Developing Communicative Dr. Michael Rost Language Teaching

> Find a partner near you, talk for 1 minute – then when you hear the word “Change”, change partners: What is something really important that happened in your life this year? Why is it important to you? Warm up: Mixer © Michael Rost

Engaged? (have to use strategies) Personal? (have to reveal something) Communication Gap? (need to listen) Task? (outcome that is verifiable) What is an effective communicative activity? © Michael Rost

…what is successful communication (in L1 and L2) One key : articulating standards for …how students can achieve this success step by step © Michael Rost

Holistic Checklist Scale 3 types of communicative assessment: © Michael Rost

How did you like this activity? Example of holistic evaluation [1] ………[2] ……… [3] ………[4] ………[5] Boring Interesting Not Worthwhile Valuable © Michael Rost If we do this activity again, what might we do differently?

natural and spontaneous open to interpretation by everyone gives personal insights The advantages of holistic evaluation © Michael Rost

Let’s retry an activity… with communicative goals in mind … This time, let’s focus on… Michael Rost © Michael Rost

Speaker “ readiness ”, knowledge of topic Personalization – opportunity, willingness, and desire to show one ’ s personal side Supportive listener – an interested partner who wants to learn something What adds value to this activity? © Michael Rost

Activity: Pair Exchange What makes this person the best teacher for you? Who has been the best teacher in your life so far? © Michael Rost

Conditions Think for one minute before you start. Take turns. 2 minutes for each person only. Face each other. Speaker: Describe the person carefully. Tell about one time that he or she was a good teacher. Listener: Listen quietly for one minute. Then ask at least 3 questions to learn more about the person ’ s teacher. Listener: Try to summarize what makes this person a great teacher. Speakers & Listeners: Aim to use English 90% of the time! © Michael Rost

Did you … __ speak for 1 minute in English only? __ make your ideas clear to your partner? __ ask at least 3 questions? __ learn any new vocabulary in this activity? Example of check list evaluation © Michael Rost

Notice: We focus on a few performance variables. If our students meet these performance criteria, they have done the task well. This type of assessment is a “checklist” type. © Michael Rost

We need to help them focus on the criteria. And … give more support … let them try again! If our students have troubles with any of the criteria, © Michael Rost

clear and fair to everyone provides more specific feedback easy to adjust & expand The advantages of checklists: © Michael Rost

They measure whether our students have achieved the specific objectives of the unit. Assessment checklists are used for “achievement tests”: © Michael Rost

Communicative Scales are based on: dynamic, interactive criteria possibility of corrective feedback 3rd kind of assessment: Scale-based © Michael Rost

good intention sensitive performed the task well clear and logical Examples of feedback: used effective connectors (especially _________ ) used appropriate vocabulary (especially _______ ) used appropriate grammar (especially ________ ) © Michael Rost

clear pronunciation animated intonation correct grammatical structures range of structures precise vocabulary choice formulaic language Examples of feedback, TYPE 1 © Michael Rost

smoothness richness of content confidence “ communicative image ” interactivity – listening to partner intention to communicate Examples of feedback, TYPE 2 © Michael Rost

Listeners’ Task: Listen quietly for 1 minute Then ask for specific examples At the end, give feedback on speaker ’ s main point. Activity: Speaking Circle Speaker’s Topic: Talk for 1 minute: Who influenced you more – your father or your mother? How did he or she influence you? © Michael Rost

Give positive feedback at the end. Activity: Spotlight Speaker’s Topic: List 5 important dates. Why are they important? Answer your partner ’ s questions. Listener’s Task: Choose a date. Ask why it ’ s important. Ask 3 “ follow on ” questions. Monitor’s Task: Pay attention to the accuracy and fluency of both S & L. © Michael Rost

role of mistakes and recasts in SLA role of “ attitude about mistakes ” in development A note about “mistakes” © Michael Rost

Most widely used scales: TSE (TOEFL, Test of Spoken English) ILR FSI ELIUM ORDINATE COE (Council of Europe) Converting feedback to a communicative scale assessment © Michael Rost

“ Base Line ” or “ Native speaker ” norms “ Rule-space ” analysis of skills Continuum of performance variables: not skills, but interactive processes Key concepts: © Michael Rost

Effectiveness of communication: The degree to which an intended message is communicated successfully and efficiently conveyed to a listener. Task Completion: The performance of an appropriate language function in a specified context. Communication strategies: Communication techniques such as paraphrase, examples, redundancy, or demonstration to make one’s communication more effective or to compensate for language deficiencies. Coherence: The clear and logical organization of the speaker’s utterances. Response to partner: The sensitivity of the speaker to the listener and the social situation. Accuracy: The degree to which pronunciation, grammar, fluency, and vocabulary approach that of a native speaker. Fluency: Smoothly flowing speech. Vocabulary: Words and expressions that are appropriate for the intended message. COMMON TERMS USED IN COMMUNICATIVE RATING SCALES © Michael Rost

volunteers information freely goes beyond the minimum task repairs own mistakes gives strong ideas maintains strong contact with audience has a clear purpose smooth delivery range of vocabulary range of grammar structures Some Important Scale Descriptors (= Values!) © Michael Rost

A band scale for holistic assessment © Michael Rost

FluencyAccuracyComplexityInteractivity 5 4     3     2     1 Framework for a communication assessment scale © Michael Rost

FluencyAccuracyComplexityInteractivity 5 4     3     2     1 A framework for holistic assessment © Michael Rost

1. You can make your own assessment tools: Holistic Checklist Scale Conclusion: © Michael Rost

2. You can use assessment tools: to promote awareness to allow students to learn from feedback to describe each student ’ s progress toward communicative goals Conclusion: © Michael Rost

Assessment is vital for student progress in communication. Assessment can be flexible – it can and should take many forms. Evaluation should always include self-assessment. Communicative goals must be described to students. Effective communication should be modeled for students. Feedback is the key to progress – give every student feedback in every class Summary: © Michael Rost

Thank you for your participation! You can download this presentation (Developing Communicative Language Teaching) from my blog: latcomm.com/seminars/downloads © Michael Rost