Confident Speaking Theory, Practice and Teacher Inquiry 9780429265402

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CONFIDENT SPEAKING

Confident Speaking provides language teachers and teacher educators with evidenceinformed ideas to help second language (L2) learners speak fluently and confidently in different social and academic contexts. Christine C. M. Goh and Xuelin Liu, thought leaders in the field of language education, draw on scholarly literature and their own experience to show language teachers how to apply insights from research and theory in everyday classroom teaching. They offer 80 hands-on activities to help learners develop speaking skills through fluency practice and language-focused activities, and tap into their metacognitive thinking to adopt strategies for facilitating oral communication. Also included is guidance for teachers in designing lessons and larger units of work with the activities and carrying out professional inquiry activities into their own practice of teaching L2 speaking. This book is a valuable resource for language teachers and teacher educators, as well as researchers interested in the teaching and development of second language speaking. Christine C. M. Goh is President’s Chair Professor of Linguistics and Language Education at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University Singapore. She has more than 30 years of experience in language teaching, teacher education and language learning research. Her most recent book is the second edition of Teaching and Learning Second Language Listening: Metacognition in Action by Routledge (with Larry Vandergrift). Xuelin Liu has taught EFL/ESL for more than four decades, at Yangzhou University, China; the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; and Thompson Rivers University, Canada. In addition to teaching, she has been a consultant developing oral communication curricula for language institutions in several countries. Her latest project is an English education programme offering courses in language proficiency and test preparation for international students in Canada and China.

Research and Resources in Language Teaching Series Editors: Anne Burns, University of New South Wales, Australia and Jill Hadfield, Unitec Institute of Technology, New Zealand

Research and Resources in Language Teaching is a groundbreaking series that aims to integrate the latest research in language teaching and learning with innovative classroom practice. Books in the series offer accessible accounts of current research on a particular topic, linked to a wide range of practical and immediately usable classroom activities. Sustaining Action Research A Practical Guide for Institutional Engagement Anne Burns, Emily Edwards and Neville John Ellis Initial Language Teacher Education Gabriel Diaz Maggioli Critical Thinking Gregory Hadley and Andrew Boon Becoming a Reading Teacher Connecting Research and Practice Jane Spiro and Amos Paran Pragmatics in Language Teaching From Research to Practice Júlia Barón, María Luz Celaya and Peter Watkins Confident Speaking Theory, Practice and Teacher Inquiry Christine C. M. Goh and Xuelin Liu

For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/ Research-and-Resources-in-Language-Teaching/book-series/PEARRLT

CONFIDENT SPEAKING Theory, Practice and Teacher Inquiry

Christine C. M. Goh and Xuelin Liu

Designed cover image: © Getty Images | pchoui First published 2024 by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 and by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2024 Christine C. M. Goh and Xuelin Liu The right of Christine C. M. Goh and Xuelin Liu to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. ISBN: 978-0-367-21096-0 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-21101-1 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-26540-2 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9780429265402 Typeset in Galliard by codeMantra

CONTENTS

Permissionsxi Acknowledgementsxii Series Editors’ Preface xiii PART 1

From Research to Implications Introduction 2 A. Processes in Speech Production  3 1. Conceptualisation, Formulation and Articulation 3 2. Monitoring and Evaluation  4 B. Linguistic Knowledge for Speaking  7 1. Knowledge of Discourse  7 2. Knowledge of Grammar and Pronunciation  9 C.  Learning to Speak and Speaking to Learn  12 1. Speaking Skills 13 2. Discussion Skills 16 3. Metacognitive Knowledge 17 D. Instructional Enablers That Support Speaking Performance and Development  19 1. Pre-Task Planning 20 2. Task Repetition 20 3. Strategy Use and Instruction  21

1

vi Contents

E. Practical Implications for Teaching L2 Speaking  23 1. Develop Learners’ Knowledge about L2 Speaking 23 2. Plan Learning Activities for Practice and Holistic Development 23 F. Application, Implementation and Research  23 PART 2

From Implications to Application Overview 26 A. Developing Speaking Fluency and Skills  26 B. Learning to Discuss  28 C. Learning about Spoken Discourse and Language 29 D. Developing Metacognitive Knowledge and Strategy Use  30

25

A. Developing Speaking Fluency and Skills I. Off-the-Cuff Activities 36 Activity A1: Sequence and Complete  36 Activity A2: Ask and Answer  37 Activity A3: Share and Reconstruct  38 Activity A4: Imagine and Share  39 Activity A5: Respond and Share  40 II. Planned Activities 40 Activity A6: Read and Compare  40 Activity A7: Listen and Compare  42 Activity A8: Sequence and Complete  43 Activity A9: Construct and Explain  43 Activity A10: Construct and Compare  44 Activity A11: Select and Narrate  45 Activity A12: Respond and Share  46 Activity A13: Recall and Recount  46 Activity A14: Prepare and Talk  47 Activity A15: Construct and Retell  48 Activity A16: Explain and Advise  49 Activity A17: Describe and Share  51 Activity A18: Draw, Share and Think  52 Activity A19: Describe and Choose  54 Activity A20: Infer and Construct  55 Activity A21: Design and Share  56

35

Contents  vii

Activity A22: Select and Explain  56 Activity A23: Create and Demonstrate  58 Activity A24: Reflect and Share  60 Activity A25: Share and Predict  61 Activity A26: Summarise and Organise  62 Activity A27: Collate and Report  64 Activity A28: Infer and Tell  64 Activity A29: Consider and Resolve  65 Activity A30: Explain and Defend  66 Activity A31: Understand and Retell  67 Activity A32: Describe, Ask and Present  68 Activity A33: Describe, Draw and Compare  70 B. Learning to Discuss I. Understanding the Demands of Discussion  74 Activity B1: Learn about Discussion 1  74 Activity B2: Learn about Discussion 2  78 Activity B3: Learn to Manage Problems during Discussions 80 Activity B4: Learn to Lead a Discussion  82 II. Practising Discussion Skills  85 Activity B5: Discuss and Advise  85 Activity B6: Discuss and Justify  88 Activity B7: Discuss and Construct  90 Activity B8: Discuss and Evaluate  90 Activity B9: Discuss and Plan  91 Activity B10: Develop Others’ Viewpoints  92 Activity B11: Offer Alternative Viewpoints  94 Activity B12: Explore Ideas Together  95 Activity B13: Discuss and Elaborate  98 Activity B14: Discuss and Propose  99 Activity B15: Discuss, Demonstrate and Observe  100 Activity B16: Discuss and Select  102

72

C. Learning about Spoken Discourse and Language I. Discourse Structure Activities  107 Activity C1: Structure of a Casual Conversation  107 Activity C2: Structure of a Narrative  109 Activity C3: Structure of an Explanation Text  111 Activity C4: Structure of a Formal Conversation: Survey Interview  114 Activity C5: Structure of a Recount  116

105

viii Contents

Activity C6: Structure of a Procedure Text  121 Activity C7: Structure of an Information Report 123 Activity C8: Structure of an Expository Text  125 Activity C9: Making Speeches in Class Debates  126 II. Language Knowledge Activities  129 Activity C10: Language for Talking about the Future 129 Activity C11: Language for Conveying Preferences and Comparing  130 Activity C12: Transition Markers When Describing a Process  131 Activity C13: Language for Expressing Regrets  134 Activity C14: Language for Interrupting with Questions 136 Activity C15: Features of Spoken Language  137 Activity C16: Features of Spoken and Written Language 139 Activity C17: Features of Different Spoken Texts  141 D. Developing Metacognitive Knowledge and Strategy Use143 I. Person and Task Knowledge  144 Activity D1: An Overview of Metacognitive Knowledge 144 Activity D2: Person Knowledge (Knowing about Myself) 147 Activity D3: Task Knowledge (Knowing about Speaking Tasks)  149 Activity D4: Task Knowledge (Cognitive Processes in Speaking 1)  151 Activity D5: Task Knowledge (Cognitive Processes in Speaking 2)  153 Activity D6: Task Knowledge (Monitoring and Evaluation) 155 Activity D7: Task Knowledge (Evaluating Speaking Performance) 157 Activity D8: Person and Task Knowledge (SelfEvaluation and Planning)  158

Contents  ix

II. Strategy Knowledge and Strategy Use  161 Activity D9: Strategy Knowledge (Knowing Which Strategies to Use)  161 Activity D10: Learning about Communication Strategies 165 Activity D11: Strategies for Presenting and Asking Presenters Questions  167 Activity D12: A Proficient L2 Speaker’s Strategies 168 Activity D13: Sharing Experiences of Strategy Use 170 Activity D14: Sharing Plans for Strategy Use  172 Activity D15: Demonstrating and Observing Strategy Use  174 PART 3

From Application to Implementation Introduction 178 A. Planning Lessons for L2 Speaking  178 1. Fluency Activities 179 2. Language-Focused Activities 180 3. Metacognitive Activities 181 B. The Teaching Speaking Cycle  182 C. Lesson Planning with the Teaching Speaking Cycle 187 1. Sample TSC Plan 1  188 2. Sample TSC Plan 2  191 3. Sample TSC Plan 3  195 4. Planning Your Own Teaching Speaking Cycle  199 PART 4

From Implementation to Research Introduction 202 A. Teachers Inquiring into Your Own Practice  202 B. Inquiry Tasks 205 1. Doing Inquiry in a Group  206 2. Doing Inquiry on Your Own  206 3. Questions to Ask  207

177

201

x Contents

C. Inquiry Projects 208 1. Topics of Inquiry Focus  210 2. Considerations When Planning an Inquiry Project 211 3. Inquiry Tools and Procedures  212 Conclusion and Final Thoughts  213 Appendix A: Three Types of Metacognitive Knowledge about L2 Speaking from Learners’ Perspectives Appendix B: Communication Strategies for L2 Speaking Appendix C: Themes and Topics for Speaking Activities Appendix D: Language Items to Support Speaking Activities References Index

215 217 219 221 223 226

PERMISSIONS

Cambridge University Press Figure 7.1, copyright 2012, from Teaching Speaking: A Holistic Approach by Christine C. M. Goh and Anne Burns.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In writing this book, we have been helped by many people. We would like to thank our respective families for their support and encouragement, and for rendering to us practical assistance when we needed it most: Paul Doyle, whose editorial support helped make our writing clearer. Jason Wei Ji, who assisted us in the process of preparing the manuscript for submission. We also wish to acknowledge and thank our students at the National Institute of Education of the Nanyang Technological University Singapore, Thompson Rivers University Canada and Yangzhou University China, who over the years inspired and motivated us to innovate ways for teaching speaking in second language, foreign language and bilingual environments: Students in our various English language programmes who have come from different parts of the world. Pre-service student teachers and in-service teachers in methodology courses and workshops. Graduate students whose research on speaking contributed to examples for teacher inquiry projects in Part 4. Last and definitely not least, we are deeply grateful to Anne Burns and Jill Hadfield for their encouragement to embark on this book project, their detailed and invaluable feedback on various versions of what we produced and their profound wisdom and endless patience that guided us throughout the entire project. Christine C. M. Goh and Xuelin Liu

SERIES EDITORS’ PREFACE

About the Series Research and Resources in Language Teaching is a ground-breaking series whose aim is to integrate the latest research in language teaching and learning with innovative classroom practice. The books are written by a partnership of writers, who combine research and materials writing skills and experience. Books in the series offer accessible accounts of current research on a particular topic, linked to a wide range of practical and immediately useable classroom activities. Using the series, language educators will be able both to connect research findings directly to their everyday practice through imaginative and practical communicative tasks and to realise the research potential of such tasks in the classroom. We believe the series represents a new departure in language education publishing, bringing together the twin perspectives of research and materials writing, illustrating how research and practice can be combined to provide practical and useable activities for classroom teachers and at the same time encouraging researchers to draw on a body of activities that can guide further research.

About the Books All the books in the series follow the same organisational principle: Part 1: From Research to Implications Part 1 contains an account of current research on the topic in question and outlines its implications for classroom practice. Part 2: From Implications to Application

xiv  Series Editors’ Preface

Part 2 focuses on transforming research outcomes into classroom practice by means of practical, immediately useable activities. Short introductions signpost the path from research into practice. Part 3: From Application to Implementation Part 3 contains methodological suggestions for how the activities in Part 2 could be used in the classroom, for example, different ways in which they could be integrated into the syllabus or applied to different teaching contexts. Part 4: From Implementation to Research Part 4 returns to research with suggestions for professional development projects and action research, often directly based on the materials in the book. Each book as a whole thus completes the cycle: research into practice and practice back into research.

