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Dossier module V

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Module V

December 2017

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INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................ 3

READING 1

I. Product-oriented syllabuses ................................................................................................................... 4

II. Process-oriented syllabuses ................................................................................................................ 14

READING 2

Conversationally speaking: approaches to the teaching of conversation ............................... 32

READING 3

Speaking Towards Autonomy ................................................................................................................... 48

READING 4

Making lessons interesting, meaningful and memorable .............................................................. 66

REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................................... 76

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We are happy to introduce the module "Approaches to the Teaching of Conversation”,

the fifth of eight modules which aims at continuing the training of the English

Specialists in Language Teaching. This Module will provide theoretical foundation to

the teaching of Speaking and deepening on the nature of conversation to help and

empower students to communicate what they mean. This training will allow you to

master four key competences related to language teaching and learning: Didactics,

Communication, Training and Self-Training as well as the incorporation of

technologies in the classroom.

The content in this module adds on to the theory presented in module 4; Planning

using the Task based framework and the Content-based approach. Module 5 deepens

on different types of syllabuses, the nature of conversation, developing conversational

autonomy as foreign language learners and incorporating meaningful ICT lessons into

daily language instruction. Therefore, it is strongly encouraged that specialists commit

to apply their expanding knowledge and skills into their daily practice, thus

contributing with contextualized applications of the theory to a Salvadoran context in

order to improve language learning experiences.

This dossier will be a companion to participants during their training to provide

indispensable information in the following areas. The first reading takes us through

product-oriented and process-oriented syllabuses, thus exploring the nature and

providing applicable exercises of the most recognized English teaching approaches

and methods. Reading two explores approaches to the teaching of conversational

skills; the nature and the purpose of conversations. Reading 3 walks us through the

process towards developing speaking autonomy, providing criteria for speaking tasks,

feedback and correction, presentations and talks, etcetera, becoming a teacher’s

handbook to create and find opportunities for classroom and out-of-the-classroom

interactions. Finally, reading 4 presents us with practical ways to making ICT lessons

more interesting and fun.

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I. Product-oriented syllabuses

1. Introduction

There is a distinction between product-oriented and process-oriented syllabuses. Product

syllabuses are those in which the focus is on the knowledge and skills which learners should gain

as a result of instruction, while process syllabuses are those which focus on the learning

experiences themselves.

We shall look at syllabus proposals that are specified in terms of the end products of a course

of instruction. As we shall see, these may be realized in a variety of ways, for example as lists of

grammatical items, vocabulary items, language functions, or experiential content.

2. Analytic and synthetic syllabus planning

There are many different ways in which syllabus proposals of one sort or another might be

analyzed. One dimension of analysis which has been the subject of a great deal of discussion and

comment is the synthetic/analytic dimension.

It was Wilkins (1976) who first drew attention to the distinction between synthetic and

analytic syllabuses. He described the synthetic approach in the following terms:

A synthetic language teaching strategy is one in which the different parts of language are taught

separately and step by step so that acquisition is a process of gradual accumulation of parts until the

whole structure of language has been built up.

(Wilkins 1976: 2)

TASK 1 In his work, Wilkins assumes that grammatical criteria will be used to break the global language down

into discrete units. The items will be graded according to the grammatical complexity of the items,

their frequency of occurrence, their contrastive difficulty in relation to the learner's first language,

situational need, and pedagogic convenience.

Do you think that grammar is the only criterion for selecting and grading content in a synthetic

syllabus?

If not, what other criteria can you suggest for selecting and grading content?

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Initially, people tended to equate synthetic approaches with grammatical syllabuses. However

some applied linguists feel that the term 'synthetic' need not necessarily be restricted to

grammatical syllabuses, but may be applied to any syllabus in which the content is product-

oriented; that is, which is specified as discrete lists of grammatical items and in which the classroom

focus is on the teaching of these items as separate and discrete (see, for example, Widdowson

1979). (Note that in this book, the terms 'grammatical' and 'structural' are used interchangeably.)

In contrast with synthetic syllabuses, analytic syllabuses:

are organized in terms of the purposes for which people are learning language and the kinds of

language performance that are necessary to meet those purposes.

(Wilkins 1975: 13)

In an analytic syllabus, learners are presented with chunks of language which may include

structures of varying degrees of difficulty. The starting point for syllabus design is not the

grammatical system of the language, but the communicative purposes for which language is used.

It is theoretically possible to conceive of language courses as being solely synthetic or solely

analytic. However, it is likely that, in practice, courses will be typified as more-or-less synthetic or

more-or-less analytic according to the prominence given to discrete elements in the selection and

grading of input.

3. Grammatical syllabuses

The most common syllabus type was, and probably still is, one in which syllabus input is selected

and graded according to grammatical notions of simplicity and complexity. Later we shall see that

grammatical complexity does not necessarily equate with learning difficulty. In other words, what

is grammatically complex will not necessarily be that which is difficult to learn, and that which is

grammatically simple will not necessarily be that which is easy to learn.

The most rigid grammatical syllabuses supposedly introduced one item at a time and

required mastery of that item before moving on to the next. According to McDonough:

The transition from lesson to lesson is intended to enable material in one lesson to prepare the ground

for the next; and conversely for material in the next to appear to grow out of the previous one.

(McDonough 1981: 21)

McDonough illustrates this point as follows:

Lesson (l) has drilled copula and adjective combinations:

She is happy

Lesson (m) introduces the -ing form:

She is driving a car

Lesson (n) reintroduces existential there:

There is a man standing near the car

Lesson (o) distinguishes between mass and count nouns:

There are some oranges and some cheese on the table

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Lesson (p) introduces the verbs like and want:

I like oranges but not cheese

Lesson (q) reintroduces don't previously known in negative imperatives:

I don't like cheese

Lesson (r) introduces verbs with stative meaning:

I don't come from Newcastle

Lesson (s) introduces adverbs of habit and thus the present simple tense; or rather, present tense in

simple aspect:

I usually come at six o'clock

(McDonough 1981: 21)

TASK 2 As we have already noted, all syllabus outlines or proposals are underpinned by assumptions about

the nature of language and language learning.

What assumptions about language and language learning do you imagine might underpin a

grammatical syllabus of the type described above?

The assumption behind most grammatical syllabuses seems to be that language consists of a finite

set of rules which can be combined in various ways to make meaning. It is further assumed that

these rules can be learned one by one, in an additive fashion, each item being mastered on its own

before being incorporated into the learner's pre-existing stock of knowledge. The principal

purpose of language teaching is to help learners to 'crack the code'. Rutherford (1987) calls this

the 'accumulated entities' view of language learning.

Assumptions are also made about language transfer. It is generally assumed that once

learners have internalized the formal aspects of a given piece of language, they will automatically

be able to use it in genuine communication outside the classroom.

One of the difficulties in designing grammatical 'chains' in which discrete grammatical items

are linked is that the links can be rather tenuous. It is also difficult to isolate and present one

discrete item at a time, particularly if one wants to provide some sort of context for the language.

In addition, evidence from second language acquisition (SLA) research suggests that learning does

not occur in this simple additive fashion.

The dilemma for the syllabus designer who is attempting to follow some sort of structural

progression in sequencing input is this: How does one control input and yet at the same time

provide language samples for the learner to work on which bear some semblance at least to the

sort of language the learner will encounter outside the classroom?

This problem might be addressed in a number of ways. One solution would be to abandon

any attempt at structural grading. Another might be to use the list of graded structures, not to

determine the language to which learners are exposed, but to determine the items which will be

the pedagogic focus in class. In other words, learners would be exposed to naturalistic samples of

text which were only roughly graded, and which provided a richer context, but they would only be

expected formally to master those items which had been isolated, graded, and set out in the

syllabus. Another alternative, and one we shall look at in detail in 4, is to focus on what learners

are expected to do with the language (i.e. learning tasks), rather than on the language itself. With

this alternative, it is the tasks rather than the language which are graded.

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TASK 3 At this stage, you might like to consider the different suggestions above and rank them from most to

least satisfactory.

Can you think of any other ways of addressing the problem of controlling input while at the same

time using 'naturalistic' language?

4. Criticizing grammatical syllabuses

During the 1970s, the use of structural syllabuses carne under increasing criticism. ln this section

we shall look at some of these criticisms.

One early criticism was that structurally-graded syllabuses misrepresented the nature of that

complex phenomenon, language. They did so in tending to focus on only one aspect of language,

that is, formal grammar. In reality, there is more than one aspect to language as we shall see in 3.5.

TASK 4 Many structurally-graded course books begin with the structure: 'demonstrative + be + NP' as

exemplified by the statement: ·This is a book'.

How many different communicative purposes can you think of for this statement?

The most obvious purpose is that of identifying. This function is much more likely to occur in

classrooms (including language classrooms), where learning the names of new entities is an

important part of the curriculum, than in the real world. Other functions might include contradicting

('It may look like a video, but in fact it's a book'), expressing surprise ('This is a book? - Looks like a

video to me!'), or threatening ('This is a book, and your name will go in it if you don't behave!'). The

list could go on.

Matters are complicated, not only by the fact that language fulfils a variety of communicative

functions, but that there is no one-to-one relationship between form and function. Not only can a

single form realize more than one function, but also a given function can be realized by more than

one form (see Cook: Discourse published in this Scheme).

TASK 5 Can you think of examples of a single structure fulfilling several functions and a single function being

fulfilled by several structures?

In Tables 1 and 2, you will find examples of the lack of fit between form and function. In Table 2 a

single form realizes a variety of functions, whereas in Table 2 a single function is being realized by

a variety of forms.

Form Functions Gloss

The cliffs are over there Directions That's the way to the scenic view.

Warning Be careful of the cliffs!

Suggestion How about a walk along the cliff top?

Table 1

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Function Forms

Request May I have a drink, please?

Thirsty weather, this.

Looks like an interesting wine.

I’m dying for a drink.

Is that a bottle of champagne?

Table 2

TASK 6 What are the implications for syllabus design of this lack of any predetermined relationship between

form and function?

The wider view of language, focusing not only on linguistic structures, but also on the

communicative purposes for which language is used, developed from insights provided by

philosophers of language, sociolinguists, and from other language-related disciplines. The

immediate reaction to such a wider view is to contemplate ways of incorporating it into the

language syllabus. Unfortunately, the form/function disjunction makes the process of syllabus

design much more complex than it would have been had there been a neat one-to-one

form/function relationship. We shall look at the practical difficulties of incorporating formal and

functional elements into syllabus design in Section II.

In recent years, criticism of grammatical syllabuses has come from researchers in the field of

SLA. Some of the questions addressed by SLA researchers of interest to syllabus planners are as

follows:

• Why do learners at a particular stage fail to learn certain grammatical items which have

been explicitly (and often repeatedly) taught?

• Can syllabus items be sequenced to make them easier to learn?

• What learning activities appear to promote acquisition?

• Is there any evidence that teaching does, in fact, result in learning?

TASK 7 Two important SLA studies carried out during the 1970s were those by Dulay and Burt (1973) and

Bailey, Madden, and Krashen (1974). These studies showed that certain grammatical items seemed to

be acquired in a particular order, that this order was similar for children and adults, and for learners

from different language backgrounds. It also appeared that formal instruction had no effect on the

order of acquisition.

What do you think are the implications for syllabus design of the notion that structures are acquired

in a predetermined order?

One SLA researcher has this to say on the implications of the research for syllabus design:

Assuming the existence of stages of development, a logical step for syllabus design might seem to

be writing these stages directly into a new syllabus. [i.e. ordering the syllabus in the same order in

which items occur in the learners' repertoire.] On the other hand, if learners pass through

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developmental stages in a fixed sequence, then it might seem equally logical to disregard the question

of how the syllabus is written - at least as regards structure - since learners will organize this aspect

of learning for themselves.

(Johnston 1985: 29)

In other words, assuming that learners do have their own 'inbuilt syllabus', we could argue that

the teaching syllabus should reflect this order. On the other hand, we could simply forget about

grading the syllabus structurally, because this aspect of language development will automatically

be taken care of.

Johnston argues that decisions on whether syllabuses should be sequenced or not can only

be settled one way or another by more research into the relative effects of structurally-graded and

non-structurally-graded syllabuses. The difficulty for syllabus planners is that they often have to

make decisions before the relevant research has been carried out.

Research by Pienemann and Johnston (reported in Pienemann 1985; Johnston 1985; and

Pienemann and Johnston 1987) has led them to conclude that the acquisition of grammatical

structures will be determined by how difficult those items are to process psycholinguistically,

rather than how simple or complex they are grammatically. They illustrate this with the third person

's' morpheme. Grammatically, this is a fairly straightforward item, which can be characterized as

follows: In simple present third person singular statements, add 's/es' to the end of the verb. For

example, 'I sometimes go to Spain for my holidays' becomes 'He sometimes goes to Spain for his

holidays'. However, this simple grammatical rule is notoriously difficult for learners to master.

Pienemann and Johnston suggest that the difficulty is created for the learner by the fact that the

form of the verb is governed or determined by the person and number of the noun or noun phrase

in the subject position. In effect, the learner has to hold this person and number in working

memory and then produce the appropriate form of the verb. Thus the difficulty is created, not by

the grammar, but by the constraints of short-term memory.

Pienemann and Johnston use their speech-processing theory to explain the order in which

grammatical items are acquired. They suggest that structures will be acquired in the following

stages:

Stage 1

Single words and formulae.

Stage 2

Canonical or 'standard' word order, e.g. for English, Subject + Verb +Object.

Stage 3

Initialization/finalization. Final elements can be moved into initial position or vice versa, e.g.

words such as adverbs can be added to the beginning or end of clauses.

Stage 4

Semi-internal permutation. Internal elements can be moved to initial or final position, e.g.

words can be moved from inside the clause to the beginning or end of the clause.

Stage 5

Fully internal permutation. Items can be moved about within a clause.

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In Section Two, we shall look at the implications of this hypothesis for syllabus design, and

compare the ordering of grammatical elements proposed by Pienemann and Johnston with

those of some recently published course books.

There are a number of complications which arise when we attempt to apply SLA research to

syllabus design. In the first place, much of this work assumes that we shall start out with groups of

learners who are at the same stage of grammatical proficiency, and that learners in a given group

will all progress uniformly. Unfortunately these assumptions are not borne out in practice. Another

problem which occurs in second language contexts is that learners need to use certain language

structures (such as wh­ questions) almost immediately. These need to be taught as memorized

'formulae' even though they are well beyond the learner's current stage of development. Finally,

learners may need exposure to grammatical items in different contexts and over an extended

period of time rather than simply at the point when the items become 'learnable'.

In a·ddition.to these arguments, there are the general arguments against grammatical

grading of content (whether this grading be based on traditional criteria or more recent criteria

stemming from SLA research), on the grounds that grammatical grading distorts the language

available to the learner. It could well interfere with language acquisition which is more a global

than a linear process, different aspects of grammar developing simultaneously rather than one

structure being mastered at a time. The arguments against grammatically structured syllabuses

are summarized by Long (1987).

At this point in time, then, the direct application of SLA research to syllabus design is rather

limited. While the research has shown that the learner's syllabus and the syllabus of the textbook

or language programme may not be in harmony, in order to determine its applicability we must

wait until the results of follow-up research become available.

In a recent excellent analysis of the status of grammar in the curriculum, Rutherford (1987)

suggests that the abandonment of grammar as the pivotal element in the syllabus may be

premature. He argues that:

The critical need for making these [target language] data available to the learner therefore places a

special burden upon the language curriculum and, by extension, the language syllabus.

(Rutherford 1987: 150)

In Rutherford's view, the learner needs direct contact with the target language. We know that it is

neither necessary nor possible to provide learners with exposure to all target language

constructions, and that a major task for syllabus designers is to identify those aspects of the

grammatical system from which learners can generate the most powerful generalizations. These

structure must be made available to the learner at the appropriate time (a problem given the fact

that learners will usually be at different stages of 'readiness’ and using appropriate pedagogic

instruments. In effect, what he is arguing for is a view of grammar as a process rather than grammar

as a product. In other words, grammar learning should not be seen as the memorization of sets of

grammatical items, but as the raising to consciousness in the learner of the ways grammatical and

discourse processes operate and interact in the target language.

At this point, the view of grammar as process may seem rather abstract.

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5. Functional-notional syllabuses

The broader view of language provided by philosophers of language and sociolinguists was taken

up during the 1970s by those involved in language teaching, and began to be reflected in

syllabuses and course books. This is not to say that functional and situational aspects of language

use did not exist in earlier syllabuses, but that for the first time there was a large-·scale attempt to

incorporate this broader view of language systematically into the language syllabus. In particular,

it gave rise to what became known as functional-notional syllabus design.

Many teachers, on first encountering the terms ‘function’ and ·’notion’ find them confusing.

In general, functions may be described as the communicative purposes for which we use language,

while notions are the conceptual meanings (objects, entities, states of affairs, logical relationships.

and so on) expressed through language.

TASK 8 To check your understanding of the distinction between functions and notions, which items in the

following lists are functions and which are notions?

identifying

time

agreeing

direction

offering

equality

approving

cause

enquiring

greeting

frequency

advising

apologizing

existence

denying

ownership

duration

suggesting

size

warning

persuading

Finocchiaro and Brumfit suggest that functional-notionalism has the 'tremendous merit' of placing

the students and their communicative purposes at the center of the curriculum. They list the

following benefits of adopting a functional-notional orientation:

1. It sets realistic

2. learning tasks.

3. It provides for the teaching of everyday, real-world language.

4. It leads us to emphasize receptive (listening/reading) activities before rushing learners into

premature performance.

5. It recognizes that the speaker must have a real purpose for speaking, and something to

talk about.

6. Communication will be intrinsically motivating because it expresses basic communicative

functions.

7. It enables teachers to exploit sound psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic, linguistic and

educational principles.

8. It can develop naturally from existing teaching methodology.

9. It enables a spiral curriculum to be used which reintroduces grammatical, topical and

cultural material.

10. It allows for the development of flexible, modular courses.

11. It provides for the widespread promotion of foreign language courses.

(Finocchiaro and Brumfit 1983: 17)

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TASK 9 From your perspective, which three of the above reasons might prompt you to adopt a functional-

notional approach as it has been described?

6. Criticizing functional-notional syllabuses

As we have already seen, the two central issues for the syllabus designer concern ·the selection of

items for the syllabus and the grading and sequencing of these items.

TASK 10 What do you see as some of the advantages of adopting a functional-notional rather than a

grammatical approach to syllabus design?

What difficulties do you envisage for a syllabus designer attempting to address the issues of grading

and sequencing from a functional­notional perspective?

Syllabus planners find that when turning from structurally-based syllabus design to the design of

syllabuses based on functional-notional criteria, the selection and grading of items become much

more complex. Decisions about which items to include in the syllabus can no longer be made on

linguistic grounds alone, and designers need to include items which they imagine will help learners

to carry out the communicative purposes for which they need the language. In order to determine

what these purposes are, in addition to linguistic analyses of various sorts, it is also often necessary

to carry out some form of needs analysis. This is particularly so when developing syllabuses for

courses with a specific focus.

