02Anne Burns

8/13/2019 02Anne Burns

1/65

Vox Conference, Oslo25 April, 2013

Professor Anne BurnsAston University, Birmingham and University of

New South Wales, Sydney

1


2/65

All my students canread and write well inEnglish, but they arepoor at speaking and

listening.

Some of my studentssound very bookishwhen they speak its asif they are reading from a

book!

Many of my studentsare too afraid to talk inclass. They are shy andlack confidence. My students love to speakEnglish, but they make a

lot of grammaticalmistakes.


3/65

With your colleagues...

Discuss briefly the mainchallenges for developing your

students speaking skills.


4/65

A complex and dynamic skill

Involves use of several simultaneous processes cognitive, social and physical

Challenging aspect of language learning becauseknowledge and skills have to be activated rapidly inreal-time

Therefore needs to be taught explicitly in the

classroom doing speaking activities is not thesame as learning the knowledge and skills ofspeaking


5/65

Teacher M realised from early inher career that it was important todevelop her students speakingabilities.

She wanted to make sure that her students hadplenty of opportunities to communicate with oneanother in English, so she set aside two lessons aweek for speaking practice. She planned manyinteresting activities for her students.


6/65

Her lessons were carefullyguided by instructionalobjectives.

These objectives were in theform of either what the students

should produce (e.g.presentations, debates,descriptions) or what they had todo (e.g. discuss, narrate, role

play)


7/65

Is she doing speaking or teachingspeaking?

Sometimes when they had

finished the activities,Teacher M would ask thestudents to present theoutcomes to the rest of the

class.At other times she wouldsimply move on to anotheractivity, such as reading or

writing.


8/65


9/65

Take a few minutes to reflect on your own

experience as a language learner or as ateacher of Norwegian and complete thisstatement:

A competent second language speaker is

someone who can


10/65

Second LanguageSpeaking Competence

Knowledge of

Language and

Discourse

Communication

StrategiesCore Speaking Skills


11/65

1. Language/discourse Mastering the sound patterns of the language

(pronunciation - segmental and suprasegmentallevels)

Developing knowledge of the grammar andvocabulary of the language (spoken structures,grammar features, lexis)

Understanding how stretches of connectedspeech are organised (discourse and genre)


12/65

(Slade,1997:49)

[^=followed by; ()= optional stages]


13/65

2. Skills Developing the ability to process speech quickly

to increase fluency (e.g. speech rate, chunking,pausing, formulaic language, discourse markers)

Being able to negotiate speech (e.g. building onprevious utterances, monitoring understanding,repairing communication breakdown)

Being able to manage speech (e.g. opening/closing conversations, initiating topics, turn-taking, signalling intentions)


14/65

3. Strategies Cognitive strategies (e.g. circumlocution,

paraphrasing, gestures, word coinage,

approximation, avoidance)

Metacognitve strategies (e.g. planning in advancewhat to say, noticing how to say things)

Interaction strategies (clarifying/repeating,reformulating, rephrasing, checkingcomprehension)


15/65

The rhythm and

accent insentences are veryinteresting. It can

also help us tospeak clearly.

But sometimes Idont know whenwe speak whichword should bestressed which

word shouldnt .

On the oral

presentation I feel alittle nervous Itreminds me that a

good speaker includesso many meanings,such as proper tone,

compatible bodygestures and so on.

Many Asian peoplearent accustomed touse body languagewhen they speak,

maybe the Asiantraditional

conservativecharacter.

I practise a lot

on my own bycopyingrecordings I

hear, but whenI try to speak

to nativespeakers I fail

terribly!


16/65

Anyone who has looked at large amounts ofinformal spoken data, for example, cannot failto be struck by the absence of well-formedsentences with main and subordinate clauses.

Instead we often find turns that are justphrases, incomplete clauses, clauses that looklike subordinate clauses but which seem not to

be attached to any main clause, etc.

