Academic Skills in English Summer School 2014: Communication Skills in English for Academic Purposes Ruben Comadina Granson University of Groningen Language Centre Masaryk University, Brno June 2014

Communication Skills in EAP Classroom communication Challenge Strategies A classroom situation This interactive seminar focuses on communication skills in academic work and study with particular reference to the most frequent forms; such as lectures, seminars, workshops and tutorials.

Classroom Communication Language Modality ? Cultural identity Emotional and physical influences

EffectiveEffective Classroom Communication It facilitates learning Goals are more likely to be met Opportunities emerge for expanding learning More positive perceptions influence the overall college experience

The Challenge “To create a classroom environment where communication issues are openly recognized and managed in a way that promotes learning.” (Glomo-Narzoles 2013)

The Strategies Assessing and developing own communication skills and knowledge Language proficiency Intercultural communication skills Learning more about student communication Student language proficiency Cultural background

A Few Case Studies The quiet one The distracter What challenges do you see in this situation? In what ways can this student provide a valuable contribution to this course? How would you respond to this situation?

A Few Case Studies Describe two ways you can develop professionally to become more skilled with communication diversity in the classroom 1: 2: ???

Discussion Scenarios Communication skills are not acquired by practising language structures alone. Speech should not be forced. It emerges naturally after a silent period. Silent periods may last an hour or a year. Language lessons do not need to be sequenced grammatically. Students do not need to master present tense before being introduced to past or future tenses. Language is best acquired in low anxiety environments. Excessive error correction causes high anxiety.

What is an effective classroom? How digital and interactive is your classroom? Is (y)our teaching style passé? Which social media tools are being used by your students outside class time? How many VLE (e.g., Moodle) tools can you use? Your students will be competing for international jobs with the digital natives referred to in this film Social Media in Education

Brawn, R. & Trahar S. (2003). Supporting in the learning teacher in changing higher education. In Sutherland, R. & Claxton, G. (Eds): Learning and teaching where worldviews meet. (pp ) Stoke on Trent: Trentham. Glom0-Narzoles, D.T. (2013). Classroom Communication Climate and Communicative Linguistic Competence of EFL learners. In: Theory and Practice in Language Studies, Vol. 3, No. 3 (pp ). Retrieved May 30, 2014 from Krashen, S. (1987). Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition, Prentice-Hall Internationl. Wilkinson, R. (2005). The impact of language on teaching content: views from the content teacher. Retrieved April 24, 2012, from References