In developing functional-notional syllabuses, designers also need to look beyond linguistic

notions of simplicity and difficulty when it comes to grading items. Invoking grammatical criteria,

it is possible to say that simple Subject + Verb + Object (SVO) structures should be taught before

more complex clausal structures involving such things as relativization. However, the grading of

functional items becomes much more complex because there are few apparent objective means

for deciding that one functional item, for instance, 'apologizing' is either simpler or more difficult

than another item such as 'requesting'. Situational, contextual, and extra-linguistic factors which

are used to a certain extent in the selection and grading of content for grammatical syllabuses

become much more prominent and tend to complicate the issues of simplicity and difficulty.

Many of the criticisms which were made of grammatical syllabuses have also been made of

functional-notional syllabuses. Widdowson pointed out as long ago as 1979 that inventories of

functions and notions do not necessarily reflect the way languages are learned any more than do

inventories of grammatical points and lexical items. He also claims that dividing language into

discrete units of whatever type misrepresents the nature of language as communication.

TASK 11 Is this a reasonable criticism of functional-notional principles as these have been described by

Finocchiaro and Brumfit (1983), or does the criticism relate more to the way in which the principles

have been realized in practice?

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7. Analytic syllabuses

As we have already seen, syllabuses can be characterized as being either synthetic or analytic. In

this book, we shall follow Widdowson's lead and consider functional-notional syllabuses as

basically synthetic. When such syllabuses began to appear, they looked very similar to the

structural syllabuses they were meant to replace. In other words, while the units in such books

generally have functional labels, the content itself and the types of exercises which learners were

expected to undertake were very similar to those they replaced. Instead of learning about 'the

simple past' learners might now be required to ·talk about the things you did last weekend'.

Analytic syllabuses, in which learners are exposed to language which has not been

linguistically graded, are more likely to result from the use of experiential rather than linguistic

content as the starting point for syllabus design. Such content might be defined in terms of

situations, topics, themes or, following a suggestion advanced by Widdowson (1978; 1979), other

academic or school subjects. The stimulus for content-based syllabuses is the notion that, unlike

science, history, or mathematics, language is not a subject in its own right, but merely a vehicle for

communicating about something else.

The use of content from other subject areas has found its widest application in courses and

materials for ESP. However, this adoption has had its difficulties. Very often the learner has

extensive knowledge in the content domain and is frustrated by what is considered a trivialization

of that content. In addition, as Hutchinson and Waters note:

In the content-based model ...the student is frustrated because he is denied the language knowledge

that enables him to do the tasks set. Despite appearances to the contrary, the content-based model

is no more creative than the language-based model. Although communicative competence

encompasses more than just linguistic competence, linguistic competence is nevertheless an essential

element in communicative competence.

(Hutchinson and Waters 1983: 101)

Dissatisfaction with the content-based approach, as it was originally conceived, prompted some

applied linguists to focus on language as a process rather than as a product. Hutchinson and

Waters developed a model combining the four elements of content, input, language, and task. The

task component is central, and from it are derived relevant language and content.

The LANGUAGE and CONTENT focused on are drawn from the INPUT, and are selected primarily

according to what the learner will need in order to do the TASK. In other words, in the TASK the

linguistic knowledge and topic knowledge that are built up through the unit are applied to the solving

of a communication problem. (op. cit.: 102)

In 4 of section II, we shall examine in greater detail task-based syllabus proposals.

TASK 12 What assumptions about the nature of language learning are likely to be held by someone adhering

to an analytic approach, in which learners are confronted with language which has not been

linguistically graded?

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One major assumption is that language can be learned holistically, in 'chunks' as it were. This

contrasts with synthetic syllabuses in which it is assumed that we can only learn one thing at a

time; and that this learning is additive and linear.

While analytic approaches take some non-linguistic base as their point of departure, it

should not be assumed that analytic syllabus designers never use grammatical criteria in selecting

and grading content. While some may avoid the use of grammatical criteria, others incorporate

grammatical items into their syllabus as a second-order activity after the topics, situations, and so

on have been selected.

8. Conclusion

We have looked at approaches to syllabus design which focus on the end product or outcomes of

learning. Now, we shall look at proposals in which learning processes are incorporated into the

syllabus design. We shall see that, once consideration of learning processes is built into the

syllabus, the traditional distinction between syllabus design and methodology becomes difficult

to sustain.

II. Process-oriented syllabuses

1. Introduction

In section I we looked at syllabuses in which the focus was on the grammatical, functional, and

notional building blocks out of which courses of various types can be constructed. Initially, it

seemed that functional-notional principles would result in syllabuses which were radically different

from those based on grammatical principles. However, in practice, the new syllabuses were rather

similar to those they were intended to replace. In both syllabuses, the focus tended to be on the

end products or results of the teaching/learning process.

We saw that syllabuses in which the selection and grading of items was carried out on a

grammatical basis fell into disfavor because they failed adequately to reflect changing views on

the nature of language. In addition, there was sometimes a mismatch between what was taught

and what was learned. Some SLA researchers have claimed that this mismatch is likely to occur

when the grading of syllabus input is carried out according to grammatical rather than

psycholinguistic principles, while others suggest that the very act of linguistically selecting and

grading input will lead to distortion.

TASK 13 What alternatives do you see to the sorts of syllabuses dealt with so far?

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In recent years, some applied linguists have shifted focus from the outcomes of instruction, i.e. the

knowledge and skills to be gained by the learner, to the processes through which knowledge and

skills might be gained. In the rest of 4 we shall look at some of the proposals which have been

made. for process syllabuses of various sorts.

This shift in emphasis has been dramatized by the tendency to separate product-oriented

syllabus design issues from process-oriented ones. This has been most noticeable within the so-

called 'British' school of applied linguistics, in which the focus tends to be either on process or

product, but not on both. (This is despite the efforts of people such as Widdowson, Candlin, and

Breen to present a more balanced view. For a useful summary of the range of positions which can

be adopted on syllabus design, see the papers in the collection by Brumfit (1984a).)

In 1, I argued that the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the curriculum should be

seen as an integrated set of processes. If such a view is adopted, it becomes unnecessary to think

in terms either of a product­ oriented or a process-oriented approach. While relative emphases

will vary depending on the context, environment, and purposes for which language teaching is

taking place, both outcomes and processes will be specified.

Among other things, it was the realization that specifying functions and notions would not

in itself lead to the development of communicative language skills, which prompted the

development of process-oriented views. Widdowson suggests that a basic problem has been the

confusion of means and ends.

It is not that the structural syllabus denies the eventual communicative purpose of learning but that it

implies a different means to its achievement. It is often suggested that the designers of such syllabuses

supposed that the language was of its nature entirely reducible to the elements of formal grammar and

failed to recognize the reality of use. But this is a misrepresentation. Such syllabuses were proposed as

a means towards achieving language performance through the skills of listening, speaking, reading and

writing. That is to say, they were directed towards a communicative goal and were intended, no less

than the F/N syllabus as a preparation for use. The difference lies in the conception of the means to this

end. Structural syllabuses are designed on the assumption that it is the internalization of grammar

coupled with the exercise of linguistic skills in motor-perceptual manipulation (usage) which affords the

most effective preparation for the reality of communicative encounters (use).

(Widdowson 1987: 68)

Widdowson's argument here parallels the discussion in 2 on the nature of 'general English' and its

implications for the syllabus. There it was pointed out that classroom tasks could be justified, either

because they replicated the sorts of tasks that learners would need to carry out in the real world,

or because they stimulated internal learning processes. (There are tasks which could do both, of

course.) Widdowson argues that pedagogic tasks (i.e. those which would not be carried out in the

real world) can be thought of as an investment to be drawn on to meet unpredictable

communicative needs.

TASK 14 What assumptions about the nature of language learning can you discern in the above quote from

Widdowson?

What are some of the implications of these assumptions for syllabus design?

16

In section II we shall look at some of the ways in which these ideas have made their appearance

as proposals for 'procedural' or 'process' syllabuses. In 4.3 we shall look at proposals for 'task-

based' syllabuses.

2. Procedural syllabuses

Despite some differences in practice, the principles underlying procedural and task-based

syllabuses are very similar. In fact, they are seen as synonymous by Richards, Platt, and Weber

(1985), who describe them

both as follows:

...a syllabus which is organized around tasks, rather than in terms of grammar or vocabulary. For

example the syllabus may suggest a variety of different kinds of tasks which the learners are expected

to carry out in the language, such as using the telephone to obtain information; drawing maps based

on oral instructions; performing actions based on commands given in the target language; giving

orders and instructions to others, etc. It has been argued that this is a more effective way of learning

a language since it provides a purpose for the use and learning of a language other than simply

learning language items for their own sake.

(Richards, Platt, and Weber 1985: 289)

Both task-based and procedural syllabuses share a concern with the classroom processes which

stimulate learning. They therefore differ from syllabuses in which the focus is on the linguistic items

that students will learn or the communicative skills that they will be able to display as a result of

instruction. In both approaches, the syllabus consists, not of a list of items determined through

some form of linguistic analysis, nor of a description of what learners will be able to do at the end

of a course of study, but of the specification of the tasks and activities that learners will engage in

in class.

TASK 15 Which of the following planning tasks are likely to be most important to a procedural or task-based

syllabus designer?

needs analysis

specification of real-world learning goals

specification of linguistic content

specification of topics and themes

specification of performance objectives

specification of learning tasks and activities

One particular proposal which has been widely promoted is the 'Bangalore Project' of which N. S.

Prabhu was the principal architect. Until recently, there was relatively little information on this

project, but this has changed with the publication of Prabhu's Second Language Pedagogy.

Attempts to systematize inputs to the learner through a linguistically organized syllabus, or to

maximize the practice of particular parts of language structure through activities deliberately planned

17

for that purpose were regarded as being unhelpful to the development of grammatical competence

and detrimental to the desired preoccupation with meaning in the classroom ...it was decided that

teaching should consequently be concerned with creating conditions for coping with meaning in the

classroom, to the exclusion of any deliberate regulation of the development of grammatical

competence or a mere simulation of language behavior.

(Prabhu 1987: 1-2)

…the issue was thus one of the nature of grammatical knowledge to be developed: if the desired form

of knowledge was such that it could operate subconsciously, it was best for it to develop

subconsciously as well.

(op. cit.: 14-15)

…while the conscious mind is working out some of the meaning-content, a subconscious part of the

mind perceives, abstracts, or acquires (or recreates, as a cognitive structure) some of the linguistic

structuring embodied in those entities, as a step in the development of an internal system of rules.

(op. cit.: 59-60)

TASK 16 What assumptions about the nature of language learning are revealed by these extracts?

To what extent does your own experience lead you to agree or disagree with these assumptions?

(For a different perspective, you might like to read Breen (1987), and Somerville-Ryan (1987), who

emphasize the role of the learner in process syllabus design. It is also worth reading Rutherford

(1987) for a very different view of grammar-learning as process.)

Prabhu provides the following three task 'types' which were used in the project.

1. Information-gap activity, which involves a transfer of given information from one person

to another- or from one form or another, or from one place to another- generally calling

for the decoding or encoding of information from or into language.

2. Reasoning-gap activity, which involves deriving some new information from given

information through processes of inference, deduction, practical reasoning, or a

perception of relationships or patterns.

3. Opinion-gap activity, which involves identifying and articulating a personal preference,

feeling, or attitude in response to a given situation.

(op. cit.: 46-7)

TASK 17 During the course of the project, teachers came to prefer reasoning­ gap activities over the other two

types.

Can you suggest why this might have been so?

What would be the major differences between a procedural syllabus and a traditional grammatical

syllabus?

One possible criticism of the Bangalore Project is that no guidance is provided on the selection of

problems and tasks, nor how these might relate to the real-world language needs of the learners.

In other words, the focus is exclusively on learning processes and there is little or no attempt to

relate these processes to outcomes.

18

TASK 18 Do you think that this is a reasonable criticism?

How important is it for a syllabus to specify both learning processes and outcomes?

Can you think of any teaching contexts in which it might be less important than others to specify

outcomes?

3. Task-based syllabuses

We shall now look at some other proposals for the use of tasks as the point of departure in syllabus

design. The selection of 'task' as a basic building block has been justified on several grounds, but

most particularly for pedagogic and psycholinguistic reasons. Long and Crookes (1986) cite

general educational literature which suggests that tasks are a more salient· unit of planning for

teachers than objectives; Candlin (1987) provides a pedagogic rationale, while Long (1985) looks

to SLA research (although, as we saw in 3, SLA research can be invoked to support contrary views

on syllabus design).

TASK 19 How do you think the term 'task' might be defined by language syllabus designers?

Despite its rather recent appearance on the syllabus scene, 'task-based' covers several divergent

approaches. Two recent definitions of 'task' are provided below.

…a piece of work undertaken for oneself or for others, freely or for some reward. Thus, examples of

tasks include painting a fence, dressing a child, filling out a form, buying a pair of shoes, making an

airline reservation . . . In other words, by "task" is meant the hundred and one things people do in

everyday life.

(Long 1985: 89)

…an activity or action which is carried out as the result of processing or understanding language (i.e.

as a response). For example, drawing a map while listening to an instruction and performing a

command… A task usually requires the teacher to specify what will be regarded as successful

completion of the task.

(Richards, Platt, and Weber 1985: 289)

TASK 20 A distinction which is not always made in the literature is between real-world tasks (i.e. those tasks

that the learner might be called upon to perform in real life) and pedagogic tasks (those tasks the

learner is required to carry out in the classroom).

To what extent are the authors of the above statements referring to real-world or pedagogic tasks?

Just as writers on task-based syllabus design have offered different definitions of 'task', so have

they adopted different approaches to the selection of tasks. Thus Candlin (1987) chooses to

articulate pedagogic criteria for task-selection while Long (1985) advocates a form of needs

analysis as the starting point.

19

Candlin offers the following criteria for judging the worth of tasks. Good tasks, he suggests,

should:

promote attention to meaning, purpose, negotiation

encourage attention to relevant data

draw objectives from the communicative needs of learners

allow for flexible approaches to the task, offering different routes, media, modes of

participation, procedures

allow for different solutions depending on the skills and strategies drawn on by learners

involve learner contributions, attitudes, and affects

be challenging but not threatening, to promote risk-taking

require input from all learners in terms of knowledge, skills, participation

define a problem to be worked through by learners, centered on the learners but guided

by the teacher

involve language use in the solving of the task

allow for co-evaluation by the learner and teacher of the task and of the performance of

the task

develop the learners' capacities to estimate consequences and repercussions of the task in

question

provide opportunities for metacommunication and metacognition (i.e. provide

opportunities for learners to talk about communication and about learning)

provide opportunities for language practice

promote learner-training for problem-sensing and problem-solving (i.e. identifying and

solving problems)

promote sharing of information and expertise

provide monitoring and feedback, of the learner and the task

heighten learners' consciousness of the process and encourage reflection (i.e. to sensitize

learners to the learning processes in which they are participating)

promote a critical awareness about data and the processes of language learning

ensure cost-effectiveness and a high return on investment (i.e. the effort to master given

aspects of the language should be functionally useful, either for communicating beyond

the classroom, or in. terms of the cognitive and affective development of the learner).

TASK 21 From the above list, select the five criteria which seem to you to be the most useful for selecting tasks.

What guided you in your choice?

What are some of the things which might need to be specified when designing pedagogic tasks?

Doyle (1979; 1983), working within a general educational context, was one of the first to suggest

that the curriculum could be viewed as a collection of academic tasks. He maintains that tasks will

need to specify the following:

1. the products students are to formulate

2. the operations that are required to generate the product

20

3. the resources available to the student to generate the product.

(Doyle 1983: 161)

A similar, though more comprehensive set of elements, is proposed by Shavelson and Stern (1981)

who suggest that in planning instructional tasks, teachers need to consider:

1. the subject matter to be taught

2. materials, i.e. those things the learner will observe/manipulate

3. the activities the teacher and learners will be carrying out

4. the goals for the task

5. the abilities, needs and interests of the students

6. the social and cultural context of instruction.

This list is so comprehensive that with a little rearrangement, and the addition of assessment and

evaluation components, it could form the basis for a comprehensive curriculum model.

TASK 22 What, in your opinion, would need to be added to the list for it to form the basis for a comprehensive

curriculum model?

Long, who uses needs analysis as his point of departure, offers the following procedure for

developing a task-based syllabus:

The purpose of a needs identification is to obtain information which will determine the content of a

language teaching programme, i.e. to provide input for syllabus design.

Inventories of tasks that result from the type of analysis described above are necessary for this

purpose, but insufficient.

They are only the raw data and must be manipulated in various ways before they are transformed into

a syllabus usable in classroom teaching. The steps in this process are as follows:

1. Conduct a needs analysis to obtain an inventory of target tasks.

2. Classify the target tasks into task types.

3. From the task types, derive pedagogical tasks.

4. Select and sequence the pedagogical tasks to form a task syllabus.

(Long 1985: 91)

TASK 23 In terms of the process-product orientation already discussed, in what way is Long's proposal different

from that of Prabhu?

Long's final step raises the issue of grading, which, as we have seen, is one of the central steps in

syllabus construction. It could be argued that any proposal failing to offer criteria for grading and

sequencing can hardly claim to be a syllabus at all.

21

TASK 24 What difficulties do you foresee in grading the tasks and activities in a task-based syllabus?

It is generally assumed that difficulty is the key factor in determining the ordering of items in a

syllabus. Ali things being equal, items are presented to learners according to their degree of difficulty.

The problem for the task-based syllabus designer is that a variety of factors will interact to determine

task difficulty. In addition, as some of these factors will be dependent on characteristics of the learner,

what is difficult for Learner A may not necessarily be difficult for Learner B.

TASK 25 Suggest some of the factors which you think might have a bearing on task difficulty·.

Most of the applied linguists who have explored the concept of communicative language teaching

in general, and task-based syllabus design in particular, have addressed the issue of difficulty,

although the factors they identify vary somewhat. They include the degree of contextual support

provided to the learner, the cognitive difficulty of the task, the amount of assistance provided to

the learner, the complexity of the language which the learner is required to process and produce,

the psychological stress involved in carrying out the task, and the amount and type of background

knowledge required. (We shall examine the issue of task difficulty in 7).

The development of process and task-based syllabuses represents a change of focus rather

than a revolution in syllabus design. Until fairly recently the preoccupation has been with the

outcomes of instruction rather than with the pedagogic processes which are most likely to lead to

these outcomes. While any comprehensive. syllabus design will still need to specify outcomes, and

to provide links between classroom processes and real-world communicative goals, they will also

need to provide principles for selecting classroom learning tasks and activities. We shall look at

this issue in greater detail in 5.

4. Content syllabuses

In 3 we saw that the content syllabus is yet another realization of the analytic approach to syllabus

design. It differs from task-based syllabuses in that experiential content, which provides the point of

departure for the syllabus, is usually derived from some fairly well-defined subject area. This might

be other subjects in a school curriculum such as science or social studies, or specialist subject matter

relating to an academic or technical field such as mechanical engineering, medicine, or computing.

Whether content syllabuses exemplify product or process syllabuses is a matter for

conjecture. In fact, most of them would probably be located at the center of the product/process

continuum. I have included them in the discussion on process syllabuses because it seems that the

best work being done in the area focuses on process rather than product. (See, for example, the

work of Hutchinson and Waters (1983) in ESP.)

