Fluent Essays

Chapter 4,5,8 Summary Read Chapter 4,5,8. Write reflection. APA double spaced, one Full page. In your reflection, tell me what surprised you, what you agreed with, what you disagreed with, what you perhaps didn’t understand, and ask any “burning questions.” Use Intext citation, put page number, Use only the book for reference. Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking Using a framework based on principles of teaching and learning, this guide for teachers and teacher trainees provides a wealth of suggestions for help- ing learners at all levels of proficiency develop their listening and speaking skills and fluency. By following these suggestions, which are organized around four strands—meaning-focused input, meaning-focused output, language-focused learning, and fluency development—teachers will be able to design and present a balanced programme for their students. Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking, and its companion text, Teaching ESL/EFL Reading and Writing, are similar in format and the kinds of topics covered, but do not need to be used together. Drawing on research and theory in applied linguistics, their focus is strongly hands-on, featuring • easily applied principles, • a large number of useful teaching techniques, and • guidelines for testing and monitoring. All Certificate, Diploma, Masters and Doctoral courses for teachers of English as a second or foreign language include a teaching methods com- ponent. The texts are designed for and have been field tested in such programs. I. S. P. Nation is Professor of Applied Linguistics in the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand. Jonathan Newton is a senior lecturer in the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand. ESL & Applied Linguistics Professional Series Eli Hinkel, Series Editor Nation • Teaching ESL/EFL Reading and Writing Nation/Newton • Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking Kachru/Smith • Cultures, Contexts, and World Englishes McKay/Bokhosrt-Heng • International English in its Sociolinguistic Contexts: Towards a Socially Sensitive EIL Pedagogy Christison/Murray, Eds • Leadership in English Language Education: Theoretical Foundations and Practical Skills for Changing Times McCafferty/Stam, Eds • Gesture: Second Language Acquisition and Classroom Research Liu • Idioms: Description, Comprehension, Acquisition, and Pedagogy Chapelle/Enright/Jamison, Eds • Building a Validity Argument for the Text of English as a Foreign Language Kondo-Brown/Brown, Eds • Teaching Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Heritage Students: Curriculum Needs, Materials, and Assessments Youmans • Chicano-Anglo Conversations: Truth, Honesty, and Politeness Birch • English L2 Reading: Getting to the Bottom, Second Edition Luk/Lin • Classroom Interactions as Cross-cultural Encounters: Native Speakers in EFL Lessons Levy/Stockwell • CALL Dimensions: Issues and Options in Computer Assisted Language Learning Nero, Ed. • Dialects, Englishes, Creoles, and Education Basturkmen • Ideas and Options in English for Specific Purposes Kumaravadivelu • Understanding Language Teaching: From Method to Postmethod McKay • Researching Second Language Classrooms Egbert/Petrie, Eds • CALL Research Perspectives Canagarajah, Ed. • Reclaiming the Local in Language Policy and Practice Adamson • Language Minority Students in American Schools: An Education in English Fotos/Browne, Eds • New Perspectives on CALL for Second Language Classrooms Hinkel • Teaching Academic ESL Writing: Practical Techniques in Vocabulary and Grammar Hinkel/Fotos, Eds • New Perspectives on Grammar Teaching in Second Language Classrooms Hinkel • Second Language Writers’ Text: Linguistic and Rhetorical Features Visit www.routledgeeducation.com for additional information on titles in the ESL & Applied Linguistics Professional Series Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking I. S. P. Nation and J. Newton First published 2009 by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 Simultaneously published in the UK by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2009 Routledge, Taylor & Francis All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Nation, I. S. P. Teaching ESL/EFL listening and speaking / I. S. P. Nation and J. Newton. p. cm.—(ESL & applied linguistics professional series) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. English language—Study and teaching—Foreign speakers. 2. English language—Spoken English—Study and teaching. 3. Listening—Study and teaching. 4. English teachers—Training of. I. Newton, J. (Jonathan) II. Title. PE1128.A2N344 2008 2008011763 ISBN10: 0–415–98969–8 (hbk) ISBN10: 0–415–98970–1 (pbk) ISBN10: 0–203–89170–8 (ebk) ISBN13: 978–0–415–98969–5 (hbk) ISBN13: 978–0–415–98970–1 (pbk) ISBN13: 978–0–203–89170–4 (ebk) “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008. ISBN 0-203-89170-8 Master e-book ISBN Contents Preface ix Acknowledgements xiii 1 Parts and Goals of a Listening and Speaking Course 1 The Four Strands 1 Meaning-focused Input: Learning through Listening and Reading 3 Meaning-focused Output: Learning through Speaking and Writing 4 Language-focused Learning 7 Becoming Fluent in Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing 9 Balancing the Four Strands 10 Integrating the Four Strands 11 Principles and the Four Strands 12 Learning Goals 14 2 Beginning to Listen and Speak in Another Language 17 What Should They Learn? 17 How Should the Teaching and Learning be Done? 19 Activities and Approaches for Teaching and Learning in a Beginners’ Course 23 Techniques for Early Meaning-focused Speaking 30 Planning a Listening and Speaking Programme for Beginners 33 3 Listening 37 Why Listening? 