Webinar 1 speaking[1]

ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES

Can´t get them to stop talking!

A Webinar by Gabriel Díaz Maggioli English Language Studies Department February 28th, 2011

ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES

Aims of this webinar

•  Understand the underlying reasons for students’ unwillingness to speak in class.

•  Analyze patterns found in effective conversations.

•  Introduce a framework for L2 conversation development.

•  Help participants develop an action plan.


Why don’t they speak?


Does this look familiar?


What is your problem?

•  Which of these reasons applies to your context? A.  1. Students are not interested in speaking in L2. B.  2. Students are afraid of speaking in L2. C.  3. Students make too many mistakes in L2. D.  4. Discussion topics in the materials are not appealing

to students.


What if your could get this…?


What would it take?


Why don’t they speak?

•  Unfamiliarity with the program or task. •  Lack of awareness of what it takes to speak in L2. •  Fear of ridicule. •  Lack of adequate preparation. •  Purpose of tasks. •  Lack of proper scaffolding.


A recurring problem

Are students aware of what L1

speakers do in conversation?

Have I provided enough realistic

practice activities?

Do students have a chance to apply

the skills in a realistic way?


So…having considered

•  Why students do not participate actively in oral language development classes


A look at effective conversations


Let’s consider

•  Conversation is still assumed to be synonymous with putting into play the grammar, vocabulary and functions students have learnt.

•  But, conversation should be defined as: – “a time when two or more people have the right to talk

and listen without having to follow a fixed schedule. In everyday life, we refer to conversation as ‘a chat.’” (Nolasco and Arthur, 1987:12)

•  Chatting is what students LOVE doing.


Purposes of conversation

•  Why do we speak? – To exchange information. – To create and maintain social relationships. – To negotiate status and social roles. – To decide on and carry out joint actions.


What do L1 speakers do?

•  Usually one speaker speaks at a time; •  e speakers change; •  e length of each contribution varies; •  ere are techniques for following the other parties; •  Neither the content nor the amount of what we say

is specified in advance.


Units of conversation

Turn 1 Solicit: call

“Jane”

Turn 2 Give: available

“Yes?”

Turn 3 Solicit: request

“Could I borrow your bike?”

Turn 4 Give: comply

“Sure! It’s in the

garage.”

Turn 4 Acknowledge:

thank

“Thanks!”


Adjacency

•  Moves are related to each other through the use of adjacency pairs. ese are utterances produced by two successive speakers in which the second utterance can be identified as being related to the first.

•  Let’s look at some examples


Examples

A= Hello! B= Oh, hi! A= How’ve you been? B= Not bad. How about you? A= Great, actually!

A= Hello. How are you? B= Very well, thank you. And you. A= I’m fine, thanks.


Turn taking

•  In natural conversation, one has to be alert to signals that a speaker is about to finish his/her turn so as to be able to come in with a contribution which fits the direction in which conversation is going.

•  How often do we find these signals in textbooks?


Openings and Closings

•  Openings are not generally a problem. However, closings are difficult for L2 speakers and they sometimes appear rude because they are unable to close the conversation properly. L1 speakers negotiate the end of the conversation: – Ok, then… – Right,… – Erm, I’m afraid… – Anyway, I’ve got to go now, but… –  I’ll let you get back to…


Stress and Intonation

Ok! / So… about to change subject Really interest Really irony Wrong intonation can lead to misunderstandings.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES A look at some “conversation activities”

•  Read short texts and discuss questions about them. •  Complete a survey and then discuss with a partner. •  Look at opinions about “x.” Add two more. en

choose the most important ones with your group. •  Look at pictures and discuss why they are relevant to

a certain theme. •  Choose items from a list and prioritize them for a

certain activity.


Now we know…

•  What is involved in effective conversations and what we lack in the language classroom, so let’s explore a model to enhance oral language development in class.


e conversation framework


So, what do teachers need?

•  Consider… – Characteristics of L1 speaking performance. – Which function of conversation is relevant for your

students: •  Giving and receiving information. •  Collaborating with others. •  Sharing personal experiences and opinions with a view to

building social relationships.

•  Students will not be able to do this by being taught about conversation so the stress should be put on learning by doing


Which purpose?

•  It would be useful for us to know what main purpose your students have in learning to speak…

A.  Giving and receiving information. B.  Collaborating with others. C.  Sharing personal experiences and opinions with a view to

building social relationships.


A 3-step model

•  Awareness

•  Bridge activities •  Communication


Awareness Activities


Native speakers

Nolasco and Arthur, 1987


Using video

•  Sound only. •  Picture only. Use checklist to point out features. •  Freeze frame What’s next? •  Watch once and then questions. •  Watch and replicate.


Bridge activities


Jazz Chants

•  A jazz chant is the rhythmic expression of standard English as it occurs in situational contexts.

•  English stretches, shortens, blends and often drops sounds. ese subtle features of the language are extremely difficult for a student to comprehend unless his or her ear has been properly trained to comprehend the language of an educated native speaker in natural conversation. e sound of «Jeet yet?» is meaningless unless one has acquired the listening comprehension skills necessary to make the connection with «Did you eat yet?»