TASK 26 What might be some of the advantages, as you see them, of adopting another subject area as the

basis for syllabus design?

22

By selecting subject areas such as those just mentioned, the syllabus is given a logic and coherence

which might be missing from analytic syllabuses which are little more than a random collection of

tasks. In addition, the logic of the subject may provide a non-linguistic rationale for selecting and

grading content.

In Australia, much of the teaching in adult ESL classes is content oriented. Syllabuses take as

their point of departure the skills and knowledge which syllabus planners and teachers feel is

important for new arrivals. Units of work thus appear with labels such as 'health', 'education', and

'social services'. While the relevance of this content might seem obvious, many learners are

confused by content-oriented courses, thinking they have strayed into a settlement rather than a

language programme. In such cases, it is important for teachers to negotiate with the learners and

demonstrate the relationship between language and content.

In a recent publication, Mohan (1986) argues for content-based syllabuses on the grounds

that they facilitate learning not merely through language but with language.

We cannot achieve this goal if we assume that language learning and subject-matter learning are

totally separate and unrelated operations. Yet language and subject matter are still standardly

considered in isolation from each other.

(Mohan 1986: iii)

Mohan develops a knowledge framework which can be used for organizing knowledge and

learning activities. The knowledge framework consists of a specific, practical side and a general,

theoretical side. The specific side is divided into description, sequence, and choice, while the

general side is divided into classification, principles, and evaluation. It is suggested that any topic

can be exploited in terms of these six categories, and that the knowledge structure of a topic is

revealed through the following types of questions:

(A) Specific practical aspects

(particular examples, specific cases within the topic)

1. Description Who, what, where? What persons, materials, equipment, items, settings?

2. Sequence What happens? What happens next? What is the plot? What are the processes,

procedures, or routines?

3. Choice What are the choices, conflicts, alternatives, dilemmas, decisions?

(B) General theoretical aspects

(What are the general concepts, principles, and values in the topic material?)

1. Classification What concepts apply? How are they related to each other?

2. Principles What principles are there? (cause-effect, means-end, methods and techniques,

rules, norms, strategies?)

3. Evaluation What values and standards are appropriate? What counts as good or bad?

(Adapted from Mohan 1986: 36-7)

23

The knowledge framework is reflected in the classroom through activities, which Mohan calls

'combinations of action and theoretical understanding', and which are realized through action

situations. Mohan claims that any action situation contains the elements listed in the knowledge

framework; that is, description, sequence, and choice, along with the theoretical counterparts of

classification, principles, and evaluation. The action situations can be presented to learners through

the familiar pedagogical tools of picture sequences and dialogues.

TASK 27 Mohan's proposal is yet another example of an approach to language teaching in which the focus is

on the development of language through classroom activities which are designed to promote

cognitive skills. What parallels are there between Prabhu's process syllabus, and Mohan's content-

based proposal?

Do you have any criticisms or reservations about Mohan's proposals?

In a recent review of Mohan's book, it is suggested that:

One basic problem is the author's assumption that the knowledge structures included in his

organizational framework are indeed the relevant structures. What evidence is there that there are

three, and only three, relevant practical knowledge structures? ...a second assumption made in this

approach to the integration of language and content is that moving from the practical to the

theoretical is the direction most desirable for teaching and learning. Is this direction best for all

learners, or do some learn better when they begin from a theoretical base? The level of maturity of

the learner, individual learning strategies and previous learning experience may play important roles

in optimal sequencing.

(Perry 1987: 141)

5. The natural approach

The so called 'natural approach' has been most comprehensively described by Krashen and Terrell

(1983). Like Long's task-based proposal, the principles underpinning the approach are claimed to

be based on empirical research and can be summarized as follows:

1. The goal of the Natural Approach is communication skills.

2. Comprehension precedes production.

3. Production emerges (i.e. learners are not forced to respond).

4. Activities which promote subconscious acquisition rather than conscious learning are

central.

5. The affective filter is lowered.

(After Krashen and Terrell 1983: 58)

TASK 28 Do you disagree with any of these principles?

Consider the principles you do agree with: Do you think we need empirical evidence on these, or are

they just common sense?

Do you think that Krashen and Terrell can legitimately claim authorship of principles such as 'develop

communication skills'?

24

For which of the principles would you like to see firm evidence?

Krashen and Terrell develop a simple typology, claiming that most learning goals can be divided

into one of two categories: basic personal communication skills and academic learning skills, and

that these can be further subdivided into oral and written modes.

TASK 29 How useful is this typology?

Can you think of learning goals which do not fit the typology?

Do you think that the approach might be more suited to basic personal communication skills or

academic learning skills?

The authors of the approach claim that:

The Natural Approach is designed to develop basic personal communication skills - both oral and

written. It was not developed specifically to teach academic learning skills, although it appears

reasonable to assume that a good basis in the former will lead to greater success in the latter.

(Krashen and Terrell 1983: 67)

TASK 30 Just how reasonable is the assumption that the development of communication skills will facilitate

the development of academic learning skills?

What view of language would seem to underly this assertion?

The basis of this approach seems to be the assumption that language consists of a single

underlying psychological skill, and that developing the ability, say, to understand the radio will

assist the learner to comprehend academic lectures.

Another major weakness in the approach taken by Krashen and Terrell is the assumption

that learning takes place in a social vacuum, and that social aspects of the learning environment

(in particular, the classroom) are irrelevant to what and how learners learn. Such an assumption

has been questioned by Breen (1985) who suggests that:

How things are done and why they are done have particular psychological significance for the

individual and for the group. The particular culture of a language class will socially act in certain ways,

but these actions are extensions or manifestations of the psychology of the group ...What is significant

for learners (and a teacher) in a classroom is not only their individual thinking and behavior, nor, for

instance, their longer-term mastery of a syllabus, but the day-to-day interpersonal rationalization of

what is to be done, why, and how.

(Breen 1985: 149)

6. Syllabus design and methodology

It would seem, with the development of process, task-based, and content syllabuses, that the

traditional distinction between syllabus design (specifying the 'what') and methodology

(specifying the 'how') has become blurred.

Widdowson takes a rather traditional line on this matter, suggesting that a syllabus is the

25

…specification of a teaching programme or pedagogic agenda which defines a particular subject for

a particular group of learners.

Such a specification provides not only a characterization of content, the formalization in pedagogic

terms of an area of knowledge or behavior, but also arranges this content as a succession of interim

objectives.

(Widdowson 1987: 65)

He further suggests that the two syllabus archetypes, structural and functional-notional, exhaust

the possibilities for the syllabus designer. Both types assume certain methodological practices. The

structural syllabus, 'will tend to promote activities which serve to internalize the formal properties

of language' (op. cit.: 71). The danger of this type of syllabus is that learners may not be able to

use their linguistic knowledge in actual communication. The functional-notional syllabus will

promote activities which attempt to replicate in class 'real' communication. Classroom activities

thus become a 'dress rehearsal' for real-life encounters.

TASK 31 The danger of the 'dress rehearsal' methodology, according to Widdowson, is that learners may not

be able to transfer what they have learned to new situations but will only be able to perform in the

limited situations which they have rehearsed.

Do you agree or disagree with this view? What evidence do you have for your belief?

To what extent do you think learners can transfer functional skills from one situation or context to

another? (Do you, for example, believe that someone who has learned to provide personal details in

a job interview will also be able to provide details to a doctor's receptionist? Would such a person be

able to provide personal details about their child to a teacher? Would they be able to ask for

directions?)

How do these issues relate to the discussion in 2 on 'general' and 'specific' English?

Widdowson proposes the following methodological solution:

[the methodology would engage the learners in problem-solving tasks as purposeful activities but

without the rehearsal requirement that they should be realistic or 'authentic' as natural social

behavior. The process of solving such problems would involve a conscious and repeated reference to

the formal properties of the language, not in the abstract dissociated from use, but as a necessary

resource for the achievement of communicative outcomes.

(op. cit.: 71-2)

TASK 32 Compare this statement to those made by Prabhu, Long, and Krashen and Terrell.

What are the similarities and differences between the various proposals?

What are the implications of Widdowson's view for syllabus design?

TASK 33 Widdowson's view would seem to deny that process or task-based syllabuses, in which the 'how' and

the 'what' are intertwined, are syllabuses at all.

Do you accept the dissociation of syllabus design issues from those of methodology?

26

Do you believe that process and task-based syllabuses represent legitimate approaches to syllabus

design?

In contrast with Widdowson's view that process considerations belong to methodology, Breen

claims that process considerations (i.e. the means rather than the ends) can properly be considered

the province of syllabus design.

An alternative orientation would prioritize the route itself: a focusing upon the means towards the

learning of a new language. Here the designer would give priority to the changing process of learning

and the potential of the classroom - to the psychological and social resources applied to a new

language by learners in the classroom context. One result of this change of focus would be that the

syllabus could become a plan for the gradual creation of the real syllabus of the classroom, jointly

and explicitly undertaken by teacher and learners. Such a plan would be about designing a syllabus

and, therefore, a guide and servant for the map-making capacities of its users. Primarily it would be a

plan for the activity of learning within the classroom group.

(Breen 1984: 52)

7. Grading tasks

The issue of grading was touched upon in 4.3. Here we shall take a further look at the grading of

elements in process syllabuses.

Standard texts on language teaching have tended to categorize classroom activities

according to the demands they make on the learner. It has generally been assumed that the

receptive skills of listening and reading make fewer demands than the productive skills of speaking

and writing. Standard treatments of activity types, which are divided according to their principal

macroskill focus, can be found in Rivers (1968) and Chastain (1976). For a more comprehensive

and contemporary treatment of speaking and listening, refer to Bygate: Speaking and Anderson

and Lynch: Listening in this Scheme. Wright: Roles of Teachers and Learners also deals with task

types and the sorts of language they stimulate.

The development of communicative language teaching with its focus on meaning has led to

the use of more authentic materials. These, naturally enough, contain a range of linguistic structures,

which has meant that grammatical criteria alone cannot be used as a yardstick of difficulty.

Nunan (1985) presents a typology of activity types in which difficulty is determined by the

cognitive and performance demands made upon the learner, i.e. activity type is categorized

according to type of learner response (see Figure 1). The typology exploits the traditional

comprehension/production distinction and adds an interaction element (recent classroom-based

research suggests that interactive language use in which learners are required to negotiate

meaning can stimulate processes of second language acquisition).

27

Figure 1: Activity type categorized according to learner responses (Nunan 1985)

Using the typology, it is possible to take a given text or piece of source material such as dialogue,

a map or chart, a radio weather report, a newspaper article, etc. and exploit it by devising activities

at different levels of difficulty. At a basic level, with an aural text, learners might be required to

respond non-verbally by raising their hand every time a given key word is heard. Using the same

text with much more advanced learners, the task might be to discuss and answer in small groups

a set of questions requiring inferences to be derived from the text.

TASK 34 How comprehensive is this typology? Can you think of activity types which are not covered?

How useful do you think the typology might be for grading tasks in a process syllabus?

The following example illustrates the way in which a given text (in this case an aura) text) is

processed at increasing levels of sophistication following the typology suggested by Nunan.

Material Source

Interview adapted from an authentic source

Interviewer: Have you got a family, Doris?

Doris: Family? Yeah, I've got a family all right. My father's still alive, His name's Jack. He's

still with us all right.

Interviewer: What about your husband?

Doris: Bert. That's my husband. That's him in the-photo, there.

Interviewer: I see. What about children?

Doris: Three, I've got three children. Two sons and a daughter. The sons are Peter and Jack,

and my daughter's called Nancy. Nancy's the youngest - she's only eighteen.

28

Activities

Level 1: Processing

Response: physical, non-verbal

Pre-teach the words 'father', 'husband', 'sons', 'daughter'. Play the tape. Every time students hear

these words they put up their hands.

Response: non-physical, non-verbal

Pre-teach the words 'father', 'husband', 'sons', 'daughter'. Students sight read the words on the

grid. Play the tape. Every time students hear the words they place a tick in the appropriate box.

father

mother

sons

daughter

Response: non-physical, non-verbal

Pre-teach the words 'father', 'husband', 'sons', 'daughter'.

Give the students a written gapped version of the text. Play the tape and get students to fill) in the

gaps.

Level 2: Productive

Repetition

Get students to listen and repeat.

Cue: Have you got a family?

Have you got any children? Have you got a son?

Have you got a daughter?

Response: drill

Get students to listen and complete.

Cue: Have you got a family (any children)?

Response: Have you got any children?

Cue: a son

Response: Have you got a son?

Cue: a daughter

Response: Have you got a daughter?

Cue: an uncle

Response: Have you got an uncle?

etc.

Response: meaningful practice

Put students into_ pairs and get them to ask and answer questions using cue cards.

A Have you got (a/an/any) _________________? family/ children/ son/ daughter/

uncle/ aunt/ niece/ nephew

29

Level 3: Interactive

Simulated: role-play

Give each student a role card which contains a persona and a family tree. Students have to circulate

and find members of their family.

Real: discussion

Put students into small groups and ask them to take turns at describing their families using the

structures already practiced.

Real: problem solving

Students are given a blank family tree. They are split into three groups, and each group hears an

incomplete description of the family.

They work together to fill in their part of the family tree and then join with members of other

groups to complete the family tree.

With ESP and content-based syllabuses, an obvious means of grading content is with reference to

concepts associated with the subject in question. In subjects involving science and mathematics,

there are certain concepts which should logically precede others. Whether in fact such conceptual

grading is appropriate for second language learners is another matter, and one which will probably

vary from subject to subject. It will also depend on the extent to which the learner is familiar with

the subject.

In Mohan's knowledge framework, task difficulty is determined by cognitive complexity. On the

specific practical side, tasks which focus on description are simpler than those involving sequence, and

these, in turn, are simpler than tasks involving choice. On the corresponding theoretical side,

classification is simpler than the identification of principles, which is simpler than evaluation.

Brown and Yule (1983) devote considerable attention to task difficulty. They suggest that

listening tasks can be graded with reference to speaker, intended listener, and content.

When listening to a tape, the fewer the speakers, the easier the text will be to follow.

Following one speaker will be easier than following two, following two will be easier than following

three, and so on. According to Brown and Yule, even native speakers have difficulty following a

taped conversation which involves four or more participants.

In relation to the intended listener, they suggest that texts, particularly 'authentic' texts which

are not addressed to the listener, may be boring to the learner and therefore difficult to process.

They go on to state that:

...it is, in principle, not possible to find material which would interest everyone. It follows that the

emphasis should be moved from attempting to provide intrinsically interesting materials, which we

have just claimed is generally impossible, to doing interesting things with materials ...these materials

should be chosen, not so much on the basis of their own interest, but for what they can be used to

do.

(Brown and Yule 1983: 83)

30

In considering content, they confess that surprisingly little is known about what constitutes

'difficult' content. The problem here, as Nunan (1984) demonstrates, is that there is an interaction

between the linguistic difficulty of a text and the amount of background knowledge which the

listener or reader is able to exploit in comprehending the text.

In summary then, a listening text which involves more than one speaker, which is not

addressed to the listener, and in which the topic is unfamiliar to the listener will be more difficult

to comprehend than a monologue on a familiar topic which is addressed to the listener.

In relation to speaking tasks, Brown and Yule suggest that:

Taking short turns is generally easier than long turns. Talking to a familiar, sympathetic individual is

less demanding than talking to an unfamiliar, uninvolved individual or group. Something one knows

about and has well-organized in memory is naturally easier to talk about than a new topic or

experience which has little internal organization in itself.

(op. cit.: 107)

In addition, the text type will have an effect on difficulty. According to Brown and Yule, straight

descriptions will be easier than instructions, which will be easier than storytelling. Providing and

justifying opinions will be the most difficult. Also, within each genre, the number of elements,

properties, relationships, and characters will also have an effect on difficulty, as is demonstrated in

Figure 2.

description description/instruction storytelling opinion­ expressing

more

difficult

many elements, properties, relationships, characters or factors which may be difficult to

distinguish from each other

less

difficult

few elements, properties, relationships, characters or factors which are easily distinguished

one from the next

Figure 2: Factors determining difficulty of listening texts (Brown and Yule 1983: 107)

Candlin (1987) offers the following factors as likely to be significant in determining difficulty:

cognitive load (the complexity of the mental operation to be carried out; for instance

Candlin suggests that tasks which require learners to follow a clear chronological sequence

will be easier than a task in which there is no such clear development)

communicative stress (the stress caused by the context, which will be determined by such

things as the learner's knowledge of the subject at hand and relationship with the other

individuals taking part in the interaction)

particularity and generalizability (the extent to which the tasks follow a universal or

stereotyped pattern)

code complexity and interpretive density (the complexity of the language particularly in

terms of the sorts of processing constraints described by SLA researchers and the extent

to which the learners are required to interpret what they hear or read)

31

content continuity (the extent to which the content relates to the real-world interests or

needs of the learners)

process continuity (the coherence, continuity, and interrelatedness of tasks)

Long suggests that tasks requiring a one-way transfer of information should precede those

requiring a two-way exchange, that convergent tasks should precede divergent ones, that tasks in

the 'here and now' should precede ones involving displaced time and space, and that intellectual

content should be a factor in grading tasks (Long 1987).

One of the most comprehensive treatments of listening task difficulty is that offered by

Anderson and Lynch: Listening in this Scheme. They identify a range of factors which influence

difficulty. These can be attributed either to the listener, the listening material, or the task. The

following factors have been extracted from their book (you are referred to the original for a

comprehensive treatment of listening task difficulty):

the sequence in which information is presented

the familiarity of the listener with the topic

the explicitness of the information contained in the text

the type of input

the type and scope of the task to be carried out

the amount of support provided to the listener

TASK 35 Review the work of Anderson and Lynch, Brown and Yule, Candlin, Long, Nunan, and Mohan

presented in 4 and create your own list of all those factors likely to affect the difficulty of a task.

8. Conclusion

We have looked at proposals which focus on learning processes rather than on the end products

of these processes. This does not mean that all such syllabuses do not, at some stage, include a

specification of what learners should be able to do as a result of instruction. However, if and when

grammatical, functional, ·and notional elements are considered, this happens as a second-order

activity.

With the adoption of procedural, task-based, content-based, and other non-linguistic

approaches to syllabus design, the distinction between syllabus design and methodology becomes

blurred.

32

Conversationally speaking: approaches to

the teaching of conversation

The ''conversation class" is something of an enigma in language teaching. In some language

programs it is an opportunity for untrained native speakers to get students to talk for the duration

of a class period, using whatever resources and techniques the teacher can think of. In language

programs where trained language teachers are available, they are often left to their own resources

and encouraged to dip into whatever materials they choose in order to provide practice in both

"accuracy" and "fluency." Consequently the content of conversation classes varies widely. In one

class the teacher's primary emphasis might be on problem solving. Students work on

communication games and tasks in pairs or small groups with relatively little direct teacher input.

In another class, the teacher might have a more active role, employing grammar and pronunciation

drills and structured oral tasks. A third teacher may use the conversation class as an opportunity

for unstructured free discussion, while in another class the teacher might have students work on

situational dialogues such as "At the bank" and "At the supermarket."

