Using Unscripted Spoken Texts in Teaching L2 Listening Comprehension

1. Using Unscripted Spoken Texts in Teaching L2 Listening Comprehension Elvis Wagner Department of Teaching and Learning elvis@temple.edu

2. Introduction Elvis Wagner, Associate Professor of TESOL Introduce yourself: • Your name • What/where you teach • Your opinion of Philadelphia • The best thing you’ve done since you’ve gotten here

3. Introduction Second Language Listening ability--the “forgotten skill” in L2 teaching and research. Why?

4. Introduction Why was it neglected in L2 research? • It’s hard to research • Traditionally been seen as part of speaking • Traditionally been seen as the oral equivalent to reading • It’s not particularly suited to teaching grammar (usually involves semantic rather than syntactic processing) • Questions about whether you can even “teach” listening.

5. Questions Addressed in the Presentation 1. How do you define “L2 listening”? 2. Why is listening in an L2 so hard? 3. What is authenticity in relation to the teaching and testing of L2 listening? 4. How are written texts different from spoken texts? 5. How do you choose texts for L2 listening classes (or L2 listening tests)?

6. Defining L2 Listening How would you define L2 listening? In pairs, come up with a formal definition of what it means to be able to listen in a second language (3 minutes).

7. Buck’s (2001, p. 114) Def. of L2 Listening L2 listening involves the ability: • To process extended samples of realistic spoken language, automatically and in real time, • To understand the linguistic information that is unequivocally included in the text, • To make whatever inferences are unambiguously implicated by the content of the passage

8. Teaching L2 Listening Who studied a foreign language for many years in their home country, and then, only after many years of study, went to a country where that language was spoken? What happened? The “I studied French for 3 years in high school, and 2 years in college, but when I got to Paris, I couldn’t understand a word anybody said” phenomenon. 8

9. Teaching L2 Listening Why do we spend (many) years studying a language, and then we go to actually use that language in a real world context, we can’t? How does this happen? Why does this happen? As language teachers, what are we doing wrong? Discuss these questions in your groups (3 minutes) 9

10. Teaching L2 Listening As language teachers, what are we doing wrong? Too much focus on grammar Learning about the language, rather than actually using the language to learn The artificial nature of much of the (spoken) input that FL learners receive in the classroom 10

11. Why is listening in an L2 difficult? Think about your own L2 learning experiences. In groups, take 3 minutes to create a list of answers to the following questions: • Why is listening in an L2 so hard? • What are some of the specific aspects of L2 listening that make it difficult for learners?

12. Why is listening in an L2 difficult? • It is ephemeral. It happens in real time, with (usually) no physical record • The rate of delivery of the input stream is out of the listener’s control (to some extent) • Imperfect oral input stream • It is anxiety-inducing • Interactive nature of speaking/listening (very cognitively demanding) • The L2 listener often lacks the background/cultural knowledge that the speaker assumes the listener has • The L2 listener often lacks target language textual knowledge • Real world L2 listening often different from the types of listening L2 learners experience in the classroom

13. Why is listening in an L2 difficult? Lots of things make L2 listening difficult. And it is exactly those things that make L2 listening difficult that we should focus on in our teaching. We need to focus on those language characteristics that are unique to listening, and those things that make L2 listening difficult.

14. Spoken texts are on-line and ephemeral • Unlike with reading, the listener cannot go back and peruse the text again • No record of the text

15. How to address it in teaching? Spoken texts are ephemeral, in real time, with (usually) no physical record. How to address it? • Practice, practice, practice • Promote learners’ ability to do bottom-up processing automatically

16. Rate of delivery of input is out of the listener’s control Unlike with reading, to a large extent, the listener is unable to dictate the pace of the text; the rate of delivery of the input stream is out of the listener’s control (to some extent). How to address it? • Aim for automatization (practice, practice, practice) • Communication strategies (“Could you repeat that?”, “Could you say that again more slowly?”)

