Receptive Skills Required by Learners Edith Flahive DELTA 2010-2011 Receptive Skills Required by Learners Edith Flahive

Overview Language Systems vs Language Skills Receptive Skills Comprehensible Input Difficulties for Learners Strategies to Improve Learners’ Skills Authentic vs Non-Authentic Materials Lesson Planning Stages References

Language Systems Language Skills Lexis Speaking, Writing Grammar Productive Skills Discourse Reading, Listening Phonology Receptive Skills

Systems or Skills? Teacher writes a grammar exercise on the board which students copy and then do. Students read a newspaper article and then discuss the story with each other. Students underline all past simple verb forms in a newspaper article. Students chat with their teacher about the weekend. Students listen to a recorded conversation and determine where it is taking place. Students write an imaginary postcard to a friend which the teacher then corrects. Students write a postcard to a friend which is posted uncorrected. Students identify the tenses used in a recorded conversation. Teacher uses pictures to teach ten words associated with the computer.

Receptive Skills Listening and Reading involve the following sub-skills: Listening for Gist or Extensive Listening Reading for Gist or Skimming Listening for Specific Information or Intensive Listening Reading for Specific Information or Scanning Intensive Reading Extensive Reading Prediction Inference

Intensive Reading Purpose: To arrive at an understanding not only of what the text means, but of how the meaning is produced. It involves focusing on new words, structures, expressions, functions, pronunciation, etc.

Extensive Reading Purpose: To read longer texts for pleasure. This is a fluency activity mainly involving global understanding. “We learn to read by reading” (Smith, 1985: 7).

Prediction Purpose: To get students to predict what they are going to hear or read – involves bottom-up and top-down processing. These predictions will be the result of the expectations they have about the text or their acquired schemata.

Inference Purpose: To use syntactic, logical, and cultural clues to gain a deeper understanding of a text. “Students who can infer meaning from context have a powerful aid to comprehension and will ultimately read more quickly” (Nuttall 1996: 72).

Listening/Reading for Gist Purpose: To get the general idea of a particular text, story or tape-script. Listening to an entire tape-script with the intention of acquiring an overall understanding of what it is about, may be referred to as extensive listening or listening for gist. When applied to reading, this strategy is called skimming. Skimming is in fact the first stage of SQ3R (Robinson, 1970), where S stands for Survey, Q for Question and the three Rs for Read, Recite and Revise.

Listening/Reading for Specific Information Purpose: Listening for specific information or intensive listening is where the students concentrate on a small part of the tape-script in order to understand some subtle points of detail. With regard to reading this strategy is referred to as scanning. “Skimming and scanning are important techniques; they do not remove the need for careful reading, but they enable the reader to select texts, or parts of texts, that are worth spending time on” (Nuttall 1996: 49).

Comprehensible Input We acquire language through comprehensible input - listening and reading opportunities that are slightly beyond what the learner can easily understand (i + 1) (Krashen, 1982).

Difficulties for Learners Listening The speaker – how many there are, how quickly they speak, accents. The listener – participant or eavesdropper, level of response required, individual interest in the subject. The content – grammar, vocabulary, information structure, background knowledge assumed. Support – pictures, diagrams, or other visual aids to support the text.

Reading Intelligibility – the legibility of a text, badly copied, printed, small type-face, etc. Unfamiliar words – complex vocabulary. Lack of background knowledge. Difficult concepts – abstract theories, etc. Complex syntax – long sentences containing subordinate or embedded clauses, nominalisation, complex noun groups, etc. Cohesion – lack of organisation, faulty punctuation, poor cohesion.

Strategies to Improve Learners’ Skills Listening Give a purpose for listening. Activate existing knowledge of the topic – make predictions, ask questions, pre-teach key words, etc. Make students aware of verbal and non-verbal cues – body language, facial expression, etc. Vary speed, pace of activities. Ensure that students can hear what is being said – no distractions. Engaging tasks; interactional/transactional. Comprehensible input. Visual aids.