Part of the difficulty in deciding what to do in the conversation class is due to the nature of

conversation itself. What is conversation and what is involved in producing fluent, appropriate,

and intelligible conversation? Can conversation be taught or is it something that is acquired simply

by doing it? What principles can be used in planning a conversation program and in developing

classroom activities and materials? These questions are addressed in this reading by first

examining the nature of conversation, and then considering the implications for planning an

approach to the teaching of conversation.

The nature of conversation

Conversation is a multifaceted activity. In order to appreciate the complex nature of conversation

and conversational fluency, some of the most important dimensions of conversation are examined

here: the purposes of conversation, turn-taking, topics, repair, formal features of conversation, and

the notion of fluency.

33

Purposes of conversation

Conversations serve a variety of purposes. Two different kinds of conversational interaction can be

distinguished - those in which the primary focus is on the exchange of information (the

transactional function of conversation), and those in which the primary purpose is to establish and

maintain social relations (the interactional function of conversation) (Brown and Yule 1983). In

transactional uses of conversation the primary focus is on the message, whereas interactional uses

of conversation focus primarily on the social needs of the participants. Approaches to the teaching

of both conversation and listening comprehension are fundamentally affected by whether the

primary purposes involved are transactional or interactional.

Conversation also reflects the rules and procedures that govern face­to-face encounters, as

well as the constraints that derive from the use of spoken language. This is seen in the nature of

turns, the role of copies, how speakers repair trouble spots, as well as the syntax and register of

conversational discourse.

Turn-taking

Conversation is a collaborative process. A speaker does not say everything he or she wants to say

in a single utterance. Conversations progress as a series of "turns"; at any moment, the speaker

may become the listener. Basic to the management of the collaborative process in conversation is

the turn-taking system.

A basic rule of conversation is that only one person speaks at a time, and in North American

settings participants work to ensure that talk is continuous. Silence or long pauses are considered

awkward and embarrassing, even though in other cultures this is not the case. Successful

management and control of the turn-taking system in conversation involves control of a number

of strategies (Wardhaugh 1985).

Strategies for taking a turn. These involve ways of entering into a conversation or raking over the

role of speaker, and include

using interjections to signal a request for a turn, such as "Mm-hmm," "Yeah," and rising

intonation

using facial or other gestures to indicate a wish to take a turn

accepting a turn offered by another speaker by responding to a question or by providing

the second part of an adjacency pair (e.g., expressing thanks in response to a compliment)

completing or adding to something said by the speaker

Strategies for holding a turn. These involve indicating that one has more to say - for example,

through intonation or by using; expressions to suggest continuity, such as "First," "Another thing,"

"Then."

Strategies for relinquishing the turn. These are devices used to firing the other person(s) into the

conversation, and include

34

using adjacency pairs, requiring the other person to provide the sequence, such as with

the adjacency pair challenge-denial:

A: You look tired.

B: l feel fine.

using phonologic signals, such as slowing down the final syllables of an utterance and

increasing the pitch change to signal completion of the turn

pausing to provide an opportunity for someone to take up the turn

using a facial or bodily gesture to signal that a turn is finished

Participants in conversation are involved in ongoing evaluation of each other's utterances to judge

appropriate places to take up the turn to talk. As Slade (1986: 79) observes:

Turn taking and turn assignment in conversation can be difficult for a second language

speaker. A learner who mistimes his entry into conversation or who is unfamiliar with the correct

formulae can give the impression of being "pushy" or, conversely, over-reticent.

In addition to use of turn-taking strategies, speakers are required to use: both short and long

turns (Brown and Yule 1983). A short turn consists of one or two utterances:

A: Did you like the movie?

B: It was all right.

A: Who was in it?

B: Shelley Long.

A long turn might be required for a speaker to explain an opinion, describe something, or tell a

joke or a story. For example, the following speaker is recounting an encounter with a cockroach

during an examination.

We were sitting for our analytical chemistry exam and it was the final exam. And they have sort

of like bench desks where there’s three to a bench normally and they had the middle seat empty –

and two sat either side, and I was sitting there and I thought, "Geez I can feel something on my foot."

And I thought, "No, no, Don't worry about it," you know, "What on earth is this chemical equation?"

and I’m trying to think. But there´s something on my foot and I looked down and there was this

cockroach like - and I just screamed and jumped up on the chair. (Slade 1986: 86)

The inability to take up long turns in conversation is a feature of many second language

speakers, who keep to short turns and appear to be less than collaborative conversational partners.

The role of topics

The way topics are selected for discussion within conversation and the strategies speakers use to

introduce, develop, or change topics within conversations constitute another important dimension

of conversational management. For example, coherent conversation respects norms concerning

the choice of topics. Questions concerning one's age, salary, and marital status may be appropriate

on first encounters in some cultures, but not in others. Coulthard (1977: 75-6) comments:

An initial question is what sort of things can and do form topics in conversation? Some topics

are not relevant to particular conversations ... and the suitability of other topics depends on the

person one is talking to. We experience, see, hear about events all the time ... Some are tellable to

35

everyone, some have a restricted audience, some must be told immediately, and some can wait

and still retain their interest.

Part of the structure of conversational openings has to do with the positioning of topics

within the conversation, as Schegloff and Sacks (1973) point out. The participants select a topic as

first topic through a process of negotiation. The first topic, however, may be held back until the

conversation develops to a point where it can be appropriately introduced. For example, a

conversation may open:

A: What's up?

B: Not much. What's up with you?

A: Nothing.

Later, after possible preambles, one of the participants may go on to introduce a topic such as a

job offer, which could have been given as a direct response to "What's up?". As Goffman points

out, conversationalists might want to "talk past" some topics initially, waiting until a much later

time to introduce a sensitive issue, "all of which management requires some understanding of

issues such as delicacy''(Goffman 1976: 268). Schegloff and Sacks have also pointed out that in

telephone conversations there is often a preamble to the first topic that offers the possibility of

closing the conversation, should the other speaker so desire, such as "Did I wake you up?" or "Are

you busy?", which if declined becomes a presequence for topic talk.

Winskowski (1977, 1978) refers to topicalizing behavior, by which is meant bringing up

topics, responding to other people's topics, mentioning something, avoiding the mention of

something, carrying the discussion one step further, and so on - the creating of topic in the activity.

With this focus on topic as process, topic behavior can often be seen to consist of rounds of topical

turns that are reciprocally addressed and replied to, as in the following example:

A: Oh nothing, we're just cleaning up. We had dinner. What's new? B: Nothing much. l still

got a cold.

A: Oh, has it improved at all, hopefully?

B: Yeah, it's gotten better, it's gotten better. It'll be all right tomorrow. It better because I'm

going out tomorrow.

(Winskowski 1977: 86)

Hatch (1978) emphasizes that second language learners need a wide range of topics at their

disposal. Initially, learners may depend on ", canned topics." Although they may get by with their

ability to answer questions about recurring topics, such as how long they have been in the country,

their occupation, and family, learners need practice in introducing new topics into conversation in

order to move beyond this stage.

They should practice nominating topics about which they are prepared to speak. They should

do lots of listening comprehension for topic nominations of native speakers. They should practice

predicting questions for a large number of topics… They should be taught ... elicitation devices... to

get topic clarification. That is, they should practice saying "huh," echoing parts of sentences they do

not understand in order to get the rest of it recycled again, "pardon me, excuse me, I didn't

36

understand etc." Nothing stops the opportunity to carry on a conversation quicker than silence or

the use of "yes" and head-nodding when the learner does not understand. (Hatch 1978: 434)

Learners also need to be able to follow the flow of a topic through conversation. Knowledge

of the real world in the form of schema knowledge is one source of information the learner can make

use of predicting and anticipating questions and the direction of conversation for certain topics.

Repair

Repair refers to efforts by both parties in conversation to correct problems that arise. Van Lier

(1988: 180-2) emphasizes that discourse

involves continuous adjustment between speakers and hearers obliged to operate in a code which

gives them problems. This adjustment-in-interaction may be crucial to language development, for it

leads to noticing discrepancies between what is said and what is heard, and to resolution of these

discrepancies ...

Repairing, as one of the mechanisms of feedback ... is likely to be an important variable in language

learning. Although it is not a sufficient condition, we may safely assume that it is a necessary

condition.

Repairs may he initiated by either the speaker (self-repairs) or the hearer (other repairs). The

second language learner may also request clarification from a native speaker (NS) when

misunderstanding occurs. Echoing is one technique that is used, when the nonnative speaker

(NNS) repeats a word or phrase that is nor understood and the conversational partner explains it

or replaces it with an easier item.

NS: We're going mountaineering tomorrow.

NNS: Mountain ... ee ... ?

N S: Mountaineering. You know, to climb up the mountain.

Another response to a request for repair involves topic fronting, as in the following example:

NS: Do you come from a big family?

NNS: Uhh?

NS: Your family. Is it big? Do you have lots of brothers and sisters?

Formal features of conversation

Conversational discourse is also recognized by formal features, which distinguish it from written

discourse.

SYNTAX

Written language exhibits a different syntax from spoken discourse. In the written mode, clauses

are linked in complex ways, with a main clause often followed by or linked to subordinate clauses.

37

Rules of intra and intersentential relations serve to link repeated and coreferential constituents.

This is not possible in spoken discourse. Brown and Yule (1983: 4) observe:

Most spoken language consists of paratactic (unsubordinated) phrases which are marked as

related to each other, not so much by the syntax as by the way the speaker says them.

The speaker uses the resources of pausing and rhythm and, to a lesser extent, intonation, to

mark out for the listener which parts of his speech need to be co-interpreted.

Similarly, Syder (1,83: 32) notes:

Normal procedure in spontaneous connected discourse is for the speaker to package his

thoughts into a series of relatively complete and independent clauses. All the syntactic and

semantic elements needed to understand the clause are present in the clause, and there is minimal

cross referencing to other clauses require of the hearer.

Bygate concludes (1987:62-3):

The learner engaged in oral communication is more likely to be working with small chunks

than any other user of language. This is because, in addition to the fragmentary nature of oral

discourse, the learner’s processing capacity is limited.

Bygate notes that in conversation, speakers tend to avoid complex noun groups containing

a series of adjectives (e.g., "an elegant new red two door Italian sports car"); and instead spread

adjectives out over several clauses. As a result, spoken language is less dense than written

language. Bygate gives an example of a second language learner describing a picture:

OK - in this picture in picture-er-number 1-1 can see-er a little girl-who probably-is inside-

her house-er who is playing-with a bear-this bear—it has a brown color and –the little girl is sitting-

in the-in the stairs of her house-this house is very nice-it has rugs-it has brown rugs-mm-it has

waste basket. (Bygate 1987: 16)

STYLES Of SPEAKING

An important dimension of conversation is using a style of speaking that is appropriate to the

particular circumstances. Different styles of speaking reflect the roles, age, sex, and status of

participants in interactions. Consider the various ways in which it is possible co ask someone the

time and the different social meanings that are communicated by these differences:

Got the time?

I guess it must be quite late now - is it? What's the time?

Do you have the time?

Would you know what time it is?

Could I trouble you for the time?

Lexical, phonological, and grammatical changes may be involved in producing a suitable style of

speaking, as the following alternatives illustrate:

Have you seen the boss? I Have you seen the manager? (lexical)

Whachadoin'? / What are you doing? (phonological)

Seen Joe lately? / Have you seen Joe lately? (grammatical)

38

Different speech styles reflect perceptions of the social roles of the participants in a speech event.

However, if the speaker and hearer are judged to be of more or less equal status, a casual speech

style is appropriate that stresses affiliation and solidarity. If the participants are perceived as being

of uneven power or status, a more formal speech style is appropriate, one that marks the

dominance of one speaker over the other. Successful management of speech styles creates the

sense of politeness that is essential for harmonious social relations (Brown an<l Levinson 1978).

Brown and Yule (1983) point out that speech in a casual conversational style is peppered with

general nonspecific words and phrases (e.g., the thing is, it's sort of..., the kind of thing, you know,

it's a bit like ... ,) and with interactive expressions (well, oh, mm: really, actually, yes, geez). This is

well illustrated in an extract from Svartik and Quirk's A Corpus of English Conversation (cited in

Wardaugh 1985: 202-3). The two speakers are male academics discussing the use of diaries in

language research.

A: I don´t know whether you have talked with Hilary about the diary situation

B: Well she has been explaining to me rather in more general terms, what you are sort of doing

and

A: What it was all about, yes.

B: I gather you've been at it for nine years.

A: By golly that's true. Yes, yes, it's not a long time of course, in this sort of work, you know.

B: Well no, but it's quite a long time by any standards

A: Yes, suppose so.

B: She told me what you did, and we decided we were both a bit out of date compared with the

present day students and

A: Well I suppose that that's true

The ability to produce this kind of casual conversational language as well as to produce language

appropriate for more formal encounters is an essential skill for second language learners.

CONVERSATIONAL ROUTINES

Another characteristic of conversational discourse is the use of fixed expressions or ”routines,"

which often have specific functions in conversation. Wardhaugh (1985: 74) observes:

There are routines to help people establish themselves in certain positions: routines for taking off and

hanging up coats; arrangements concerning where one is to sit or stand at a party or a meeting; offers

of hospitality; and so on. There are routines for beginnings and endings of conversations, for leading

into topics, and for moving away from one topic to another. And there are routines for breaking up

conversations, for leading into topics, and for moving away from one topic to another. And there are

routines for breaking up conversations, for leaving a party, and for dissolving a gathering… It is

difficult... to imagine how life could be lived without some routines.

Consider the following routines. Where might they occur? What might be their function within

those situations?

39

This one's on me.

I don 't believe a word of it. I don't get the point.

You look great today.

What will you have to drink?

Nearly time. Got everything?

Check please!

After you.

Guess I’ll he making a move.

I see what you mean.

Let me think about it. Just looking, thanks.

I’ll be with you in a minute.

It doesn't matter.

No harm done.

Pawley and Syder (1983) suggest that native speakers have a repertoire of thousands of routines

like these, and their use in appropriate situations creates conversational discourse that sounds

natural and nativelike. Conversational routines typically have to be learned and used as fixed

expressions, but at the same time, speakers must be aware that they cannot be used

indiscriminately, to avoid exchanges such as the following:

A: Thanks for the meal. A: Terry's father died.

B: It doesn't matter. B: What a nuisance.

The concept of fluency

The overall goal of a second language learner is to produce fluent speech; however, the notion of

fluency is difficult to pin clown. The European Threshold Level Project (Van Ek 1977; Van Ek and

Alexander 1980), for example, describes oral fluency in terms of "reasonable speech: with sufficient

precision: with reasonable correctness (grammatically, lexically, phonologically)." Fillmore (1979:

93) describes fluency in terms of ''the ability to fill time with talk ... the ability to talk in coherent,

reasoned and 'semantically dense' sentences" showing "a mastery of the semantic and syntactic

resources of the language"; "the ability to have appropriate things to say in a wide range of

contexts"; and the ability to "be creative and imaginative ...in language use." Hieke (1985: 140)

states that "fluent speech is the cumulative result of dozens of different kinds of processes" with

both quantitative and qualitative dimensions. Although fluency is a fuzzy concept, it is not an

unimportant one.

The concept of fluency reflects the assumption that speakers set out to produce discourse

that is comprehensible, easy to follow, and free from errors and breakdowns in communication,

though this goal is often not met due to processing and production demands. “The prime

objectives of the speaker is the generation of maximally acceptable speech in both content and

form and a concomitant minimization of errors by the time an utterance has been articulated"

(Hieke 1981: 150). Hieke proposes three conversational "maxims" that motivate the speaker:

1. Be Error-free (phonology and syntax)

2. Be intelligible (semantics, lexicon, logic, stylistics and rhetoric)

3. Be in Control of the Communication Channel (fluency, and in dyadic speech, also turn taking)

(1981: 151)

Accuracy (including control of grammar and pronunciation) is here seen as a component of

fluency, rather than as an independent dimension of conversational skill. The kind of discourse

speakers produce and the degree of fluency they achieve, however, depend upon the task the

40

speaker is attempting and the context for communication (i.e., whether the speech situation

involves face-to-face conversation, whether the speaker is taking part in an interview or a

discussion, or whether the speaker is involved in telling a story, giving a description, or replying to

a question).

For some tasks, such as telling a story, the speaker may have access to available plans or

schemas that reduce planning time and effort. The result may be that the discourse produced is

qualitatively different from discourse produced during spontaneous interaction. It may be less

hesitant, and the speaker may be able to plan larger units of discourse than are found in unplanned

conversational interaction. Holmes (1984) found that the types of clauses and pauses occurring in

storytelling tasks differed from those found in spontaneous interaction. Storytelling tasks "allowed

subjects to construct more integrated utterances, which have been largely thought out and

organized prior to their expression. The utterances are more planned, compared with the relatively

unplanned discourse of spontaneous speech, which lacks much forethought and preparation"

(Holmes 1984: 129).

Within a particular task type, however, such as storytelling, there may be variation between

a hesitant cycle and a more fluent cycle, the latter marked by a faster rate of speech and fewer

hesitations. Clark and Clark suggest that as the speaker begins a new idea, more detailed planning

is required, resulting in more hesitant speech. Once the speaker gets further into the idea or topic,

however, planning and execution require less effort. "Each new section in discourse takes special

global planning in the beginning, and this reveals itself in a hesitant output. As the section

proceeds, the global plan becomes complete, there is less need to hesitate, and the result is a

fluent output" (Clark and Clark 1977: 272).

Approaches to the teaching of conversation

Currently there are two major approaches to the teaching of conversation in second language

programs. One is an indirect approach, in which conversational competence. is seen as the product

of engaging learners in conversational interaction. The second, a more direct approach, involves

planning a conversation program around the specific microskills, strategies, and processes that are

involved in fluent conversation.

The indirect approach: teaching conversation through interactive tasks

The justification for a task-based approach to the teaching of conversation comes from second

language acquisition SLA) research. SLA researchers (e.g., Hatch 1978) have argued that learners

acquire language through conversation. In using conversation to interact with others, learners

gradually acquire the competence that underlies the ability to use language. Hatch (1978: 404)

puts the position in this way: “One learns how to do conversation, one learns how to interact

verbally, and out of this interaction syntactic structures are developed.”

Studies of conversational interaction have revealed a great deal about the nature of

nonnative speaker- to -native speaker conversational interaction, clarifying its role in second

language learning. For example, the discourse found in conversation between nonnative speakers

and native speakers is usually syntactically less complex than NS-NS discourse, with a higher

frequency of more regular grammatical structures and vocabulary. This should make

41

comprehension easier for the nonnative speaker. There are characteristic patterns of question use.

Questions are more frequent than statements, drawing the nonnative speaker into conversation

and allowing the native speaker to check comprehension at the same time; Native speakers ask

more Yes/No questions than Wh-questions, presumably because Yes/No questions are easier to

answer. Questions may also contain their own answers (e.g., "Are you working or are you on

vacation?"), providing the nonnative speaker with a model for the expected answer. These kinds

of conversational modifications are believed to assist the second language learner's language

development. Pica comments,

In sum, what enables learners to move beyond their current interlanguage receptive and expressive

capacities when they need to understand unfamiliar linguistic input or when required to produce a

comprehensible message are opportunities to modify and restructure their interaction with their

interlocutor until mutual comprehension is reached. (1987:8)

Through the kinds of linguistic and interactional modifications and adjustments learners receive

when engaged in conversation, the grammatical structure of the language is displayed more

clearly and made more accessible. Comprehension is assisted and the learner is able to experiment

with the internal mechanisms of the language. As a direct result of this process, SLA researchers

argue, linguistic competence gradually emerges.

