TEACHING LISTENING AND SPEAKING LG 629 TEACHING LISTENING AND SPEAKING

ASSIGNMENTS How can you teach communicative speaking in the classroom, in as realistic a way as possible? Can you realistically test communicative speaking? Discuss in relation to the target language and needs of a specific group, or two group, of students.   Why should strategies for speaking be taught in the classroom? What kind of speaking strategies may be necessary for either elementary level or upper intermediate level learners? How could they be taught? Skill getting, or skill using, which is most important for elementary learners, and for advanced learners, in learning speaking? Discuss in relation to a specific group of learners and their learning/communication needs. How may discourse analysis be used in teaching speaking and listening? How may this be useful in teaching English for social purposes?

ASSIGNMENTS Discuss the nature of 'Top-Down' and 'Bottom-Up' approaches to teaching listening, and for what language levels each approach may be more useful and why.   Discuss the benefits and disadvantages of using authentic materials in teaching listening. What problems do students encounter when trying to understand spoken language? What can be done to help them? Your answer should cover two learner contexts, according to age, level, or purpose of learning. Write on a topic of your own choice, after discussion with the course tutor.

Types of speaking: Interaction and Transaction. Interactional. Conversations to establish and maintain social interactions, unstructured and informal, unpredictable. Transactional. Exchanging information to get something done,.,Most ‘service’ encounters are transactional. Meetings, interviews, seminars. Lectures like this. More predictable. Set phrases and structures ‘How can I help you?” “Firstly, importantly..”

Speech as discourse and genre Informal conversation, telephone encounter, service dialogue, links the purpose of a particular type of encounter to it’s overall structure. Genre can be written or spoken, academic essay. Joke. Fairy story, drama.

Ways of managing a conversation ..opening..clarifying..checking..getting information…keeping a conversation going [yes granny] Closing..how? Ending, = reason for ending, making arrangements to meet again, leave taking phrases.

MODELS OF SPOKEN LANGUAGE Oral language is different to written. Grammar, lexis, discourse patterns. Different processing systems. Language teaching itself has only in the past 20 years or even less moved from WRITTEN to SPOKEN models.

RESEARCH. Psycholinguistic, information processing of speech has led to a model that may be applied in teaching. 4 major processes involved in speech production. Conceptualisation. planning message, the schema content, discourse patterns, grammar, pronunciation. Formulation. Finds, the words, phrases, sequences of meaning. Prepare sound patterns. Articulation. Motor control, articulation organs, in English=lips, tongue, teeth, alveolar palate, glottis, mouth cavity breath,,…[may be others in other language depending on sounds needed…clicks..] Monitoring. Identify and correct any mistakes.  

SPEAKING IS RECIPROCAL It happens in real time. Interlocutors give simultaneous reaction, there is immediate response both given and needed, a lot may be happening in a short time, if there are more than two people, and there are unpredictable elements . Oral interaction, speaking rights, turn taking, relationship[doctor patient, parent child]. Who starts, initiates, develops topics, asking for clarification, closing topics [who can?]

LISTENING. 45% of time spent communicating is listening. Even such media as television is listening / visual rather than printed word (although internet is visual). Listening as a taken for granted skill, after all, we can all listen, can’t we? Two major processes in listening are bottom-up and top down. Schema theory. BOTTOM UP. Knowledge of language includes ability to process acoustic signals, uses information in the speech itself to comprehend meaning. Speech is segmented into identifiable sounds which is structured into phonemes, words, phrases, sentences, , as well as intonation/stress rhythm patterns to arrive at meaning.

TOP-DOWN. Schema is the knowledge the listener brings to the text [TEXT>>written or ORAL/SPOKEN]…, infers meaning from contextual clues and making links between spoken message and prior knowledge. Contextual clues come form situation setting, topic, purpose, of spoken text i.e pattern of paying bill in English restaurant ,or how you pay for drinks in English round system in a pub.. Even in the same language schema knowledge may vary i.e. “dinner-time”/. There are other more formal schema, such as overall structure of speech events, i.e. story , lecture, joke…

RECENT RESEARCH SLA research looks at linguistic input to learners, classroom input and social/academic input. Learners need to understand input in differing situations. Speakers of target language may make accommodation for learners? Students develop strategies for listening. Learning strategies and use strategies. According to Krashen input must be L + 1 for comprehension>>intake.

LISTENING IN INTERACTIVE SETTINGS Listening is a dynamic skill., not passive at all. The dynamics of interactive listening in conversation looks at how people participate in conversations, or don’t participate. How messages are processed and responded to. Discourse analysis of conversations looks at how conversations are managed, what is going on between the people. There is control and distribution of power through rules of interaction. Turn-taking, key conversational features such as when to talk, how much etc.

STRATEGIES. Listening strategies are conscious plans/ways to deal with incoming speech., compensation for poor understanding. Such as questioning specific parts of speech not understanding>>asking for clarification,. Repair of misunderstanding, negotiation of meaning., L2 listeners will form an initial frame for interpretation [expectation] and stick with it. Stalling for time to work out meaning.

References 1 Sacks, H. 1992. Lectures on Conversation. Blackwell.  Nation, I.S.L. 2008. Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking. Routledge.   Brown, Steven. 2011. Listening myths; applying second language research to classroom teaching.   Lynch, T. 2009. Teaching Second Language Listening. OUP.   Goh, C. Burns, A. 2012. Teaching Speaking: A Holistic Approach. Cambridge Language Education.   Bygate, M. 2001. Speaking. OUP.  Carter, R & McCarthy, M, 1997. Exploring Spoken English. OUP 

References 2 Wilson, R. 2004. Supporting Speaking and Listening. London.   Rost, M. 2002. . Listening in Language Learning. Longman. Rost, M. 2002. Teaching and Researching Listening Longman Field, J. 1998. Skills and Strategies: towards a new methodology for Listening. ELT Journal, 52/2/ p 110-118. Sheerin, S. 1987. Listening Comprehension: teaching or Testing? ELT Journal. 41/2. p 126-131. Lynch, T. 1996. Communication in the Language Classroom. [Chap.5] OUP. Brown, H. 1995. Speakers, Listeners, and Communication. CUP Flowerdew, J & Miller, L. 2005. Second Language Listening:Theory and Practice. McCarthy, M. 1999. Spoken Language and Applied Linguistics. CUP Nolasco, R & Arthur, L. 1987. Conversation. OUP Salehzadeh,J. 2006. Academic Listening Strategies: A Guide to Understanding Lectures. Anderson, K. 2004. Study Speaking. Cambridge. Lynch, T. 2004. Study Listening. CUP. Michigan.

REFS 3. McCarthy, M. 1991. Discourse and the Language Teacher. CUP   Hughes, R. 2002. Teaching and Researching Speaking. London. Riggenbach, H. 1999. Discourse Analysis in the Language Classroom. Vol.1 the Spoken Language. Univ. Michigan. Luoma, S. 2004. Assessing Speaking. Cambridge. Hatch, E, 1992. Discourse and Language Education. CUP Mendelsohn, D & Rubin, J. 1995. Second Language Listening. Dominic Press. Boxer, D. & Cohen, A. 2004. Studying Speaking to Inform Second Language learning. Clevedon.