Reading Know your purpose for reading. Choose the appropriate reading speed – skimming, scanning. Get background information – from the text, encyclopedia, internet, etc. Use all the information in the book – title, sub-titles, introductions, summaries, conclusions. Increase your vocabulary. Use your dictionary. Learn the important words that organise the text – cohesive markers. Choose the right place to read – quiet, comfortable, good light. Choose the right time to read. Choose something that interests you.

Authentic vs Non-Authentic Materials Authentic texts are those designed for native speakers, that is, texts not designed for language students, but for speakers of the language in question. A non-authentic text is one that has been written especially for language students. Whether these texts are always authentic, is not such an important issue. What is important is that a range of listening/reading experiences should be introduced based on speech which is as near to authentic as possible. “Although the use of authentic text has the advantage of being language put to a real communicative purpose, and prepares learners for life beyond the classroom, it does not automatically guarantee success. In the final analysis what is done with the text and the way it is handled in the classroom is more important than whether the text is authentic or not” (Williams, 1984:34).

Lesson Planning Stages We can identify three stages in the development of a listening or reading lesson: Pre- or before listening/reading While or during listening/reading Post or consolidating listening/reading  

Pre-Listening/Reading Aim: To prepare students for what they are going to hear/ see, activate previous knowledge, focus their attention and lead them to an understanding of lexis and syntax necessary for comprehending the text.

Activity Types Lead in to topic: Ss look at pictures, T gives background information, Ss read something relevant. Predicting – speculating about content of listening/reading passages. Discussion of topic, situation. Written exercise related to the text to come. Pre-teaching essential linguistic items.

While Listening/Reading Aim: To help students develop the listening/reading sub-skills necessary to extract messages from spoken/written language. These activities should not test listening/reading comprehension, or memory, but help students to develop the skills applied in real listening/reading situations. Activities must be chosen appropriately.

Activity Types Marking/checking/arranging items in pictures. Putting pictures (or other things, e.g., paragraphs, words, events, etc.) in order. Completing/drawing pictures. Completing texts (gap-filling). Following a route on a map. Completing charts, grids – transfer information from text. True/false statements. Answering multiple choice questions or Wh questions. Spotting differences, mistakes. Seeking specific items of information.

Post Listening/Reading At this stage, students are challenged with activities that go beyond the texts that they have listened to or read. Accuracy is relevant but is not the priority. Aims: To make students aware of the way language works. To reinforce and extend their vocabulary. To encourage them to reflect and share opinions about the text with other students. To prompt students to create new oral and written texts.

Activity Types Checking comprehension of listening/reading texts in a variety of ways: talking about them, discussing students’ reactions, etc. Language work: tasks related to lexis, syntax, pronunciation, stylistic elements, etc. found in texts that students have listened to or read. Skills work: mainly speaking and writing related to the listening/reading topic, but can also be further receptive skills exercises, listening or reading, related topically.

References Anderson, A., & Lynch, T. (1988). Listening. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Brown, G; & Yule, G. (1983a). Discourse Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Brown, G; & Yule, G. (1983b). Teaching the Spoken Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Grellet, F. (1981). Developing Reading Skills. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon. Nunan, D. (1991). Language Teaching Methodology. Hertfordshire: Prentice- Hall. Richards, J. C. (1990). The Language Teaching Matrix. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Robinson, F. P. (1970). Effective Study. New York: Harper & Row. Rost, M. (1990). Listening in Language Learning. Essex: Longman. Rost, M. (1991). Listening in Action. Hertfordshire: Prentice-Hall. Underwood, M. (1989). Teaching Listening. Essex: Longman. Ur, P. (1984). Teaching Listening Comprehension. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Nuttall, C. (1996). Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language. Oxford: Heinemann. Smith, F. (1985). Reading. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Williams, E. (1984). Reading In The Language Classroom. London: Macmillan.