(McCarthy,1998:79-80)


17/65


18/65

Spoken language Written languageBasic unit is the clause (utterance) Basic unit is the sentence

Conjunction (and, but, so) used tobuild text

Subordinate clauses used to buildtext

Frequent use of formulaic chunks(I was lucky enough)

Little use of formulaic language

Informal language preferred (weused to get together)

Formal language preferred(commenced)

Range of noticeable performanceeffects (hesitations, pauses,repeats, false starts, incompletion)

Few/no noticeable performanceeffects

Frequent use of ellipsis (omissionof grammatical elements)

Little use of ellipsis

Frequent use of personal pronouns(I, we)

Limited use of personal pronouns


19/65

a) Transactions (pragmatic)

Transactions involve exchanging information or

goods and services (e.g. Seeking information about

a job, calling an ambulance)

b) Interactions (interpersonal)

Interactions involve creating and maintaining social

relationships (e.g. chatting with friends or family,

making small talk)


20/65


21/65

Course book text Authentic text

A: I want to make an appointmentwith Dr Brown

B: Whos calling please?

A: Mary Park

B: Are you a new patient?

A: Yes I am. I need a physical fora new job.

B: Can you come in on Thursdayat 2.30?

A: Yes, I can. Thank you.

P: Im just calling to confirm anappointment with Dr Edith forthe first of October

R: ohP: because it was so far in advance

I was told to...R: er..I see what you mean, to see

if shes going to be in that dayP: thats rightR: oh, we may not know yetP: oh I seeR: first of October... Edith...yetP: yesR: there she is, okay you made

one... whats your name?

P: at nine fifteenR: got it, got it


22/65

Structure: Often unnaturally focused on certaingrammatical featuresTurn-taking: Very distinct, speakers get equalturns, no hesitations/overlapsDisc.markers: (oh, er, well, okay) usually absentFormality: Biased towards standardforms/structures (leaves out slang,idioms, ellipsis)Vocabulary: Generally restricted to one field ofdiscourseContext: Little natural redundancy of meaningin context; explicit references topeople, things and experiences


23/65
http://www.esl.net/touchstone.htmlhttp://www.esl.net/touchstone.html


24/65
http://www.esl.net/touchstone.html


25/65

Whats Kathys morning like?Complete the exercises about Kathys morning.Use the correct form of the verbs.

check exercise get up play

eat get up listen read

1. Kathy _gets up_early. Her son_gets up_late.

2. She ______ before work. Here son ___ games.

3. She____ to the radio in the car.


26/65

This series is one of the first to use insightsfrom spoken corpus analysis (Cancode:Cambridge and Nottingham Corpus

Teacherss book: language notes

Corpus information

The simple present is about six times morefrequent than the present continuous[introduced in Unit 7] and so it is taught first.


27/65

Three popular textbooks analysed:

1. Inside Out2. Face to Face

3. Outcomes

What is perhapsdisappointing, if not

surprising, is thatcoursebooks have not really

moved on very much in thepast decade, despite ateaching and learning

situation which has changedradically.


28/65

All three courses are still

largely stuck in thebehaviourist PPP

[presentation, practice,

production] way of

working, and insist on

students going through a

lot of vocabulary-learning,

reading, writing and

grammar exercises before

they are let loose on thespeaking activities.

One thing that is

noticeable is the scant

attention paid to

pronunciation in all three

courses. Another thing is

the lack of support for the

partner in all of the

speaking activity. The

preparation makes it seem

more as if one student is

preparing a lecture and the

other one is just going tolisten.


29/65

The opportunities for true dialogue, where both

initiation and response are introduced, are negligible.This denies the very nature of true negotiatedinteraction... and is hardly likely to help students withgenuine communication.

The other thing that is quite surprising is the lack of aglobal approach to the dialogues and interactions;those that occur are perfunctory, and often consist oflocations to talk about rather than genuine interactionsbetween two human beings from different languagecultures. Where is the Polish plumber talking to the

[Norwegian] home-owner, the Afghan refugee talkingto the French builder who might employ him? Thereseems to be no reflection of the real language worldhere at all.


30/65

What materials are mainly used in your

context?

How successful do you think they are?

What kinds of other materials could be usedfor developing speaking skills? Brainstorm alist.


31/65


32/65


33/65

Do the materials/resources promote the

speaking skills that are most needed by thestudents?

Do they give learners genuine reasons to

communicate and to speak and act asthemselves? Do they facilitate the cognitive aspects of

speaking? Do they extend students awareness of

metalinguistic strategies? Do they highlight the cultural and social

purposes of different kinds of speaking tasks andtexts?

