SPLIS Newsletter - December 2021 (Plain Text Version)
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OPTIMIZING SPEAKING/LISTENING OPPORTUNITIES IN LIMITED FACE-TO-FACE CONTEXTS Elizabeth Wittner University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
Introduction Every semester we ask our prospective international teaching assistants (ITAs), “How much time do you spend speaking English daily?” A typical response is 30-60 minutes, a fact which initially stunned me. This was not much better than my on-line EFL students in Guatemala who have zero incidental contact with English speakers, and similar to our employee immigrant students who are vital to, yet often separated from university community life. In some ways the past year of COVID-19 simply heightened the isolation our international community faces, highlighting the need for creating more English speaking/listening opportunities outside of class -- even in what we would think of as “immersive ESL environments,” and it required us to do so on-line. In this article I will discuss three widely varied teaching contexts: EAP, EFL, and Workplace English, and the ways in which we use on-line resources to address the lack of English speaking/listening opportunities common to ELs in all three programs. After considering successes and failures in our efforts to extend English beyond our limited face-to-face time, I propose a framework to optimize autonomous on-line learning. Three Distinct Teaching Contexts ITA Program Context In our mandatory course for prospective TAs meeting two hours weekly, our highly educated students are equipped with devices and Wi-Fi access. They are generally stressed, busy, and spend most of their time in their labs or with roommates who speak their L1. They often note that it is difficult to meet and talk to Americans. On-Line EFL Context In our on-line English program with global health partners in Guatemala, our TESOL certificate students tutor their English learning partners for an hour a week of Skype sessions. These ELs are highly motivated, but possess minimal digital resources, limited Wi-Fi, and rare access to authentic English interaction. Workplace ESOL Context Our university employs many speakers of other languages with limited or interrupted formal education, and our ESOL center offers them student tutors for a weekly hour of English. With emerging English and digital literacy skills, service employees are motivated to learn, but lack computer access, and with additional jobs and family obligations, they have little time. Like the ITAs, they are surrounded by English, but report that they are very rarely engaged in English interactions. Despite the differences across these three teaching contexts, common themes arise. Students in all three programs want more practice in English, often feel isolated from using the target language, and have limitations of either time, access-- or both. Attempts at Autonomous On-Line Learning In each of these programs we have explored ways to use growing on-line options to extend speaking and listening beyond the confines of class time. I discuss some of our experiences below. ITA Program Oral English Self-Study Links:To promote independent learning and differentiate pronunciation instruction, we created an intake speech sample assignment. Prospective ITAs submit a speech sample at the start of the semester and receive feedback from instructors in a “Speech Profile” to guide their independent on-line work for a recommended two hours weekly. Students use a compiled list of links to relevant oral English websites, podcasts, and videos for their practice sessions. Challenges: Multiple contributors made the links list cumbersome, difficult to navigate, and hard to maintain. More importantly, we lacked standards and processes for determining resource quality (Henrichson, 2019). In addition, we had not established accountability for student participation. By the end of the semester, anonymous feedback revealed that few students completed the on-line weekly recommendation. On-Line EFL Ear-Voice Time:TESOL Certificate student tutors researched quality on-line language resources based on their tutee’s needs, goals, and interests and thus, provided focused and tailored input for each student. Working within the limitations of unreliable WiFi and inadequate data access, ELs could still increase their English input. Challenges: Tutors invested much time locating good materials but allotted little time in their sessions to explain assignments, and even less time reviewing them afterward. While students completed written homework, they seemed to avoid the on-line listening assignments and options we referred to as “Ear Voice Time.” Tutors discovered that their students seemed confused and overwhelmed. Workplace Bus Stop English:Frustrated by the limitations of an hour a week of class time, our EL employees asked for more. Unable to increase class time, we developed the “Bus Stop English” program, in which time-limited employees could fit English practice into the crevices of their busy work and family lives. The program, requiring no more than a cell phone, used a mixture of YouTube videos, WhatsApp check-ins, and Quizlet vocabulary lists. Tutors assigned sites according to their partners’ needs, goals, and proficiency levels. ELs could even bring their on-line cell phone assignments home, including their families in their language learning . Challenges:While the program extended time working on English, it too had problems. Many ELs struggled to access the materials and avoided doing assignments, preferring instead to use what was familiar. Meanwhile, in their rush to get to regular class materials and goals, tutors were leaving little time to show ELs the assignments and often did not follow up afterward. What We Learned Below are some of the important insights we gleaned from our mistakes and oversights. In brief:
