Foregrounding Oral Communication Chapter 6 Foregrounding Oral Communication

Simultaneous First and Second Oral Development Bilingual children develop: Flexibility with metalinguistic concepts Early understanding of cultural norms An understanding of signification systems (body language, prosody, gestural cues)

Simultaneous First and Second Oral Development Teachers should: Draw on student’s background knowledge Be aware of potential conflicts with student’s previous schooling or home experiences Model unfamiliar oral language responses Allow for adequate wait time Scaffold instruction Strive for continuity between home & school

Developing Oral Communication in Sequential Language Acquisition Early language development with literacy as a goal involves oral practices based on meaningful uses of printed material: Question and answering routines Sharing time with books Storytelling Illustrating stories and sharing them Creating games Reciting poems/singing Dramatization

Developing Oral Communication in Sequential Language Acquisition Practices with print prepares students to think and use language for learning Engagement in relevant and sustained oral practices is necessary in the classroom Be aware of interference from the first language, but realize that not all student will progress through the normal developmental pattern at the same pace.

Research demonstrates: Language as a Resource Research demonstrates: How language is used as social action How teacher’s oral interactions with her students need to be monitored Distribution of turns, student recognition,sanctioning of behaviors How both the physical settings and the speakers’ backgrounds and influences have bearing on oral interactions

Language as a Resource Teachers need to teach beginning second language learners how daily social interactions are affected by: frame participation structure positioning paralinguistic elements

Classroom Language Learning Teachers should: Examine with their students the ways people communicate with each other and discuss the underlying values and attitudes. Help students recognize which language to use in different social situations and offer them alternatives for different audiences.

Subtractive Bilingualism Subtractive Bilingualism includes educational practices where: Children are often expected to give up their L1 in favor of their L2 L1 is not viewed as an asset, lack of L2 viewed as a deficit Transfer benefits of L1 L2 not recognized

Second Language Acquisition Research Input hypothesis Krashen: comprehensible input = (i+1); Credits the learner’s subconscious processes Interactional hypothesis Long: active communicative efforts to understand and be understood Output hypothesis Swain: attempts at output allow learners to test hypotheses about L2 and progressively produce more accurate, coherent, conventionalized language

Second Language Acquisition Research Classroom-Based Research on Oral Communication Development Feedback: consider quantity, complexity, timing, learner understanding of its present or future need

Second Language Acquisition Research Input Theories Learnability theories - examine what kinds of learning in classroom settings best facilitate acquisition. They identify stages in learner development and types of tasks and interactions Processability theory – learner can only be taught a structure when he can manage its processing demands

Second Language Acquisition Research Output Theories There are varied preferences in learning styles that help students process, store and retrieve information. Learning styles are affected by: affective levels modes of processing information types of cognition

Second Language Acquisition Research Output Theories Teachers should: Offer a variety of activities geared towards different learning styles and multiple intelligences Teach learning strategies (Chamot/O’Malley)

Fluency and Proficiency vs. Identity and Agency Planned Oral Communication Incorporate monologic communication – reading aloud, speeches, rehearsals; communication for a purpose Students focus on organization, cohesion, performance Promote interaction where the cognitive processes used in the classroom setting will be comparable to the natural setting

Fluency Building: Error Correction Only correct features that can be reasonably managed at the learner’s level of proficiency Tailor error correction to the learner (checklists) Remember that the development of an internalized grammar system does not follow a linear path

Identity and Agency Building Genre Is Greater Than Its Parts Encourage learners to observe/collect information about L2 community and formulate questions about the culture/language use through: consciousness raising problem posing

Identity and Agency Building Genre Is Greater Than Its Parts To help students gain the “big picture”, assign projects which: involve students affectively promote cognitive activities such as problem solving relate to subject matter in other classes

Identity and Agency Building Teacher’s Feedback Teacher talk includes modifications teachers use to be comprehended by their students: repetition of instructions speaking at a slower rate pausing changing pronunciation modifying vocabulary, grammar or discourse

Identity and Agency Building Teacher’s Feedback Respectfully scaffold student’s oral communication with: modeling restatement clarification questioning

Identity and Agency Building Shifting between fluency & accuracy Know the students strengths to move from: Silent participation with comprehension Production of chunks of oral language Complex oral exchanges and presentations

Identity and Agency Building Shifting between fluency & accuracy To build confidence in fluency, lessons need to foreground activities for negotiating meaning and shift to foregrounding accuracy by focusing on forms of expression.

Identity and Agency Building Shifting between fluency & accuracy Ice-breakers allows students to use an oral routine or expression with their classmates under low-risk conditions. Use them: To get to know each other To review previous material To preview new material To introduce new material inductively or deductively

Differences Between Second and Foreign Language Learners Social and Academic Consequences of Sounding Like the “Other” Challenges of second language learners: Lack of social acceptance due to an L1 that is stigmatized by the mainstream Alienation from their culturally distinct heritage group

Differences Between Second and Foreign Language Learners Discontinuities in Schooling Limited communication between schools results in lack of continuity in learning (“repeat beginners”) Heritage language learners sometimes: have little formal study in their L1 must strive for academic success by adopting cultural practices at odds with their home/community environment have been in programs where memorization is stressed, rather than application and performance

Going Beyond the National Standards Basic TESOL standards: presentational interpersonal interpretive Critical Language Awareness – build up the learner’s awareness of the significant role language plays in social/school life. Build connections between classwork and the wider social/political world.