17. Imperfect oral input stream L2 listeners have to deal with background noise, other people speaking, and other less than perfect aural input. In addition, the speaker might be speaking too quietly, or unclearly, with an accent, etc. How to address it in teaching? • Include authentic texts (with authentic background noise) • Provide lots of listening practice so learners can do it more automatically

18. Anxiety-inducing Because of the real-time, on-line nature of listening (and speaking), it can be frustrating and anxiety-inducing. Anxiety takes attentional resources. How to address it in teaching? Give them strategies for reducing anxiety Practice, practice, practice 18

19. Interactive Speaking/Listening Cognitively Demanding Interactive speaking and listening is very cognitively demanding, but the L2 listener has finite attentional resources; s/he is a limited capacity processor. S/he has to listen to use his/her senses to perceive the spoken input, parse it, decode it, interpret it, and figure out how to respond to it (all at the same time!).

20. How to address it in teaching? • Create communicative speaking and listening tasks that are characteristic of authentic communicative interactions—tasks that require the listener to listen to and respond to the speaker • Practice, practice, practice

21. Not what EFL learners experience Real world L2 listening is often different from L2 classroom listening. Classroom learners often: • Are expected to listen to a text without being provided any context as to what the text is about • Are expected to be “overhearers” (eavesdroppers) of conversations, rather than participate in them

22. Not what EFL learners experience This is a real text from an old sample TOEFL listening text: Introduction: Listen to the following text, and then answer the question. Male Speaker: “It certainly is a windy day.” Female Speaker: “Yes. Thank goodness it isn’t a rainy day.”

23. How to address it in teaching? • ALWAYS provide a context for a listening text and task. Always explain what the situation is, what the context is. • Vary the types of listening texts and genres for classroom tasks. Have the classroom listeners do more than “eavesdropping”.

24. Reading vs. Listening; Written texts vs. Spoken texts Again, in groups, take 4 minutes to create a second list. Compare L2 listening to L2 reading, and compare spoken texts with written texts: • How do they differ? What characteristics of spoken texts are different from written texts?

25. How are written texts different from spoken texts? • The non-verbal components of spoken language • More variation in spoken language than written language • Unplanned spoken discourse much different from planned written (or spoken) texts

26. Non-verbal components of spoken language The non-verbal components of spoken language: • The contextual information provided by the physical setting • The contextual information provided by the physical appearance of the speakers • Body language (including posture and interpersonal distance)

27. Non-verbal components of spoken language • Facial expressions • Lip movements • Gaze • Body movements • Gestures

28. Non-verbal components of spoken language How to address it in teaching? • Use video!!! • Make learners aware of the non-verbal components of the videotexts (e.g., have them view the videotext with the sound off, and have them guess what the text is about)

29. More Variation in Spoken Language There is more variation in spoken language than written language: • Accents and dialects • Colloquial language and slang

30. More Variation in Spoken Language How to address it in teaching? • Use texts with speakers with various dialects and accents (including L2 accents, “Outer/Expanding circle” accents) • Use texts with colloquial language and slang • Teach students that there is no single “correct” version of English

31. More Variation in Spoken Language Quick activity—choose the accent. Are you good at recognizing accented English? You will hear 8 speech samples, from the following speakers: Brazilian Portuguese, German, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Australian, American, British

32. More Variation in Spoken Language Brazilian Portuguese, German, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Australian, American, British 1. http://accent.gmu.edu/browse_language.php?function=detail&speakerid=148 2. http://accent.gmu.edu/browse_language.php?function=detail&speakerid=277 3. http://accent.gmu.edu/browse_language.php?function=detail&speakerid=283 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

33. More Variation in Spoken Language Brazilian Portuguese, German, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Australian, American, British • Australian • Polish 3. Brazilian Portuguese 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

34. Unplanned Spoken Texts Many of the “difficulties” of L2 listening are related to the nature of spoken texts. But many (almost all) of the texts that are used in L2 listening instruction and testing involve texts that are written, revised, edited, polished, and then read aloud, often by specially trained actors that speak slowly and over-enunciate.

