skits for under-standing. New York: Cambridge University Press. Hoey, M. 1983. On the Surface of Discourse. Boston: Alien and Unwin. Hoey, M. 1991. Patterns of Lexis in Text. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hubbard, P., Jones, H., Thornton, B., & Wheeler, R. (1983). A training course for TEFL. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Huey, E. B. 1908. The Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading. New York, NY: Macmillan. Just, M. and P. Carpenter 1992. A Capacity Hypothesis of Comprehension; Individual differences in working memory. Psychological Review. 99:122-149. Kawai, Y., R. L. Oxford, and A. Iran-Nejad 2000. Sources of Internal Self-Regulation with a Focus on Language Learning. The Journal of Mind and Behavior 21:45-60. Keller, R. 1979. Gambits: Conversational strategy signals. Journal of Pragmatics 3, 219-237.

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Krashen, S. 1981. Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning. Krashen, S. 1982. Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Kroll, B. 2001. Second Language Writing: Research insights for the classroom. In M. Celce-Murcia (ed.) Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle. Larsen-Freeman, D. 2001. Grammar. In R. Cárter and D. Nunan (eds.) The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Leech, G. 1997. Teaching and language corpora: a convergence. In A. Wichmann, S. Fligelstone, T. McEnery, and G. Knowles (eds.), Teaching and Language Corpora. Harlow, Essex: Longman. Legutke, M. and H. Thomas 1991. Process and Experience in the Language Classroom. London: Longman. Leki, I. 1992. Understanding ESL Writers: A Guide for Teachers. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton Cook. Levine, A and T. Reves 1990. Does the Method of Vocabulary Presentation Make a Difference? TESL Canadá Journal, 8:37-51. Lewis, M. (ed.). 2000. Teaching Collocation: Further Developments in the Lexical Approach. London: Language Teaching Publications. Lewis, M. 1993. The Lexical Approach. London: Language Teaching Publications. Lewis, M. 1997. Implementing the Lexical Approach. London: Language Teaching Publications. Lewis, M. 2000. Learning in the lexical approach. In M. Lewis (ed.), Teaching Collocation: Further Developments in the Lexical Approach. London: Language Teaching Publications. 155-184. Lewis, M. 2000. There is nothing as practical as a good theory. In M. Lewis (ed.), Teaching Collocation: Further Developments in the Lexical Approach. London: Language Teaching Publications.10-27. Long, D. 1989. Second Language Listening Comprehension: A schema-theoretic perspective. Modern Language Journal. 73:32-40. Long, M. H. 1980. Inside the ‘Black Box’: Methodological Issues in Classroom Research on Language Learning. Language Learning. 30:16. Reprinted in H.W. Seliger & M.H. Long (eds.) Classroom Oriented Research in Second Language Acquisition, 1983. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

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Lynch, T. 1998. Theoretical Perspectives on Listening. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics. 18:3-19. M. Celce-Murcia (ed.) Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle. Mayo, D. (2003). Discovering the classroom community. In G. Hadley (Ed.), Asian voices: Action research in action (pp. 16—20). Portfolio series, v. Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre. Mendelsohn, D. and J. Rubin (eds.) 1995. A Guide for the Teaching of Second Murison-Bowie, S. 1996. Linguistic corpora and language teaching. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 16: 182-199. Murphey, T. 1992. Music & Song. (Resource Books for Teachers). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Murtagh, L. 1989. Reading in a Second or Foreign Language: Models, processes, and pedagogy. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 2:91-105. Nation, I. S. P. 1990. Teaching and Learning Vocabulary. New York, NY: Newbury House. Nation, I. S. P. 1999. Learning Vocabulary in Another Language. ELI Occasional Publication No. 19, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Nattinger, J. 1980. A lexical phrase grammar for ESL. TESOL Quarterly 14: 337-344. Nattinger, J., and J. DeCarrico. 1992. Lexical Phrases and Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Nunan, D. (1989). Understanding language classrooms. Hemel Hempstead: Prentice Hall. Nunan, D. 1991. Language Teaching Methodology: A Textbook for Teachers. New York, NY: Prentice Hall. Nunan, D. 1998. Listen in 2. Singapore: Thomson Asia ELT. Nunan, D. 1999. Second Language Teaching and Learning. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle. Nunan, D. and L. Miller (eds.) 1995. New Ways in Teaching Listening. Oxford, R. L. 1996. Language Learning Strategies Around the World: Cross-cultural perspectives (ed.) National Foreign Language Resource Center. Manoa, HI: University of Hawaii Press. Oxford: Pergamon. Patterson, L., Minnick Santa, C., Short, K., & Smith, K. (Eds.). (1993). Teachers are researchers: Reflection and action. Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Pawley, A., and F. Syder. 1983. Two puzzles :or linguistic theory: Native-like selection and native-like fluency. In J. Richards and R. Schmidt (eds.), Language and Communication. London: Longman. 191-226. Pergamon.