(Goh & Burns, 2012: 192)


34/65

Vox Conference, Oslo

25 April, 2013

Professor Anne BurnsAston University, Birmingham and University of

New South Wales, Sydney

34


35/65

Approach DIRECT (Controlled) INDIRECT (Transfer)

Aim develop enabling skills develop interaction strategies

Focus accuracy

language analysis

fluency

language for communication

Characteristics controlled language useskill getting

pedagogic

pre-communicative

part-task practice

authentic/functional language useskill using

real-life

communicative

whole task practice

Activities drills

pattern practice

structure manipulationlanguage awareness

consciousness raising

discussions

information gaps

project workrole plays

simulations

talking circles

Interaction more teacher-led more learner-centred


36/65

1. the situational approach: typical contexts for

specific speech events, (e.g. ordering a meal,buying

a train ticket) determine choice of language items

presented and practised

2. the speech act approach: specific speech acts

(often labelled language functions; e.g. greeting,

apologising, requesting and complementing)formtmain focus


37/65

3. the skills and strategies approach: speaking skillsare broken down into discrete sub-skills/strategies,

(e.g. opening and closing conversations, turn-taking,

repairing, paraphrasing, interrupting)

4. the genre approach: focuses on social purposes of

speaking and the way associated genres(e.g.narrating, obtaining service, giving a presentation,

making small talk)are structured and configured for

different registers


38/65

5. the corpus-informed approach:draws on of

spoken language corpora to identify particular

syntactic and lexical features, such as ellipsis,

topicalisation, vague and formulaic language

(Thornbury, 2012)


39/65

Which of these broad approaches is the most

common in your teaching context?

How effective do you think the teachingapproach is? (How does it help/hinder thestudents speaking development?)


40/65

Participatory processes

Examples: problem posing,

experiential techniques

Learning strategies

Examples: self-monitoring,

problem-identification

Content

Examples: academic subjects,

technical subjects

Culture

Examples: cultural awareness,

cultural behaviour, cultural

knowledge

Tasks and activities

Examples: information gap tasks,

projects, skills needed for topic-

oriented tasks such as giving a

speech or making apresentation

Competencies

Examples: applying for a job,

renting an apartment

Functions

Examples: apologizing,

disagreeing, persuading

Notions and topics

Examples: time, quantity, health,

personal identification

Communicative situations

Examples: ordering in a

restaurant. Buying street maps

Grammar

Examples: structures (tense,

pronouns), patterns (questions)

Pronunciation

Examples: segmental

(phonemes, syllables)

suprasegmentals (stress,

rhythm, intonation)

Vocabulary

Examples: word formation

(suffixes, prefaces), collocation,

lexical sets


41/65

Which of these elements are importantfor your students learning?

List the key areas you feel you need tofocus on.


42/65

scaffolding

HIGH

CHALLENGE

Low

support

Low

Challenge

High

support


43/65

guiding students through interaction in thecontext of shared experience

working from what students know/can do towhat they can do with assistance fromsomeone who is more expert

working within a students zone of proximaldevelopment (Vygotsky, 1978)


44/65

1. Focus learners

attention on

speaking

2. Provide input

and/or guided

planning

3. Conduct

speaking tasks

4. Focus on

language skills

and strategies

5. Repeat

speaking tasks

6. Direct learners

reflections on

learning

7. Facilitate

feedback on

learning


45/65

Get students to think about their experiences in learning tospeak a second languageTask example:It is important to spend some time thinking about your ownlearning processes. To help you get started, here are some

simple questions. Write short responses to each one.

What is your main reason for learning to speak English? What do you like most about learning to speak English? Is

there anything you dont like? Do you feel nervous or anxious when you speak English? List three things about your speaking that you would like to

improve?


46/65

Example: Explaining a Procedure or Process: Planning andRehearsingPart I Guidelines to help you prepare for the task

1) Identify a topic you are interested in or know quite a lot about(e.g. How to make your favourite food)

2) Write the main points you want to cover in the space providedbelow:

3) Write down a phrase/expression to use to show that you will bemoving from point i to point ii, then on to point iii.

Part II Rehearsal (Optional)Practise giving the explanation. Use the points you made and linkyour ideas by using the signposting words you identified. Dontwrite down everything you want to say, so that you can practisebringing in different points!