•  Graham, 1986: vi – vii.


Money talks

How much does it cost? It costs a lot.

How much does it cost? It costs a lot.

I can’t believe how much it costs. It costs a lot, an awful lot. It costs a lot to live in the city.

How much does it cost? It costs a lot. It costs a lot to eat out these days.

How much does it cost? It costs a lot!

Why don’t you buy it? I can’t afford it.

It’s too expensive. I can’t afford it.

Why don’t you buy it?

I don’t have the money. It’s not worth it. I can’t afford it.


Shadowed reading

•  Prepare a suitable master track of a dialog. •  Ask your students to listen to it once or twice. •  Once they are ready the objective is to maintain the

same rhythm, intonation, stress and pronunciation as the original by repeating with the master track.

•  Make sure students work with the same track until they are ready to record their own version, or they can ask you to listen to them.


Who said it?

Provide a list of possible utterances. Students guess who said what. E.g. •  I told you not to wear a suit. •  …, and the doctor says I’m pregnant. •  Are you a friend of Jim’s? en get students to add more.

Nolasco and Arthur, 1987


«Canned» language

•  Asking for information –  I´d like to know… –  I´m interested in… –  Could you tell me…? –  Do you know…? –  Could you find out…? –  Could I ask…? –  Do you happen to

know…?

•  Surprises –  Prepare your aducience:

•  Guess what! •  I´ve got news for you! •  You’d better sit down. •  You won’t believe this, but…

–  Give the news: •  Do you realize that…? •  You may not believe it, but… •  It may sound weird, but…

–  End with: •  Normally,… •  Usually,… •  On the whole…


Consider canned language in…

•  Sharing a confidence (e.g. «Just between you and me…») •  Showing interest («Yes?», «And then?», «Really?»)

•  Hidden truths (e.g. «Frankly, I doubt that…)

•  Reasons (e.g. «e reason why…»»Because of that…»«For this reason»)

•  Counter arguing (e.g. «Yes, but…» «Even so…»)

•  Biding time («Well, let me see…», «Mm... at’s a difficult question. Let me see..»)

•  inking ahead («If I ever…», «Whenever…», «Unless….»)

•  Changing the subject («Talking of…»)


Find your dialog partner

•  Write the first few lines of a number of exchanges. – E.g.

•  A= Dr. Jones? •  B= No, I’m Dr. Smith. •  A= Sorry, I’m looking for Dr. Jones.

•  Have enough exchanges so that there is one per pair of students in the class.

•  Cut out the lines for A and the lines for B and distribute them randomly around the group.

•  Students have to find their dialog partner and then complete the dialog.


Outrageous CVs

•  Go over the contents of a regular CV with students. •  Get students to write their CV not on their academic

or work life, but on something unexpected (e.g. a student is skilled at fishing). ey should not write their names on the CV.

•  Distribute CVs. Students go around the class interviewing their peers until they find the owner of the CV.


Get real!

•  Select a dialog from the textbook students are currently using.

•  Go over the dialog with them and encourage the group to tell you what can be done to make the dialog more realistic.

•  Students work in groups rewriting and rehearsing the dialog in groups.

•  Groups perform their dialogs to the rest of the class.


Communication activities


Set up

Task presentation Process

Feedback

•  Instructions •  Functionaries •  Rules and timing

•  Strategy •  Discussion skills

•  Content •  Process •  Language


e sky’s the limit

•  Brainstorming activities –  Guessing games –  Finding connections –  Ideas from a central theme –  Implications and interpretations

•  Organizing activities –  Comparing –  Detecting differences –  Putting in order –  Priorities –  Choosing candidates –  Layout problems –  Combining versions

•  Compound activities –  Debates –  Publicity campaigns –  Surveys

Ur, 1991


Action Planning

Let’s brainstorm about how you could use the following activity with your students. Use the CHAT box to post some ideas.


Modern marvels

•  Modem •  Personal computer •  Laptop •  MP3 player •  Tablet

•  1965 •  1972 •  1981 •  1985 •  1989


Answers

•  1965 – Robert Lucky invented the automatic adaptive equalizer (modem)at Bell laboratories.

•  1972 – Xerox PARC developed the ALTO, the first truly personal computer.

•  1981 – Adam Osborne invents the first portable computer (laptop).

•  1985 – Pencept creates the first pen computer (tablet). •  1989 – Fraunhofer Lab obtains the patent for MPEG.


Bibliography

•  Graham, C. (1986). Small talk: more jazz chants. New York, USA: Oxford University Press.

•  Harmer, J. (2007). e practice of English Language Teaching (3rd. Ed.). Harlow, UK: Pearson Longman.

•  Keller, E. and Warner, S. (1988). Conversation gambits: Real English conversation practices. Ottawa, Canada: Language Teaching Publications.

•  Nolasco, R. and Arthur, L. (1987). Conversation. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

•  Ur, P. and Wright, A. (1992). Five minute activities. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

•  Ur, P. (1991). Discussions that work. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Other resources •  Illustrations by: R. Kikuo Johnson © e New York Times. March 2010. •  Photo credits: Media and Communications Department, e New School, New York

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