37 Models of Listening 39 Types of Listening 40 Listening Processes 40 v Activities for Meaning-focused Listening 42 Supporting Listening 46 Information Transfer 47 Strategies 51 Advanced Listening: Note-taking 52 Monitoring Meaning-focused Listening 57 4 Language-focused Learning through Dictation and Related Activities 59 Choosing Dictation Texts 60 Pre-dictation Exercises 61 Variations of Dictation 62 Related Techniques 65 Monitoring Dictation 67 Dictogloss and Related Activities 68 Dicto-comp 69 Related Techniques 70 5 Pronunciation 75 The Importance of Pronunciation 75 The Place of Pronunciation Instruction 76 Goals 77 Factors Affecting the Learning of Another Sound System 78 Procedures and Techniques 82 Fitting Pronunciation into a Course 93 Monitoring Pronunciation 95 6 Learning through Task-focused Interaction 97 Encouraging Negotiation 99 Using Written Input to Encourage Negotiation 99 Using Information Distribution to Encourage Negotiation 101 Factors Affecting the Amount and Type of Negotiation 106 Using Learner Training to Encourage Negotiation 107 Monitoring Negotiation 110 Learning through Non-negotiated Interaction 110 Monitoring Learners Beginning to Speak 112 7 Learning through Pushed Output 115 Pushing Output 116 Informal Speaking 120 Formal Speaking 121 The Nature of Formal Speaking 122 Teaching Formal Speaking 123 A Process Approach to Formal Speaking 125 v i • Contents Guidelines for Presenting a Formal Talk 127 Monitoring Formal Talks 129 8 Language-focused Learning: Deliberate Teaching 131 The Value and Limits of Language-focused Learning 131 Deliberate Vocabulary Learning 132 The Requirements of Language-focused Vocabulary Instruction 133 Techniques and Procedures for Vocabulary Learning 135 Deliberate Grammar Learning 138 Correcting Grammatical Errors 141 The Effect of Correction 142 Correction Procedures 144 Fitting Language-focused Learning into a Course 147 9 Developing Fluency 151 The Nature of Fluency 151 Fluency and Accuracy 152 Developing Fluency 152 Designing Fluency Activities 153 Fitting Fluency into a Course 156 Developing Fluency in Listening and Speaking 157 Techniques for Developing Fluency in Listening 157 Techniques for Developing Fluency in Speaking 161 Monitoring Fluency Tasks 162 10 Monitoring and Testing Progress 165 Monitoring Progress 165 Testing Listening and Speaking 166 Listening Tests 170 Speaking Tests 171 Conclusion 177 Appendix 1 The Survival Syllabus 179 Appendix 2 Topic Types 183 Appendix 3 Topics for Listening and Speaking 185 References 187 Techniques Index 199 Index 203 Contents • v i i Preface This book is intended for teachers of English as a second or foreign lan- guage. It can be used both for experienced teachers and for teachers in training. In its earlier forms this book has been used on graduate diploma and Masters level courses, and with teachers in training. The book has two major features. First, it has a strong practical emphasis—around one hundred teaching techniques are described in the book. Second, it tries to provide a balanced programme for developing the skills of listening and speaking. It does this by using a framework called the four strands. These are called strands because they run through the whole course. They are the strands of meaning-focused input, meaning- focused output, language-focused learning, and fluency development. In a well-balanced language programme covering the four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing, each of the four strands should have roughly equal amounts of time. The organisation of the book largely reflects these four strands. We have attempted to write the book using clear and simple language. Wherever possible, technical terms have been avoided. However, in a few cases, with terms such as negotiation, pushed output, and extensive reading, technical terms have been used and explained in the text. This book thus does not require any previous knowledge of second language acquisition theory or language teaching methodology. Chapter 1 gives an overview of the four strands. This overview is also very relevant for the companion book to this one, called Teaching ESL/EFL Reading and Writing. Chapters 2 and 3 deal largely with listening (a form of meaning-focused input). Chapters 4, 5 and 8 deal with i x language-focused learning, paying particular attention to dictation and its related activities, and to pronunciation. Chapters 6 and 7 focus on speaking (meaning-focused output). These chapters look at how speak- ing activities can be designed to encourage language learning. Chapter 9 deals with fluency development, which is the fourth of the strands. Where English is taught as a foreign language, fluency development is often neglected. Fluency development is important at all levels of pro- ficiency, and even beginners need to become fluent with the few items of language that they know. Chapter 10 deals with monitoring and testing. As a result of working through this book, teachers should be able to design a well-balanced listening and speaking course which provides a good range of opportunities for learning. The teacher’s most important job is to plan so that the learners are learning useful things, so that the best conditions for learning occur, and so that they are getting a balance of learning opportunities. This book should help teachers do this. Wherever possible, the ideas in this book are research based. This is reflected in the principles which are described at the end of Chapter 1 and which are referred to throughout the book. The idea which lies behind these principles is that it is not a wise idea to follow closely a particular method of language teaching, such as