Journey Into Familiar Worlds Raising Awareness to Develop Fluency and Accuracy

The communicative approach Communicative language teaching (CLT) is an approach to the teaching of second and foreign languages that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a language. –Wikipedia

Individual Survey Rate the following statements (1-5) 1= I don’t agree at all5= I completely agree A. Pair work and group work are two of the most important ways of helping students become effective speakers. B. One challenge with communicative activities is that students are just chatting and not really improving. C. Another challenge with communicative language teaching is that students are just making the same mistakes over and over during the activities. D. Students can’t improve unless they know why they are doing pair work or group work in class.

Share your answers Discuss the following statements 1= I don’t agree at all5= I completely agree A. Pair work and group work are two of the most important ways of helping students become effective speakers.. B. One challenge with communicative activities is that students are just chatting and not really improving. C. Another challenge with communicative language teaching is that students are just making the same mistakes over and over during the activities. D. Students can’t improve unless they know why they are doing pair work or group work in class.

Ourselves as a Group Discuss the following statements 1= I don’t agree at all5= I completely agree A. Pair work and group work are two of the most important ways of helping students become effective speakers.. B. One challenge with communicative activities is that students are just chatting and not really improving. C. Another challenge with communicative language teaching is that students are just making the same mistakes over and over during the activities. D. Students can’t improve unless they know why they are doing pair work or group work in class.

Does just talking a lot make people better speakers? Chances to use language to communicate Building confidence Opportunities to encounter new language Working to express one’s ideas But how about…

Driving for 25 years?

Driving for 25 years ≠ Practicing for 25 years “Experience means you are simply engaged in the activity. Practice means you are trying to improve your performance.” --Dan Willingham in Why Don’t Students Like School (p. 149)

Key Question What do focus and awareness have to do with practicing effectively when learning a language?

Principle #1 Effective teachers provide activities and instructions that guide students to focus on specific skills.

Principle #2 Effective teachers raise student awareness about what speaking involves, so that they know what they need to focus on.

What is the speaker thinking and doing… when focusing on fluency? when focusing on accuracy?

Focusing on Fluency Thinking about communicating ideas Including details, stories, examples, opinions, reasons Speeding up, fewer pauses Being intelligible but not worrying about being exactly correct Talking about familiar topics and using language that feels easy

Focusing on Accuracy Slowing down Taking more time Being careful Thinking about correct grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation Using language that might be a bit challenging for you

“She’s really fluent in English”  She’s really proficient in English. Proficiency = Fluency + Accuracy ***************************************** “Teachers will be familiar with learners who are fast and fluent speakers, but whose language is practically unintelligible because of errors they make. There are also learners whose language is virtually error free, but who are painful to interact with because the production of every word is a struggle.” --Scott Thornbury How to Teach Grammar (p.91)

Principle #3 Effective teachers give students opportunities to practice fluency (with awareness and focus). ********************************************* Fluency is one Paul Nation’s ‘Four Strands’ that should be part of a balanced English course. For a full discussion check out his book, Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking.

Let’s experiment… Clapping Activity #1 Look at the person sitting next to you and clap for 5 seconds

Clapping Activity #2 Now…. Clap as fast as you can. Be sure that each clap is clear and That your partner can hear each clap

Clapping Activity #3 And now… Listen and do this pattern as many times as you can in five seconds. Be sure that the claps are clear and that your partner can hear them.

Clapping Activity #4 Okay…last one! Make a more complex or longer pattern for your partner. Repeat your partner’s pattern three times. Slow down and be careful to get it right.

“Keep Talking” Activity SpeakerListener  Keep talking for 2 minutes.  Give ideas, opinions, details, reasons, examples  Listen actively  No questions  If the person stops, you can say “Tell me more about_______”  Check  Correct  Report “You said….” Ask questions!

Sample Speaking Task Talk about something you do in your free time. Be sure to talk about: When/where/why do you do it? Who do you do it with? How long have you done it? How did you start? How did you learn? When was the last time you did it? What happened?

“Keep Talking” Activity SpeakerListener  Keep talking for 2 minutes.  Give ideas, opinions, details, reasons, examples  Listen actively  No questions  If the person stops, you can say “Tell me more about_______”  Check  Correct  Report “You said….” Ask questions!