About This Book Speaking is a cognitively and socially demanding skill for second language (L2) learners. Learners need to decide what to say and how to express their thoughts in utterances that are clear to their listeners. They need knowledge of grammar and relevant vocabulary as well as skills to achieve various communicative functions through speech. Learners also need to know how language is structured in different types of discourse according to situations and contexts. This book covers these various aspects of L2 speaking development that are not always explicitly addressed in the classroom and shows teachers how to apply insights from research and theory in everyday classroom teaching. It puts learners at the heart of teaching and learning by proposing an approach that develops L2 speakers holistically by engaging with learners’ metacognition. The authors who are highly experienced in the field of language education draw on research and their own experience in teaching L2 speaking as the basis for a wide range of activities. They show teachers how to design lessons and larger units of work with these activities and present ideas for teachers to carry out inquiry into their own practice. We hope you will find the series exciting and above all valuable to your practice and research in language education! Anne Burns and Jill Hadfield

Part 1 FROM RESEARCH TO IMPLICATIONS

DOI: 10.4324/9780429265402-1

2  From Research to Implications

Introduction

Speaking is a complex process that involves an individual deciding what to say and expressing it in ways that others will understand. It can be a particularly anxiety-inducing experience for some second language (L2) learners as speaking often occurs in face-to-face interactions with first language (L1) speakers. Often hampered by their lack of knowledge of the language, language learners also need to understand the expectations of their interlocutors (partners in a conversation) which are influenced by the context of interaction. This context includes the respective roles and relationships of the speakers, the topic of their conversation, the place in which the conversation takes place as well as the wider cultural norms and practices of the community represented in the interaction. To speak effectively, language learners also need to use strategies to facilitate some of the social aspects of speaking, for example, in indicating to their interlocutors their willingness to continue in a conversation in the face of challenges, or to signal that they would like their interlocutors to help them. Language learners need to expand their knowledge of the L2 continually so that they can use appropriate words to convey their meaning more precisely, pronounce words intelligibly and produce utterances that are syntactically clear. Both knowledge about the language and how the language is used are important aspects of knowledge that language learners must develop throughout their lifetime. Recent research into second language oracy (speaking and listening) has expanded the focus on teaching speaking for oral communication to teaching speaking for thinking and learning (Gibbons, 2002; Resnick, Asterhan & Clarke, 2015). Research has also highlighted cognitive processes that speakers engage in as well as the role of the individual in self-regulating and managing their speech and learning of L2 speaking through the application of metacognitive processes. When learners speak in an L2 they do not typically take time to consider what goes into helping them produce their speech. Activities in the classroom tend to focus a great deal on helping learners practise their speaking, which loosely translates to giving learners opportunities to talk in pairs or in small groups. This is often achieved through activities where learners need to collaborate to find missing information or share opinions. While such activities provide learners with plenty of practice time, there are few opportunities for them to focus on the knowledge, skills and language needed for completing the tasks well. Learners also seldom have opportunities to think about their learning processes, assess themselves and make plans for further development in a holistic manner. To address these concerns about teaching speaking, we can apply relevant research and theoretical insights into everyday classroom practice. This part

From Research to Implications  3

of the book will explain the cognitive and social processes of speaking as well as knowledge and skills that learners should continually develop. It will draw out practical implications for the classroom and provide teachers with a theoretical basis for the activities to help language learners acquire the skills, language and processes for speaking confidently. A. Processes in Speech Production

For people speaking in their L1, the ideas and the words often appear to come together quite easily, but for language learners, speaking can be very demanding, particularly when they have to interact and speak spontaneously. Many of the cognitive processes that enable speech production are automatised for competent L1 speakers. What this means is that they do not need to focus their attention on how to produce speech. Selecting words and articulating them in streams of utterances seems quite effortless because they do not have to worry about how to string utterances together grammatically and articulate the sounds correctly. When speakers do not need to pay close attention to every aspect of their speech, they can focus their attention on other aspects of speaking and interaction such as choosing the most effective or appropriate way to express a point, noticing the reactions of their listeners and monitoring the directions of ongoing interactions. Language learners, on the other hand, frequently experience difficulties in one or more of the cognitive processes involved in their speech production, which results in communication breakdowns. Some may refrain from speaking to L1 speakers or even fellow learners, as a result, as they do not want to reveal their lack of abilities. Avoiding communication is not helpful for their overall language development because they are limiting the opportunities to produce spoken output that can in turn deepen their knowledge of the language and how it is used. 1.  Conceptualisation, Formulation and Articulation

Our current understanding of L2 speech production has been influenced by Levelt’s (1989) model of cognitive processing in L1 speech (Bygate, 1998; Kormos, 2006). It consists of three key processes: Conceptualisation, formulation and articulation (see Figure 1.1). Conceptualisation is a planning process by which speakers establish their goal for speaking and select information to be conveyed. Depending on the situation, speakers may need to plan as they speak or have the luxury of time to prepare what they want to say ahead of time. Formulation is the process by which ideas are brought together more precisely in the form of sentences

4  From Research to Implications Linear or Recursive

Conceptualisation (Planning content)

Formulation (Selecting linguistic forms and vocabulary)

Monitoring

Articulation (Voicing speech)

Evaluation

FIGURE 1.1 A

representation of processes in L2 speech production (following Levelt’s 1989 model of L1 speech production and Bygate, 1998)

or utterances. To do this, speakers need to access lexical items (vocabulary) most relevant for the ideas they want to convey, as well as draw on their grammatical knowledge of syntax to structure their utterances in a logical way that is recognisable by the listeners. As this process is taking place, speakers often have to express the ideas audibly as utterances in the third process called articulation. Articulation involves the phonological encoding of words hitherto in the mind into speech. This process is physical as it is carried out through the activation and control of specific muscle groups of the articulatory system. Speech is produced as a result of interactions of these processes. Articulation may occur after an interval following conceptualisation and formulation. For example, language learners preparing a presentation will have time to plan what they want to say, construct sentences that can convey their ideas and revise what they have prepared. Some may even write out their entire speech, which they memorise or read on the day of the presentation. Most oral interactions, however, occur spontaneously. Learners may need to think on their feet thereby rendering the process of conceptualisation, formulation and articulation recursive. This is represented by the double-ended arrows in Figure 1.1. Thus, although speech production may be linear in some instances, there are overlaps in these processes. 2.  Monitoring and Evaluation

Apart from these three processes that are central to speech production, speakers also engage in two metacognitive processes of monitoring and evaluation. Monitoring is the process by which they check in real-time different

From Research to Implications  5

aspects of their performance. These mainly include the clarity, appropriateness and completeness of what they say. As Figure 1.1 shows, monitoring can occur at any point during the speech production processes. At the end of the interaction or a presentation, many speakers will also evaluate their own performance and learn something from it. For language learners, this can also be a stressful time as they may become aware of a number of mistakes or missed opportunities, and some may lose confidence in themselves. On the other hand, when their evaluation or evaluation by others is positive, they will gain more confidence and be motivated to develop even further. Managing evaluation and its outcomes is something that learners typically do by themselves, but it does not have to be so. In fact, as this book will recommend, teachers can make use of the evaluation stage to help build learners’ confidence by helping them assess their performance in a systematic and realistic way. This can take the form of post-speaking reflection and metacognitive tasks as shown in activities in all four sections of Part 2 of this book. Monitoring and evaluation are metacognitive processes that enable speakers to manage and regulate the cognitive and physical processes of planning and producing speech. To do this can be a challenge for many language learners because many of them do not have the mental capacity to engage in all these processes at the same time. Nevertheless, teachers can help make these processes more visible for their learners by including a metacognitive dimension in speaking instruction that provides learners with opportunities to reflect on what they have done and plan actions for improving their learning and performance for the future. This will also enable teachers to develop their learners’ speaking holistically as they can learn to manage their emotions when addressing mistakes or other negative aspects of their performance. In learning to speak in a second language, learners often have to manage all three processes. As their focus is typically on meaning rather than form, we may find that they will spend more time thinking about what to say rather than constructing the best possible utterances. This is especially true for beginning to intermediate learners who are still learning about the language system and how to use it in real time. They also do not have a large vocabulary source to draw on. As a result of the limited linguistic repertoire and the pressure of time, these learners are unable to monitor their speaking. Nevertheless, after they have finished speaking they are often able to evaluate their performance, that is to decide whether they are satisfied with how they spoke and what they spoke about. Learners’ evaluation of their performance may be superficial, however, limited to an overall sense of satisfaction or a lack of it. As Part  2 of this book will show, teachers can guide students on how to

6  From Research to Implications

evaluate their performance individually and collaboratively, and plan strategies for improvement the next time they speak. Figure 1.2 sums up the description of the process of producing speech. It illustrates the interactive cognitive and metacognitive processes that language learners need to engage in to communicate in their L2. The terminologies for the processes presented earlier in Figure 1.1 have been rephrased in language that is more appropriate for learners and can potentially provide the metalanguage for them to talk about their speaking processes. The dotted lines for the boxes show that these two metacognitive processes of monitoring and evaluation are areas that teachers need to help learners become more aware of and learn to do well in. THINKING ABOUT WHAT YOU READ What are some common speaking problems that you have observed among L2 learners? Which of these might be explained by the kind of processing demands above?

Check performance while speaking

Select and prepare what to say

Use grammar and words to form uerances Say ideas aloud clearly

Evaluate satisfaction with outcomes

FIGURE 1.2  Interactive

production

cognitive and metacognitive processes during speech

From Research to Implications  7

B. Linguistic Knowledge for Speaking

Many teachers like to conduct speaking activities because language learners generally appreciate the opportunity to practise their spoken English. They feel encouraged when they see their students enjoying these communicative activities in pairs or small groups. The safety of the language classroom and the small audience allows most students to speak out without much anxiety. Most curricula today which emphasise the development of communicative competence will include plenty of fluency practice activities. It is important, however, that learners can speak clearly and confidently and this can occur when they use language that is reasonably grammatical and has pronunciation that is intelligible.

1.  Knowledge of Discourse

Language learners’ speaking performance can vary according to contexts and environments. A learner who speaks fluently and confidently in one context may be hesitant and halting in another. This is because the nature and demands of the interactions differ and factors such as background and linguistic knowledge influence his or her speech production processes. For example, it is always easier for a learner to talk about a movie with a friend than discuss an unfamiliar academic topic with a teacher. Topic and vocabulary familiarity will directly affect conceptualisation and formulation, which can in turn affect fluent articulation of ideas. Teaching L2 speaking must therefore help learners understand the social and cultural purposes and include various contexts in which the learners can learn to communicate orally. Burns and colleagues categorised interactions as interpersonal and transactional that are represented by conversations and encounters respectively (Burns & Joyce 1997; Burns, Joyce & Gollin 1996): Conversations, which are interpersonal in nature, can be casual or formal. Encounters, which are transactional interactions, involve the exchange of facts or services. Language learners would therefore need to learn the difference between the two and know how to engage in speech appropriately in each type of interaction. On the level of discourse or whole text produced for these interactions, they will need to know how exchanges are typically structured in different contexts. For example, they can expect a conversation with their peers to be loosely structured with different parties offering their views and ideas. On the other hand, when they are making a presentation, the presentation would need to be organised in a way that is expected by the ­audience – introduction, development of main points and conclusion. For example, presenters normally begin with an abstract or an introduction to

8  From Research to Implications

let listeners know what they can expect to hear. It is useful therefore for L2 learners to know how to do this as well. Knowing how discourse is structured is essential to speaking clearly and confidently. Part 2 of this book, particularly Section C will introduce activities for teaching discourse knowledge. Conversations are one form of discourse that many learners may engage fairly frequently. Learners should learn that there are three stages in a conversation regardless of the length of these conversations – an opening stage, a middle stage and an ending stage (Burns & Joyce 1997). In the opening stage one of the speakers initiate an exchange with salutations, greetings and some formulaic expressions. In the middle stage, one or more topics are developed by speakers interactively. In the ending stage, pre-closing exchanges are made using some formulaic expressions to signal ending of the conversation. The conversations end clearly with expressions such as “Bye” and “See you again”. Some conversations are more formal and more tightly structured, for example, interviews. Interviews are a form of interactional discourse that has a clear topic focus and often develops according to questions prepared by the interviewer. Conducting simple interviews is a popular out-of-class activity to increase learners’ use of the new language in authentic situations. As learners progress in their language learning and use, they will need to produce spoken discourses that are beyond short utterances and conversations. They must therefore know how different types of extended spoken texts are structured and the purpose they serve. The way discourses are organised in socially and contextually recognisable ways is often referred to spoken text types or speech genres. Table 1.1 presents common text types that learners would need to learn to produce extended spoken discourses across the course of their language development and as they engage in more diverse contexts of language use. For a text to make sense to listeners, it must be coherent and cohesive. A coherent text consists of utterances or sentences that weave together like threads in cloth, creating meaning that is clear because the ideas are linked across the text to address a topic or theme. A cohesive text is one where the various parts “hang together” through the grammar and vocabulary used. In all spoken discourses, learners need to know the vocabulary that enables transition from one part of a discourse to another. Grammar and vocabulary are often linked. For example, grammatical cohesion is achieved with the use of connectives, such as temporal connectives (e.g., first, second, next) and causal connectives (e.g., so, hence, because). You will find more examples of connectives and other language expressions that can support language learners’ speaking in the materials accompanying the activities in Part 2 of this book. Cohesion is also achieved through recognisable stages in the structure of the text to give listeners a sense that it is well-organised and easy to follow.