communicative language teaching or the direct method. It is much more sensible to draw, where possible, on research-based principles which can be adapted or discarded as new research evidence becomes available. There are many people who could be thanked for their help in the production of this book. Eli Hinkel gave us a great deal of very supportive encouragement to get us to offer the book for publication. Mary Hillemeier and Naomi Silverman of Taylor & Francis were similarly enthusiastic and took away a lot of the burden of publication. The reviewers of the book before it was published provided many helpful and frank comments which led us to see the book through others’ eyes. We are very grateful for this. Both this book and its companion volume, Teaching ESL/EFL Reading and Writing, were largely written and used in our own teacher training courses before they were offered for publication. There was thus a lot of input from the teachers who were studying on these courses. We would feel that the book’s purpose has been achieved, if as a result of reading it, teachers learn some new techniques and activities, under- stand why these activities are used, and see how they fit into the larger programme. Teaching English and training teachers of English are challenging but very rewarding professions. We have both been involved in them for a very x • Preface long time and they have given us a great deal of enjoyment. We hope that this enjoyment is apparent in the book and that it will help readers gain similar enjoyment. Preface • x i Acknowledgements Most of Chapter 1 is from an article entitled The four strands in the journal Innovation in Language Teaching and Learning (2007) 1: 1–12. Parts of Chapter 4 are from an article, Dictation, dicto-comp and related techniques, in the journal English Teaching Forum (1991) 29, 4: 12–14. x i i i C H A P T E R 1 Parts and Goals of a Listening and Speaking Course This book uses research and theory on second language acquisition in classrooms as the basis for planning a listening and speaking programme for learners of English as a second or foreign language. As we shall see, the principles underlying the listening and speaking parts of a course are not essentially different from those underlying the reading and writing parts. The Four Strands The basic argument of the book is that a well-balanced language course should consist of four roughly equal strands: 1. Learning through meaning-focused input; that is, learning through listening and reading where the learner’s attention is on the ideas and messages conveyed by the language. 2. Learning through meaning-focused output; that is, learning through speaking and writing where the learner’s attention is on conveying ideas and messages to another person. 3. Learning through deliberate attention to language items and lan- guage features; that is, learning through direct vocabulary study, through grammar exercises and explanation, through attention to the sounds and spelling of the language, through attention to dis- course features, and through the deliberate learning and practice of language learning and language use strategies. 4. Developing fluent use of known language items and features over the 1 four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing; that is, becom- ing fluent with what is already known. These four strands are called meaning-focused input, meaning-focused output, language-focused learning, and fluency development. A well- planned language course has an appropriate balance of these four strands. It is through these four strands that learners achieve the learning goals of a language course, namely fluent control of the sounds, spelling, vocabulary, grammar and discourse features of the language, so that they can be used to communicate effectively. The opportunities for learning language are called strands because they can be seen as long continuous sets of learning conditions that run through the whole language course. Every activity in a language course fits into one of these strands. This chapter does not limit itself to listening and speaking, but because it aims at describing what a well-balanced course is like, it also includes the skills of reading and writing. There is a companion text, Teaching ESL/EFL Reading and Writing, to this text on listening and speaking. There is a tendency for language courses not to balance the four strands and indeed to give almost no attention to some of them. Courses which have a very strong communicative focus often actively discourage formal language-focused learning. There is no justification for this as second language acquisition research shows that appropriately focused attention to language items can make a very positive contribution to learning (Doughty, 2003; Doughty and Williams, 1998; Ellis, 2005 and 2006). At the other extreme, there are courses that seem to do little else but focus on formal features of the language with little or no opportunity to use what has been learned to receive and produce real messages. Perhaps even more commonly, there are courses that provide opportunities to receive and produce messages, that give useful attention to language features, but that do not provide opportunities for the learners to become truly fluent in using what they know. A common-sense justification of the four strands is the time-on-task principle. How can you learn to do something if you don’t do that during learning? How can you learn to read if you don’t do reading? How can you learn to write without writing? The time-on-task principle simply says that the more time you spend doing something, the better you are likely to be at doing it. This is a very robust principle and