The conclusion drawn from this view of the relationship between conversation and second

language learning is that the conversation class should primarily provide opportunities for learners

to engage in natural interaction through the use of communicative tasks and activities. It is not

necessary or even possible) to teach, conversation in any real sense; all that is needed is provision

of opportunities for learners to engage in conversational interaction. In practical terms, this leads

to the use of pair-work and group-work activities that require learner-to-learner interaction. Tasks

most likely to bring this about involve information sharing and negotiation of meaning (Johnson

1982). The focus is on using language to complete a task, rather than on practicing language for

its own sake. According to long and Porter (1985: 207), "Provided careful attention is paid to the

structure of tasks students work on together, the negotiation work possible in group work makes

it an attractive alternative to the teacher-led, 'lockstep' mode, and a viable classroom substitute

for individual conversations with native speakers...

However, there are obvious limitations to an exclusively task-based approach to teaching

conversation. Higgs and Clifford, for example, report experience with foreign language teaching

programs in the U.S. government and elsewhere:

In programs that have as curricular goals an early emphasis on unstructured communication

activities - minimizing, or excluding entirely, considerations of grammatical accuracy - it is possible

in a fairly short time to provide students with a relatively large vocabulary and a high degree of

fluency… These same data suggest that the premature immersion of a student into an unstructured

or "free" conversational setting before certain fundamental linguistic structures are more or less in

place is not done without cost. There appears to be a real danger of leading the students too rapidly

into the “creative aspects of language use," in that if successful communication is encouraged and

rewarded for its own sake, the effect seems to be one of rewarding at the same time the incorrect

communication strategies seized upon in attempting to deal with the communication strategies

presented. (Higgs and Clifford 1982: 73-4)

42

Although Higgs and Clifford offer no data to substantiate this claim, Schimdt and Frota (1986: 281),

describing a case study of Schimdt’s own acquisition of Portuguese through "immersion,” similarly

report that "interaction with native speakers provided input that sometimes leads to language

learning, but interaction guaranteed neither grammaticality nor idiomaticity." Schmidt found that

his Portuguese was deficient both with respect to grammar and appropriateness, and that further

interaction with native speakers did not appear to remedy this. Similarly, in a study of ESL learners

interacting with each other on communicative tasks, Porter (1986) found that learners often

produced inappropriate forms. In learner-to-learner communication, 20% of forms produced were

grammatically faulty (not including errors of pronunciation). Others were sociolinguistically

inappropriate, such as inappropriate ways of expressing opinions, agreement, and disagreement.

"These findings ... suggest that only native speakers (or perhaps very advanced nonnative speakers)

can provide truly appropriate input that will build sociolinguistic competence” (Porter 1986: 218).

Alternatively, the study suggests that although communicative tasks may be a necessary

component of a conversation program, they are not a sufficient component.

Another limitation of a task-based approach to teaching conversation relates to the kind of

interaction such tasks typically involve. An examination of the communicative activities commonly

employed in task­ based teaching (e.g., Klippel 1984; Pattison 1987) reveals that they typically deal

only with the transactional uses of language. Communication and pair-work activities often focus

on using conversation to convey information, to negotiate meaning, or to complete a task but

ignore the use of conversation to create social interaction and social relations. interactional uses

of conversation are very different in both form and function and the kinds of transactional

language found in task-oriented communication, and should have a central place in a conversation

program. In order to ensure that this happens, a direct attempt to teach strategies for

conversational interaction is also needed.

Direct approaches: teaching strategies for casual conversation

A direct approach to teaching conversation is one that focuses explicitly on the processes and

strategies involved in casual conversation. The program hence addresses directly such aspects of

conversation as strategies for turn-taking, topic control, and repair; conversational routines;

fluency; pronunciation; and differences between formal and casual conversational styles.

Designing such a program begins with the preparation of goals, samples of which are:

How to use conversation for both transactional and interactional purposes

How to produce both short and long turns in conversation strategies for managing turn-

taking in conversation, including taking a turn, holding a turn, and relinquishing a turn

Strategies for opening and closing conversations

How to initiate and respond to talk on a broad range of topics, and how to develop and

maintain talk on these topics

How to use both a casual style of speaking and a neutral or more formal style

How to use conversation in different social settings and for different kinds of social

encounters, such as on the telephone, at informal and formal social gatherings

43

Strategies for repairing trouble spots in conversation, including communication breakdown

and comprehension problems

How to maintain fluency in conversation, through avoiding excessive pausing. breakdowns,

and errors of grammar or pronunciation

How to produce talk in a conversational mode, using a conversational register and syntax

How to use conversational filters and small talk

How to use conversational routines

Table 1 The use of objectives in program planning

ORAL INTERACTION Fam

ily id

en

tifi

cati

on

So

cial co

nta

cts

Ran

kin

g s

erv

ices

Em

plo

ym

en

t

Healt

h

Ho

usi

ng

Th

e law

En

tert

ain

men

t

Po

stal se

rvic

es

Safe

ty

Sh

op

pin

g

Tra

nsp

ort

Ch

ild

care

use appropriately conversational formula

for greetings, salutations, leave taking,

indicating lack of comprehension,

requesting repetition, etc.

respond to requests for factual

information

offer and ask for help

indicate likes and dislikes

state basic conceptual meanings, e.g.

numbers, time, dates, quantity,

location, etc.

ask about likes and dislikes

describe entities, objects or individuals

maintain simple conversations on

familiar topic

make arrangements involving

time/location

conduct simple telephone transaction

on familiar topic

respond to a number of related

questions for advice or opinion

express agreement and disagreement

give a sequence or oral

instructions/directions

respond to requests for clarification

describe a sequence of events

Reprinted with permission from Nunan (1985: 29).

44

In program planning and development, each goal can be described in more detail as an objective

or set of objectives, according to the level of language proficiency the program addresses and the

specific needs of the learners. For example Nunan (1985) describes the use of objectives grids in

program planning. These allow general objectives for different aspects of oral skill to be cross-

referenced to different topic areas (Table 1). Each objective can be specified in more detail by

describing the kind of interaction to be taught and the performance level! that is expected. For

example:

Level: basic

Objective: respond to requests for factual information

Content area: personal and family identification

Specific objective: the learner will provide personal information in a simulated interview with a

government official

Standards: responses to be comprehensible to someone used to dealing with second

language learners

Evaluation: the student will perform in a simulated interview with a teacher from another

class

(Nunan 1985: 24)

A related approach is given in Omaggio (1986), who provides an example of a curriculum planning

guide for speaking skills at the intermediate level (see Appendix).

Whatever approach to goal and syllabus specification is adopted, recognition of these kinds

of goals is an essential starting point in developing an effective conversation program, and

provides a basis for the design and selection of classroom activities and materials.

Classroom activities and materials

A number of attempts have been made to classify exercises and activity types according to the

aspects of conversational management and production they focus on (e.g. Littlewood 1981;

Harmer 1983). Littlewood 1981, for example, distinguishes four main kinds of activities:

Precommunicative activities Communicative activities

Structural activities Functional-communicative activities

Quasi-communicative activities Social-interactional activities

Precommunicative activities are those that deal with controlled practice of formal aspects of

conversation, and include drills, dialogues, and other exercises where little learner input is required.

The distinction between functional communicative activities and social-interactional activities is

similar to Brown and Yule's distinction between transactional and interactional uses of

conversation.

A wide variety of exercise types and classroom materials are available for teaching different

aspects of conversation. There are materials that deal both with the global dimensions of

conversation as well as specific aspects of conversational management. Texts such as Person to

Person (Richards and Bycina 1984), Functions of American English (Jones and von Baeyer 1983),

45

and English Firsthand (Helgesen, Brown, and Mandeville 1987), for example, take the global

approach. Others deal with particular conversation skills. Gambits (Keller and Taba-Warner 1976),

for example, deals with strategies for opening and closing conversations as well as with specific

conversational routines used in managing turn-taking and topics. Task-based activities such as

those described in Brown and Yule (1983) deal with transactional uses of language and the

production of longer turns. Ur (1981) deals with discussion skills; Holden (1981), Livingstone (1983),

and Jones (1983) with role play and simulations; and Klippel (1984) and Pattison (1987) with

communication activities.

In developing classroom materials and activities, it is necessary to monitor their use in the

classroom in order to determine which aspects of conversation they practice. In Richards (1985),

this approach is described in relation to the development and use of role-play activities. In

developing a set of role-play materials for use with a class of intermediate-level ESL learners, a

range of topics and transactions was first selected covering both transactional and interactional

uses of conversation. Role-play activities were then planned around each topic based on the

following design format:

1. Learners first take pan in a preliminary activity that introduces the topic and the situation, and

provides some background information. Such activities include brainstorming, ranking

exercises, and problem-solving tasks. for example, as preparation for a role play on renting an

apartment, students first interview each other about their accommodation and living

arrangements. They also perform a ranking task in which they list the things that would most

influence in their choice of an apartment. The focus is on thinking about a topic, generating

vocabulary and related language, and developing expectations about the topic. This activity

prepares learners for a role-play task by establishing a schema for the situation.

2. Students then practice a dialogue on the topic (e.g., a conversation between a person looking

for an apartment and a landlord). This serves to model the kind of transaction the learner will

have to perform in the role-play task, and provides examples of the kind of language that could

be used to carry out the transaction.

3. Learners perform a role play, using role cards. Students practice the role play several times, in

different roles and with different partners. For example:

Student A (Caller)

You want to rent an apartment. You saw this advertisement in the newspaper.

George Street

Large modern apartment

Only $600 a month

Tel. 789-6445

Call to find out more about the apartment. Ask about these things:

the bedrooms the neighborhood

the view nearby transportation

the furniture nearby shopping

the floor it’s on

Ask anything else you want to know.

Find out when you can come and see it.

46

Student B (Landlord)

You have an apartment to rent. You placed this advertisement in the newspaper.

George Street

Large modern apartment

Only $600 a month

Tel. 789-6445

A person telephones to ask about the apartment. Answer the person’s questions. (See Richards

and Hull 1987.)

4. Learners then listen to recordings of native speakers performing the same role play from the

same role-play cues. By having learners listen to NS versions of the tasks they have just

practiced, students are able to compare differences between the ways they expressed particular

functions and meanings and the ways native speakers performed. Although the NS versions are

more complex than the student versions, they are comprehensible because of the preparatory

activities the students have completed, and they can be used for follow-up and feedback

activities.

5. Feedback and follow-up activities consist of listening for specific conversational and

grammatical forms (idioms, routines, structures) used by the native speakers in their versions

of the role plays, as well as listening for meaning.

In order to determine the kinds of conversational practice the role-play tasks provided, data were

collected on the type of conversational interaction and discourse students produced when

completing the role-play tasks (Richards 1985b; Hull 1986). Among the features of Conversational

interaction students were found to employ were repairs, requests for clarification, short and long

turns, openings and closings, topicalization behavior including strategies for topic nomination and

topic change, use of polite forms, and politeness strategies. Repairs showed that students were

monitoring their production for vocabulary, grammar, and appropriateness.

Conclusions

In planning a conversation program, an understanding of the nature of conversation and

conversational interaction is a necessary starting point. Two complementary approaches to the

teaching of conversation are currently advocated and employed in program development and

methodology: an indirect approach, which focuses on using communicative activities to generate

conversational interaction, and a direct approach, which addresses specific aspects of conversational

management. A balance of both approaches would seem to be the most appropriate

methodological option. Although communicative tasks that focus on the transactional uses of

conversation provide useful language learning opportunities, methodology should also address the

nature of casual conversation and conversational fluency, particularly turn-taking strategies, topic

behavior, appropriate styles of speaking, conversational syntax, and conversational routines.

Instructional materials and activities should be planned to focus on these aspects of casual

conversation, and monitored to determine their effectiveness in promoting conversational fluency.

47

Discussion topics and activities

1. Interview several teachers of conversation skills. What do they see the primary purpose of

a conversation class to be? What aspects of conversation do they spend most time on in

class? What kinds of activities do they use and how often? What do they see the greatest

difficulties in teaching a conversation class to be?

2. Try to observe (or overhear) a casual conversation between a native speaker and a

nonnative speaker, or between two nonnative speakers. What kinds of turn-taking

strategies do the nonnative speakers use?

3. Discuss the notions of accuracy and fluency. Do you agree that accuracy is a component

of fluency, rather than a separate dimension? How can accuracy be addressed in a

conversation program?

4. Examine the list of goals for a conversation program on pages 42-44. What additions or

deletions would you want to make to the list?

5. Choose two other skills listed by Nunan in Table 1. Prepare statements of objectives for

each skill, using the format given by Nunan shown on page 44.

6. Choose a conversational task or activity from a second language text and try it out (either

with classmates or with second language learners). Record the students doing the activity.

Then listen to the recording and determine which aspects of conversational' management

the activity improves. Does the activity focus primarily on transactional' or interactional

skills? Could the design of the activity be improved?

7. Plan and try out classroom activities that focus on (a) turn-taking, (b) conversational

routines, and (e) differences between formal and informal styles.

48

Speaking Towards Autonomy

Criteria for speaking tasks

In order to maximize speaking opportunities and increase the chances that learners will experience

autonomous language use, the following conditions need to be met:

• Productivity - a speaking activity needs to be maximally language productive in order to

provide the best conditions for autonomous language use. If students can do an information

gap task by simply exchanging isolated words, or if only a couple of students participate in

a group discussion, the tasks may hardly justify the time spent setting them up. This is also

the case, of course, if learners are speaking mainly in their L1.

• Purposefulness - often language productivity can be increased by making sure that the

speaking activity has a clear outcome, especially one which requires learners to work

together to achieve a common purpose. For example, the aim of having to reach a jointly

agreed decision can give a discussion more point and encourage the participation of all

members. Requiring learners to report to the class on their discussion is also an effective

way of ensuring a greater degree of commitment to the task. A competitive element -such

as turning the task into a race -can also help.

• Interactivity - activities should require learners to take into account the effect they are

having on their audience. If not, they can hardly be said to be good preparation for real-life

language use. Even formal, monologic speaking tasks such as talks and presentations should

be performed in situations where there is at least the possibility of interaction, e.g. where

there is an audience present, one which can demonstrate interest, understanding, and even

ask questions or make comments at the end.

• Challenge - the task should stretch the learners so that they are forced to draw on their

available communicative resources to achieve the outcome. This will help them experience

the sense of achievement, even excitement, that is part of autonomous language use. Of

course, if the degree of challenge is too high, this can be counterproductive, inhibiting

learners or reducing them to speaking in their L1. The teacher needs to be sensitive to the

degree of difficulty a task presents individual learners and to adjust the task accordingly.

49

• Safety - while learners should be challenged, they also need to feel confident that, when

meeting those challenges and attempting autonomous language use, they can do so without

too much risk. The classroom should provide the right conditions for experimentation,

including a supportive classroom dynamic and a non-judgmental attitude to error on the

part of the teacher. Also, learners need to be secure in the knowledge that the teacher - like

a driving instructor - will always be there to take over if things get seriously out of hand.

• Authenticity - speaking tasks should have some relation to real-life language use. If not, they

are poor preparation for autonomy. Of course, many classroom activities - such as drills and

language games - can be justified on the grounds that they serve the needs of awareness-raising

or of appropriation. But, in order to become autonomous, learners will need to experience a

quality of communication in the classroom that is essentially the same as communication outside

the classroom. This means that they will, at times, need to perform in real operating conditions,

e.g. spontaneously, unassisted, with minimal preparation, and making do with their existing

resources. It also means that the kinds of topics, genres, and situations that are selected for

speaking tasks bear some relation to the learners' perceived needs and interests.

Feedback and correction

It is often a delicate decision as to how to provide learners with feedback on their errors when

their attention is primarily focused on the content of what they are saying, rather than on the way

they are saying it. Interrupting learners 'in full flight' to give them corrections seems to run counter

to the need to let them experience autonomy. If the teacher is constantly intervening to assist their

performance, whether by providing unknown words or correcting their errors, they can hardly be

said to be self-regulating. And it may have the counterproductive effect of inhibiting fluency by

forcing learners' attention on to accuracy.

Nevertheless, many teachers feel uncomfortable about 'letting errors go', even in fluency

activities, and there is support for the view that maintaining a focus on form - that is, on formal

accuracy - is good for learners in the long run. It is important, therefore, that such a focus should

be effected at minimal cost to the speaker's sense of being in control. In the following extract, the

teacher's corrections, while explicit, are unobtrusive, and these are picked up by the learners with

no real loss of fluency:

Learner 1: And what did you do last weekend?

Learner 2: On Saturday I went on my own to Canterbury, so I took a bus and I met (Learner 6) - he took the

same bus to Canterbury. And in Canterbury I visited the Cathedral and all the streets near the

Cathedral and I tried to find a pub where you don't see - where you don't see many tourists. And

I find one

Teacher: Found

Learner 2: I found one where I spoke with two English women and we spoke about life in Canterbury

or things and after I carne back

Teacher: Afterwards

Learner 2: Afterwards I carne back by bus too. And on Sunday what did you do?

Learner 1: Oh, er, I stayed in home

Teacher: At home

Learner 1: On Sunday I stayed at home and watched the Wimbledon Final ...

50

In the above extract, the teacher's interventions are economical and effective, and the

conversational flow is not threatened. However, it could be argued that such overt monitoring

deprives the learners of opportunities to take more responsibility for their own monitoring and

self-repair. This is especially the case with regard to their mistakes, as opposed to their errors. By

mistake is meant the learners' momentary failure to apply what they already know, due mainly to

the demands of online processing. An error, on the other hand, represents a gap in the speaker's

knowledge of the system. Mistakes can usually be self-corrected, but errors cannot. A deft hint to

the learner that they have used a present verb form instead of a past one, for example, may be all

that is needed to encourage self-correction. And self-correction, even if prompted by the teacher,

is one step nearer self-regulation and the ultimate goal of full autonomy.

Sometimes, however, the learner's message is simply unintelligible, and some kind of more

obtrusive intervention is necessary to repair the breakdown. In this case, an intervention that is

perceived by the learner as repair is likely to be less inhibiting than one that is perceived of as

correction. Repair is facilitative, while correction can be construed negatively, as judgmental. For

example, in this extract, the teacher's intervention takes the form of a conversational repair, one

that is consistent with the meaning-orientation of the interaction:

Learner: ... so I phone the doctor and ask for a consulta…

Teacher: I'm sorry? A what?

Learner: I ask for a, er, for see the doctor. An appointment?