From Research to Implications  9 TABLE 1.1 Common types of text in spoken discourse (following Doyle, Goh &

Zhang, 2004)

Text type

Purpose

Conversation

To interact or engage with other Opening → Topic development speakers on a topic or topics → Pre-closing and closing To tell a story that can entertain Orientation → Complication → or educate Solution → Resolution → [Comment] To enable others to understand Identification/Classification/ Description → Explanatory systems, phenomena, concepts sequence and interpret ideas from the understanding To relate, often in chronological Orientation → Sequence of order, a sequence of past Events → [Comment] events Direct others to carry out a Goal → Materials/ Ingredients procedure correctly → Instructional sequence → [Comment] To describe objects, entities, Identification → Classification events and phenomena → Description of attributes, objectively and systematically characteristics, functions, features, etc. To take a position and present a Statement of position → point of view so as to persuade Arguments → Conclusion or convince others (Restatement of position)

Narrative Explanation

Recount Procedure Information

Exposition

Structure

For example, learners can manage transitions of ideas and arguments by using discourse markers to provide clear signposts that their listeners can follow easily. In a presentation, they would need to use longer phrases or formulaic expressions such as “Moving on now to my second point”. Even in informal conversations, learners need to learn the conversation moves so that the communication is deemed complete and appropriate by their conversation partners. For example, they need to know that short transactional exchanges such as asking for information typically have three parts: ­ Question – answer – response/comment. It would seem odd for the ­person asking the question not to give a comment or response after getting an answer. These three parts when realised give the participants a sense of ­completion to the discourse they have jointly constructed. 2.  Knowledge of Grammar and Pronunciation

Knowledge of L2 grammar is clearly important for speaking. It allows learners to string together ideas in an utterance in syntactically correct ways for the L2. Nevertheless, there are some features of speech that differ from the

10  From Research to Implications

grammar of written text. When learners apply the patterns of grammar for written language to their speech, it can become rather stilted or unnatural to their listeners. It is important therefore that learners know the differences in the way spoken and written texts are structured and patterned. Features of natural speech that differ from formal writing include the use of ellipsis or not answering a question in full sentences and the use of simple conjunctions “and” and “but” to link up shorter utterances instead of attempting to produce long complex sentences. These and other features of spoken grammar can help the learners speak more naturally and it is therefore important to raise learners’ awareness about the difference between spoken and written language. Knowledge about spoken grammar can also assist language learners in comprehending and constructing utterances that are closer to the quality of speech produced by competent English speakers. Carter (2003) identified several spoken grammar features commonly found in British speakers’ discourse: Discourse markers, ellipsis, modal expressions, deixis, (question) tags, adverbs and adverbials, and coordination of clauses with simple conjunctions such as “and”, “but” and “so”, purposefully vague language, and heads and tails. Not all the features mentioned are relevant for language learners because of the sociocultural contexts for which they learn English. Nevertheless, an awareness of these and other features of speech would allow some learners to decide which ones can help them speak in ways that are clear and natural. Table  1.2 ­presents selected spoken grammatical forms that have relevance for L2 speaking development. Apart from knowledge of grammar, learners would clearly need to know how L2 words are pronounced as it is an important component of articulation. Although many learners may not need to produce pronunciation that is exactly the same as that of native speakers of the L2, many would still aim to produce accurate sounds of the L2 at the phonemic (vowels and consonants) and prosodic (stress and intonation) levels. The issue of how much pronunciation L2 learners should attempt to learn is still a debated issue. Many have argued that aiming for “native targets” is not essential for language learners, and even unrealistic. What is highly valued is learners’ ability to produce intelligible speech, particularly for those who are at lower proficiency levels.

THINKING ABOUT WHAT YOU READ What do you understand by “intelligible speech”? How important is knowledge of spoken grammar and pronunciation for achieving intelligibility?

From Research to Implications  11 TABLE 1.2  Examples of spoken grammar forms and their relevance for L2 speaking

Grammatical forms

Features

a. Discourse markers

Learners can structure talk Words or phrases are selected for effectively to enhance marking boundaries in talk (e.g., listeners’ comprehension. right, anyway, you know). These also include macro-markers for signalling transitions, e.g., Let us now turn to … Learners do not always Subjects or verbs are omitted have to respond in “full because the listeners can infer sentences” and can these from contexts, e.g., Got a express their meaning minute? more quickly. Learners can hedge their Modal verbs (e.g., could, would, views and engage might, ought), adverbials in more talk of an (e.g., possibly, hopefully) and exploratory and nonexpressions (e.g., I think, I domineering nature. suppose) are used to convey a range of attitudes from forcefulness to tentativeness, e.g., Coffee will possibly prevent heart attack. Learners sound more Words such as “this”, “that” and natural when they do not “over there” are used to refer make shared information to things that can be seen or are overly explicit. part of shared knowledge, e.g., Take this and put it over there, please. Learners can use them to A tag added to the end of a confirm something or statement turns the latter into a strengthen a statement to question, e.g., You can help him, seek agreement. can’t you? Learners can make their Words or phrases (e.g., honestly, feelings and thinking actually, clearly) that modify an about something clearer. utterance by adding information about speakers’ mood, attitude, logic etc., e.g., Frankly, I don’t think this will turn out well. Connecting two and more clauses Learners can avoid constructing complex with “and”, “but” and “so” sentences and still get to form longer continuous their meaning across. utterances, e.g., I will go in the morning and get some vegetables and pop over to my mum’s after that.

b. Ellipsis

c. Modal expressions

d. Deictic terms

e. Question tags

f. Adverbs/ adverbials

g. Conjunctions

Relevance

(Continued)

12  From Research to Implications TABLE 1.2 Continued

Grammatical forms

Features

Relevance

h. Vague language

Selected words and phrases are used to soften the effect of what one says, e.g., I was sort of annoyed with him. A noun phrase or clause at the front of an utterance followed by a pronoun, e.g., My sister, she’s such a good cook.

Learners appears less forceful or direct when interacting with others.

i. Heads

j. Tails

A noun phrase or clause at the end of an utterance that refers back to a pronoun, e.g., He’s such a kind man, Paul.

Less relevant for international communication by L2 speakers but can assist in comprehension during an interaction.

C. Learning to Speak and Speaking to Learn

Beginners and low intermediate learners will produce speech that is halting because they may be struggling with vocabulary or grammar. With more opportunities to practise and a longer duration of learning and instruction, they will progress and become more fluent, though not necessarily more accurate in their language use and pronunciation. Upper-intermediate and advanced learners will generally be more fluent and accurate and display greater complexity in their language patterns. Whereas a less proficient L2 speaker may use shorter utterances of simple syntactical structures, advanced learners will construct utterances of a larger variety of structures as they are able to apply wider grammar knowledge to produce utterances that express meaning more precisely. For example, instead of saying “I saw Komoko. She didn’t smile. She didn’t talk to me”, a more proficient speaker may construct a complex sentence: “Although I saw Komoko, she didn’t smile or talk to me.” Generally, teachers can gauge learners’ speaking abilities by observing the characteristics of fluency, accuracy and complexity. An advanced language learner may, however, still have trouble and produce speech that lacks fluency, accuracy and complexity. This can happen when they have to talk about something that they are not familiar with and this can affect their ability to apply their knowledge of language and discourse. Anxiety during speaking will further affect their performance. Teachers can develop learners’ confidence in L2 speaking by helping them become strategic L2

From Research to Implications  13

speakers who can manage the processes of speaking during oral communication and continually find ways to improve their competence. Learners should also increase their awareness about the demands of L2 speaking and their own challenges, and learn to use communication strategies to compensate for the gaps in their vocabulary so as to enhance their real-time oral interactions. They can also adopt learning strategies to improve their L2 speaking over time. 1.  Speaking Skills

To learn to speak an L2, learners need to have some basic knowledge of its grammar and vocabulary. They should also know how common types of discourses are structured. Language knowledge alone, however, is insufficient for learning to speak. They must also learn speaking skills to convey their meanings and intentions in clear and appropriate ways. The ability to speak effectively is an application of knowledge of spoken interactions and L2 language in real-time speaking. We use language to get things done for communicative purposes. The literature refers to this use of spoken language to serve a function in communication as speech acts (Searle, 1969). Some speech acts are simple and direct in nature, such as request, demand, decline, explain, complain, encourage, beg, direct, warn, agree, greet, compliment, deny and numerous other purposes. In other words, every utterance that is produced is intended to carry out a specific communicative function to achieve intended goals. According to Goh and Burns (2012), L2 learners need four sets of speaking skills: 1. speech/communicative function skills 2. interaction management skills 3. extended discourse organisation skills 4. phonological skills. The first set of speaking skills presented here is referred to as basic speech/ communicative function skills. These skills are necessary in routine social and transactional exchanges and there are many of them. Many language syllabuses that adopt communicative language teaching will show lists of common speech functions that are important for learners to develop in the target language. Some speech acts are complex and require learners to produce different kinds of utterance to achieve a bigger communicative goal. For example, describing an object is relatively simple compared with discussing a topic or issue in a group, which requires a more complex

14  From Research to Implications

combination of skills. Examples of skills for performing precise communicative functions include:

• requesting permission, help, clarification, assistance • expressing encouragement, agreement, thanks, regret, good wishes, disagreement, disapproval, complaints, tentativeness

• explaining reasons, purposes, procedures, processes, cause and effect • giving instructions, directions, commands, orders, opinions • offering advice, condolences, suggestions, alternatives • describing events, people, objects, settings, moods. Apart from using simple and direct speaking skills, L2 learners will also need interaction management skills to manage more complex processes in faceto-face interactions. These skills enable speakers to regulate conversations and discussions. Examples include:

• initiating, maintaining and closing conversations • offering and taking conversational turns • modifying and changing topics • directing the focusing of an interaction • clarifying meaning • recognising and using verbal and non-verbal cues. Most of these acts in speech are common across all languages because they express a universal human desire to communicate needs and intentions. The way each function is realised, however, can vary according to cultural norms, and very often these expectations are carried into the way L2 speakers use the language. For example, the way L2 speakers disagree with one another may vary depending on who they are speaking to and their respective roles in that specific context. Because of this, language learners will need inter-cultural communication skills to carry out different functions, not only in ways that are appropriate in the L2 culture or interactional contexts, but also in other situations. As English is now an established international language, it is used by speakers from different parts of the world with different cultural norms in which speech acts are carried out. L2 learners will need to be mindful of these variations when they communicate in English with other L2 speakers. A third set of speaking skills that L2 learners should develop is extended discourse organisation skills. L2 speakers may also have to participate in communication where they are given a long turn to speak, such as when narrating an incident or event. In academic and professional contexts, they would be expected to make oral presentations. To ensure that their listeners understand what they say, L2 learners need to be able to structure their spoken output in a way that is easy to follow. This requires knowledge of discourse routines,

From Research to Implications  15

i.e., how a specific speech genre is structured (Burns et al., 1996; Bygate, 1998) as well as grammar and vocabulary knowledge for establishing coherence and cohesion. (See an explanation of these two features in the previous section.) The ability to use intonation appropriately will also be an asset when organising discourse (Brazil, 1997). For example, falling and rising tones can be used to show information that is new or shared respectively. These skills enable speakers to establish coherence and cohesion in extended discourse by using accepted conventions to structure different types of spoken text as explained earlier. Examples of discourse organisation skills include:

• using appropriate content words (lexical choices) to link ideas in a topic • joining parts of a text using connectives, e.g., conjunctions (and, but,

or), adverbs (nevertheless, moreover) and prepositional phrases (in spite of this, in conclusion, on the other hand), • using discourse markers to signpost changes such as when comparing, sequencing, indicating cause and effect, contrasting, • using stress and different tone choices to indicate new and old information, and • organising a text according to structure for the genre. This book focuses on the teaching and learning of the above three sets of speaking skills. It is worth highlighting that learners should also develop phonological skills. These relate to the sounds of the L2 and producing L2 pronunciation at the segmental and suprasegmental levels. For English learners, pronunciation skills include:

• Segmental skills: Articulating vowels and consonants as well as blended sounds clearly.

• Suprasegmental skills: Assigning stress/prominence and use various tone choices in utterances to indicate meaning and contrasts in words.

While learners may still get their meanings and intentions across without accurate or clear pronunciation, teachers can encourage them to learn L2 pronunciation for intelligibility and according to their own personal motivation or aspirations. THINKING ABOUT WHAT YOU READ Review the four sets of speaking skills. Based on your experience as a teacher and language learner, which skills have more focus? To what extent should learners focus on learning L2 pronunciation? What implications might this have for language learners’ speaking development?

