Understanding and Teaching Spoken English

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Understanding and Teaching Spoken English

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Outline

• Features of the spoken language
• Teaching spoken English Principles and practice
• How to use A Speaking Course

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Part One Preview

• Features of the spoken language
• Prosodic features
• Shortened forms
• Features resulting from limited processing
  time
• Organizational features
• Accent and dialect
• Functions of the spoken language

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1. Features of the spoken language (1)

• 1.1 Prosodic features
• stress rhythm
• pitch tempo
• intonation
• e.g. She sells seashells on the seashore,
• the shells she sells are seashells Im
  sure.

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1. Features of the spoken language (2)

• 1.2 Shortened forms
• Contraction
• Elision
• Ellipsis

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Contraction

• a reduced form often marked by an apostrophe in
  writing
• e.g. cant cannot
• Ill I will

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Elision

• the omission or slurring (eliding) of one or
  more sounds or syllables
• e.g. gonna going to
• wanna be want to be wassup whats up

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Ellipsis

• the omission of part of a grammatical structure
• e.g. You bored? A bit,

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1. Features of the spoken language (3)

• 1.3 Features that result from the limited
  processing time
• False start
• Repairs
• Fillers

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False start

• when a speaker stops after beginning an
  utterance and then either repeats or reformulates
  it.
• e.g. right well let's er -- let's look at the
  applications -- erm - let me just ask initially
  this
• (The CHRISTINE Project http//www.grsampson.ne
  t/RChristine.html)

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Repairs

• an alteration suggested or made by the speaker,
  the addressee or the audience to correct or
  clarify a previous conversational contribution.

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Fillers

• - no particular meanings
• - provides time to think,
• to create a pause
  or to hold a turn
• e.g. er, uhm, ah, well.
• Compare with the Chinese filler neige.

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1. Features of the spoken language (4)

• 1.4 Organizational features
• Back-channeling
• Turn-taking

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Back-channeling

• Feedback for a speaker, meaning I understand
  you or Im listening.
• e.g. I see, really, uh huh or oh

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Turn-taking

• a typical, orderly arrangement in which
  participants speak with minimal overlap and gap
  between them.
• Short-turns one or two sentences long turns
  can be an hours lecture.

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1. Features of the spoken language (5)

• Accent the ways in which words are pronounced.
  Factors age, region or social class, e.g. RP
• Dialect The distinctive grammar and vocabulary
  associated with the regional or social use of a
  language, e.g. Bernard Shaws Pygmalion.

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1. Features of the spoken language (6)

• Different functions
• Interactional talk Conversational language for
  interpersonal reasons and/or socializing. E.g.
  chitchat. Primarily listener-oriented.
• Transactional talk Language to get things done
  or to transmit content or information. Primarily
  speaker-oriented.

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Part Two Preview

• What should be taught and what can be taught?
• The roles of a spoken English teacher
• Basic principles in teaching spoken English
• Some suggestions for the design of activities

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2.1 What should be taught and what can be taught?
(1)

• What are the possible aims of a spoken English
  course?
• Notions Situations Topics etc.
• Which spoken model should we present to our
  students?
• RP or a standard American accent?

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2.1 What should be taught and what can be taught?
(2)

• What should be corrected and what should not be
  corrected?
• What are the possible sideline productions?
• Training of communication skills, public
  speaking skills, and skills to organize thoughts
  within a short time

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2.2 The roles of a spoken English teacher

• Three stages and respective teachers roles
• Presentation an informant ( a model
  provider?)
• Practice a conductor or a classroom manager
• Production a guide or a facilitator
• Does teaching have to be in this order?

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2.3 Basic principles in teaching spoken English
(1)

• The importance of stress and rhythm
• Difference between English and Chinese
• English stress-timed
• Chinese syllable-timed
• e.g. I saw a big tree on the top of the
  mountain.
• The use of songs in the teaching of
  pronunciation Do Re Mi (Unit 1)

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2.3 Basic principles in teaching spoken English
(2)

• Communicative stress the less the better
• How to reduce this stress?
• The listener peers one is better than many
• The situation private familiar relaxing
• The language same for speaker and listener
• Status of knowledge information about the
  topic or issue and the vocabulary needed
• So group and pair work are better than
  individual and class work.

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2.3 Basic principles in teaching spoken English
(3)

• Information gap basic principle in the design
  of tasks
• Always ask
• Is there a reasonable purpose for the speaker
  to perform the task?
• Does the listener need that information?

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2.3 Basic principles in teaching spoken English
(4)

• Correction when and how?
• Relaxed attitude towards mistakes, esp. at the
  beginning.
• Beginning of a semester establishing a good
  rapport with the students help learners to build
  confidence in speaking in English

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2.3 Basic principles in teaching spoken English
(5)

• Correction when and how?
• Relatively privately, e.g. in the process of pair
  or group work.
• In class if necessary without mentioning names of
  students. Take notes while supervising pair or
  group work.

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2.3 Basic principles in teaching spoken English
(6)

• The importance of encouragement Pygmalion Effect
  - Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968), children aged
  six to twelve years, all drawn from the same
  school, given an IQ test. Children were then
  assigned to an experimental or control group.
  When teachers were told that the children in the
  experimental group were "high achievers", these
  children showed significant IQ gains over the
  course of one year, despite allocation to group
  having been in fact random.

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2.4 Some suggestions for the design of activities

• The use of pictures
• The use of jigsaw
• The use of games
• The use of drama
• The use of role play and simulation

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Part Three Preview

• Brief introduction to A Speaking Course
• Teaching spoken English to big classes
• Teaching spoken English to mixed ability classes
• Motivating the students

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3.1 A Speaking Course

• An integrated syllabus
• Book 1 Pronunciation Functions (I)
  Functions (II) Situations
• Book 2 What will you say?
• What will you do?
• How to complete the project?
• What is your opinion?

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3.1 A Speaking Course

• Principles in organization and design of content
• 1) Objectives, warming-up, activities,
  review, tips
• 2) Presentation, practice, production
• Models are usually provided.
• 3) Situations and topics are close to the life
  and future needs of the students.

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3.2 Teaching big classes

• Big classes 50-60 students in one class
• Difficult, but not mission impossible.
• 1) Carefully design tasks with clear learning
  goals
• 2) Use pair work and group work
• 3) Maintain discipline Be firm and fair
• 4) Feedback One or two groups or pair

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3.3 Teaching mixed ability classes

• Let the more competent students do some of the
  teaching.
• Pair work and group work benefit the more capable
  students more.
• Leave different types of assignments for the
  students to choose from.

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3.4 Motivating the students

• Involve the students in the design of tasks
• Interesting tasks
• Varied design of activities
• Encouragement and some training of learning
  skills
• Make learners aware of the sideline products of
  the training of spoken English.

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• Tell me and I'll forget
• Teach me and I'll remember
• Involve me and I'll learn.
• Benjamin Franklin?

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Thank You