35. Continuum of “Orality” of Spoken Texts • Tannen (1982a, 1982b): spoken texts range on a continuum from oral to literate; from texts with distinctly oral features, to texts that are planned and written and then read aloud • Brown (1995): spoken texts have varying degrees of “orality” • McCarthy and Carter (1995): a continuum of texts from “speakerly” to “writerly” (p. 216)

36. Continuum of “Orality” of Spoken Texts Oral “Speakerly” Literate “Writerly” Unplanned, unrehearsed spontaneous oral presentation Semi-planned oral presentation, with minimal notes Prepared academic lecture delivered with extensive notes and rehearsal Formal academic paper read aloud

37. Scripted Texts Versus Unscripted Texts Scripted texts (“Textbook texts”)—texts that are written, revised, edited, polished, and then read aloud, often slowly and overly-ennunciated, by a native speaker of a prestige variety Unscripted texts—texts that are composed and uttered by the speaker more or less simultaneously (rather than being planned, rehearsed, and then spoken); unplanned spoken discourse

38. Scripted Texts Versus Unscripted Texts Scripted texts and unscripted texts differ in three major ways (Wagner, 2014): • Hesitation phenomena • Organizational and lexico-grammatical characteristics • Phonological characteristics

39. Hesitation Phenomena “Hesitation phenomena” (Griffith, 1991)—numerous silent pauses, filled pauses, hesitations, redundancies, and false starts characteristic of unplanned spoken discourse. Texts with these hesitation phenomena seem to be more difficult for L2 learners to comprehend (Freedle & Kostin, 1999; Griffith; 1991; Voss, 1979).

40. Organizational and Lexico-Grammatical Characteristics Unplanned spoken discourse tends to be less logically organized than planned texts, because of the time constraints imposed by the real time nature of conversational interaction (Chafe, 1982).

41. Organizational and Lexico-Grammatical Characteristics Because of the nature of most speaking events (with obvious exceptions), planning what is going to be said is usually done on-line. This results in texts that are less logically and systematically organized. Most spoken texts are “first draft”, and unedited, and messy. Most written texts are edited, revised, polished.

42. Organizational and Lexico-Grammatical Characteristics Compared to written language, unplanned spoken discourse tends to have: • more redundancies than planned discourse (Haviland & Clark, 1974) • less complex syntax (Chafe, 1982, 1985) • shorter idea units (Chafe, 1982; Halliday, 1985) • fewer embedded clauses (Chafe, 1985) • more slang and colloquial language (Brown, 1995; Chafe, 1985)

43. Organizational and Lexico-Grammatical Characteristics Spoken language is often different from written language, and has “different grammatical norms”. Spoken language often has: • Run-on sentences • More grammatical “mistakes” • Shorter idea units • Ellipsis

44. Phonological Characteristics The phonological characteristics of unscripted, spontaneous texts also tend to be very different from the phonological characteristics of scripted texts that are written and read aloud.

45. Phonological modification in speech Unplanned spoken discourse usually has “connected speech”: • Linking • Assimilation • Deletion • Epenthesis • Reduction

46. Connected speech Old sample TOEFL listening text: Male Speaker: “It certainly is a windy day.” Female Speaker: “Yes. Thank goodness it isn’t a rainy day.”

47. The need to segment the aural input Segmenting is HARD. You’ve had the experience in an L2 where all of the oral input seemed like an unbroken stream of sounds.

48. The need to segment the aural input L2listenershavedifficultysegmentingtheauralinput L2 listeners have difficulty segmenting the aural input Oral texts have no “white space”.

49. The need to segment the aural input us poke can cent off n contains men e words knot in ten did two bee herd. A spoken sentence often contains many words not intended to be heard (Cole & Jakimik, 1980). It’s been estimated that 90% of all multi-syllabic words in English have smaller words embedded within them. “Spoken” has “spoke”, “poke”, “Ken”, “can”.

50. The need to segment the aural input The listener has to rely on knowledge of the: • Context • Co-text • Real world knowledge • Expectancy grammar • Textual knowledge • Discourse competence • Pragmatic competence • Non-verbal communication