16  From Research to Implications

2.  Discussion Skills

One of the domains of interaction for many L2 learners is formal education in universities, colleges and schools. In academic contexts, facts are easily delivered to students through different modes. Knowledge and understanding, on the other hand, is jointly constructed between the teacher and the students, and between students. In tertiary institutions, L2 learners have to participate in tutorials and seminars as well as give presentations. They also have to interact informally and socially with their English-speaking teachers and peers. There is a rapidly increasing number of L2 learners of all ages in mainstream English-medium education in many countries such as the UK, Australia and the US. These learners must develop their English proficiency at the same time they learn the various subjects in the school curriculum (Gibbons, 2002). Like their L1 counterparts, L2 learner students will also need to develop what is now commonly referred to as twenty-first century competencies. They need to use spoken English not only to exchange and comprehend information, but also to facilitate the processes of thinking critically and creatively, and working collaboratively with their peers. In this regard, L2 learners can develop both language and thinking skills by learning to discuss issues and problems in pairs and small groups in order to arrive at some common understanding of the issues and where necessary provide solutions to the problems (Philp, Adams & Iwashita, 2014). Critical thinking, in particular, is a highly valued skill and it can develop in tandem with greater mastery of the oral language (Hadley & Boon, 2023). L2 learners in academic contexts carry out what Mercer (2000) calls inter-thinking, or thinking together through talk. Inter-thinking can occur in discussion tasks, but not all students engage in inter-thinking during discussions. Two kinds of talk enable learners to experience inter-thinking:

• Cumulative talk: Talk where speakers build on one another’s ideas

constructively but often uncritically and the purpose is to reach agreement and consensus without emphasising too much the differences in viewpoints. • Exploratory talk: Talk where differences are explored and treated explicitly. The speakers may or may not reach an agreement or consensus, but the emphasis is on the process of examining one another’s ideas and openness to modifying one’s viewpoints. Successful discussions have features of explicit reasoning and the use of evidence to support one’s points. It is also evaluative in that judgements are made about group members’ arguments and the reasoning of other group

From Research to Implications  17

members with the aim of taking ideas further. These abilities do not come naturally to students, and perhaps more so with L2 learner students because of inadequate language proficiency. Language learners are frequently asked by their teachers to discuss a given topic so as to practise their speaking fluency. Yet, many of them may not actually have skills for discussion. Key discussion skills include:

• expressing a position or stance • negotiating ideas • exploring options • expressing tentativeness • modifying views • checking and confirming understanding • eliciting explanations. In reality, learners may engage in a lot of talk, but the level of discussion is shallow and everyone agrees with one another. Learners’ participation in discussions is often limited by their lack of speaking and listening skills, language knowledge and prior knowledge of the discussion topic. Without adequate teacher support and explicit teaching of how to discuss, learners will simply talk among themselves but not necessarily learn to discuss. Given the importance of discussion, it is essential that language learners are taught these specific skills and the language that can support the learning of such skills. Although discussion skills are skills for speaking, they warrant separate treatment because they are a set of complex skills specific to academic and professional contexts. Part 2B will present activities for teaching discussion skills.

THINKING ABOUT WHAT YOU READ Recall one or two discussion activities conducted in your language class. To what extent were students just talking and not really discussing? What evidence would you be looking out for to see if discussion is taking place?

3. Metacognitive Knowledge

Metacognition is commonly defined as thinking about one’s thinking. It is an important dimension to learning that is often overlooked because it is not about the content of what is to be learnt. For an area of learning such as L2 speaking, metacognition has an important role in helping learners

18  From Research to Implications

reflect on their own learning, develop awareness and knowledge about different aspects of speaking and assist them to plan, monitor and evaluate how they learn and how they perform during a speaking task. According to John Flavell (1979), an important dimension of metacognition is metacognitive knowledge which consists of person knowledge, task knowledge and strategy knowledge.

• Person knowledge is the knowledge of the learners as speakers of a new language, the role they themselves play in their own learning, their needs, and their beliefs about the learning process. • Task knowledge is about understanding the requirements of learning tasks and the nature of such tasks. This knowledge includes being aware of the cognitive and social processes that are involved in learning as well as what they need to do to achieve the goals of tasks. It also guides learners in their choice for appropriate strategies to support their learning. • Strategy knowledge is knowing effective ways of approaching learning tasks through use of strategies. Strategies are conscious actions that learners plan and take to facilitate their goals and overcome their limitations in order to achieve those goals.

Metacognitive knowledge from the learners’ perspectives is explained with examples in Appendix A. Learners who have relevant metacognitive knowledge about L2 speaking are able to plan, monitor and evaluate their performance and learning; they can think about the difficulties they have and plan strategies they can use to overcome the difficulties (Tan & Tan, 2010). While engaged in a speaking task, they may also be able to monitor their performance and make necessary self-repairs. After they have completed a task, learners can also reflect on the effectiveness of their strategies so as to make adjustment by abandoning those that are not helpful and continuing with the ones that have proven to work effectively. Likewise, evaluation is a powerful strategy that enables the learners to examine their speaking performance and learning. Learners can also develop their metacognitive knowledge from feedback from their teachers and peers. Teachers can play a critical role in helping learners develop their metacognitive knowledge for speaking. In a classroom observation study by Sabnani and Goh (2021), effective speaking teachers were found to do the following in their classes:

• Acknowledge the importance of person knowledge by encouraging learners to share their anxieties and putting in classroom interaction structures for peers to support one another’s speaking.

From Research to Implications  19

• Increase learners’ task knowledge by guiding them in the planning of

content, language and discourse structure which enabled learners to approach a task appropriately and more confidently. The teachers also used authentic spoken texts to highlight language and discourse structure, a method that Burns and Joyce (1997) argued was more effective for teaching grammar and discourse knowledge for speech. • Increase learners’ strategy knowledge by improving their understanding of spoken interactions and what makes for effective speaking. The teachers explained strategies in context and related them to the audience and purpose of oral interactions. You will find many activities for developing learners’ metacognition in L2 speaking in Part 2D.

THINKING ABOUT WHAT YOU READ Review the three kinds of metacognitive knowledge. Have you come across speaking lessons in textbooks that give learners the opportunity to consider how these kinds of knowledge will assist them in their speaking development? What do you think of such activities?

D. Instructional Enablers That Support Speaking Performance and Development

Speech production is the result of interactions among several cognitive, metacognitive and physical processes, as well as the application of linguistic knowledge. Learning to speak in an L2 can therefore be a challenging process. When they have to plan what to say and how to say it, learners often focus on getting their meaning across as best as they can, and this would mean not focusing too much on structuring their utterances grammatically or finding the most appropriate words to use. In class, learners are usually required to do a speaking task only once. They may not have the opportunity to apply the relevant linguistic knowledge to ensure accuracy of their language use, but rather focus more on meaning (Skehan, 1998; Van Patten, 1990). Learners’ speaking performance is often affected by internal and external processes, such as classroom conditions. These include anxiety when they need to speak to the whole class, influence by peers who do not speak out, teachers’ expectations of how important it is to speak in the L2, constraints resulting from complex ideas and language, and a lack

20  From Research to Implications

of preparation time (Humphries, Burns & Tanaka, 2015). Research shows that instructional interventions such as pre-task planning, task repetition and strategy instruction can help address some of these learning issues confronting learners (Goh, 2017). These procedures create more attentional space for learners to focus on both meaning and language, as well as enabling learners to draw on resources around them to improve their speaking performance. This book will focus on three of the instructional procedures: Pre-task planning, task repetition and the use of communication strategies. 1.  Pre-Task Planning

When learners are given some time to plan what to say and how to say it, they are able to engage in more processes that can enhance their performance. Arguing for the need to understand cognitive processes in language learning, Skehan (1998) identifies a number of benefits of pre-task planning: More time for learners to interpret a task deeply, richer and more complex content in the speech produced, more experimentation with forms to express complex ideas, better self-monitoring during task performance and all-round improved fluency. Research has shown that language learners who engaged in pre-task planning tend to outperform their counterparts who did not do any planning before a task. The effects were greatest in improved fluency and to some extent greater complexity in their utterances (e.g., Ellis, 2005; Ortega, 1999; Skehan & Foster, 2005; Yuan & Ellis, 2003,). Basically, any form of planning – individually, in pairs or guided by a teacher – led to better performance than no planning. For oral interaction tasks, learners who were provided with models of interaction performed better than their peers who did not receive any guidance in their planning time in the use of questions (Kim, 2013). When learners were taught to use strategies as part of their planning prior to a speaking task, they could apply strategies during a speaking task and their speech was more fluent compared with when they were not taught strategies (Seifoori & Vahidi, 2012). 2.  Task Repetition

Speaking tasks are often one-off activities in the classroom which do not provide sufficient opportunities for learners to develop various aspects of speaking competence through repeat performance. Repeating a speaking task they have completed enables learners to use knowledge and skills activated in the first attempt and at the same time experiment with more accurate ways of expressing information and meaning. In learning a skill, repetition allows an individual to become more familiar with the ways something is done.

From Research to Implications  21

Repeating a speaking task in language learning should not be misconstrued as a form of mechanical practice that follows behavioural patterns. On the contrary, task repetition is underpinned by principles of cognitive processing that consider the role of attention and working memory in L2 speaking (Segalowitz, 2010). The purpose of getting learners to repeat a task is so that they can reduce their cognitive load by reusing words and ideas from the first performance. This means that the learners would devote less or little effort for conceptualisation, thereby freeing up attentional resources for formulation and articulation. Task repetition can take many forms. One way is repeating the same task procedures with different content. Another is to repeat the same task with different people. An effect of task repetition is that it improves learners’ overall fluency (Ahmadian & Tavakoli, 2011; Bygate, 1996; Lambert, Kormos & Minn, 2017) and learners are able to focus on form more (Fukuta, 2016; Hawkes, 2012). With the chance to repeat a task, learners can add new ideas to the original output, thus making the content richer and more complex. If there are gaps or mistakes in the first performance, the learner can also use the repeat performance to improve these areas. Increased vocabulary use, improved grammatical and pronunciation accuracy along with frequent selfmonitoring and self-corrections have also been observed in repeated tasks (Lynch & Maclean, 2000, 2001). Even though research has not provided full evidence of its effectiveness, it still points to these advantages of task repetition. 3.  Strategy Use and Instruction

Language learners face challenges in face-to-face interactions which are often hard to overcome. Some learners who find they do not have the vocabulary or content may decide to keep quiet to avoid communication. Those who find it hard to comprehend what other people are saying may also avoid interactions so as not to look incapable. However, by doing this, learners are denying themselves valuable opportunities to develop their L2. By learning to negotiate for meaning with other speakers of the language, learners will not only solve communication problems but also learn new language forms and vocabulary (Long, 1996; Newton, 2013). One way by which learners can avail themselves of such opportunities is by learning to use communication strategies (CSs) to maintain interaction (Hughes, 2013; Maleki, 2007). CSs have psycholinguistic and interactional functions (Nakatani & Goh, 2007). Psycholinguistic or cognitive CSs help L2 speakers compensate for what they lack in vocabulary or content knowledge that can hamper conceptualisation and formulation. Common compensation strategies for

22  From Research to Implications

vocabulary gaps include paraphrasing, that is using many words to explain something when speakers do not have a precise word for an idea, and substitution or using words from the L1 to express meaning. Interactional CSs help L2 speakers maintain discourse and gain time to think when communicating so that they can have some control over the flow of the interaction. Common interactional strategies include comprehension checks, confirmation checks and clarification requests. Learners can also self-regulate and manage their learning of L2 speaking through the application of metacognitive processes such as planning, monitoring and evaluation. The use of interactional CSs in particular has shown positive impact on L2 learners’ ability to maintain fluency and negotiate meaning (Nakatani, 2005) and maintain conversation flow even when no obvious communication problems exist (Jamshidnejad, 2011). Plonsky’s (2019) meta-analysis of research on language learning strategy instruction showed that strategy instruction for speaking consistently led to better performance and that the performance was also linked to an increase in the use of L2 strategies. In addition to learning to use CSs for communication, learners should also use general learning strategies for their overall speaking development. They do this by planning, monitoring and evaluating (or self-assessing) their efforts and progress. There are three groups of strategies that can help learners in their communication and learning:

• Cognitive strategies: Techniques to compensate for gaps in vocabulary knowledge and facilitate clearer presentation of information and meaning. • Metacognitive strategies: Mental operations to regulate and direct thinking and language use during speaking. • Interactional strategies: Social behaviours and techniques for involving others to negotiate meaning and understanding.

Appendix B presents some specific examples for each of the above group of strategy.

THINKING ABOUT WHAT YOU READ Of the three instructional enablers above, which one(s) have you tried or experienced in a language class? Which one(s) would you like to incorporate in your teaching? Please give your reasons.

Pre-task planning, task repetitions and strategy instruction have been incorporated into the procedures for several activities in Parts 2A and 2B.

