A content-based approach to English: teaching the sciences Elite Olshtain Astana, 2016

Outline for the workshop Who are Strategic Learners The language skills Vocabulary – and language resources Content-based learning Text types : narratives and expository texts Metacognitive awareness

Strategic Learners Strategies are the conscious actions students take to improve their learning. Strategies often require active involvement of the learner in their selection and use. Strategies are not isolated actions but rather a process of orchestrating more than one action to accomplish a task. Strategies are linked to individual learning styles. Teachers need to help learners become aware of their preferences and thus learn to monitor their use of strategies. Anderson, N.J. (2005)

Communication is at the Core Human linguistic communication can entail the transmission of: information, ideas, beliefs, emotions and attitudes. At the production end this can happen through speaking or writing; at the receiving end – through listening and reading. In a communicative situation there are three important elements that interact: the initiator of the communicative interaction, the message (or text) and the receiver. The context within which communication takes place plays a crucial role. Cultural norms and rules of appropriacy differ across languages

The Comprehension Skills: Listening-Reading Understanding skills are very important in a changing world. We need to become efficient in decoding and in interpreting texts, messages, instructions, requests, ideologies etc. Both – language knowledge and content knowledge are crucial for the interpretation process. Reading provides the biggest challenge since it is a vehicle for learning It doesn’t seem obvious enough, that comprehension skills require engagement and the enhancement of active strategies

Listening “Listening is not just hearing. It is an active process that may begin before the first speech signal is recognized, and it may go on long after the input or spoken information has stopped”, (Goh, 2014, p.73) It requires construction of meaning during the entire listening act. Reciprocal listening – takes place in face-to-face conversations Non-reciprocal listening – is listening to recorded texts or messages. Here we usually have a well-defined goal. This kind of listening is most relevant to teaching contexts. Strategic listeners – have developed good aural decoding skills and can segment the stream of speech into meaningful units. Their top-down strategies help them make sense of the oral discourse.

Reading Reading Comprehension – entails cognitive top-down processes as well as language focused bottom-up processes. Vocabulary knowledge and discourse structure awareness are crucial. Strategic Readers – (Celce-Murcia & Olshtain 2000, Grabe, 2009): 1. adjust relevant strategies to the reading matter at hand 2. know how to abandon non-successful strategies 3. they move through a sequence of quick mental questions 4. they are quick and effective decoders 5. they know how to recruit all their background and linguistic knowledge to “make sense” of the text 6. they have had experience reading and have gained self- confidence which enhances their ability and drive to make sense of texts.

The Production/Expression/Composing Skills Production of L2 speech and writing enables individuals to share ideas, wants, needs, perceptions and feelings in a language that is not their own. Speaking usually takes place here and now with an interlocutor who interacts with the speaker while writing is usually removed in time and space from the “future” or “imaginary” reader. In both speaking and writing, users need to choose relevant vocabulary and grammatical constructions that will transmit their intended message. In the production process the initiator has the option of choosing the goal and focus of the message but s/he also has the responsibility for making the spoken or written text cohesive and comprehensible.

Speaking Requires Practice Leading to Fluency In order for learners to develop fluency in an EFL classroom at least 3 things are needed (Goh, 2007): language support, knowledge support, strategy support Pretask planning can be very important: prior to a ‘role play’ activity or any other speaking activity we need to assist learners in organizing their ideas, in activating knowledge of vocabulary and relevant grammar, in acquiring suitable expressions and in develop self confidence by becoming risk-takers. Challenge: any activity focused on fluency should challenge the learners Repetition: a successful fluency activity should be repeated and varied in a way that allows learners to increase their speaking ability

Strategic Writers They use strategies related to the purpose of writing – planning and constructing a text to fit the goal of writing They recruit their knowledge of discourse in order to make the text cohesive and coherent They recruit their content knowledge related to the message in order to make the text informative They recruit their language knowledge to serve the communicative purpose of the text They develop their personal preferences in writing in order to express their own perspective

Language Resources Serve Communicative Interaction Vocabulary: Often viewed as the main language resource for communication Nation (2010) – suggests four strands: 1. meaning-focused vocabulary within comprehension skills – new words encountered within context 2. form-focused instruction: recognizing morphological and syntactic endings 3. meaning-focused output: Ls use new words in speaking and writing 4. learners use their knowledge of vocabulary – receptive or productive in relevant language skills

Narrative Texts A main plot – events unfolding in a temporal framework (time connectors) Agent-oriented – main characters: focus is on people and their actions and motivations (active preference, the hero is in the center ) The events reach a climax and lead to a closure The main plot or major events are usually in simple past, would constructions or used to) The background is often in past progressive Reference to general facts might be in simple present

Expository Texts Topic-oriented : focus on concepts, present unfolding of ideas, claims, arguments Logical organization: logical connectors Not human-action oriented but outcomes of actions. Many passive constructions In order to distinguish between facts and opinions modals are often used (there could have been…) Describing features and entities requires the use of complex adjectives and noun compounds (the energy saving lever) The overall structure of the text complies with conventions

Content-based Instruction – in general Learning content by using the New Language Learning content and language at the same time Improvement in language is quite powerful Improvement in content may suffer We look for ways to integrate the two: content (such as history or biology) with English

Academic vocabulary Two types of vocabulary knowledge: recognition and production Academic vocabulary – useful in all subject areas Specific vocabulary for a particular field or subject matter

Metacognitive strategies Metacognitive strategies help connect top-down with bottom-up processing – awareness of the reading process Weaker students can benefit from training in metacognitive strategies Strong metacognitive knowledge, reading goals and text characteristics are important but cannot compensate for lack of language knowledge (Vocabulary & Grammar) Schoonen, Hulstijn & Bossers (1998)

An effective computer assisted program can help students become strategic readers Train students to ask the pre- and on-line questions: monitor reading! Focus on meaningful chunks - visually Make connections between meaningful chunks Allow different interactions with the text: local and global, audio and visual, parts and the whole, enhanced input, deconstruction and reconstruction

Group Activity: 1. Read the two pages carefully. 2. Pay special attention to words, concepts and connectors 3. think of what students should learn from these pages both in terms of content and in terms of language Group 1: what preparation is necessary before reading Group 2: what are some key words that students need to understand, suggest ways to teach them Group 3: write some content questions and try to answer them Group 4: discuss ways to evaluate the acquisition of knowledge (content) based on these pages and the learning of language