Share the Why: Use class time to extend class time. Busy adults need to know why they are being asked to spend precious time on something. No need to use TESOL jargon but do share your rationale for their work outside of class. For instance, share research on how spaced repetition accelerates acquisition (Nation, 2013). Or show how videos can promote lexical development (Webb, 2019).Let them in on how mirroring videos might promote prosody (Meyers, 2018). Teach Strategies: Aside from building awareness, teach strategies during class time, such as finding appropriate resources, listening for accuracy vs. fluency, or modifying input. Don’t just tell them; show them. For example, you might discuss how motivation promotes acquisition or how input should be comprehensible, but even better to walk them through how you choose a personally interesting YouTube video and show them how you adjust the speed or turn on closed captioning to boost your comprehension. Provide Scaffolding – Try to promote independent learning by equipping students with a map and directions. Preview, connect to their prior knowledge, or have them look up related vocabulary. Help them organize their time on task. For example, give them a list of “look-fors”, comprehension questions, or a graphic organizer to collect information. Perhaps you can present a mini-lesson related to the particular language feature they’ll be exploring. For instance, you might spend some time on linking and reduction before your student listens to an informal interview and comes back with examples of reduced speech. Be ACTIVE: Have ELs Engage Actively with the Online Resource (During) Have students DO something while watching or listening to an on-line resource. We all know that just being exposed to a language does not guarantee acquisition. Students need focused, purposeful engagement. Mix receptive skills like reading and listening with productive skills like speaking and writing. Have them write something down or prepare to report something back in the next class. Alternate top-down comprehension tasks like getting the gist of a TedTalk with bottom-up strategies, such as shadowing the speaker’s intonation or other language features. Requiring active engagement also provides an opportunity to increase students’ accountability for their time on task. Be INTERACTIVE – Have ELs Engage Actively with a Real Person Afterward (After) Have students report back to a real person-- a tutor, instructor, or classmate-- to complete the cycle. Of course, for this to succeed, you will need to devote instructional time to the follow-up, but doing so demonstrates your commitment to learning outside of class and creates accountability, as well. This stage allows for the most growth potential in language acquisition. Here is where students can begin to take new language features from on-line work and use them in actual conversations. Promote this by structuring activities in which the student must negotiate with an interlocutor using the on-line learning, rather than a simple recitation or presentation which does not require as much linguistic reformulation. To optimize negotiation, create opportunities in class for one-on-one work (with a partner, a tutor, volunteer) whenever possible so that there is plenty of talk time. Pair activities can be simple. For example, ask each student to explain what they saw, listened to, or what stood out for them and then answer their partner’s questions and address misunderstandings. The back and forth will be important. You can use sentence frames to encourage particular structures, phrases, or exchanges, such as “Sorry- I didn’t understand X” or, “Can you give me an example of Y from your life?" In Conclusion While the past year made us more aware of English learner isolation and drew more attention to on-line resources, students have always needed oral English experiences beyond our limited instructional time. Using on-line resources in a thoughtful, deliberate manner can bridge this gap. There are good and bad ways of using on-line resources to extend oral English learning, and I’ve had some experience with both. If you value extending time, then invest time in doing it well. Be selective about on-line resources; commit class time to preparing students for on-line, independent work; ensure that students are engaging actively with the resource; and dedicate time in class afterward for students to interact with others while using the language they have learned. On-line resources are only a tool. Choose wisely and use them well and your students can expand their learning well beyond class time. References Henrichsen, L. (2019). 21 Online Pronunciation Resources for Teaching and Learning. TESOL Connections. Lascotte D., Meyers C., Tarone E. (2020, October). Voice and Mirroring In SLA: Top-down Pedagogy for L2 Pronunciation Instruction. RELC Journal. Doi:10.1177/0033688220953910 Meyers, C. (2018, March) Voices in Learner Language: Mirroring a Ted Talk. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Applied Linguistics, Chicago, IL. Nation, I. S. P. (2013). Learning vocabulary in another language (2nd ed.). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Webb, S. (2019). Helping Students Become Autonomous Learners of Vocabulary. TESOL Connections, 1-4.
Elizabeth Wittner is the Academic Director for the Center for American English Language and Culture at the University of Virginia, where she teaches and develops English language classes, mentors student instructors, and develops university-wide assessments. She has created large-scale community engagement programs involving domestic and international students and staff. |
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