TED Talks are short, inspirational speeches in which famous and not-so-famous speakers present innovative ideas—“Ideas Worth Spreading”—related to the TED Conference theme of “Technology, Entertainment, and Design.” The talks, all under 20 minutes in length, cover a wide range of topics on global issues, societal challenges, and scientific questions. Videos of the talks are posted online at TED.com and are available for free viewing. With more than 1,100 videos available, TED Talks provide excellent authentic and motivational materials for ESL learners, as they promote communicative competence. Their short format, wide range of topics and speakers, and open online accessibility make these videos an asset, especially in promoting ESL learners’ listening comprehension as well as expressive language skills.

The TED.com Web site allows users to search for talks, speakers, and themes, such as “Food Matters,” “How the Minds Works,” “Inspired by Nature,” and “Bold Predictions, Stern Warnings.” The talks are ordered not only by theme, but also by length (3, 6, 9, 12, and 18 minutes), type (e.g., funny, persuasive, inspiring), and ratings (e.g., most viewed, most e-mailed this week, most popular this month). The Web site also offers a number of supplemental features and additional resources for users. Videos can be streamed online and downloaded as MP4s. Users can enable and disable English captions and read transcripts accompanying talks. Many talks have also been translated to provide subtitles and transcripts in more than 88 languages. Moreover, users can further engage with the content through the comment function, TED conversations, and links to related talks.

BENEFITS FOR ESL STUDENTS

TED talks may benefit ESL learners’ linguistic skills in multiple ways. Clearly, they are a great resource to promote learners’ listening comprehension skills. They also provide excellent examples of effective presentations skills, pronunciation in context, and new vocabulary. The wide range of speakers, moreover, exposes learners to different voices and Englishes. Finally, the innovative ideas presented in the talks make great discussion starters, inviting learners to engage in authentic conversation. In addition, many TED talks can serve as springboards for further authentic language practice, as learners also apply their writing, reading, and listening skills when posting comments, participating in TED conversations, and listening to further, related TED talks.

The user-friendly format of TED talks, which allows learners access from a variety of platforms in and out of the classroom, further promotes learner autonomy. Thus, learners can in principle watch the TED videos and hence practice their listening skills anywhere and anytime, whether from their computers at home or any place with a simple Internet connection (e-learning) or even on the go via their mobile devices (m-learning). On the other hand, using TED talks is also surprisingly low-tech. As TED supports not only online streaming but also the download of videos, learners who lack a high-speed Internet connection can download the videos and then watch the talks at their convenience. With easy and open access to the videos and the wide-ranging availability of the Internet today, TED talks are a great resource to help learners on their way to self-directed, independent learning.

Moreover, the authentic nature of the materials and communicative tasks at hand—original and innovative ideas set to inspire meaningful discussion—is bound to promote learners’ communicative competence in English. Thanks to the variety, currency, and originality of the topics, there is a TED talk for everyone. Talks are shared with friends and like-minded people via e-mail and social media, and some even stir debates. All of these are motivational factors that encourage learners to watch TED talks and participate in discussions in a meaningful way—to listen, take notes, post comments online, ask questions, debate ideas, and contribute to discussion forums. By doing so, they practice listening comprehension and expressive language skills as well. Consequently, learners will apply active content- and language-integrated learning.

The great advantage of the medium, finally, is that it allows for repeated listening and offers multiple types of input, including not only aural and visual but also textual input (captions and transcripts). Thus, like any recording, the videos can be rewound and forwarded as needed to support listening comprehension. The visual input may help bridge gaps in what learners perceive aurally and hence aid in listening comprehension and the understanding of unfamiliar vocabulary, as learners can draw on contextual information, speakers’ nonverbal behavior, and the visual aids speakers use in their presentations (e.g., PowerPoint) to guess word meanings. The captions and transcripts accompanying TED talks are yet another beneficial source of information for learners, in particular, to reconfirm comprehension after listening to a talk.

The challenge for educators then will be to scaffold the talks, providing appropriate context and support for learners. In the following sections, we show how to break a talk down, guide learners through listening tasks, and use the transcript for further activities and exercises.

LISTENING COMPREHENSION

Consider training learners in how to best make use of the different tools and types of input that TED talks offer:

• Play the entire talk for an authentic lecture experience and note-taking practice.
• Play difficult passages several times as required to ensure comprehension.
• Play the talk, then read the transcript, then replay to check for overall listening comprehension.
• Play the talk first without and then with English captions to check individual words, their pronunciation, and their spelling.
• Play selected parts to serve as a springboard for discussions.
• Use the transcript for further activities and exercises.

Set specific tasks for students:

1. Take notes.
2. Write down key terms and repeatedly used vocabulary.
3. Then compare the results in groups.

VOCABULARY: CLOZE ACTIVITY

Gap-fill activities, using transcripts of TED talks, offer practice in active listening and build vocabulary.

1. Copy and paste the transcript.
2. Select a specific part and delete/white out individual words or phrases.
3. Ask students to fill in the gaps while listening.
4. Have students compare their answers.
5. Play the talk again with students correcting each other.

PRONUNCIATION ACTIVITIES

Activity 1: Sentence Stress

1. Distribute the transcript to students.
2. While listening to a segment of the talk, students underline the stressed words.
3. In groups, students compare their answers and determine the rules.
4. Listen to the segment again.
5. Students emulate the speaker.

Activity 2: Pausing

1. Distribute the transcripts.
2. While listening to a segment, students mark all places where the speaker uses pauses to separate thought groups.
3. Students exchange their results.
4. Listen to the segment again.
5. In pairs, students emulate the speaker and correct each other.

GRAMMAR IN MEANINGFUL CONTEXTS

Verbs and their tenses:

• Have students underline the verbs, determine their tenses, and review the rules for their usage, including signal words and phrases.

Nouns and their articles:

• Select a passage from the transcript and delete all articles (a, an, and the).
• Have students fill in the correct article (the, a/an, or Æ), compare their results, and review the rules for the use of the definite and indefinite articles.

PRESENTATION SKILLS

Structure of a successful talk:

• Using the transcript, students analyze the structure of the talk, including the introduction, the body, and the conclusion, the thesis statement and arguments, and transition words.

Do’s and don’ts for oral presentations:

• Studying the video, students determine how to use body language, eye contact, pauses, intonation, notes, and visual aids.

TED TALKS AS DISCUSSION STARTERS

There are multiple ways in which TED talks can be used as a springboard for thoughtful discussion and critical inquiry:

• Ask students for their first impressions and personal reactions to the talk or a notable quote from the talk.
• Analyze the problem and debate its sociopolitical implications.
• Use the format to have students give a brief talk presenting their own related “idea worth spreading.”

CONCLUSION

TED talks are a great resource for learning English, as they present excellent material for listening comprehension as well as for further language practice. Thus the transcripts allow for additional engagement with vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and effective presentations, while the presented innovative ideas provide springboards for discussions. Finally, as an openly available and easily accessible online resource, TED talks have great potential for autonomous learning.

Monika Floyd, PhD, has taught English, German, and Russian in Germany, Switzerland, Great Britain, and the United States. She was a preceptor at the Institute for English Language Programs at Harvard University from 2004 to 2011 and currently resides in Berlin, Germany, where she teaches at the Berlin School of Economics and Law.

Liane Jeschull is a PhD candidate in linguistics at the University of Leipzig and currently lives in Boston. She has been teaching linguistics and English at colleges in Germany and the United States, including the University of Leipzig, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, the University of Connecticut at Storrs, Brandeis University, and Harvard University.