Teacher: Yes, ask for appointment

If it is the learners themselves who are interacting, it may be the case that the other learners can

initiate the repair. This is more likely if the design of the task is such that mutual understanding is

necessary if the task outcome is to be achieved. In a describe-and-draw task, for example, where

one learner describes a picture to another, who has to reproduce it, a breakdown in

communication should normally force some kind of repair process. Otherwise the task would never

be completed. It is important, therefore, that learners are equipped with the language with which

to initiate repair, such as Sorry, could you say that again? I didn't get that and What do you mean,

X? Many teachers ensure these expressions are available to students by having them permanently

displayed as posters on the classroom wall.

An alternative to on-the-spot correction is to postpone it until the end of the activity. This

means that the teacher needs to keep a record of errors while the speaking activity is in progress.

These can either be given to individual learners as 'feedback notes', or dealt with orally in open

class. In either case, it is generally more motivating if the learner's successes as well as their failures

are recorded. One way of doing this is in the form of a feedback sheet, as in this example:

51

Name: Teresa

Task: Telling an anecdote

Things I liked: Points to note:

1. The bar was completely empty 1. sitting at a table (not 'on')

2. description of the woman 2. no one apart from us (not 'of')

3. use of past continuous: 'the bag was hanging on

the chair...'; 'You thought I was trying to ...' (but

see 3 opposite)

3. we didn't pay attention (not 'take'), and better

in continuous: 'we weren't paying attention'

4. she sit she sat

5. she get up she got up

6. to steal your wallet (not 'rob')

7. how can you think this of me (not 'from')

General comments: You established the situation and characters well, and used direct speech to dramatic

effect. Watch irregular verbs in past! (sat, get etc.). Also use 'said', not 'told', with direct speech: she said

'You thought I was...' etc.

Alternatively, recording learners on audio or video provides a useful record of their speech for

subsequent analysis and improvement. Asking learners to make their own transcriptions of these

recordings and to suggest ways of improving them yields positive results, both in terms of what

they notice and also in terms of subsequent performances.

Presentations and talks

Whether or not learners will have to give presentations or talks in 'real life', the experience of

standing up in front of their colleagues and speaking for a sustained turn is excellent preparation

for real-life speaking. This is especially the case if they also have to respond to questions from the

floor. The following ideas belong to this category of speech event:

Show-and-tell - asking learners to talk and answer questions about an object or image of special

significance to them works well for all age groups and at all but the most elementary levels. Show-

and-tell can be established as a regular feature of lessons, with learners taking turns and knowing

in advance when their turn is due. The talk itself need be no more than two or three minutes, and

unscripted, although the use of notes can be permitted. Extra time should be allowed for asking

questions. Suggestions for topic areas can include such things as hobbies, sports, holidays, family,

and work, but the focus should be on a specific object or image. For students who are unfamiliar

with this format, it is a good idea if the teacher models a show-and-tell herself.

Did you read about ...? - this is a variant of 'show-and-tell' and can be done in small groups

rather than to the whole class. The stimulus is 'something I read in the paper or heard on the

news' rather than an object. If all learners know that this is an obligatory lesson starter, they are

more likely to come prepared. In groups, they take turns to relate their news item to the rest of

the group. The most interesting story in each group can then be told to the class as a whole.

Academic presentations - students who are studying English for academic purposes are likely

to need preparation in giving academic presentations or conference papers. In advance of

practicing these skills in class, it may help to discuss the formal features of such genres as well

as identifying specific language exponents associated with each stage. (Having an example

presentation on videotape or audiotape would, of course, be extremely useful.) A checklist of

52

features, along with useful expressions, can be displayed as a poster in the classroom, and this

can be modified over time as students take turns giving their presentations and discussing their

effectiveness. For example, a group of mixed native speaker and non-native speaker graduate

students in Canada, who each had to give an oral academic presentation (OAP) about a research

paper they had read, carne up with the following key features of such presentations:

• The OAP should contain a concise summary, a thoughtful and well- balanced critique, and

a list of relevant implications.

• Presenters should engage and evoke interest in the audience.

• Presenters should have an effective delivery style.

• Presenters should manage time well.

Business presentations - the same principle, that of peer presentations in conjunction with

collaborative analysis and critical feedback, works effectively with business presentations as

well. One way of reducing the pressure of solo performance is to ask learners to work in pairs

on the preparation of the presentation and to take turns in its delivery. It is important to allow

a question-and-answer session at the end since this is invariably the most challenging stage of

a presentation. The 'audience' should be given a little time at the end of the presentation to

prepare their questions. This in turn could be followed by some discussion as to the strengths

and weaknesses of the presentation. Alternatively, the presenters can be asked to reflect on,

and evaluate, their own performance. The following checklist is a good example of how an

evaluation could be structured. It comes as part of a sequence in which students practice the

introduction stage of a presentation:

If possible record yourself. When you play back your introduction, use the checklist below to help

you evaluate your presentation.

Checklist Yes/ No Example phrases

• Did you explain to the audience:

- Who you are?

- Why you are speaking?

• Did you include a statement of purpose?

• Did you include signposting?

• Did you relate presentation to the needs of the audience?

• How did you involve the audience?

• Did your opening remarks include:

- a participatory activity?

- a question to the audience?

- surprising/unusual facts?

One problem with student presentations is the question of how to maintain audience interest.

Setting the other students some kind of task is one way round this. A checklist, like the example

above, could also serve equally well as a listening task. Alternatively, the other students could

be set the task of coming up with at least three questions to ask, or of taking notes with a view

to making a short summary of the presentation.

53

Stories, jokes, and anecdotes

Storytelling is a universal function of language and one of the main ingredients of casual

conversation. Through their stories learners not only practice an essential skill, but they can also

get to know one another: we are our stories. The neurologist Oliver Sacks, in The Man Who Mistook

His Wife for a Hat, writes:

Each of us is a singular narrative, which is constructed continually, unconsciously by, through, and in us -

through our perceptions, our feelings, our thoughts, our actions; and, not least, our discourse, our spoken

narrations. Biologically, we are not so different from each other; historically, as narratives - we are each of

us unique.

Narration has always been one of the main means of practicing speaking in the classroom,

although this used to take the form of having learners recount folk tales, or amusing or dramatic

incidents based on a series of pictures. More recently, the value of encouraging learners to tell

their own stories has been recognized, and course books now include personalized narrating tasks,

whether monologic or dialogic, as a matter of course. See figure 1 and 2.

Anecdote Think about a lucky or an unlucky experience you have had. You are going to tell your partner

about it. Choose from the list below the things you want to talk about. Think about what you

will say and what language you will need.

⃝ Was it a-lucky or unlucky experience?

⃝ When did it happen?

⃝ When were you?

⃝ Who were you with?

⃝ What were you doing?

⃝ What happened?

⃝ Why was it lucky (or unlucky)?

⃝ How did you feel after wards? 1

2 A MAKING CONVERSATION

The first time

In pairs, A choose two 'first times'. Tell B about what happened. B listen and ask for more

information. Swap roles.

A. I’m going tell you about the first time I drove a car. I was staying in the country with my uncle

and he had an old Renault 4…

B. How old were you?

The first time I …

bought a record or CD

went to a live concert

smoked a cigarette

fell in love

travelled by plane

went abroad

drove a car

saw a lot of snow

earned some money

had to go to hospital

54

Other ideas for storytelling-based activities are:

Guess the lie - learners tell each other three short personal anecdotes, two of which are true in

every particular, and the third of which is totally untrue (but plausible!). The listeners have to

guess the lie - and give reasons for their guesses. They can be allowed to ask a limited number

of questions after the story. It helps if the teacher models this activity in advance of the learners

doing it.

A variant of this idea is to guess who a story originated from. See how the idea is developed in

a course book:

Insert the word - learners are each given a card with an unusual word or expression - perhaps

one that has come up recently in class - which they keep secret. They then take turns telling

each other an anecdote in which they incorporate their 'secret item' as unobtrusively as

possible. At the end of each telling, the others have to guess what the word or expression was.

Chain story- in groups, the learners take turns to tell a story, each one taking over from, and

building on, the contribution of their classmates, at a given signal from the teacher.

Party jokes - learners first each learn and rehearse a joke that has a narrative element. They

then simulate a party, standing up and milling, and exchanging jokes in pairs or groups of three.

They should first be taught some basic joke-framing expressions, such as Did you hear the joke

about…? and That reminds me of the joke about .... The repeated practice that they get telling

their jokes fulfils an important function of good speaking tasks. At the end of the activity the

class can vote on the best joke.

Drama, role­play, and simulation

Speaking activities involving a drama element, in which learners take an imaginative leap out of

the confines of the classroom, provide a useful springboard for real-life language use. Situations

that learners are likely to encounter when using English in the real world can be simulated, and a

greater range of registers can be practiced than are normally available in classroom talk. For

example, situations involving interactions with total strangers or requiring such face-threatening

speech acts as complaining and refusing, can be simulated with relatively low risk. Formal language

that would not normally occur in the classroom context can be practiced. Moreover, simulation

and artifice suit the temperament of certain learners, who may feel uncomfortable 'being

themselves' in a second language. On the other hand, there are also learners who feel self-

conscious performing in front of their peers, especially if this involves a degree of improvisation,

and care has to be exercised in choosing and setting up such activities so as not to make even

more demands on them than speaking in another language normally requires. Just as in the real

theatre, a preparation stage, including rehearsal, is generally recommended in advance of public

performance.

A distinction can be made between role-plays and simulations. The former involve the

adoption of another ‘persona’, as when students pretend to be an employer interviewing a job

applicant or celebrities mingling at a party. Information about their roles can be supplied in the

form of individualized role-cards. For example:

55

Father Mother Son

You are an ex-hippie and have

brought up your son (now 18)

according to your progressive,

left-wing values.

You often have to mediate

between your husband and

your 18- year-old son.

You have decided to join the

army, and you

are now going to tell your

parents.

In a simulation, on the other hand, students 'play' themselves in a simulated situation: they might

be stuck in a lift or phoning to arrange an outing, for example. A more elaborate simulation might

involve the joint planning and presentation of a business plan. Drama is the more general term,

encompassing both role-play and simulation, as well as other types of activities, such as play-

reading, recitation, and improvisation.

What follows is a selection of drama activity types, chosen because they are potentially highly

language productive, can be adapted to different levels of proficiency and for different topics, and

because they allow learners to experience autonomy in the speaking skill. They also have the added

advantage of requiring few or no materials, and hence can be set up spontaneously and in most

teaching contexts:

Alibis - this classic activity has a game element, in that the participants have to try and outwit

each other, and can be played several times with no loss of interest. The basic format starts with

two students being 'accused' of having committed some crime, such as a robbery in the

institution where the class takes place, in a fixed period, say between the hours of 10 and 11 in

the morning on the preceding day. The two 'accused' then have to establish an alibi, and they

go out of the room to do this. The alibi needs to account for their actions only during the time

period in question (anything before or after is irrelevant), and it is important to establish that

they were together for all that time. While the accused contrive their alibi, the rest of the class

can prepare generic questions, with the teacher prompting, if necessary, of the type: What were

you doing ... ? What did you do next? Did you meet anyone? What did you say? How much did it

cost? Who paid? etc. The accused are then led in, one at a time, and have to answer the questions

put to them. (It helps to establish the rule that they are not allowed to claim that they don't

remember.) Any significant discrepancy in their answers means that they are, of course, guilty.

With large classes, the activity can also be done in groups, each group playing their own version

of the game. Alternatively (and so long as they are out of earshot), the two accused can be

interviewed simultaneously by two different groups, and then exchange places.

A variant is 'Green Card', in which immigration officers interview, separately, two candidates

who claim to be members of the same family (in which case, they have to answer questions about

the other members of their immediate family - their name, age, and appearance) or who claim to

be partners (in which case, they have to answer questions about their daily routine). Here is a

course book version of the same idea.

56

Get talking

9 In groups of 4, roleplay an immigration interview.

Students A and B: Turn to page 86. Students C and D: Turn to page 89.

Lesson 38, Exercise 9, Students A and B

1. You are a married couple.

B is from another country. Immigration officers are going to interview you and you have five

minutes to prepare for the interview. Work together to make sure you give the same information

about:

• how long B has been in the country

• how long you've known each other

• where you met

• your wedding

• your jobs

• what you do in your free time

2. Student A: Answer Student C's questions.

Student B: Answer Student D's questions.

3. Discuss your interviews. Do you think you gave the same answers?

Lesson 38, Exercise 9, Students C and D

1. You are immigration officers.

A and B are married. B is from another country and you don't think it's a real marriage. You are

going to interview the couple and you have five minutes to prepare for the interview. Work

together to prepare questions to ask them. You will ask both A and B the same questions, about:

• how long B has been in the country

• how long they've known each other

• where they met

• their wedding

• their jobs

• what they do in their free time

2. Student C: Ask Student A your questions.

Student D: Ask Student B your questions.

3. Compare A and B's answers. Are they telling the truth?

Another variant of 'Alibis' is 'UFO', in which two people are interviewed separately about an alleged

encounter with aliens.

Shopping around -this role-play has an inbuilt repetitive element, and is a variant of the

'carousel' idea, in which pairs of students visit every 'shop' before making a decision as to which

one to patronize. The class is divided into two: one half are the customers and the other are the

providers. These are further subdivided into pairs. The situation itself can vary to suit whatever

theme is appropriate. For example, the customers might be parents looking for a particular kind

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of school for their special needs child; the providers represent different schools. In their pairs,

the parents first decide what features the school they are looking for should have. Meanwhile

also working in pairs, the schools each devise a policy, with regard to such things as discipline,

the curriculum, uniforms, sports, and so on. (It is important, however, that the school fees are

the same for each school: the mere cost shouldn't be a deciding factor.) When everyone is

ready, each set of parents interviews one of the schools. They then move round one, and

interview the next school, and so on, until all the parent pairs have interviewed all the school

pairs. The parents are then ready to make their decision as to which school they prefer, while

the schools can decide which parents they prefer. Each group reports their decision -and the

reasons -to the class.

Variants include: choosing a package holiday; choosing a language course; choosing

flatmates; choosing a wedding venue; and so on. A version of this basic format can also be used

to role-play job interviews, as in this example:

The Inquiry - an inquiry has been set up to gather evidence and opinions about some

miscarriage of justice or consumer complaint. Different interest groups are represented, and

they put their case to a team of independent investigators in an open forum. The situation

might be a disastrous package holiday, a housing estate that is plagued with problems, a badly

governed village, and so on. After the situation has been established, the different interest

groups brainstorm their problems, while those responsible try to anticipate these and muster

counterarguments. The panel of arbitrators - two or three students - prepares questions to ask

the complainants. Each interest group then puts its case, and time is allowed for the groups to

counter each other's arguments. Finally, the arbitrators make a ruling.

Variant: the same format can be used for 'The Tender', in which different interest groups

submit their proposals for a project. The project might be the development of an open space

in the middle of a town, or how best to provide energy for a village, or the design of a

commemorative stamp or monument, for example. 'The Heart' is another variation, in which

representatives of patients needing life-saving surgery make their case: profiles of each

candidate will need to be prepared.

The Soap - learners plan, rehearse, and perform (and, if possible film) 7" an episode from a

soap opera. The soap opera could be based on a well-known local version, or on a selection of

magazine pictures of people who become the 'characters'. The advantage of using the soap

opera format is that learners can draw on a shared stock of melodramatic situations but are not

compelled to come up with a clever ending. And, of course, they can continue the story by

inventing subsequent episodes.

With regard to this last idea, Charlyn Wessels, an EFL teacher in Scotland, describes how she

structures a whole term's work around drama techniques, culminating in the production of a full-

length play based on the class's improvisations. One such play was a soap opera, generated by the

learners themselves through brainstorming activities.

Students write detailed profiles of the characters they are going to play, and then the story is

built up through a series of improvisations and scripted. Work is done on pronunciation as well as

using drama techniques to improve performance. After the final performance one student

commented, 'I've improved my English, had fun, and I've got to know my friends much better -

what more can I ask of a course?'

58

Discussions and debates

Many teachers would agree that the best discussions in class are those that arise spontaneously,

either because of something personal that a learner reports or because a topic or a text in the

course book triggers some debate. Here, for example, a teacher describes how one such discussion

erupted in a class of Catalan teenagers:

I was trying to get attention at the beginning of the class but two of the girls were so deeply engrossed

in a conversation in Catalan that it was proving even more difficult than usual. Finally, 1 said to these two

girls that if their conversation was really that interesting they should tell the rest of the students, in English,

what they were talking about. One of the girls proceeded to tell the class about a girl at her school who

was wreaking havoc by telling lies about people and generally being very destructive. The rest of the

students listened with good attention, then asked questions, made suggestions, and the conversation

developed for the next twenty minutes or so.

In this case, the teacher knew how to take advantage of the students' concerns, and tum this into

a discussion activity in English. In the absence of such opportunities, however, it is useful to have

a store of techniques for setting up discussions in a more formal way. Here are some generic

discussion formats.

Discussion cards- the teacher prepares in advance sets of cards (one for each group) on which

are written statements relating to a pre-selected topic. In their groups, one student takes the

first card, reads it aloud, and they then discuss it for as long as they need, before taking the

next card, and so on. If a particular statement doesn't interest them, they can move on to the

next one. The object is not necessarily to discuss all the statements: the teacher should decide

at what point to end the activity. Groups who have finished early can prepare a summary of the

main points that have come up. These summaries can be used to open up the discussion to the

whole class. The topic may, for example, be fashion, and the statements to discuss might include

the following:

Fashion is universal. Fashion is an art form.

People should not be judged by what they wear.

Fashion is simply a way of making people spend money.

Fashion celebrates diversity.

The fashion industry is unethical.

etc.

Alternatively, the discussion points could be phrased as questions, with a view to eliciting a

more personal response, such as:

How important is the label on an item of clothing?

How often do you shop for clothes?

Would you wear - or have you worn - second-hand clothes?

How would you describe your style of dress?

etc.

59

There is, of course, no reason why the learners shouldn't be able to prepare the cards themselves,

especially they are about a topic they have experience in or have been reading about. Groups then

prepare a set of cards and exchange them with other groups.

Warm-up discussions - when introducing a new topic or preparing learners to read or listen

to a text, it is common to set a few questions for pair or group discussion, followed by a report

back to the whole class. These discussion questions may target general knowledge about the

topic (in which case they could be set as a homework research task) or some personalized

response to the topic.

Balloon debate - this popular format is based on the idea that a hot­ air balloon with its cargo

of passengers is dangerously overloaded and at least one of the passengers has to be

jettisoned. The group members, representing famous people in history, famous living people,

or people in different professions, put their case as to why they should be saved and why

someone else should be sacrificed. This works best if students have had time to prepare their

case, and this can be done in pairs. For example, if there are enough students to form two

'balloons', matched pairs from each balloon first work together, before re-forming in order to

stage the debate.

Pyramid (or Consensus) debate - the principle of this format is that at first individuals work

in pairs to achieve consensus on an issue, and then these pairs try to convince other pairs,

before forming groups of four, and so on, until the whole class comes to an agreement. For

example, the teacher might set the class the task of devising some 'class rules' with regard to

such things as classroom etiquette, discipline, duties, homework etc. First, individuals draft a list

of a maximum of, say, eight rules. They then compare in pairs, and draft a new list of eight rules,

that they are both agreed on. This will normally involve some discussion and negotiation. Once

they have their list, they join forces with another pair, and the process begins again. Finally, the

two halves of the class come together to agree on the definitive version.