From Research to Implications  23

E. Practical Implications for Teaching L2 Speaking

Based on the discussions above of theory and research, we can draw out key implications for helping L2 students develop abilities to speak confidently. 1.  Develop Learners’ Knowledge about L2 Speaking

1. Recognise processes that occur during speech to understand their own efforts at producing speech in an L2. 2. Develop metacognitive knowledge about L2 speaking to manage personal challenges, understand task demands and approach speaking tasks systematically and strategically. 3. Understand that grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation are related to contexts of use, and they are important enablers for speaking effectively. 4. Understand differences between spoken and written language and recognise the stages and linguistic patterns of common spoken discourses. 2. Plan Learning Activities for Practice and Holistic Development

1. Develop fluency through meaning-oriented activities but balance this with opportunities for learners to examine language forms and use. 2. Teach skills and language for using speech to facilitate learning of wider issues in discussions. 3. Offer learners’ planning time before a task and guide their planning. 4. Repeat selected speaking tasks in different ways and with different peers to improve learning. 5. Integrate speaking tasks with metacognitive tasks to increase learners’ understanding of the nature and demands of L2 speaking, and their learning approaches and performance. 6. Develop learners’ strategic abilities as L2 speakers through using oral communication strategies and learning strategies. F. Application, Implementation and Research

The theoretical and research implications identified in this part will be translated into learning activities as well as speaking programmes and curricula in the next two parts of the book. In Part 2 (From Implications to Application), a wide range of ready-to-use classroom learning activities will be presented. These will be organised into four sections based on the practical implications above for facilitating L2 speaking fluency and skills practice (Part 2A and Part 2B), developing knowledge about language and discourse (Part 2C), and increasing metacognitive knowledge and strategy use (Part 2D).

24  From Research to Implications

Part 3 (From Application to Implementation) presents ideas on how to structure a unit of speaking that comprises different learning activities ­presented in Part 2. It applies a pedagogical model for teaching speaking, explains principles underpinning it and demonstrates how it can be used with the material in this book. It shows how teachers can develop speaking lessons as well as a unit of work that develops speaking over a longer duration in a speaking programme. Part 4 (From Implementation to Research) offers suggestions for teacher research through professional development activities. It presents the rationale for teachers inquiring into our own practice, and describes inquiry tasks and projects that teachers can undertake individually or collaboratively. These activities will involve the use of tasks and activities from Parts 2 and 3. It guides teachers on how to carry out classroom inquiry to understand the effectiveness of the tasks and lessons they have implemented based on the earlier parts of the book. In order to assist readers, we will discuss specific tools and procedures that can help support these inquiries.

Part 2 FROM IMPLICATIONS TO APPLICATION

DOI: 10.4324/9780429265402-2

26  From Implications to Application

Overview

This second part of the book offers you ready-to-use classroom learning activities for teaching L2 speaking. It is developed from the teaching implications derived from research as discussed in Part 1. It is our hope that these activities will help you increase your learners’ fluency and confidence, improve their language knowledge for speaking, and develop their metacognitive awareness and strategy use to enhance their learning to speak in another language. We recommend that you carry out activities from each of the sections. Depending on how much time you have in your curriculum, you could select those activities that are most appropriate for your students, if you do not have time to do them all. In Part 3 we will show you how to integrate some of these activities into larger lesson plans and units of work. We have organised the activities in this part under four sections (A to D) that cover the major areas of learning to speak in an L2: A. Developing Speaking Fluency and Skills B. Learning to Discuss C. Learning about Spoken Discourse and Language D. Developing Metacognitive Knowledge and Strategy Use. Appendix C provides a list of topics for speaking activities that teachers can use when conducting these types of activities.

A. Developing Speaking Fluency and Skills

A key concern of language teachers is how we can help students speak fluently so that they can start developing greater confidence in speaking. One of the ways in which this concern can be addressed is by providing them with frequent opportunities to speak in pairs and groups. This will help learners develop fluency, that is the ability to express ideas and convey information freely even though the language may not be accurate. Typically, fluency activities are meaning-focused and not language-focused. Students are not expected to produce utterances that are grammatically or phonologically accurate. What is important is that they communicate with few pauses and hesitations, thus causing minimal comprehension disruptions for their listeners. Nevertheless, we should recognise that fluency is not independent of other abilities such as a reasonable command of grammar, an appropriate amount of vocabulary and pronunciation that is intelligible. Teachers should plan fluency tasks that help learners develop different speaking skills for various communicative functions or speech acts. The

From Implications to Application  27

activities in this section enable learners to develop skills for two types of talk with their respective learning objectives:

• Interactional talk through communication-gap activities: Learners communicate in pairs or small groups to bridge a gap jointly in the information or understanding they share. • Presentational talk through monologues: Learners speak individually to a group of listeners in a formal or informal setting. In interactional talk learners alternate between speaker and listener roles throughout the interaction. Thus, even though speaking skills are the main focus of such fluency activities, teachers may also want to check that learners have adequate skills and strategies to facilitate listening and understanding. We will address some of these interaction strategies in a later section. As Part 1 has shown, pre-task planning and task repetition are two types of activities that can support language learners’ speaking fluency, and to some extent language accuracy and complexity. As these activities are closely tied to speaking fluency tasks, Section A will include activities that help learners prepare for speaking through pre-task planning and reinforce and recycle language through task repetition. Planning before Tasks

In talking about planning, we can draw a comparison between writing and speaking instruction. In writing classes, students first discuss ideas with the teacher and classmates. When the students work on a first draft, they can try out different ways of expressing their meaning. They read over what they have written, edit and add new points before the piece of writing is completed. They may get a chance to work on another draft after receiving feedback from their peers and teacher. In contrast, for most speaking activities students usually do not have the luxury of time, nor do they benefit from feedback. Nevertheless, teachers could provide their students with time to plan what they want to say. Such pre-task planning allows the students to pay attention to “problem” areas of language which they have yet to master. Pre-task planning also enables them to select language more thoughtfully because they have the time to make explicit form-function relationships (i.e., use appropriate grammar forms to communicate certain kinds of information or meaning). Repeating Tasks

As an instructional strategy, task repetition exploits the benefits to language learners of rehearsal. When encountering the same task or a similar one,

28  From Implications to Application TABLE 2.1  Variations in task repetition

Task design

Time of repetition

Immediately The entire task After an enabling activity One or more parts of a task (e.g. language-focused; A modified task (small metacognitive) modifications) A parallel task (different task with After a time interval (hours or days) similar goals and demands)

Participants The same dyad or group New partner in a dyad New group members

learners become familiar with the task demands, thus their cognitive resources are less taxed due to fewer competing demands. The contents of the message and some vocabulary will be familiar, leaving more cognitive capacity for focusing on other speech processes such as enhancing formulation and articulation. When selecting fluency activities to use with their students, teachers should consider repeating these activities over time. Some modification may be necessary to keep the task and the experience fresh. Teachers can vary how they carry out task repetition by adjusting the design of the task, the time allocated to the task or the interaction partner (see Table 2.1). B. Learning to Discuss

Like the activities in Section A, discussion activities can also be considered as a kind of fluency and skill practice. Organising students in groups of threes or fours can provide the students with opportunities to speak in the L2 and develop their fluency. Group activities are therefore common in oral communication classes. However, not all group activities require discussion, as some are just exchange of information according to the tasks. Where students are required to discuss and share their views on a topic, many do not actually know how to discuss. They merely give their views and accept what others in the group say. Conclusions are achieved in an incremental manner to aggregate all that the group members have agreed on. There is little exploration of ideas, managing other people’s viewpoints, challenging of views, and other things that often happen in effective discussions where conclusions are arrived at after extensive examination of ideas. While most L2 learners are not expected to engage in deep discussions of a sophisticated nature, it is still important to help them understand what discussion entails and give them the language to enact some important discussion skills which they will find useful in real-life communication, such as in the subject classroom or a university tutorial. Putting students in groups to do a discussion task does not ensure that students will develop the skills needed for discussion. Therefore, teachers

From Implications to Application  29

need to scaffold the learning of discussion skills so that learners can produce utterances that are exploratory, with the aim of examining and evaluating ideas and providing reasons to substantiate their own. One way in which this can be done is to use open-ended topics where there are no right or wrong answers, and where there is likely to be a diversity of views. This section will provide activities where learners not only practise their fluency but also learn about the demands of discussions and the skills they need to participate effectively in a discussion. Even young learners can learn how to think and ask questions to increase the quality of talk during discussions. The teachers should therefore plan activities that can promote these ways of thinking and talking. C. Learning about Spoken Discourse and Language

Learners must have sufficient knowledge of the language to speak confidently and clearly. Nevertheless, it is also important for teachers to have a broad conception of language knowledge to avoid focusing narrowly on grammar and vocabulary. As we have seen in Part 1, learning about language also includes knowing about the differences between spoken and written language, and how different types of spoken discourse are structured. Language learners are seldom able to attend to all aspects of speech production and tend to focus on getting their meaning across. They may not have sufficient capacity or time to plan the language they want to use. They may not even know the appropriate language (e.g., grammar and vocabulary) or how they should organise their utterances (e.g., discourse organisation). Therefore, it is equally important that the speaking activities teachers select include opportunities for their students to notice and learn about language, so that they can improve their accuracy and overall effectiveness in expressing meaning. Teachers can help students learn the language in two ways. The first is to provide language items to support their speaking during an activity. For example, you can include a set of language items (vocabulary, grammar forms, etc.) that students can refer to when they are carrying out the speaking activity. The second way is to allow the students to first attempt the activities on their own. They speak using whatever language and grammatical resources they have. After the students have completed the speaking activities, teachers then focus their attention on some language items as an extension activity. You will see some examples of the former in Section A and Section B in which language items are provided to support students’ speaking during an activity. You will find explicit focus on language items as extension activities in Section C. Both techniques can help your students and should be used to vary your students’ learning experience. The first method of

30  From Implications to Application

providing language support during a speaking activity is quite common because it gives learners’ confidence and helps them focus on conveying their meaning more accurately. Nevertheless, there is also much merit in focusing learners’ attention on language only after they have completed the tasks:

• They will use their linguistic resources to carry out a speaking task as they will need to do in real life communication outside the classroom.

• Including language items may also be disruptive to the flow of the speech when students pause to choose which items they should include.

• As language learners have limited cognitive capacities operating in an-

other language, their focus is usually more on getting their meanings across instead of focusing on accuracy or completeness in their language. • When they have finished a task, learners can become more motivated to find out how they can improve their performance the next time they encounter similar demands in speaking. • Learners can focus their attention completely on language after they have finished a fluency task. We recommend using both techniques and adapting the first one if you find your students are not benefitting from the language items provided for them. You can adapt the fluency activities in Section A by leaving out the language items until the students have completed their speaking activity. Section C shows you how you can develop fluency activities to focus on language. Appendix D provides a list of language items for various communication functions to support L2 speaking development. D. Developing Metacognitive Knowledge and Strategy Use

Learning to speak an L2 takes more than just practising to speak frequently and acquiring the language to express their meaning. It also requires learners to engage actively with the learning processes cognitively, metacognitively and affectively. In this section we propose activities that can develop learners’ metacognitive knowledge about themselves as learners of L2 speaking, the nature and demands of L2 speaking and ways of improving their speaking performance. See Appendix A for a review of learners’ metacognitive knowledge about L2 speaking. Person Knowledge

As explained in Part 1, learners should develop their person knowledge. This is knowledge about themselves as L2 speakers – their strengths, challenges, areas for improvement, preferences, sources of speaking anxiety

From Implications to Application  31

and motivation. They can also develop their strategy knowledge, that is knowledge about strategies that can facilitate their oral interactions and speaking performance. They can do this by reflecting on various speaking experiences with the help of metacognitive tools, such as checklists and reflection prompts. They can describe their actions, strategies, feelings and inferences of themselves. They can also monitor and evaluate their speaking development or performance through self-assessment or peer-assessment. They can obtain feedback from teachers about their performance in specific tasks. They can also record themselves speaking individually or in pairs/ groups, and these recordings can provide useful evidence for self-­assessment purposes. They can also keep a journal to capture their own reflections and share some of these reflections in class. You can also develop learners’ metacognitive awareness about speaking through process-oriented activities, such as teacher modelling and teacher-led discussions about learning to speak. Task Knowledge

Students need to understand what makes their speaking difficult, manageable and even easy. While speech production in L1 happens without much controlled effort, L2 learners often encounter challenges because of limited capacities in one or all the cognitive processes. To communicate effectively, learners must decide what to say (planning) and have adequate grammar and vocabulary to express these ideas (formulating) before saying them aloud (articulating). Speakers also have to monitor what they say and correct themselves along the way. L2 learners will also have to evaluate how they have spoken so that they can continue to develop their speaking ability. Learners are not often aware of these demands and instead think of speaking as one massive task that they have difficulty managing. It would help learners to understand the nature and demands of speech so that they can approach their speaking development systematically and intentionally. It is important to take a systematic approach to help learners understand the cognitive processes of speaking: conceptualisation, formulation and articulation. By deconstructing these processes for your students, you can help them recognise those that they find challenging. Such challenges may differ depending on the task. For instructional purposes, you may want to use simple explanations which are tailored to your students, especially younger ones, even as you are applying the theory explained in Part 1. You can highlight the processes that occur (“What you need to do to speak confidently”) and explain what each process means (“What does this mean?”), as shown in Table 2.2. Encourage your students to observe their own speaking (after a speaking event or in very general terms) and identify those aspects

32  From Implications to Application TABLE 2.2  Explaining speaking processes

Process

What does this mean?