Cell Phone Recordings Students do the “Keep Talking” activity Record it using an iPhone, iPod, or other cell phone. Transcribe their recording. Correct the transcription. Comment on the experience it

Principle #4 Effective teachers create opportunities for students to assess their speaking skills so that they can focus and improve.

Sample Speaking Task Listen to a student speaking and think about the following questions: What strikes you about her speaking? What are some strengths that the student has? What do you think the student most needs to work on to improve her speaking?

Student Example Transcription My name is Su Bin Kim. Uh..uh..I went to 39 pier in San Francisco on last weekend. Uh.. Uhm...uh..I uh..went to... uh..with my boyfriend and Ga-young.Uh.. uh..We ate..uh....seafood. Uh..uh.. lobster and..uh..seafood pasta and trout. Trout is fish name. Uh...It's very delicious.uh..We talked about..uh..living in America. And we talked about,,uh,, learning English.Uh.. Because learning English,,uh,, it's too hard. Uh...uh...And,,,uh,,uh,, It's too cold in SF. Uh..uh.. So if you want to go SF,you need,,uh,, thick jacket. uh.. uh..Next time, I want to go again.Because I have fun time.,,uh..And uhm.. oh!We saw,,uh,, many people. Maybe, they have enjoy time. Correction I went to Pier 39 in San Francisco last weekend. I went with my boyfriend and Ga-young.We ate lobster,clam soup, seafood pasta and trout.Trout is fish name. It was very delicious. And we talked about living in America. And we talked about learning English. Because learning Englishis too difficult. It was too cold in San Francisco. So if you want to go there, you have to wear thick jacket. Next time, I want to go there again.Because I had fun. We saw many people. So I was wondering where all these people came from. Comment. One of my strong point is trying to speak more in detail. One of my weak point is making an error in the arrangement of words when I am speaking. Because the word of korean is different from that of English.I am not easy,not yet. So I think this is good way to practice speaking. And I have to study English words more hard.

Scoring Rubric Hi Su Bin, Thanks for sending your speaking task. Below are some comments and corrections to help you improve. I gave you scores for each category. The scores have the following meanings: 1: This area needs a lot of work and is making a lot of your communication hard to understand or unnatural. 2: This area needs some work and is making some of your communication hard to understand or unnatural. 3. This area is okay and some of your communication is clear and natural. 4. This area is a strong point and makes your communication clear and natural. Here are the categories, your scores, and there meanings. I have underlined areas that you need to work on. Fluency 2.5 (= your words per minute, your speed/pausing, your ability to keep talking, giving support and details for your ideas) Total words = 93, Time = 2 min, WPM = 47. Try to plan your key words before. That will help you keep talking. Grammar Accuracy 3 (= SVO in your sentences, present/past tenses, there is/are, it is/they are, it has/they have, adverbs) Vocabulary Accuracy 3 (= using words from class, having enough words to talk about this topic, parts of speech, collocations, count/non-count, plurals, articles) Pronunciation 3.5 (= pronouncing words clearly, using correct word stress, chunking your words, using sentence stress, using intonation) Overall: You have some very natural chunking, intonation, and sentence stress. Also, you were able to catch many of your basic grammar mistakes in your correction. I think the big thing for you to work on is your fluency. What are some ways that you can get your WPM up? Please talk to me if you don't understand your scores or my comments. If you come to office hours, we can practice more together. Josh

Tips for “Keep Talking” Give prep time (key word notes only). Do it regularly in class (but only record occasionally) Same task with a different partner. Try the fluency circle technique (ala Paul Nation) Brainstorm ideas (Ex. How can you improve your fluency?)

Principle #5 Effective teachers guide students to reflect on their skills so that they develop strategies to improve. ******************************************* “Learning the basics in an unthinking way almost ensures mediocrity.” -- Ellen Langer in The Power of Mindful Learning

Questions to… keep exploring these ideas What are different ways of focusing my students during communicative activities? How can I raise my students’ awareness about what speaking involves? When and how can I provide my students with regular opportunities for fluency practice? How can I provide students with chances to assess their speaking skills? How can I support student reflection so that they can focus and improve their speaking skills?