Other ideas that work well in this format are ranking tasks - e.g. the five most important

people in history; the ten best pop songs of all time; the eight things I would take to a desert

island; the six school subjects that should be compulsory, and so on. Or students take a bare

statement and qualify it in such a way as to make it acceptable. For example:

Children should be beaten.

Smoking should be banned.

Anyone should be allowed to adopt children.

The same principle – of reaching some kind of consensus - can be used with more imaginary

situations, such as the following:

A party for all time

Work in groups:

You can hold a party for eight guests from today or history.

• Which eight people will you invite and why?

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• Who will be the 'guest of honor'? i.e. The most important guest?

• What will the seating arrangement at the dinner table be?

• What will the menu be?

• You can ask ONE guest ONE very important or personal question only. Who would you ask,

and what would your question be?

Panel discussions - these adopt the format of a television debate in which people representing

various shades of opinion on a topic- such as some locally relevant issue - argue the case,

usually under the guidance of a chairperson. One way of organizing this is to let students first

work in pairs to marshal their arguments, then one of each pair takes their place on the panel,

while the others form the audience - who can, of course, ask questions once the panelists have

stated their point of view. It helps if the classroom furniture is organized to represent a real

panel discussion. It also works better if learners are allowed to choose their point of view

themselves, rather than having to voice an opinion they may not be party to. However, some

sensitive topics work best if the activity is set up as a role-play (see above) and participants are

given clearly defined roles (e.g. police officer, psychiatrist, single parent, social worker etc.). They

can then 'hide behind' these roles. In large classes, the panel discussions can take place

concurrently in groups, with the teacher monitoring between therm.

As a final comment, discussions will work much better if learners are equipped with a repertoire of

expressions for voicing strong agreement, strong disagreement, and all the shades of opinion in

between. These could be available on posters around the room and regularly reviewed and topped

up. Some useful expressions include:

Expressing an opinion: Conceding an argument:

lf you ask me, ...

(Personally), I think ...

If you want my opinion, ...

Perhaps you're right.

OK, you win.

You've convinced me.

Strong agreement: Hedging:

Absolutely

I couldn't agree more.

I totally agree.

I agree.

I take your point, but ...

Yes, but ...

Qualified agreement: Strong disagreement:

That's partly true.

On the whole, yes.

I'd go along with that.

I don't agree.

On the contrary ...

I totally disagree.

Conversation and chat

Attitudes to classroom conversation and casual chat have varied over the years. In the heyday of

audiolingualism, one writer, Louis Alexander, warned that 'the traditional "conversation lesson" is

61

of no value at all if the student is not ready for it ... . The student must first be trained to use

patterns in carefully graded aural/oral drills. Only in this way will he finally learn to speak.' The chat

stage of the lesson, if it occurred at all, was simply there as a curtain raiser to the main event - the

controlled practice of sentence patterns. Until recently, one London language school was still

advising its students that 'the teacher and the student must not chat during the lesson. They must

only ask and answer the questions in the book. Chatting is a waste of time.'

Such a view sits uncomfortably with the finding that conversation, i.e. casual talk that is

primarily interpersonal, is by far the most common and the most widespread function of speaking.

Moreover, there is a school of thought that argues that, in L1 acquisition, the development of

conversational skills precedes the development of language itself As Evelyn Hatch put it, 'language

learning evolves out of learning how to carry on conversations', i.e. out of learning bow to

communicate. By extension, it has been argued that conversation in a second language is not the

result of language learning, but it is the site where learning occurs.

It is also, of course, a fact that many language learners feel that their most urgent need is to

develop conversational competence, and they regularly choose 'conversation' as their principal

objective when answering needs analysis surveys. For this reason, many language schools offer

'conversation classes' as a way of complementing more traditional, grammar focused, classes.

However, these offer a challenge to teachers and course designers since it is difficult to plan or

programme something as inherently unstructured and spontaneous as casual conversation. As

one writer puts it, 'genuine conversational interactions cannot be the outcome of planned lesson

agendas, they have to emerge - and so, by definition, cannot be planned.'

One way that teachers get round this is to organize conversation classes around a set of

themes. Ideally, these should be negotiated with the learners in advance, through the use of a

questionnaire or by means of a consensus debate, as outlined in the section above. Theme-related

texts can be used to trigger conversation, either in open class or in groups. Or individual students

take turns to make a short presentation on the pre-selected topic, which is then followed by open

discussion. Pre-planned lesson content can take the form of teaching useful conversational

formulas and routines, such as how to open and close conversations, how to interrupt, change the

subject, ask for clarification, and so on. Or the focus could be on the teaching of communication

strategies, such as paraphrasing, using vague language, and pause-fillers (see page 29).

Alternatively, conversation 'lessons' can be incorporated into normal classwork. One teacher

in the USA, Gisela Ernst, describes how she does this through the use of what she calls talking circles:

The talking circle is a total group activity that generally takes place at the beginning of the 45-min

conversational English class. Almost every day, teacher and students gather in the talking circle to share

and discuss experiences, anecdotes, news, special events, introduce the weekly theme, and the like.

Although the teacher might open the discussion by suggesting a general topic, the overriding assumption

is that the talking circle provides a place and an audience for students to discuss anything of interest to

them.

This assumes, of course, that the classroom dynamic is such that learners are prepared to 'share

and discuss experiences'. In order to create the right conditions for such exchanges, it often pays

to start with more structured activities which incorporate an element of personalization. Here are

three such activities:

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Sentence star - the learners each draw a five-pointed star on a piece of paper. The teacher asks

them to write on the tip of the first point can, on the second point like, on the third point have,

on the fourth point used to, and on the fifth point going to. (These prompts can of course be

varied according to the level of the class, the syllabus etc.) Individually, they then write true

sentences about themselves using each of the five words on their star, following the teacher's

example, e.g. I can speak a little Portuguese. In pairs or small groups, they take turns to read

each other their sentences. The others in the group have to ask at least five questions about

each of the sentences (e.g. Where did you learn Portuguese? How well can you speak it? Can you

write it? etc.). In a final, open-class stage, people can report on interesting things they have

learned about their classmates.

True/false sentences - the teacher dictates about five or more sentences to the class. If desired,

at least some of the sentences can embed a specific grammar structure, although this is not

necessary. For example:

Ever summer I go somewhere different.

Last year I went to Peru.

I have never been to Brazil.

I haven't been to Colombia, either.

I’d like to go to Guatemala.

etc.

The teacher tells the class that some of the sentences are true and some are false. They work in

pairs to try and guess which are which and then report their guesses, with reasons. Then,

working individually, and using the dictated sentences as a model, they write some true and

false sentences about themselves and take turns to guess which sentences are true or false in

pairs or small groups.

One of us/Some of us - the teacher writes the following sentence starters on the board:

One of us can …

Two of us can …

Three of us can …

All of us can …

None of us can ...

(Again, the grammar structure embedded in these prompts can be adapted.) The learners are

organized into groups of four and asked to generate as many true sentences about their group

as possible in, say, ten minutes, using the above sentence starters. A spokesperson from each

group reports some of the group's sentences, and these can be used as the basis for an open-

class question-and-answer stage. For example:

Spokesperson: One of us can play the guitar.

Teacher: Oh really, let me guess who that could be? Ernesto, is it you … ?

etc.

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The above activities can help break the classroom ice, but little or no conversation will be

possible in the classroom unless the teachers can demonstrate their willingness to be

conversational partners, too. This will mean, at times, relinquishing their traditional pedagogic

role in order simply to talk to the learners.

Traditional IRF exchanges may 'cramp' the learners' conversational style. At times, therefore,

it may be useful if teachers hand over at least some of the question asking to the learners. Here,

for instance, is a short extract from a lesson where the teacher is simply engaging with her

teenage ESL learners conversationally:

Teacher: You watched the Hero and the ... where. and the where?

Keiko: Weirdo.

Teacher: And the weirdo ... Hero and the Weirdo ... I've never heard of that movie ... . Is it scary?

Keiko: Yeah, scary .... You like?

Teacher: Tan? Did you want to say something? Is there a movie that you like?

Tan: Scary movie.

Teacher: You like scary movies? I think everyone likes scary movies.

Keiko: Oh, you like?

Teacher: No, I don't like them, but, I can only watch a couple, I get nightmares, I'm a baby.

Keiko: I know, I know, when you saw them, you scared when you sleep and then you scared they

coming and they beat you up.

Teacher: That's right, that's right ... Sometimes I get seared after watching a scary movie ... I have

nightmares.

Finally, many teachers have discovered the benefits of bringing guests into the classroom in order

to talk with learners. Apart from providing a new focus of interest, a guest can expose learners to

a different accent and vocal style and, especially if the guest is not a teacher, can provide

experience interacting in ways that more naturally reflect real-life communication. A simple

technique that works well is to ask learners to prepare a few questions in advance. They then

'interview' the guest as a class, allowing the guest's answers to fuel further questions. They can

then write up a summary of the interview in pairs or small groups.

Outside-class speaking

Real autonomy is only achievable if learners can cope on their own in the real world. To ease the

transition from the classroom to the outside world, there are a number of things they can do

outside the class. For example:

Tape diaries - learners keep a taped diary by recording themselves regularly at home on

audiotape and submitting this to the teacher for feedback. One teacher describes how he set

this activity up:

Once a week, with certain exceptions, students were to make an entry in their journals by recording

themselves speaking in English for about three minutes ... The content of the recordings could cover

observations on topical events and issues, discussion of ideas and information received, or

consideration of any matters related to study or daily life. Students were advised to minimize hesitation

by organizing their ideas before approaching the recorder. After the entries were submitted to me, 1

recorded my responses and returned the tapes.

64

This technique appears to suit some learners who may be timid about speaking in class, judging

by this extract from one of the taped journals:

Last time when we talked about Dead Poets Society, I didn’t have the courage to speak out in class.

Here I would like to share with you my opinions about the movie …

Moreover, preparing the journals allowed some of the learners to experience autonomous

language use, as this extract attests:

These days, because I have to make up several of my journal, I kept thinking about what to say and

how to say it in English and then I record my journals again and again. All day long, I am thinking in

English and speaking English. It seems that I am in the United States again.

If learners have access to voice mail, the recordings can be exchanged digitally, as email

attachments, saving a great deal of time and inconvenience. All that is required (apart from

online access) is a microphone and speakers, and an email program that supports voice mail.

This also allows the teacher to send written comments in the accompanying email. Comments

need not be exhaustive: it's probably enough to respond to the content of the recording (That

bit about your homestay family was interesting ...) and make a couple of suggestions.

Portfolios and diaries - asking learners to reflect on their out-of­class speaking experiences is a

useful way of raising their awareness as to their strengths and weaknesses and also of monitoring

their progress over time. Moreover, by sharing these experiences with other learners they may be

motivated to try out strategies that seem to have worked for their colleagues. And, of course,

talking about language use is another way of practicing speaking. One way of sustaining this

reflection process is for learners to keep a journal or portfolio of their extracurricular language

use. Here, for example, is an extract from the journal of a Czech woman, Martina, who has

emigrated to Canada, in which she recalls her difficulties speaking on the phone:

The first time I was very nervous and afraid to talk on the phone. When the phone rang, everybody in

my family was busy, and my daughter had to answer it. After ESL course when we moved and our

landlords tried to persuade me that we have to pay for whole year, I got upset and I talked with him

on the phone over one hour and I didn't think about the tenses rules. I had known that I couldn't give

up. My children were very surprised when they heard me.

The idea of learners keeping a 'language biography' as part of a larger portfolio of language-

learning achievements is an essential feature of the European Language Portfolio, and its purpose

is described on the Council of Europe website:

The Language Biography facilitates the learner’s involvement in planning, reflecting upon and assessing

his or her learning process and progress; it encourages the learner to state what he/ she can do in each

language and to include information on linguistic and cultural experiences gained in and outside formal

educational contexts; it is organized to promote plurilingualism, i.e. the development of competencies in

a number of languages.

65

The 'language biography' idea can be integrated into classroom activities in a less formal way, by

simply asking learners to share their experiences of out­of-class language encounters. The

teacher's own stories - of embarrassments and successes using a second language - can provide

a useful model. They can also act as an indirect form of learner training - a way of feeding in

suggestions as to how to maximize speaking opportunities outside the classroom. Personal stories

of the kind 'When I was living in Peru, I organized a conversation exchange with one of my

neighbors ... ' are more memorable than any amount of well-intended theory.

Conclusions

In this reading we have:

• defined autonomy in speaking.

• looked at ways that opportunities for self-regulation in the skill of speaking can be

provided both in the classroom and outside it.

• discussed why tasks should be productive, purposeful, interactive, challenging, safe, and

authentic.

Classroom speaking activities that require a degree of autonomy include:

• giving presentations and talks

• telling stories, jokes, and anecdotes

• drama activities, including role-plays and simulations

• discussions and debates

• conversation and chat

Feedback on such activities needs to be handled sensitively so as to respect the learners' need to

experience autonomy, but, at the same time, to provide a useful feedback loop for the

improvement of subsequent performance. Feedback that is offered as 'repair' may be less

inhibiting than overt correction.

Finally, we looked at ways learners can take responsibility for developing their speaking skills

outside the classroom, including the use of taped dialogues, computer-mediated communication,

and reflective journals and portfolios.

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Making lessons interesting,

meaningful and memorable

When you think of a favorite teacher, the chances are that you remember the stories that they told

and the way that they enabled you to understand difficult concepts by relating them to meaningful

real-world experiences. Having activities which meet learning objectives is all well and good, but

a good context transforms a seemingly random set of exercises into a memorable learning

experience for children.

In ICT we have some of the most exciting stories to tell in terms of ingenuity, progress and

possibility. No other subject is transforming our world so rapidly and completely. And yet some

ICT lessons are pedestrian (dare we say boring?) They miss the big picture and concentrate on

skills without a context.

To make lessons meaningful and memorable, there are two key aspects to consider - first,

the contexts you use within lessons that enable pupils to see why the current topic is important

and second, the teaching technique or devices to keep them interested and engaged.

Context: the big picture

A 'big idea' makes planning learning experiences straightforward. Although the major concept for

every child is the same, you can easily plan several ways to approach learning the same concept.

Toe context serves as an anchor for the unit or lesson you are planning to differentiate. Even if you

decide to take different students on varying paths of learning, they will all end up at the same

point with an understanding of the same major concept.

Throughout this reading we have tried to describe and exemplify how teachers can use a

context to make learning meaningful and interesting. Many example lessons use ideas which are

not interesting or realistic to children.

In asking our trainees what contexts they might use in ICT the topics of football and pop

groups are typically some of the first ideas to come to mind (usually aimed stereo­ typically at

boys and girls). Perhaps this partly reflects the IT lessons our trainees had as children and their

own generalized view of what school children as an amorphous body would like. When they begin

to consider individuals' interests within their own classes however, their views often change.

67

Football and pop music may be interesting to some (perhaps the majority) of pupils, but what if

you are a pupil who has no interest- is there scope to do something different (and will you be

singled out because of it)? They can also reinforce gender stereotypes and, in terms of realistic

aspirations, how many of our pupils will be employed by the football or pop industries?

Projects that involve children as stakeholders in issues they care about can provide excellent

alternative contexts for learning ICT capability. Children are curious about a whole range of topics;

these might include environmental issues, self-awareness, identity, communication, relationships,

poverty, aspirations, learning and entrepreneurship. How do you find out what contexts will most

engage your pupils? Why not ask them? Find out their aspirations, the issues that concern them

and the ways in which they use (and would like to use) technology. In fact, this can become a

context in its own right - use a collaborative tool to record the ideas of all pupils. Then, either use

the common themes as contexts for further work, or, if there is disagreement, split the class into

groups and ask each to produce a time-limited presentation to state their case, or host an online

debate, followed by a class vote.

Ideally all our contexts will suggest an output that will be of interest to a real audience such

as teachers, politicians, other pupils or business people. Although it will not always be practical to

seek the intended audience's opinion on the finished work, we should try to do this wherever

possible.

Figure 1 demonstrates how an initially IT-focused activity has been broadened using a more

interesting and relevant context. Ali of these activities provide pupils with a real (or realistic)

context, a clear role to play which relates to the world outside school and an audience.

All the above ideas are quite ambitious and it may not be possible to show all the final

products to a real audience, but even the idea of a simulated context is a powerful motivator for

children - they understand why they are doing the learning. Collaboration is a focus of all the

contexts because children need this skill and they can achieve much more when working together

than duplicating each other's efforts. It does matter that you can distinguish their individual

contributions through self, peer and teacher assessment, and you need to think this through

carefully before setting off on a project, but this does not mean they all have to hand in the same

six-page report at the end of the topic.

Original activity Contextualized

Researching the law about

copyright.

Sharing or stealing?

Preparing for a court case or televised debate where half of the class

represent the music industry who want to prosecute the other half of

the class who have downloaded material via peer to peer sites.

Producing a website and

animated logo advertising our

school.

Be a games designer

In teams, produce a hypertext-based adventure game with branching

choices to be used for Year 6 open evenings. Each page should

contain a simple animation to set the scene along with story text and

links to other pages for each choice to be made.

Produce a survey of pupils'

hobbies, analyze the results and

produce a report.

Train the teachers

Survey and analyze the ICT skills of our teachers. Plan an after-school

club for a one-hour session to teach them the essential skills they

need in a new technology, e.g. blogging, podcasting, SMS texting.

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Make a cars database, feed in

some data and then answer these

queries ...

Be a campaigner

Produce a database of environmental issues within your town, e.g. a

wildlife survey, identifying pollution hotspots, litter issues or

availability of recycling facilities. Pupils collect data from their local

areas, input to a database and extract key statistics to form a

persuasive case for change for a councillor or MP. Could also export

the postcodes and descriptions as Google Earth Placemarks and plot

these on a map.

Use the Internet to research and

produce a booklet about the

solar system.

Be an expert educator

Plan a 10 -minute video-conferencing activity which will teach Year 5

pupils about the solar system. Either record and edit an offline

version or perform the event to a live audience via a video link.

Collect data about height and

shoe sizes. Produce graphs.

Be a researcher

Look at how a real context affects pupils then extend this to look at

local and global impacts. So, for example, taking the environment as

a context, they could examine their own energy use, carbon footprint,

quantity of waste produced or water use. They could then extrapolate

the class data to look at total impact by the developed world and

take a global viewpoint by examining data/case studies and debating

an issue, e.g. implications of frequent flooding.

Figure 1 Contextualizing activities

A strong advocate for using real-world contexts in ICT lessons is Alex Savage. His CommunICTy

website, wiki and blog provide inspiring real classroom examples that integrate ICT capability,

global citizenship, environmental issues and self-reflection. See the companion website,

www.sagepub.co.uk/secondary for links.