What you need to do to speak confidently

Conceptualisation

Knowing and deciding what to say.

Formulation

Select your message content. Put your ideas into words.

Planning the language (words and grammar) to use to express your meaning. Speaking audibly and clearly, so that Say it aloud. others can hear you and recognise what you are saying. Thinking about how well you are Check your performance communicating. while speaking. Thinking about how well you have Assess your performance communicated. after you have spoken.

Articulation Monitoring Evaluation

of speaking that they find challenging. When students have a better understanding of speech production and can experience these processes, they are more likely to approach their speaking tasks with greater confidence. By thinking about speaking processes, students develop their metacognition about speaking. More specifically, they develop better task knowledge, that is knowledge about the nature and demand of L2 speaking. Strategy Knowledge and Use

Strategy use is a dimension of learners’ metacognition and it starts with strategy knowledge, that is knowing about what strategies to use to compensate for their lack of linguistic knowledge and to enhance their speech production. Some learners avoid speaking because they do not have adequate or precise vocabulary to express their ideas. Or they may have difficulty understanding what they hear. Research shows that communication strategies can be an effective way to help learners gain better control over the demands of oral interaction. Strategies such as checking comprehension, confirming understanding and making clarification requests have proved to be useful for L2 learners. When learners are not able to find exact words to express an idea, they can also use strategies such as paraphrasing or substituting to continue talking. Learners can be taught how to cope with communication difficulties and enhance their overall speech. As we suggested earlier, helping learners to identify some of their challenges through awareness raising activities is a useful starting point. These challenges could include finding suitable words or phrases, or constructing grammatical utterances. As speaking occurs mainly

From Implications to Application  33

in face-to-face interaction, problems with listening comprehension also call for the use of communication strategies. Learners can be taught to use appropriate communication strategies (CS) in order to gain more processing time or to keep their turn in an interaction. CS help to compensate for cognitive gaps and are important for addressing affective issues such as anxiety. The appropriate use of CS can help learners to speak more confidently. Activities

In the following sections, we propose a total of 81 activities. These are organised as sets of activities according to four areas just described. These are summarised in Table 2.3. Each section begins with a panel titled “Thinking about Speaking” to help you review your understanding of a relevant aspect of L2 speaking and prepare for the set of activities that follow. It will help you recall the research, theory and pedagogical principles presented in Part 1 and in this introduction. Each activity that follows provides information about the aim, student level, time needed, materials and preparation required, and presents the procedure for carrying out the activity. The suggested time allocation is for an average class size of 20–25 and should be adjusted according to the number of students in your class. Some of the activities can be used with learners from a wide range of proficiency and age, while others are intended for a specific level but can be adapted to suit your students’ needs. Immediately after the procedure, we provide a set of materials that you will need for carrying out the activity with your students. If more than one set of materials is provided, the procedure will indicate which set you need to use for a specific step in the lesson enactment. Some activities may not require materials. When describing how students can respond to prompts and questions, we refer to basic resources found in most classrooms such as whiteboards, flipcharts, paper, cards, laptops and screens, and handout templates. Where more IT resources are available, these actions can be easily converted to using online tools, such as Mentimeter, Padlets, Kahoot and others. We TABLE 2.3  Organisation of activities

Section

Area

Number of activities

2A 2B 2C 2D

Developing Speaking Fluency and Skills Learning to Discuss Learning about Spoken Discourse and Language Developing Metacognitive Knowledge and Strategy Use

33 16 17 15

(Activities A1–A33) (Activities B1–B16) (Activities C1–C17) (Activities D1–D15)

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encourage you to adapt the materials to your students’ learning needs and interests, and to use the examples in the book as a guide to preparing more of your own materials. The activities in the various sections can also be converted to online delivery using video-conferencing platforms such as Zoom, WebEx, Teams and VooV that many teachers are now familiar with. For example, small group presentations when conducted online can be converted to online break-out rooms where the speakers share their slides with the participants in that small group. For some activities, you may need to adapt part of the procedures or materials. Nevertheless, we are confident that the activities which we have described in detail will provide you with the necessary guidelines to construct teaching and learning experiences suitable for you and your students.

A. DEVELOPING SPEAKING FLUENCY AND SKILLS

Fluency is an important feature of language learners’ speech. It occurs when learners express their meaning with confidence using the linguistic resources they have. While there may be hesitations and inaccuracies in their language use, these do not adversely affect the meaning they convey. We have organised the activities for developing fluency and speaking skills in two sub-sections: I. Off-the-Cuff Activities; and II. Planned Activities. Off-the-cuff activities are short activities that students do without any planning. Through these spontaneous activities, learners build fluency and confidence by drawing on their existing linguistic and communicative r­ esources. Planned activities require students to set aside time thinking together about how to approach the task. Teachers provide support and guidance to enable explicit learning of skills or to enhance performance. The name of each activity indicates the speaking skill or skills that students doing the activity will learn. The aim gives specific details of cognitive and speaking outcomes the activity can achieve. Many of these activities include the use or learning of other language skills such as reading, writing and listening in an integrated manner. Many of the procedures include pre-task planning and task repetition. These show how a single speaking activity can be enhanced to support learners by preparation and repeated practice, as explained in Part 1. The planned activities in the second part can be ­repurposed as off-the-cuff activities by removing time and support given for planning. Similarly, off-the cuff activities can be modified into planned activities by including planning time, teacher scaffolding and explicit task repetition for more practice. DOI: 10.4324/9780429265402-3

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THINKING ABOUT FLUENCY AND SKILLS L2 learners want to get their ideas across as fluently as possible without too many pauses or hesitations, which would affect their communication. Speaking in an L2 can be challenging for learners as they must combine multiple aspects of speech production: content, vocabulary, grammar, discourse structure and pronunciation. Fluency practice helps learners become more confident even though they may not express all their ideas precisely because of gaps in their language. Teachers often encourage learners to just say what they want to say with whatever linguistic resources they have and not to worry too much about accuracy. With some help and support from teachers, learners can be given opportunities to communicate and develop greater fluency. What kind of activities can teachers provide learners with to help them improve their fluency and learn different speaking skills?

I. Off-the-Cuff Activities Activity A1: Sequence and Complete

Aim: To describe and sequence pictures Level: Pre-Intermediate and above Time: 30–40 minutes Materials: Two cartoon strips Preparation: Look for two different cartoon strips, each with three or four frames. Prepare two versions of each cartoon strip. Version A: Original version; Version B: Jumbled-up sequence of frames with dialogue balloons blanked out. (Handouts or digital copies.) Speaking skills: Describe, read loud (pronunciation), express preference Procedure

  1. Have students work in pairs and give each student one version of the first cartoon strip.   2. Student A gets Version A of the cartoon strip. Student B gets Version B.   3. Student A describes the frames in the cartoon strip sequentially.   4. Student B sequences the frames.  5. Student A dictates the words in the speech balloons and Student B writes them in the balloons.

Developing Speaking Fluency and Skills  37

  6. When they have finished, introduce the second task using the second cartoon strip.   7. This time, Student A gets Version B and Student B gets Version A.   8. Student B describes the frames in the cartoon strip sequentially.   9. Student A sequences the frames. 10. Student B dictates the words in the speech balloons and Student A writes them in the balloons. 11. When they have finished, Student A and Student B tell each other whether they like the cartoon and some of their favourite cartoon strips. Activity A2: Ask and Answer

Aim: To complete a questionnaire with answers from interviews Level: Intermediate and above Time: 40–50 minutes Materials: A list of five questions to elicit information or opinion on a ­general interest topic (e.g., leisure, school rules, travel destinations, etc.) Preparation: Print handouts with the questions and blank spaces for ­answers, or provide digital copies if students have personal computing or mobile devices. Speaking skills: Ask questions, answer questions, clarify meaning Procedure

1. Distribute copies to all students (Material: Set 2). 2. Have students walk around the class and interview three other students. They write down the responses to the questions. (If you have a large class, organise the students into groups of four. Students interview others in their group.) 3. After ten minutes, gather students back at their seats. 4. Call on some students to report what they have gathered from the interviews. 5. Get students to work individually and write three questions on a topic of their choice. 6. Give them ten minutes to walk around and conduct their interviews. 7. After the interviews, encourage students to share the information and views they have gathered. 8. Ask students how they approached the task of writing the questions and interviewing their classmates. Focus on what they have learnt about interacting in the L2.

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Materials Set 2: Questions to ask about a topic of interest

TOPIC: LEISURE 1. What is your favourite hobby? 2. When do you do this activity? 3. Who do you share your hobby with? 4. Why do you like doing it? 5. How would you encourage others to take up this hobby?

Activity A3: Share and Reconstruct

Aim: To reconstruct a story together Level: Intermediate and above Time: 50–60 minutes Materials: A short story appropriate for your students’ proficiency and interest level. Abridged or summarised versions of the stories Preparation: Divide the story into three or four sections according to the phases of a spoken narrative: orientation – complication – resolution. Print the different sections separately or provide separate digital copies. Speaking skills: Express predications, summarise and describe Procedure

1. Write the title of the story on the board. Ask students to predict individually what the story is about. They can write down their ideas if they so wish. 2. Have students work in pairs and tell each other what their predictions are. 3. Depending on the number of sections in the story, form groups of three or four. Give each group one section of the story. 4. Have students read through their section in their groups and clarify the contents with one another. 5. Reorganise the students into new groups. Be sure that each group consists of students who each have a different part of the story. 6. Get students to give the gist of the content in their section. 7. Tell them to discuss and sequence the different sections into a coherent story. 8. Once done, have them retell the story by taking turns to give the summary for their respective sections.

Developing Speaking Fluency and Skills  39

9. When all the groups have finished, repeat the task by getting them to narrate the story to the whole class. If the class is big, select a few groups. Note: The input for this activity can be an audio recording – in the form of jigsaw listening of short recordings of the various sections. Activity A4: Imagine and Share

Aim: To describe people and places in the future Level: Pre-Intermediate and above Time: 40–50 minutes Materials: Light background music; future life worksheet/ template; future verb tenses and examples Preparation: Select a suitable piece of music and a device to play it; print templates and vocabulary for the activity or provide digital copies. Speaking skills: Describe the future, ask questions, describe people, places and plans Procedure

1. Play some light music and ask students to imagine their future life in ten years’ time: Their career, where they would be living, etc. 2. Ask them to write about or draw pictures of that future. They should explain their aspirations and plans (Materials: Set 4a). 3. Pair students up and have them describe their future to each other. 4. To repeat the task, have students mingle across groups and describe their future life to one or two other students. They write down information in the template provided (Materials: Set 4b). 5. Form groups of three or four students and tell them to take turns to talk about two things that they find interesting about the students they talked to. Materials Set 4a: My future life

MY FUTURE IN TEN YEARS My aspirations and plans: My career: My place:

40  From Implications to Application

Set 4b: My friends’ future life in ten years Name

Plans, aspirations and career

Place

Activity A5: Respond and Share

Aim: To express personal responses to art and explain their preferences Level: Intermediate and above Time: 40–50 minutes Materials: Images of three famous paintings by one artist Preparation: Source suitable images of paintings from the internet. Speaking skills: Express feelings, explain reasons Procedure

1. Project the three images of famous paintings on the classroom screen or students’ monitors. 2. Hold each image on the screen for at least one minute and ask students to think about their feelings when they look at the painting. 3. After all the images have been shown, organise students into groups of three. 4. Have each student explain their personal response to each of the painting and the one that is their favourite. 5. As a whole-class activity, ask the students to share their favourites and identify the one that is most popular among them. II. Planned Activities Activity A6: Read and Compare

Aim: To identify similarities and differences Level: Pre-Intermediate and above Time: 30–40 minutes Materials: Two modified versions (A and B) of a short narrative based on a famous Aesop’s tale

Developing Speaking Fluency and Skills  41

Preparation: Version A is the original version. To produce Version B, select several details and change them, for example, names of characters and locations, details about time, type of problems or outcomes. Print Version A and Version B of the story on separate handouts or provide digital copies. Speaking skills: Narrate, organise discourse and explain Procedure

1. Have students work in pairs and give each student one version of the story (Material: Set 6). 2. As pre-task planning, give them five minutes to read their version and memorise the details. 3. They take turns to tell their partner what they recall from their version. 4. When they have finished, they write down the similarities and differences. 5. As a whole-class activity, ask students to say what they have found. Show the two versions of the story to the class and confirm their responses. Note: This story is simple and is suitable for younger learners as well as learners of lower proficiency. For higher proficiency learners, select longer passages that match their ability. Materials Set 6: Two versions of a short narrative

THE TRAVELLERS AND THE BEAR Version A One day two travellers, John and Peter, met a bear. The first man, John, tried to save himself by climbing a tree. The other, Peter, was very frightened. He knew he had no chance against the bear, so he threw himself on the ground and pretended to be dead. The bear came and sniffed around Peter’s ears. Peter tried not to breathe. Thinking that Peter was dead, the bear walked off. John slowly climbed down the tree. He asked, “What was the bear whispering in your ear?” “Oh, he just said I should think twice about travelling with people who do not help their friends.”

