Developing Oral Communication Skills

1. Developing Oral Communication Skills

2. Speaking plays a central role in language proficiency • Interpersonal mode of communication used more than presentational mode (often integrated) • Linguistic competence AND • Sociolinguistic competence • Communication: express, interpret, negotiate meaning • Classroom environment is artificial: need strategies for effective development of speaking • Teachers must attend to psychological and affective factors

3. Conceptualize: planning the content—appropriate to skill levels, constructed in context Formulate: words, phrases and their sequence Articulate: producing the utterances phonetically accurate enough to understand Self-monitor: L2 speakers identify mistakes and self-correct

4. A central goal is “Automation:” The assimilation of linguistic structures such that L2 speakers can produce them automatically (or almost automatically)

5. Optimize Classroom Conditions Ample opportunities to engage actively in meaningful discourse in context Develop ability to “play” with language: understand the rules and then extrapolate and recombine Have students produce language from day one Opportunities to participate in planned and unplanned discourse Personalize topics, encourage students to produce their own meaning Take affective variables into account (motivation, anxiety, etc.)—be sensitive to students’ feelings

6. Design and Sequence Communicative Speaking Tasks Goal: spontaneous communication Need “scaffolds”: tasks that move from structured activities to spontaneous speech Integrate immediate and numerous processing skills

7. Examples of Tasks Using Simplified Linguistic Demands • Use the same scripted questions for interviewing each other: • Do you have any brothers and sisters? • What are their names? • How old are they? • What are your parents’ names? • What do they do for a living? • B. Higher level: respond to unknown teacher-scripted questions • 1. Student A: Do you have any brothers and sisters? What are their names? • 2. Student B: What are your parents’ names? What do they do for a living? Both A & B work well with student-centered interactions (mingling, pair work.

8. Examples of Tasks Using Simplified Linguistic Demands Use cues. Instead of having students read and act out a scripted dialog, use only cues Example: customer and salesperson (lexical cues) C: looking for sweater S: size? C: large S: this one—large C: nice-white, red? S: unfortunately not C: price S: $59 Example: Invitation (functional cues) A: ask somebody to go out and see a movie, suggest day and time B: deny, give excuse (busy, no money, no time, etc.) A: make another suggestion B: provide affirmative answer

9. Contextual cues: Complete the conversation logically S: Hi! My name is John Smitth B: Hello! I am Bill Bailey. S: ______________________ B: From Switzerland. From Bern. S: From Jena. B: ____________________ S: ______________________ B: teacher S: ______________________ B: French and Social Studies S: I am a student B: _____________________ S: At the university in Jena. B: _____________________ S: biology B: _____________________ S: no. I am single B: ____________________ S: ______________________ B: I am married.

10. Students develop their own questions: open ended, higher level Have students describe routes on an authentic map.

11. Possible Configurations Pair work Base and expert groups Open interactions Groups of Three or more Chain reactions (teacher centered) Centric rings or shifting rows Base and Expert Groups

12. All participants involved equally Students are prepared adequately Clear instructions and model examples Ample opportunity to interact with different partners Content appropriate to level, interest, Circulate among students: stay in TL, be unobtrusive Time limit Goal oriented Stop activity when ¾ are finished Control number of peers Follow up

13. Theme: buying clothes Functions: describe clothes, express opinions about clothing, express measurement using metric Step 1: instructor asks questions in TL about where to buy clothes, reviews colors and patterns (who is wearing a blue shirt?) (speaking skills: short answers; guided questions Step 2: instructor role-reads dialog titled “shopping at the department store”; while reading stops to point out meaning (gestures, examples) Sept 3: students complete a fill-in-the-blank activity to check comprehension: “The costumer needs ________.” and then follows up with questions: “What does the customer need?” (speaking skills: reproductive, controlled answers)

14. Step 4: instructor plays recording with brief conversations between sales clerk and customers. Students listen for discrete information: colors, sizes, etc. instructor checks listening comprehension: “What do the people need?” (speaking skills: reproductive; one-word and controlled answers) Step 5: students role-read dialog in pairs, change roles (speaking skills: articulation and pronunciation Step 6: instructor models some personal questions and clarifies meaning if necessary: “What is your favorite color?”Students answer individually in writing. Students interview at least two other students in class. Instructor follows with questions: “Whose favorite color is red?” (speaking skills: reproductive, one-word & short answer; planned) Step 7: pairs: students write dialogue, use studied expressions, then role-play dialogue with script, then without script, instructor asks for volunteers to perform. (speaking skills: planned; articulation and pronunciation, semi-spontaneous)

15. What would be a good way to use a series of pictures in a communicative task?

16. Greet Michael • Greet Phillip • Ask Michael how he is doing. • Respond to Phillip. • Introduce Jason to Michael. • Greet Jason. Ask him how he is doing. • Respond to Michael. Ask him the same question. • Offer Michael a seat. • Ask Jason where he is from. • Say that you are from England. Ask Michael the same question • Say that you grew up in Seattle. • Respond to Michael, making an affirmative comment Hello Michael. Hello, Phillip. How are you? I’m fine. How are you? I’m doing fine. I’d like you to meet Jason. Hi, Jason. Hi, Michael. How are you? I’m fine. Have a seat. Thank you. So, Jason, where are you from? I’m from England. How about you? I grew up here in Seattle. Wow, that’s interesting

17. Step 1: four different sets of want ads in four corners of the room Step 2: Divide the class in groups of four (base group). Each student gets a letter ABCD representing one of each of the four corners. Hand out set of questions. Make sure students understand questions. Send students to assigned corners to find answers (expert groups): What kind of job? How much does it pay? What are the hours? What skills/qualifications? Where can one inquire about the job? Step 3: Return to base groups and exchange information. Step 4: follow up: Which job would you like most? Least? Why?

18. Information Gap

19. Omaggio: pages 238-257 Create two lessons, one novice and one intermediate. Or create one lesson with a novice version and an intermediate version. Identify the following: Context Function Grammatical Features Communicative Mode Student Task Follow-up Student Task (homework)