47/65

The purpose of this stage is to provide a context topractise speaking through a communication task.

The task should encourage learners to expressmeaning with whatever linguistic knowledge, skills

and strategies they have, i.e. this stage encourageslearners to develop fluency without having to paytoo much attention to accuracy.

This should be less demanding because of theteacher-guided or individual pre-task planning instage 2.


48/65

Stage 4 aims to create opportunities to improvelanguage accuracy, as well as to enhance effectiveuse of skills and strategies.

In this stage, the teacher draws learners attentionto selected parts of the fluency task they havecompleted. The parts include language features

such as pronunciation, grammar and textstructures, as well as vocabulary.


49/65

At this stage, learners carry out the speaking task of Stage 3

again.

The difference between Stage 3 and Stage 5 is that learnershave had a chance to analyse and practise selected languageitems or skills during Stage 4. Therefore, they are able toapply this knowledge to enhance their performance.

Repetitions could be carried out by:1. Repeating parts of the original task2. Repeating the entire task3. Having students change groups or partners

4. Introducing a new task similar to the one learners have justdone (e.g. instead of the topic of making a fruit salad,learners could give instructions about a topic of their ownchoice. So that they rehearse a procedure genre again).


50/65


51/65

In this final stage, the teacher provides learners with

feedback on their performance in earlier stages ofthe cycle, for example:

Comments or grades on an individual studentsskills and performance from observation sheets

used during the speaking task Exchange of written individual learner reflections

and comments on each others progress andachievements

Consolidated comments from the teacher based onwritten reflections from the class

Written comments in students journal

Comments/informal assessment in learner blogs


52/65

Go back to the key program elements youlisted for your students.

How could you use/adapt this cycle to teachthese elements?

Think about:The age and needs of your learners.The syllabus or curriculum requirements youneed to work with.The resources and materials you can access.


53/65


54/65


55/65

Language college in Western Australia Mixed nationality class (including Japanese,

Korean, Chinese, Thai)

Level approximately B2-C1 CEFR

General English course

Rolling enrolment attendance varies from 1week 10 weeks

Diverse learning goals Focus of research was on teaching

pronunciation


56/65

Pronunciation is oftenneglected yet makes ahuge difference in theconfidence andcommunicative ability andmotivation of students

How can students beencouraged to becomemore aware of the

specific aspects of theirpronunciationdifficulties?

1. Brendan explored students current awareness of difficulties andprevious experience of instruction through a survey.

2. Students did a self-assessment using a needs analysis checklist ofsegmental and suprasegmental skills.

3. They evaluated their comprehension of native and non-nativespeaker and concluded that nativeness was not a pre-requisite forcomprehensibility.

4. Students recorded themselves speaking and analysed theirdifficulties.

5. After completing several pronunciation activities on personal

difficulties they were rerecorded and completed a further survey.


57/65

What do you see as some of themain pronuciation challenges foryour students?

How do you currently addressthem in your teaching?


58/65


59/65


60/65

A case study I did with 18 Chinesestudents showed that, outside the

classroom, students spent an

average of 4 minutes per day

speaking English.

In what ways canauthentic listening andspeaking practice be

introduced to students?

1. Coral selected a range of podcasts for authentic listening. Sheasked students to listen outside class and email 5 questions to her.

2. Students were given feedback on their questions and then usedthem for pair and group discussion, quizzes or debates in class.

3. She obtained feedback from students by asking them to rate thedifficulty of the listening and used this information to select further

podcasts.4. She also monitored student performance through audio and video

recordings, group/pair observation and interviews.5. Students reported that over time listening became easier and they

valued being able to prepare for seminars through discussion..


61/65

What kinds of questions/issues could you

investigate in your classroom?

How could you find out more about thesequestions/issues?

Who could you work with?


62/65

1. Help learners to master pronunciation atsegmental (syllable/word sound) andsuprasegmental (stress, intonation) levels.

2. Focus on pronunciation in context integratepractice with relevant speaking activities.

3. Stress intelligibility and comprehensibilityrather than native-speakerness

4. Focus on both enabling skills and interactionskills.

5. But always work towards meaning andcommunication.


63/65


64/65


65/65

For more information go to:

www.professoranneburns.com
http://www.professoranneburns.com/http://www.professoranneburns.com/

Documents

02Anne Burns