Developing productive skills at different stages of learning
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Developing productive skills in the English language classroom
Seminar plan:
• Productive language skills;
• Challenges in writing and speaking
• Support our students need;
• How to solve problems in developing productive skills;
• Types of activities;
• Teachers’ and students’ attitude to mistakes in speaking and writing.
Language Skills
• Receptive skills – where meaning is extracted from discourse (Reading and Listening)
• Productive skills – where students have to produce language themselves (Speaking and Writing)
Po
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“Thinking is the activity I love best and writing to me is simply thinking
through my fingers” – Isaac Asimov.
Ask your colleagues:• Get at least three different examples of the things
that they have written in the last two weeks, • Most of the people actually do very little writing in
day-to-day life;• sms, emails, brief notes to family / friends or
colleagues, • lesson plans, answers on question forms, etc.• Why people write all these things, what is the
reason for writing?
Writing is…
…a meaningful activity where the primary purpose is communication with the reader.
Why use writing in class?
Give as many reasons for teaching writing in class as you can think of.
• Reinforcement;• Language development;• Learning style;• Writing as a skill;• Specific needs (e.g. exam preparation);• (?) A break for a teacher.
Teaching writing
Writing practice Written production
The technical skills of writing:
• Spelling;• Punctuation;• Sentence formation;• Paragraphs and texts;• Different types of writing
(formal and informal letters; reports);
• etc.
The content and communication skills of writing:
• Selection and organisation of ideas in the text;
• Clarity of presentation;• Reader consideration;• Reference to other texts;• etc.
Why writing is difficult?
• Psychological problems:We are required to write on our own, without the possibility of interaction or the benefit of immediate feedback
• Linguistic problems:The language used in written language is different in most ways from the language used in speech
• Cognitive problems:Students have to organise thoughts on paper, for reasons that may not immediately be apparent (tasks imposed by the teacher, for homework, for exam, but most probably not for any personal reason).
Group work• Three groups (primary, secondary and
teens-young adults)
• In each group think of two - three main challenges which students of this age group face in writing;
• in a quick discussion share your ideas of how you can support your students.
• Be ready to present your ideas in 2 minutes.
Primary school students
Writing is boring
• Spelling game
• Guess a word and write
• Writing
(labeling) game
Add meaning and give examples
Add meaning, give examples and personalise
Grammar and writing
Speaking
Talk to your partner...
…and describe what is in the room using lots of prepositions of place
…and describe one of your friends. Make sure you use at least five
adjectives of personality
…about something interesting or amusing that has happened to you
in your work as a teacher
The nature of communication.
When two people are engaged in talking to each other we can be sure that they are doing so for good reasons. What are they?
• They want to say something.• They want to listen to something.• They have some communicative purpose.
They process a variety of language appropriate for the purpose of the conversation
What do we Need to Communicate Effectively?
Linguistic competenceGrammar, lexis, phonology
Communicative CompetenceInteractional Skills
Interest in / knowledge of topicA Goal / Reason for speaking
Preparation time
What types of speaking do your students practice in class?
Spoken Practice
The Speaking Skill
Controlled Practice of Specific Grammar /
Structures / Lexis
‘Everyday Life’ Communication
Talk to your partner...
…and describe what is in the room using lots of prepositions of place
…and describe one of your friends. Make sure you use at least five
adjectives of personality
…about something interesting or amusing that has happened to you
in your work as a teacher
What students are afraid of?
• making grammar mistakes (from over-correction?)
• appearing foolish
• sounding strange or foreign
• not having enough vocabulary
•not knowing what to say
As a result,
• they speak hesitantly
• there are long pauses
• they struggle for vocabulary
• often give up
The monolingual challenge
• Not enough exposure
• Not enough practice;
• Not confident enough to say something in front of other students in class;
What if my students don’t speak in English?
3 Steps to Communicative Success in English
1. Speak in any language
2. Task in any language, result in English
3. Everything in English
Problem can be solved by:
• Motivation through topic;
• Motivation through activity;
• Motivation through the right level of challenge;
• Classroom interaction / Pair and Group work activities;
• Real communicative tasks
Success factors
exposure
motivationconfidence
speaking practice
atmosphere
Learning to speak
• PPP model is useful for lower levels
1.presentation stage – listening/teacher modelling
2.practice stage - accuracy work – a controlled framework - importance of repetition + on-
the-spot error correction
3.Personalisation / Production – students’ performance.
e.g. Stoytelling
Story telling in the primary classroom
• Give examples of that work in your classroom.
Pre-teach:
• Grass – long wavy grass• A river – a deep cold river• Mud – thick oozy mud• A forest – a big dark forest• A snowstorm – a swirling whirling snowstorm• A cave – a narrow gloomy cave• One shiny wet nose• Two big furry ears• Two big goggly eyes
Pre-teach:• Over
• Under
• Through
• Back through
Grasslong wavy grass
Swishy! Swashy!
A riverA deep cold river
Splash! Splosh!
Mud. Thick oozy mud
Squelch! Squerch!
A forest, a big dark forest
Stumble! Trip!
A snowstorm. A swirling whirling snowstorm
Hooo! Wooo!
A cave. A narrow gloomy cave
Tip Toe! Tip Toe!
What’s that?
• One shiny wet nose
• Two big furry ears
• Two big goggly eyes
• It’s a bear!!!
Back through the cave
Tip Toe! Tip Toe!
Back through the snowstorm
Hooo! Wooo! Hooo! Wooo!
Back through the forest
Stumble! Trip! Stumble! Trip!
Back through the river
Splash! Splosh! Splash! Splosh!
Back through the mud
Squelch! Squerch! Squelch! Squerch!
Back through the grass
Swishy! Swashy! Swishy! Swashy!
Get to our front door
Open the door
Up the stairs
Top! Top! Top! Top!
Oh, we forgot to shut the door!
Top! Top! Top! Top!
Down the stairs
Shut the door!
BOOOM!
Up the stairs
Top! Top! Top! Top!
Into the bedroom
Into the bed
Under the covers
I’m not going to a bear hunt again
Storytelling
Interactive activities:
• Questionnaires
• Picture / map discriptions
All we need to make students speak in the classroom:
• Interesting and relevant subject;• Students’ background knowledge about the
topic;• Motivation, students’ feeling that they really want
to say something about it;• Strategies and tips as a tool and support.
Round up• the tasks need to be challenging and motivating
so that the learners want to communicate their thoughts
• important to have a balance between accuracy and fluency
• Correction• the aim is to develop the learners’ confidence• To develop their speaking skills and their
confidence, students must be given as much opportunity to speak as possible.
Thank you!