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Peters, A. 1983. The Units of Language Acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Peterson, P. W. 2001. Skills and Strategies for Proficient Listening. In Pfister, C. (2001). Developing ESP vocabulary in the ESL classroom. In A. Burns & H. de Silva (Eds.), Teachers voices 7: Teaching vocabulary (pp. 39-15). Sydney: National Centre for English Language Teaching and Research. Phillips, M. 1989. Lexical Structure of Text. Discourse Analysis Monograph No. 12, English Language Research, University of Birmingham (UK). Reid, J. M. 1993. Teaching ESL Writing. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Ribeiro, S. A. (2002). The reflective cycle. New Routes Magazine 16 (January), pp. 26-29. Richards, J. 1990. The Language Teaching Matrix. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Richards, J. and T. Rodgers 2001. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching Second Edition. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Richards, J. C., & Lockhart, C. (1994). Reflective teaching in second language classrooms. New York: Cambridge University Press. Richards, J. J. Platt, and H. Weber 1985. Longman Dictionary of Applied Richards, J., J. Platt, and H. Weber 1985. Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics. London: Longman. Roschelle, J., & Teasley, S. (1995). The construction of shared knowledge in collaborative problem solving. In S. O’Malley (Ed.) Computer supported collaborative learning (pp. 6997). Berlin: Springer-Verlag. Rost, M. 2001. Teaching and Researching Listening, Harlow: Pearson Education/ Longman. Rost, M. 2002. Teaching and Researching Listening. Harlow: Pearson Education/ Longman. Rubín, J. 1994. A Review of Second Language Listening Comprehension Research. The Modern Language Journal, 78:199-221. Rumelhart, D.E. and A. Ortony 1977. The Representation of Knowledge in Memory. In R.C. Anderson, RJ. Sprio, and W.E. Montagues (eds.) Schooling and the Acquisition of Knowledge. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Sagor, R. (l992). How to conduct collaborative action research. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Samuels, S.J. and M. L. Kamil 1984. Models of the Reading Process. In M. L. Kamil, P. B. Mosenthal, P. D. Pearson, and R. Barr (eds.) Handbook of Reading Research, vol. l. New York, NY: Longman.

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Stanovich, K. E. 1980. Toward an Interactive-Compensatory Model of Individual Differences in the Development of Reading Fluency. Reading Research Quarterly, 16:32-71. Thorndike, E. L., and I. Longe. 1944. The Teacher’s Word Book of 30,000 Words. New York: Teachers College, Colombia University. Titone, R. 1968. Teaching foreign languages: An Historical Sketch. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. Tomlinson, C. (1999). The differentiated classroom: Responding to the needs of all learners. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Tribble, C., and G. Jones. 1990. Concordances in the Classroom: A Resource Book for Teachers. Harlow, Essex: Longman. Tsui, A. and J. Fullilove 1998. Bottom-Up or Top-Down Processing as a Ur, P. 1988. Grammar Practice Activities. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Ur, P. 1996. A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory. Cambridge: van Lier, L. 1995. Introducing Language Awareness. London: Penguin English. van Lier, L. 1996. Interaction in the Language Curriculum: Awareness, Autonomy and Authenticity. London: Longman. Wallace, C. 2001. Reading. In R. Carter and D. Nunan (eds.), The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Wallace, M. J (1998). Action research for language teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Washington, DC: TESOL. West, M. 1953. A General Service List of English Words. London: Longman. White provides many ideas including using authentic texts and having students create their own texts. White, G. 1998. Listening (Resource Books for Teachers). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Willis, J. I). 1990. The Lexical Syllabus. London: Collins COBUILD. Willis, J., and D. Willis. 1989. Collins COBUILD English Course. London: (Collins. Wood, M. 1981. A Definition of Idiom. Manchester, UK: Centre for Computational Linguistics, University of Manchester. Woolard, G. 2000. Collocation-encouraging learner independence. In M. Lewis (ed.), Teaching Collocation: Further Developments in the Lexical Approach. London: Language Teaching Publications. 28-46.

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HELPFUL WEB SITES University of Oregon American English Institute Intensive English Program-Study Resources for Students (http://aei.uoregon.edu/iep/iep.httn) This site links to language learning pages for listening and other language skills. Randall’s Cyber Listening Lab (http://www.esl-lab.com) An extensive set of listening tasks are arranged by level of difficulty (easy, medium, difficult). University of Illinois Intensive English Institute Interactive Listening Comprehension Practice Page (http://www.iei.uiuc.edu/LCRA/) This site has listening tasks based on texts from sources such as National Public Radio. TESOL (http://www.tesol.org) Visit this site to learn more about teaching English to speakers of other languages. The international TESOL association produces the TESOL Quarterly and the TESOL Journal, both of which should be helpful for teaching speaking classes. English Language Teaching journal (http://www.oup.com/elt) Find abstracts for articles published ¡n this Journal, which is both practical and highly readable. Amerispeak (http://www.amerispeak.com) This Web site was designed to help non-native speaking professionals communicate successfully in English. Kyoto University Extensive Reading Site (http://www.kyoto-su.ac.jp/information/er) A helpful site for teachers interested in using extensive reading in their class. The Reading Matrix (http://www.readingmatrix.com) An on-line reading journal of interest to teachers.

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The Journal of Second Language Writing (http://www.jslw.org) A refereed Journal that features reports of research and discussion of issues in second and foreign language writing and writing instruction. Topics include characteristics and attitudes of second language writers, second language writers’ composing processes, features of writers’ tests, readers’ responses to second language writing, assessment/evaluation and other issues of relevance. Although this Journal is not specifically devoted to ESL/EFL, a large number of the articles deal with writing issues and English learners. Virtual English Centre (http://ec.hku.hk/vec/grammar/default.htm) This site provides links to resources on the Internet for developing grammar teaching materials. It also provides links for students who want to brush up their grammar. Authentic English See S Murray (2001). A Gilmore (2004) compares textbook and authentic interactions, whereas W Guariento and J Morley (2001) compare text and task authenticity. Language skills See the references at the end of Chapters 17-20. Projects D Fried-Booth (2002) is the second edition of her ground-breaking book on the subject. See also a short article on cross-curricular projects by S Andrewes (2004) and G Beckett and T Slater (2005) who demonstrate how projects are blends of content, language and skills integration.

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