there is no shortage of evidence, for example, that those who read a lot are better readers (Cunningham and Stanovich, 1991) and that those who write a lot usually become better writers. However, it is a simplistic principle and it can be rightfully criticised for ignoring the quality of the activity in favour of the quantity of the activity, and for not taking account of the ways in which 2 • Parts and Goals of a Listening and Speaking Course language learning differs from other kinds of learning. Nevertheless, as one of a set of principles which do take account of these factors, the time-on- task principle is an important and essential one. Another idea underlying a common-sense approach is that there is something about each of the language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing that makes it different from the others. It is thus necessary to give attention to each skill to make sure that these unique features are learned (DeKeyser, 2007). It is also not difficult to argue that each of these four skills can be broken down even further, for example, that speaking monologue in a formal situation has features that differ from those involved in friendly conversation, and so on (Biber, 1989). It is also possible to distinguish accuracy from fluency and thus see the necessity for providing fluency practice for each of the skills. There are thus common-sense justifications for including the four strands in a language course. The evidence for the strands draws on a large and growing body of research into the roles of input, output, and form-focused instruction on second language learning, and on the development of speaking and read- ing fluency. In this chapter we will look at each of the four strands, the research evidence for them, their justification, and how they can be put into practice. The chapter concludes with a set of pedagogical principles based on the strands that can be used to guide the teaching of a language course. Meaning-focused Input: Learning through Listening and Reading The meaning-focused input strand involves learning through listening and reading—using language receptively. It is called “meaning-focused” because in all the work done in this strand, the learners’ main focus and interest should be on understanding, and gaining knowledge or enjoyment or both from what they listen to and read. Typical activities in this strand include extensive reading, shared reading, listening to stories, watching TV or films, and being a listener in a conversation (see Hinkel, 2006 for a survey of the four skills). This strand only exists if certain conditions are present: 1. Most of what the learners are listening to or reading is already famil- iar to them. 2. The learners are interested in the input and want to understand it. 3. Only a small proportion of the language features are unknown to the learners. In terms of vocabulary, 95 percent to 98 percent of the running words should be within the learners’ previous knowledge, and so only five or preferably only one or two words per hundred should be unknown to them (Hu and Nation, 2000). Parts and Goals of a Listening and Speaking Course • 3 4. The learners can gain some knowledge of the unknown language items through context clues and background knowledge. 5. There are large quantities of input. If these conditions are not present, then the meaning-focused input strand does not exist in that course. Learning from meaning-focused input is fragile because there are usually only small gains from each meeting with a word, and because learning is dependent on the quality of reading and listening skills, and is affected by background knowledge. Because of this, large quantities of input are needed for this strand to work well. An exten- sive reading programme is one way of providing this quantity. Although many researchers criticise Krashen’s (1985) input theory, none would disagree with the idea that meaningful comprehensible input is an important source of language learning. Dupuy (1999) investigated “narrow listening”, an approach based on Krashen’s ideas. This involved learners in listening as many times as they wish to a range of 1–2-minute aural texts on a range of familiar and interesting topics of their choice. The learners in the study reported improvements in their listening comprehen- sion, fluency, and vocabulary, as well as increased confidence in French (the target language). Among the best-controlled studies of second lan- guage extensive reading is Waring and Takaki’s (2003) study of vocabulary learning from a graded reader. This study showed that small amounts of vocabulary learning of various strengths occurred incidentally as a result of meaning-focused reading. Elley and Mangubhai’s (1981) classic study of the book flood (a programme that encouraged wide reading for pleasure) showed a range of language learning benefits compared with a programme that was largely dominated by language-focused learning (or perhaps more accurately, language-focused teaching). Compared with well-planned deliberate learning, incidental learning through input is fragile and is dependent on large quantities of input to gain sufficient repetition. Nation and Wang (1999) calculated that second language learners needed to read at least one graded reader every two weeks in order to get enough repetitions to establish substantial vocabu- lary growth through incidental learning. The gains from meaning- focused input, however, become substantial gains if there are large quantities of input. Meaning-focused Output: Learning through Speaking and Writing The meaning-focused output strand involves learning through speaking and writing—using language productively. Typical activities in this strand include talking in conversations, giving a speech or lecture, writing a letter, 4 • Parts and Goals of a Listening and Speaking Course writing a note to someone, keeping a diary, telling a story, and telling someone how to do something. The same kinds of conditions apply to meaning-focused output as apply to meaning-focused input: 1. The learners write and talk about things that are largely familiar to them. 2. The learners’ main goal is to convey their message to someone else. 3. Only a small proportion of the language they need to use is not familiar to them. 4. The learners can use communication strategies, dictionaries, or pre- vious input to make up for gaps in their productive knowledge. 