Instead of creating a model for an imaginary zoo, our students research all the ways they use water

during an average day and calculate how much they actually use ... We then tell them that the water

budget for a child at our link school in Malawi is only 20 liters. They then interrogate the model to

find out ways to reduce their water budget. This really engages the students, as they are keen to find

out how much water they use and the importance of using less. (Savage, 2007a)

Alex has also re-contextualized existing lesson plans so that, for example, students do not merely

produce the sometimes bland 'All about me' presentations so ubiquitous in Year 7. Instead the

work is embedded into the Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL) curriculum. First, using

a strong visual cue- the Emotions Tree- children consider how their attitude and character is made

up of strengths and weaknesses (see Figure 4.9). Through a collaborative blog they share their

thoughts with others and then use the results to create an interactive presentation using a

common template. To add an international dimension the school twinned with Apeejay School in

New Delhi who also undertook the project and contributed to the blog.

You can imagine the cries of excitement when my students were reading their comments and found

phrases written by Nikita, Dhruv, Eashan and their classmates in India! They were also surprised to

find out how similar they felt about school life in both countries ... There has been a marked difference

in the engagement of my students in creating presentations about their emotions towards school life

rather than their families and hobbies ... Often in ICT, we concentrate more on how to create a product

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rather than the message that it is trying to communicate. However, 1 am convinced that allowing

students appropriate time to generate quality content on a theme that is relevant to their own lives

leads them into producing a better end product and consequently better progress. (Savage, 2007b)

Teaching techniques

When you picture a teacher, they are probably stood at the front of a room, telling a class

something interesting. Perhaps this is how you imagine yourself in the classroom.

'When I'm with my

friend I feel really

happy and enjoy

myself loads.

I love being around my

friends because I trust

them and they know

Ioads about me.'

Figure 2 The Emotions Tree project - Year 7. Each set of characters on the main page is hyperlinked to a

zoomed-in view and pupils' comments such as those on the right

Instructing, telling, showing or demonstrating are certainly important techniques. How you convey

information is as important as what you say, as in this example:

As part of a lesson about the impact of technology Yasmin (an NQT) displays and reads out a slide

(Figure 3).

The class seem to be listening - at least they're all looking in her direction. However, she's

unsure whether they have really understood the concept. Her head of department suggests a

different approach which she tries out next lesson using an adapted quotation (Figure 4).

Reflection point

We hope that you agree that the second approach is both more engaging and memorable; you may

even feel like telling someone else this amazing fact. Why is this? You could argue that the first

approach gives more information in a more concise form.

Spend a few moments now reflecting on why the second approach is more successful.

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Figure 3 Yasmin's original approach

Yasmin collects the class' feedback on the board and then reveals her answer.

Figure 4 Developing an idea to make it meaningful and memorable

Yasmin uses a number of techniques to make this learning memorable. The combination of these

techniques moves the teacher's role from being a provider of facts to being a facilitator of learning.

The class moves from relying on being told information to actively trying to work out the

implications of the question. Yasmin does this by simplifying the original information and then

using an analogy with a real-world context (car production) to help pupils grasp the concept. She

adopts a question-based approach, structured to give all pupils time to think, and she tells the

class something amazing and memorable which will help them remember the key idea. The next

Technology - the pace of change

These things double approximately every 2 years:

• the number of transistors on a chip

• the amount of computing power for the same cost

• the amount of storage capacity for the same cost.

Technology - the pace of change

Suppose for a moment that cars had

developed at the same rate as computers

over the last 30 years.

• What would be different about the

cars we use today?

• You have 30 seconds to think

about this question on your own.

• You have 1 minute to discuss it

with your partner.

Changing technology

• For the same price, computing

power and storage capacity double

every 2 years. This means...

Changing technology

'Today you would be able to buy a Rolls-

Royce for £1 .35, it would do three million

miles to the gallon, and it would deliver

enough power to drive the Queen

Elizabeth II [a cruise ship]. And if you

were interested in miniaturization, you

could place half a dozen of them on a

pinhead.'

Evans, (1979)

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section presents these and other common techniques that you can use in combination when

planning and teaching a lesson.

A common theme that runs throughout is the idea that we are trying to help children make

sense of a complex world by constructing a narrative, experience or example which links their

current knowledge with the new information or skills. If we do not bridge this gap effectively they

learn facts or skills in isolation that they may be able to repeat, but cannot make use of in new

situations. There is a continuum of practice when linking our teaching to everyday experience. At

one end of the spectrum we will literally be talking about a situation that is familiar to them, for

example visiting a supermarket. At the other end of the spectrum are highly imaginative, role-play

activities such as Newspaper Days where pupils assume the role of editors, journalists and

typesetters.

Simplify layers of complexity

Most learning is sequential - we need to understand one concept before we are ready for the next

(and we probably need some time in between to internalize the concept and test it in the real

world). In the previous example we see how Yasmin simplifies the complexity of the pace of change

in technology by using a headline example. In fact the picture is much more complex. She could

have explained that computing power is closely related to the number of transistors packed onto

a microchip and that the architecture of the circuits is also a major factor. She could have gone on

to discuss the implications of parallel or distributed processing, developments in organic

computers and the fact that the rate of change is not smooth over a short time period. Clearly this

would be too much information in a short space of time for the class; at the moment, knowing a

little about the rate of change and possible implications is sufficient. Over the years in which

Yasmin teaches these children she will expand and modify the original description.

Often it is useful to tell pupils when you are simplifying a complex concept: 'This isn't quite

how it works in the real world, but it will help you to understand for now.'

We must be wary of oversimplifying a concept. For example, beginning teachers may say

that good web-page design is merely choosing the right colors, fonts and images. In fact we can

show pupils some initial design concepts (using the language of visual design) and then ask them

to evaluate existing pages and use the principles in their own work.

Build from basic principles

Pupils can often tell you some facts about a topic, but may not have the underlying concepts to

really understand what they mean. Using questioning we can take them back to the basic concepts

and lead them to tell a story that links what they know with what it means. Here is Yasmin again

teaching about data storage media:

Scenario

The whiteboard contains the title 'Measuring Memory'.

Yasmin: Can anyone tell me what these two objects are? Hands up. (She holds up a floppy disk

and a CD)

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Luke: Miss, is it a DVD and a floppy disk?

Yasmin: Well done, Luke, in fact this is a CD, but they do look identical. Now a trickier question

- approximately how much information can the floppy disk hold?

After various guesses, the class settle on about 1 megabyte.

Yasmin: OK, it is about 1 megabyte, but what on earth does that mean? What does 'mega' mean

- it is a number?

Derren: Is it a million, Miss?

Yasmin: Excellent answer, Derren, so a floppy disk contains a million bytes, now who can tell me

what a byte is?

Asif: Is it a bit?

Yasmin: No, though a byte is made up of bits - we won't worry about that for now.

Jane: Is it a memory?

Yasmin: It is a way of measuring how big memory is, but there's an easy way to think about how

big a byte is. I'll give you a clue - there are 16 bytes on the board.

Asif: It's a letter.

Yasmin: Excellent, a byte is equivalent to a letter, or a ...?

Jane: A number.

Yasmin: Exactly - a letter or a number, or a punctuation mark or any key-press - what do we call

those things altogether?

Luke: A character, Miss.

Yasmin: Brilliant! So a byte is equivalent to a character and a floppy disk holds a million bytes -

that means you could sit at your keyboard and type a million letter 'Ns and they could

comfortably be saved on a floppy disk.

Something amazing

There are many amazing stories to tell and things to show pupils in ICT if you look for them.

Yasmin extends her discussion on storage capacity by illustrating just how much information can

be stored in a very small space.

Scenario

Yasmin: OK, so we know a floppy disk can hold about a million bytes of data. AII of the seven Harry

Potter books put together have about 6.5 million characters (letters and spaces) in them. How

many floppy disks would I need to store them electronically?

Jane: Seven, Miss.

Yasmin: Exactly, Jane - that would be a bit more portable than the actual books. Now let's think

about the CD - how many floppy disks worth of information could I fit on here - have a guess, let's

go around the class?

After a game of higher and lower, the class come to a figure of 650 floppy disks.

Yasmin: That's right - a CD can hold about the same as 650 floppy disks or 650Mb. That's the same

as a stack of floppy disks about 2 meters high - taller than me. Or put another way, a CD could

73

hold 100 sets of all of the Harry Potter stories - a stack of those would be 30 meters tall, about the

same as seven double-decker buses!

Analogy

Sometimes the concept we are trying to explain does not relate directly to previous experience.

Analogy allows us to show how an unfamiliar concept is similar to an idea we do understand. We

can use analogy in different ways, first to present an idea:

Yasmin: A database is like a filing cabinet, all of the information, the FILE, is the same as the cabinet.

A RECORD is all of the information about one person or thing, like opening my filing cabinet and

pulling out a criminal record. An individual piece of information like 'Surname' is held in a FIELD in my

database.

Secondly, we could ask pupils to construct their own analogies:

• How is a hard-drive like a library?

• How is a computer network like a road network?

• How is a program like a recipe?

• How is a database like a filing cabinet?

• Describe encryption using locked boxes.

Analogies have their limitations and will usually break down as pupils scrutinize them - point these

limitations out to children as necessary. Finding the weaknesses in an analogy is a great way of

identifying real understanding in your pupils:

• How is searching a filing cabinet different from searching a database?

• How does a recipe differ from a computer program?

Embed the knowledge in the task

You can create a powerful learning feedback loop by asking pupils to transform what they have

learned so that it can be understood or used by others. For example if you want pupils to learn

some hypertext mark-up language (HTML) commands you could get them to create a web page

(using HTML) which describes to someone else how to use those HTML commands. So the finished

page might begin with:

My HTML guide

Writing HTML web pages is easy provided you know the commands - here is a list of the ones I

know about:

<B> makes text bold

<I> makes text italic

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The output of these tasks makes it easy for teachers to assess both skills and under­ standing,

particularly if the page goes on to describe why you might choose to use HTML over other web-

page creation software.

Other ways that you can embed the knowledge in the task include:

• writing a user guide.

• recording an animation demonstrating how to do the task

• making a quiz or game that tests others on the topic studied.

Personify the process or idea - anthropomorphism

Attributing human characteristics to a computer, device or process can help children understand

difficult concepts. Jason uses this idea when he asks pupils to imagine they are the computer inside

a washing machine. The following are examples of teachers using anthropomorphism:

• 'Kevin is the LOGO turtle. We are going to give him instructions to walk around the

classroom in a square. What commands might Kevin understand?'

• 'Someone has pressed the WAIT button at the pelican crossing. What will the computer

think next?'

• 'Imagine you are going to do the job of a temperature sensor in an arctic weather

monitoring station, you have a thermometer, a notebook and a watch.'

• 'Imagine you are an email message about to be sent around the world. The user presses

send - what happens to you next?'

• 'When I fill the formula down into the cells below they all go horribly wrong - why? What

is the computer thinking?'

Role play

This is a very similar technique to anthropomorphism. Whereas anthropomorphism asks children

to imagine they are objects or processes, role play asks them to imagine that they are taking on

the role of another human being, usually with a specific job. Role play does not have to involve

dramatic performance. Toe simple idea that today we are going to act like programmers, web

designers, scientists or hackers is enough to change the tone of a task. Of course, you may at times

want to include an element of drama, for example when having a debate about an issue. Teachers

can also play a role as in this example:

Yasmin: 'Good morning. Before we start today, I thought you might like to see this.' As she opens

a folder on the computer, she draws attention to a file 'Headteacher's star pupils'. 'Oops, Mrs.

Marshall must have put that in the wrong folder, shall we have a look?' She opens the document,

but it is password protected. 'Shall we have a guess, what do you think the password could be?'

After several guesses the pupils hit upon the correct answer - the school name backwards. A list

of pupil names appear. 'How come none of your names are in this folder? Do you think we should

add one of you to the list as a joke?' Having done this, she pauses dramatically. 'How many of you

have heard of the Computer Misuse Act - do you know how many years we could spend in jail for

75

doing what we just did?' She then explains that this was a simulation and gives the class enough

information for them to calculate the potential fine and jail sentence.

Mysteries and problem-solving

Mysteries can give children a chance to exercise their creative thinking skills. Typically, children are

presented with stimulus material which is incomplete, ambiguous or both, and asked to infer a

solution to an open-ended problem or question. As a teacher you can vary the parameters of the

task such as the source material, the opportunity for further research and the openness of the

question. Mysteries are a good way to allow a class to explore the complexities of an idea in detail.

They require careful management to ensure that individuals do not dominate the discussions and

to refocus the class if they become overly involved in peripheral issues. Examples include:

• Why is Frances Clipper losing money? Pupils are given some incomplete information about

an apparently successful hairdressing salon and propose answers to the question using

spreadsheet modelling.

• Why did the traffic accident occur? Pupils are given contradictory eyewitness statements

and access to some traffic-light control flow charts and have to figure out what went wrong.

• Is Mrs. Evans a fraudster? Pupils are given an electronic trail to follow of sales receipts, credit

card

• transactions and Mrs. Evans' testimony, and have to figure out whether she is a victim of

identity theft.

• Who committed the crime? Pupils compile a suspects database and conduct queries to solve

a variety of crimes from evidence collected at the scene.

• 'What if' scenarios. What if an electronic pulse bomb disabled all the microchips in our

town?

Of course, we can set smaller problems than the above in any ICT lesson, where we work with

children to solve the problem or answer the question rather than telling them the answer:

• 'Why is an international phone call expensive and an email virtually free (regardless of size)?'

• 'Why does more RAM make a computer operate faster?'

• 'Does a flash drive have a battery?'

• 'How can a jpg be physically larger (height and width) than a bmp image but smaller in

memory size?'

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Reading: The Procedural Syllabus and the Task Syllabus: How Similar, How Different?

Link: https://goo.gl/Uzm1Ud

Summary: The present paper aims to convince readers that the terms procedural and task

syllabuses are fundamentally different from each other. After reviewing the underlying

principles of these two syllabuses, it is contended that they both view pedagogic tasks as

the point of departure in designing second/foreign language courses. In spite of this

similarity, it is argued that these two syllabus types differ from each other in terms of task

selection, task gradation, task implementation, and input characteristics.

Reading: The Development of English Language Teaching (ELT) Competency-Based Syllabus in

Senior High School

Link: https://goo.gl/c3dMZP

Summary: The rise of competency-based syllabus launched by the Ministry of National

Education (2006) brought about significant issue among the English teachers in the country

(Indonesia). One of the crucial issues is that how to transfer the concepts of competences

into the syllabus design. Since a syllabus does not only contain a list of subject content, but

also how curriculum planners (teachers) reflect their understanding and belief about nature

of language and of language teaching and learning, the ELT must be carried out to achieve

communicative competence.

Reading: Types of English Syllabus; Choosing and Preparing the Right Materials

Link: https://goo.gl/ZxxsGF

Summary: In this article the authors synthesize the different the types syllabus and provides

practical ideas of teaching materials based on the particular characteristics of each syllabus.

It provides a brief description of the syllabus, plus additional steps leading towards,

designing, preparing and selecting materials accordingly. Finally, he discusses the possible

benefits or disadvantages of using such approach.

Reading: Teaching Conversational Skills - Tips and Strategies

Link: https://goo.gl/BNSFtB

Summary: Teaching conversational skills can be challenging as not only English skills are

required. English students who excel in conversation tend to be those with self-motivated,

outgoing personalities. However, students who feel they lack this skill are often shy when it

77

comes to conversation. In other words, personality traits that dominate in everyday life tend

to appear in the classroom as well. As English teachers, it's our job to help students improve

their conversational skills, but often 'teaching' is not really the answer.

Reading: A Discourse Approach to Teaching Oral English Skills

Link: https://goo.gl/1pTCir

Summary: This paper explores a pedagogical approach to teaching oral English- Conversation

Analysis. First, features of spoken language is described in comparison to written language.

Second, Conversation Analysis theory is elaborated in terms of adjacency pairs, turn-taking,

repairs, sequences, openings and closings, and feedback. Third, under the theoretical

framework of Conversation Analysis, a syllabus for improving learners’ oral English skills is

designed in consideration to learner profile, needs analysis and communicative events and

materials employed in teaching. And a teaching model is explored with reference to

Riggenbach (1999). Finally, two types of assessment are discussed to provide insights for

teachers on the effect of teaching and learning. All the issues discussed above will provide

teachers and scholars with a clear instruction on how to apply conversation analysis to

teaching oral English skills and the discussion will lead to the feasibility of applying a

conversation analysis approach to teaching learners’ oral English skills.

Reading: Evaluating the Appropriateness of Adopting a CLT Approach in an English Conversation

Classroom in Japan

Link: https://goo.gl/KoLkd2

Summary: This report evaluates the appropriateness and possibility of adopting a

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach in my current teaching environment. In

the first section, I offer three different but related conceptions of a CLT approach: as defined

with reference to features and principles inferable from CLT practices; as defined with reference

to the notion of ‘communicative competence’; and Ellis’s (1982) ‘informal’ approach. In the

second section I analyze my current teaching environment in terms of: institutional constraints;

student motivation; affective factors; and learning styles and culture. In the third section I

evaluate the appropriateness and possibility of adopting each of the previously discussed CLT

approaches in relation to the factors of my teaching environment previously analyzed. In the

fourth and final section, I conclude the report with a cautious view as to whether a CLT

approach should be further adopted in my current teaching environment.

Reading: Teaching Speaking – Conversational routines

Link: https://goo.gl/4oGawS

Summary: The mastery of speaking skills in English is a priority for many second-

language or foreign-language learners. Consequently, learners often evaluate their

success in language learning, as well as the effectiveness of their English course, on the

basis of how much they feel they have improved in their spoken language proficiency.

This articles cites some of the features of spoken discourse, and supports the

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implementing of ´conversational routines´ introducing fixed expressions into language

instruction.

Reading: Improving Students’ Speaking Skill through Communication Game, Recorded Role Play

and Peer Feedback

Link: https://goo.gl/fgwf53

Summary: This study aims to improve students’ speaking skills using the combined

strategies of communication game, recorded role play and peer feedback activities. This

action research took place at an English institution in Jakarta, Indonesia and collected the

data by observing the learning process with the collaborator, analyzing the video during the

class, making field notes, conducting tests (pretest and post-test) and interviewing students.

There were three cycles in this study. Results of the tests showed that students’ speaking

skills improved.

Reading: Using Video in the English Language Classroom-ICT

Link: https://goo.gl/cLg1XJ

Summary: Video is a popular and a motivating potential medium in schools. Using video in

the language classroom helps the language teachers in many different ways. Video, for

instance, brings the outside world into the language classroom, providing the class with

many different topics and reasons to talk about. It can provide comprehensible input to the

learners through contextualized models of language use. It also offers good opportunities

to introduce native English speech into the language classroom. Through this article I will try

to show what the benefits of using video are and, at the end, I present an instrument to

select and classify video materials.

Reading: How an LMS Supports English Language Teaching

Link: https://goo.gl/xzhqD9

Summary: this article explores the importance of using technologies that support English

Language teaching and learning. How webinar tools facilitate English Language Teaching,

and the role of Learning Management Systems in ELT. It also examines the best model of

training for ELT in the workplace.

Reading: The 5 EdTech trends of ELT part 5: Learning management systems

Link: https://goo.gl/s1kL1X

Summary: this article explores a bit of the history of Learning Management Systems and

Virtual Learning Environments. It walks the reader through the different options from the

oldest to the most recent ones. It also searches what the most renown ELT publishers are

doing with respects to LMS. Finally, it ponders some critical questions as to whether schools

have to buy or build their own management system tools.