42  From Implications to Application

Version B One day two travellers, Jack and Paul, met a bear. The first man, Jack, tried to save himself by climbing a tree. The other, Paul, was very frightened. He knew he had no chance against the bear, so he ran behind a rock and pretended to be dead. The bear came and sniffed around Paul’s face. Paul tried not to breathe. Thinking that Paul was dead, the bear ran away. Jack slowly climbed down the tree. He asked, “What was the bear saying to you?” “Oh, he just said I should think twice about travelling with people who do not help their friends.”

Activity A7: Listen and Compare

Aim: To identify similarities and differences Level: Pre-Intermediate and above Time: 30–40 minutes Materials: Two versions of a short narrative. See Activity A6. Preparation: Prepare two versions (A and B) of a short narrative. Version A is the original version. To produce Version B, select several details and change them, for example, names of characters and locations, details about time, type of problems or outcomes. Print Version A and Version B of the story on separate handouts, or provide digital copies. Speaking skills: Read aloud (pronunciation), describe details Procedure

1. Have students work in pairs. Give one student Version A, and the other student Version B (Material: Set 6). 2. As pre-task planning, give them five minutes to read their version of story individually. They practise reading aloud the version. 3. Instruct Student A and Student B to take turns to read aloud their stories. 4. When both have finished, they tell each other the similarities and differences in their stories. 5. End by showing the class what the similarities and differences are. Note: The story in Set 6 is simple enough for listening. Alternative material can be used but ensure that the language in the story is not too complex and is suitable for listening.

Developing Speaking Fluency and Skills  43

Activity A8: Sequence and Complete

Aim: To describe and sequence pictures Level: Pre-Intermediate and above Time: 30–40 minutes Materials: Two cartoon strips Preparation: Look for two different cartoon strips. Each strip should have three or four frames. Prepare two versions of both cartoon strips, such that Version A is the original version and Version B is a jumbled-up sequence of frames with the dialogue balloons blanked out. (Handouts or digital copies of versions A1, B1 and A2, B2.) Speaking skills: Describe, read loud (pronunciation), express preference Procedure

  1. Have students work in pairs and give each student one version of the first cartoon strip.   2. Student A gets Version A1 of the cartoon strip. Student B gets Version B1.   3. As pre-task planning, give students five minutes to prepare how they would describe the cartoon. They can make notes if this gives them more confidence to speak up.   4. Student A describes the frames in the cartoon strip sequentially.   5. Student B sequences the frames.  6. Student A dictates the words in the speech balloons and Student B writes them in the balloons.   7. When they have finished, introduce the second task using the second cartoon strip.   8. This time, Student A gets Version B2 and Student B gets Version A2.   9. Student B describes the frames in the cartoon strip sequentially. 10. Student A sequences the frames. 11. Student B dictates the words in the speech balloons and Student A writes them in the balloons. 12. When they have finished, Student A and Student B tells each other whether they like the cartoon and some of their favourite cartoon strips. Activity A9: Construct and Explain

Aim: To explain a process or procedure Level: Intermediate and above

44  From Implications to Application

Time: 50–60 minutes Materials: A list of food ingredients and/or pictures of a set of food ingredients; vocabulary list of different ways of cooking Preparation: Print the list and pictures or project them on to a screen, or provide digital copies. Speaking skills: Discuss and explain a procedure Procedure

1. Have students work in pairs and give them copies of names of ingredients and/or pictures. 2. Check with the whole class whether they know all the names. Explain any names that students are not familiar with. 3. Tell the class that they have to suggest a dish that they can cook with the ingredients, and explain how to cook it. 4. Ask the pairs to discuss and decide on the dish. They have to explain how to cook it. 5. When the pairs have finished, repeat the task by asking one student from each pair to explain what that dish is and how they will cook the dish to the class. (If the class is big, select some students for this.) 6. At the end of the activity, have students vote for the most popular dish in the class. Activity A10: Construct and Compare

Aim: To describe and clarify Level: Intermediate and above Time: 30–40 minutes Materials: A list of food ingredients and/or pictures of a set of food ingredients; vocabulary for different ways of cooking Preparation: Print the list and pictures or project them on to a screen, or provide digital copies. Speaking skills: Describe, ask questions and explain a procedure Procedure

1. Have students work in pairs and give them copies of names of ingredients and/or pictures.

Developing Speaking Fluency and Skills  45

2. Check with the whole class whether they know all the names. Explain any names that students are not familiar with. 3. Have each student think of how they want to use the ingredients in a dish. 4. As pre-task planning, give students ten minutes to write down notes individually on how they will cook the dish and what it is called. 5. Instruct Student A and Student B to refer to their notes and take turns to describe how they will cook the dish. They should ask questions to get their partner to explain. 6. When the whole class has finished, pick some students to describe what their partners have shared during the pair work. 7. End the lesson with a review of vocabulary related to cooking. Activity A11: Select and Narrate

Aim: To construct and narrate a short story, and to explain actions Level: Intermediate and above Time: 40–50 minutes Materials: A set of eight pictures of objects, scenes, animals and people Preparation: Go to websites which provide free downloadable images. Print the pictures individually and pack them into individual sets or prepare digital copies for the students. Speaking skills: Narrate, organise discourse, explain decisions

Procedure

1. Organise students into pairs and give them each a set of the pictures. 2. Tell students to select four or five pictures individually that they would use to construct a short story of about three minutes. 3. As pre-task planning, give students ten minutes to prepare their stories individually. They can make short notes. 4. Organise students into pairs and tell them to use their notes and narrate their stories to each other. 5. After they have finished, have students explain to each other why they have chosen the pictures. 6. Repeat the task as a whole-class activity. Call on some students to narrate their stories to the whole class. If the class is small, ask every student to repeat.

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Activity A12: Respond and Share

Aim: To describe a personal response to an object stimulus Level: Intermediate and above Time: 40–50 minutes Materials: A selection of objects (e.g., music CDs, photographs, pictures of painting, stationery items, packets of snacks) Preparation: Put the chosen objects into a cloth bag. (Prepare the number of objects and bags according to your number of groups.) Speaking skills: Explain ideas and describe feelings Procedure

1. Organise students into groups of threes. Distribute a bag to each group. 2. Explain to them that they each must pick an object from the bag without looking and they must share with the rest of the group what comes to their mind when they see the object. 3. Write this prompt on the board: What do you think of when you see this object? 4. Start the activity. After the students have got their objects, tell them they are given time to prepare their responses. 5. As pre-task planning, give the students 3–5 minutes to prepare a short individual spoken response. 6. When the time is up, ask each student to take turns to share their responses. 7. After the groups have completed the activity, pick one object yourself and share your response with the class. Activity A13: Recall and Recount

Aim: To recount an incident or event Level: Intermediate and above Time: 40–50 minutes Materials: Four topic prompts for sharing of anecdotes Preparation: Prepare a slide with the four prompts to project on the screen. Speaking skills: Introduce a topic, describe actions and people, express feelings

Developing Speaking Fluency and Skills  47

Procedure

  1. Organise students into groups of three.   2. Show the topics prompts on a screen and tell students to select a topic each they would like to talk about (Materials: Set 13).   3. Ask Student A to begin, followed by Student B and Student C. Students may choose the same topic as the other speakers or a different one.   4. When everyone has finished, tell students to decide which recount is the most interesting for their group.   5. Explain to the class that they will now listen to the anecdotes from another group.   6. Organise groups so that they can listen to each other recite their anecdotes.  7. Have students choose the most interesting anecdote from a group other than their own. The student who narrated this has to repeat it to another group.   8. To repeat the task, assign one group to each of these selected students and instruct them to move over to the group and share their anecdote.   9. At the end of the class, discuss with the students what they found challenging or easy about recounting their own experience in the language they are learning. 10. Ask the students who repeated their anecdotes what they have learnt from repeating their anecdotes. Materials Set 13: Topic prompts

Talk about:

• • • •

an experience when you had a misunderstanding with another person an unforgettable experience from childhood or school your first experience of speaking English with English speakers an embarrassing event in your life.

Activity A14: Prepare and Talk1

Aim: To describe or recount something of personal interest Level: Pre-Intermediate and above Time: 20–30 minutes

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Materials: Students’ own news items/anecdotes; questions for reflections on the activity Preparation: Tell the students to prepare in advance something (e.g., a news report, a short anecdote) to share in class for two to three minutes. Prepare a small box/envelope for each group. Speaking skills: Depends on what students plan to do (Some examples: narrate, describe, express opinions, explain, etc.) Procedure

1. As pre-task planning before class, instruct students to prepare their speeches before the lesson. 2. Form groups of three or four. 3. Appoint a group leader whose job is to ensure the activity goes smoothly. 4. Tell students to write down the title of what they want to share on a slip of paper and put it in a box/envelope. 5. Ask the group leader to pick a slip of paper from the box/envelope and read the title. 6. The student whose anecdote has been picked repeats the title and asks their group members to predict what it is about, before sharing the anecdote. 7. Be sure that the students do not read from prepared scripts. 8. For task repetition, have the group repeat the process in 4 and 5. Activity A15: Construct and Retell

Aim: To construct a spoken narrative and retell it to different audiences Level: Intermediate and above Time: 50–60 minutes Materials: Four sets of content words to construct four stories; worksheet for words and stories Preparation: Print the four sets of content words for groups and prepare more if needed. Speaking skills: Make suggestions, narrate a story, explain and clarify Procedure

1. Form groups of four. Give each group one set of content words for constructing a story. Tell them to follow the structure of a story (Materials: Set 15a. See also material in Activity C2).

Developing Speaking Fluency and Skills  49

2. Divide the groups into two pairs. 3. As pre-task planning, have each pair discuss how to use the content words to construct a story together. 4. Get each pair share their version orally with the other pair within their group. 5. When they have finished sharing, tell every group to combine their two versions into one final version. Tell them to use interesting details from the two versions. 6. Appoint one student in each group to write the final version down (Materials: Set 15b). 7. Ask the students to tell their story to another group. Materials Set 15a: Four sets of content words to form four narratives Set 1

Set 2

Set 3

Set 4

missing hiker off trail rescue personnel helicopters left a note girlfriend found

Terry Fox Canadian athlete raised money ran across Canada cancer research died of cancer annual event Terry Fox Run

Halloween display a couple creepy violence spooky fundraising Kidney Foundation complaints residents

deer a family of five struck twice Christmas season highway survived cars damaged

Set 15b: My group’s story

Set ____ My group’s story:

Activity A16: Explain and Advise

Aim: To describe problems and solutions, and give and take advice Level: Intermediate and above Time: 40–50 minutes Materials: A problem and solution worksheet; phrases for getting and giving advice

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Preparation: Print the problem and solution template and prepare a list of expressions for sharing problems and solutions. Prepare digital copies as appropriate. Speaking skills: Describe problems, explain solutions, ask for and give ­advice, initiate, maintain and end conversations Procedure

1. Give out a worksheet with the template of problems that students face and how they try to solve them (Materials: Set 16a). 2. Allow pre-task planning and give students 3–5 minutes to fill up the first row based on their own experience. 3. Organise students into pairs. 4. Have students use their notes to share their problems and solutions with their partners. Tell students that the listeners should be prepared to offer some advice. 5. After Student A has shared, he/she asks Student B for advice on how else they can address the problem. Remind students not to write anything down but to interact orally. Tell students that they may refer to some useful expressions to begin the conversations (Materials: Set 16b). 6. Have students switch roles. 7. When both have finished, give students five minutes to recall what advice they have been given and write down the advice in the template provided (Materials: Set 16a). Materials Set 16a: Thinking and talking about the problems that you face Problem

Solution

My problem

How I will try to solve it:

How my friend advised me to solve it:

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Set 16b: Useful expressions for getting and giving advice Getting advice What would you suggest? What do you think I should do? Could you think of something that may help me solve the problem?