5. There are plenty of opportunities to produce. Many spoken activities will include a mixture of meaning-focused input and meaning-focused output. One person’s output can be another per- son’s input. Swain’s (1985) output hypothesis has been influential in clarifying the role of speaking and writing in second language learning. As its name suggests, the output hypothesis was initially formulated as a reaction to Krashen’s (1985) input hypothesis and the inadequacy of the input hypothesis in explaining the effects of immersion education. “Put most simply, the output hypothesis claims that the act of producing language (speaking and writing) constitutes, under certain circumstances, part of the process of second language learning” (Swain, 2005: 471). The opportunities that output provides for learning, however, are not exactly the same as those provided by input. Swain (1995) suggests three functions for output: (1) the noticing/triggering function, (2) the hypothesis testing function, and (3) the metalinguistic (reflective) function. The noticing/triggering function occurs when learners are attempting to produce the second language and they consciously notice gaps in their knowledge. That is, they do not know how to say what they want to say. Izumi’s (2002) research indicates that the effect on acquisition of noticing a gap through output was significantly greater than the effect of noticing through input. This effect can be explained in two ways. First, productive learning involves having to search for and produce a word form, whereas receptive learning involves having to find a meaning for a word form. Productive learning typically results in more and stronger knowledge than receptive learning (Griffin and Harley, 1996). Second, generative use involves meeting or using previously met language items in ways that they have not been used or met before and produces deeper learning than the simple retrieval of previously met items (Joe, 1998). Izumi (2002) suggests that the grammatical encoding that is required by output forces learners to Parts and Goals of a Listening and Speaking Course • 5 integrate the new items into a more cohesive structure. Decoding items from input does not require this same kind of integration. That is, output sets up learning conditions that are qualitatively different from those of input. This is not to say that input is inferior, simply that it is different and thus an important part of a balanced set of opportunities for learning. The full effect of the noticing/triggering function is not complete until learners have had the chance to make up for the lack that they have noticed. This can occur in several ways. First, having noticed a gap during output, the learners then notice items in input that they did not notice before. If learners notice that there is something they do not know when writing, they later “read like a writer” giving attention to how others say what they wanted to say. This is often referred to as moving from semantic to syntactic processing. This is similar to an amateur guitar player not just enjoying a performance by a top-class guitarist, but also analysing the techniques and chord voicings he or she uses in the hope of copying these later. Second, having noticed a gap during output, learners may success- fully fill that gap through a lucky guess, trial and error, the use of analogy, first language transfer, or problem solving. Webb (2002) found that learn- ers were able to demonstrate aspects of vocabulary knowledge of previ- ously unknown words even though they had not had the opportunity to learn those aspects of knowledge, but which they were able to work out through analogy and first language parallels. Third, having noticed a gap during output, learners may deliberately seek to find the item by reference to outside sources like teachers, peers, or dictionaries. Swain’s second function of output is the hypothesis-testing function. This involves the learner trying out something and then confirming or modifying it on the basis of perceived success and feedback. This hypothesis-testing function is particularly important in interaction when learners negotiate with each other or a teacher to clarify meaning. The feedback provided in negotiation can improve not only the comprehen- sibility of input, but can also be a way for learners to improve their output (Mackey, 2007). Similarly, a large body of research shows that feedback from the teacher during communicative classroom interaction has signifi- cant effects on learning (Leeman, 2007). However, there are many ways of giving feedback and not all are equally effective, a point we discuss in a later chapter. Feedback need not be immediate, as in the case of feedback on writing. The third function of output is the metalinguistic (reflective) function. This involves largely spoken output being used to solve language problems in collaboration with others. Common classroom applications of this idea include the use of activities …