Giving advice Why don’t you …? How about doing this: …? I suggest you talk to … If I were you, I would …

Activity A17: Describe and Share

Aim: To describe features of a house and express personal preferences Level: Pre-Intermediate and above Time: 50–60 minutes Materials: Pictures of houses in various designs; e-tools for sharing ideas Preparation: Google websites for free images of house designs. Prepare handouts or digital copies of various house designs. Alternatively, prepare a link to the URL website you have identified. Ensure internet connection is good for the lesson. Speaking skills: Express preferences, give reasons, compare details Procedure

1. Show students the different designs of houses. 2. Get students to choose their favourite design and make brief notes on their preference and their reasons. 3. Have students work in pairs and talk about their favourite design and give reasons. 4. When they have finished, ask students to go online and look for other designs of houses. 5. Give time for pre-task planning so that each pair can select a house they like or dislike and work together on a description of the house. 6. Give time for students to prepare a presentation slide for sharing with the class (Materials: Set 17). 7. Have each pair share their ideas by projecting their slide on the classroom screen and explaining their preferences. 8. To wrap up the lesson, tell the class to vote for the best description and comments of a house.

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Materials Set 17: Describing features of a house and expressing their opinion about it [Insert the picture of the house you chose here.] The house that we chose

Features of the house Material: Size: Windows and doors: Garden/yard: Other interesting features: Why we like/dislike the house

Activity A18: Draw, Share and Think

Aim: To associate pictures with feelings and express them Level: Intermediate and above Time: 50–60 minutes Materials: Students’ own drawings; vocabulary lists of adjectives that express feelings; expressions for showing possibilities; small index cards Preparation: Students draw objects (no more than three) that they associate with one event in their life. The drawings should be on small index cards. Compile lists of words that express feelings, tentativeness, probability and present them as reference cards or digital copies. Speaking skills: Describe objects, narrate an event, express feelings, express possibilities Procedure

1. Organise students in pairs. 2. Have each student show their partner their drawing and speak about the following: a. How do the objects make me feel? b. The event associated with these objects.

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3. Tell students they should refer to the vocabulary lists for words to help them express their feelings (Materials: Set 18a). 4. After the pairs have finished, collect all the picture cards and put them in a box. 5. Reorganise the students into groups of three. Have everyone randomly pick a picture card and answer the following questions: a. What could the objects mean? b. What could be the story behind these objects? c. How might the person who drew these objects have felt? 6. Have students refer to the expressions when they want to talk about their guesses (Materials: Set 18b). 7. When the groups have finished, select some students to share with the whole class what the guessed about the drawings following 5a–c. 8. To repeat the task, ask students whose drawings are selected to share their feelings and stories for their drawings. Materials Set 18a: Adjectives that express feelings Joy

Sadness

Anger

Fear

overjoyed excited thrilled delighted cheerful happy satisfied

sad gloomy depressed miserable sorrowful hopeless hurt

angry disgusted frustrated irritated bitter mad outraged

shocked terrified fearful afraid horrified anxious

Set 18b: Useful expressions for talking about your guesses or speculations

TO EXPRESS POSSIBILITIES They could have seen/used this object for… This object may have been… The person might have… They could have…

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It’s likely that… It’s possible that… I think what happened was… X may have happened. Maybe they…

Activity A19: Describe and Choose

Aim: To describe physical appearance and character traits Level: Intermediate and above Time: 50–60 minutes Materials: Students select their favourite character from a story or movie; vocabulary for describing character traits Preparation: Students bring along a picture of their favourite character or prepare a digital copy. Compile lists of words that describe character traits, and present them as reference cards or digital copies. Speaking skills: Describe physical features and character traits, give examples, summarise Procedure

1. Organise students in groups of three and ask them to take turns to describe the character they have chosen without showing the pictures: a. Physical appearance b. Character traits 2. Tell students that they can refer to the vocabulary list to help them with their description of character trait (Materials: Set 19). 3. When every student has finished, they show their respective pictures to the group. 4. Repeat the task by asking each group to select the most interesting character and have the student describe the character to the whole class. (If your class is small, you can ask every student to repeat their descriptions.) 5. Project several pictures on a screen and ask the class to identify which character is being described. 6. Have the class vote for the most interesting character.

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Materials Set 19: Vocabulary: Words for describing character traits Words that describe character traits creative faithful loyal courageous adventurous meticulous loving kind considerate fair-sighted

diligent responsible generous respectful honest optimistic independent self-confident thoughtful principled

mature polite ambitious resourceful patient approachable selfless cheerful pessimistic childlike

Activity A20: Infer and Construct

Aim: To infer an event or experience based on words provided and construct a narrative Level: Intermediate and above Time: 40–50 minutes Materials: Key words identified by students; flip chart or digital copies Preparation: Tell each student to prepare 10–15 key words that can be used to describe an important experience in their life. Speaking skills: Describe an event or experience Procedure

  1. Have students write their key words on a flip chart or typed up as a digital copy.   2. Organise students into groups of three or four.   3. If flip charts are used, have each group stand around the flipchart.   4. Get the students to read the words and infer the writer’s experience.   5. Give students some time to construct this narrative individually, allowing them to make notes or write the whole text.   6. When they are ready with their narrative, have each student share what they have prepared with the group.  7. After each student has shared, have the student who wrote the key words share their actual experience.

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  8. Give students time to have a free conversation on what they share with one another.   9. For task repetition, organise half of groups to visit other groups and listen to their narrations. 10. Repeat this with the other half of the groups. 11. As a class, students vote for the most interesting experience. Activity A21: Design and Share

Aim: To plan and explain ideas for a project Level: Intermediate and above Time: 40–50 minutes Materials: Flipchart Preparation: Tell students to browse the internet for ideas for designing a vegetable garden. Speaking skills: Report information, list objects, ask for and give information, describe and compare ideas Procedure

1. Organise students into pairs and have them share designs for vegetable gardens they have found online. 2. Get students to share their own ideas for designing a school vegetable garden based on what they have learnt. 3. When the pairs have finished talking, form groups of four by combining two pairs. 4. In each group, have the students exchange more ideas and then draw the layout of a vegetable garden using the flip chart. The design should take up the whole sheet of paper. 5. Arrange for students in some groups to visit other groups and listen to their explanation of their design. 6. Reverse the arrangement for the other groups of students to move around and the “visitors” now return to their places and explain their designs. 7. Before ending the lesson, instruct students to save their design for use in the next lesson. Note: You can combine this Activity A21 and A22 into a longer lesson. Activity A22: Select and Explain

Aim: To describe vegetables using their proper names Level: Pre-Intermediate and above

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Time: 50–60 minutes Materials: Vocabulary list for different kinds of vegetables; students’ garden designs developed in the previous class Preparation: Prepare hard or digital copies of vocabulary for vegetables. Remind students to have their designs of vegetable gardens available for the lesson. Speaking skills: Express opinions, give reasons and explain process Procedure

1. Have students regroup according to the previous lesson. 2. Appoint a reporter/note-taker in each group. 3. Tell the groups to choose two vegetables they would like to grow in the garden they designed. They can refer to the vocabulary list for different kinds of vegetables (Materials: Set 22). They can draw these vegetables in the garden they designed. 4. Have students discuss and explain the reasons for their choice. They should consider the geographical region, climate, temperature, growing season, etc. 5. Get the groups to look for pictures of their selected vegetables online. Tell them to also find information on how the vegetables are grown. 6. Have half the students visit other groups to listen to the group reporters explain their choices and the process of growing the vegetables. 7. As a whole-class activity, have the class review the vocabulary for names of the various types of vegetables. Find out from the students whether they know these vegetables. As an extension activity, they can go online and look for images of those they are not familiar with. Materials Set: 22: Names of different types of vegetables Leafy vegetables

Root vegetables

Flower vegetables

Bulb vegetables

Fruit vegetables

Swiss chard kale leeks bok choy lettuce spinach cabbage

bell pepper cauliflower shallot potato tomato broccoli garlic beet leek scallion okra carrot egg plant onion radish spring onion squash turnip bitter melon ginger sweet potato

Pod vegetables soybeans peanuts broad beans beans peas kidney beans

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Activity A23: Create and Demonstrate

Aim: To explain procedures and follow instructions Level: Pre-Intermediate and above Time: 60–90 minutes Materials: A sample recipe; vocabulary list of common ingredients for different types of food; template for recipe Preparation: Prepare the materials (a sample recipe, vocabulary) as hard or digital copies. Speaking skills: Describe procedures, give and follow instructions, ask questions for clarification Procedure

  1. Form four groups of three. In an international class, group students according to nationality.  2. Tell the class that they have to prepare a meal (vegetarian or non-­ vegetarian) that consists of a soup or salad, main course and dessert.   3. Ask each group to prepare recipes for the three courses with all or some of the ingredients provided (Materials: Set 23a).   4. Show a sample recipe on the screen or as a handout (Materials: Set 23b).   5. Explain to students that recipes generally have two parts: ingredients and cooking instructions and that the language is characterised by imperative sentences (sentences that begin with a verb for giving instructions).  6. Similarly, show vocabulary lists for cooking equipment and methods (Materials: Set 23c). Have students share in their groups their understanding of some of the words and to check with you for those they are unfamiliar with.   7. Have the groups discuss the food they want to prepare by using the given ingredients and prepare recipes for each course. They may add other ingredients.   8. Each group prepare how they will present their recipes.   9. Once done, tell the groups to prepare a mock cooking demonstration to show the rest of the class how the dishes are prepared. 10. Assign the following roles: The narrator who explains the procedure step by step, the demonstrator who shows the action and the leader who answers questions. 11. Prepare a space in front of the class and have each group come forward to demonstrate their recipes. (In a large class or if time is a constraint, ask each group to demonstrate just one course.)

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12. Have each group come forward to demonstrate their recipes. 13. When this is over, invite questions and suggestions from the audience. 14. To wrap up the lesson, encourage students to share their recipes and try them out at home. Arrange for the students to share their experience in another session. Materials Set 23a: Ingredients for the meal Meat and seafood

Vegetables

• • • • •

• • • • • • • • • • • •

• • • • • •

beef chicken clams crabs fish (salmon, seabass, dory, etc.) lamb mutton oysters pork shrimps veal

Spices and others

aubergine broccoli cabbage celery green/red pepper kale mushroom potatoes radish spinach spring onion tomatoes

• • • • • • • • • • • •

cheese cooking oil cream eggs flour garlic ginger ground black pepper ground white pepper parsley salt stock

Set 23b: A sample recipe Scrambled egg with tomato and shrimp Ingredients: • • • • •

2 large tomatoes 4 eggs ½ pound (230 grams) of shelled shrimps 2 cloves of garlic ½ cup of finely cut spring onion

• • • • •

2 tablespoons of cooking oil ½ tablespoon of salt 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce A pinch of salt A pinch of sugar

Cooking instructions:  1. Dice two tomatoes into one-inch cubes.   2. Cut spring onions into half-inch pieces.  3. Whisk eggs in a bowl and sprinkle salt in it.  4. Chop two cloves of garlic into fine pieces.  5. Put two tablespoons of cooking oil into a skillet and heat it till hot.  6. Fry the garlic lightly till golden brown.  7. Pour in egg mixture and reduce heat to medium.

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 8. Add chopped spring onion and sugar into the mixture.  9. Stir the egg mixture lightly until it becomes slightly thickened. 10. Add tomato cubes and shrimps. 11. Sprinkle soy sauce and sugar evenly into the egg. 12. Fry for one minute before serving. 13. Scoop the cooked egg on to a plate and serve it with some garnishing, like parsley. Set 23c: Vocabulary for commonly used cooking equipment and methods Cooking equipment • • • • • •

baking tray cutting board frying pan knife microwave oven

Cooking/preparation methods • • • • • •

pressure cooker pot saucepan scoop skillet stove

• • • • •

bake boil broil fry (stir fry/deep fry) grill

• • • • • •

mix roast steam stew toss whisk

Activity A24: Reflect and Share

Aim: To describe past experiences of regrets and options Level: Intermediate and above Time: 40–50 minutes Materials: Light music; reflection prompts; a personal anecdote story with modal sentences; paper for writing Preparation: Select a suitable piece of light music and a device for play back; type the reflection prompts for screen projection; prepare slips of paper or small index cards. Speaking skills: Describe past experiences, express regrets and options, ask and answer questions about past actions Procedure

1. Have students sit at their individual places and play music in the background. Flash this on the screen: Have you ever wished you could have done something differently? What should you have or shouldn’t have done? 2. Allow students time to plan by giving them 5–10 minutes to write their thoughts down.

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3. Distribute slips of paper or small index cards and have every student write one word in capital letters that represents that experience. 4. Organise the students into groups of three. Tell students to take turns to show their group members the word they have written down. 5. After the first student (Student A) has shown the word, get the rest to guess what that event could be about. Encourage them to ask Student A questions to check their guesses but Student A does not describe what happened. 6. Student B and Student C repeat the same process. 7. When all three have finished, they take turns to narrate their personal anecdote and explain what their regret is. 8. End the lesson by asking students to write one of the stories told by their classmates and end with their own personal response. (This can be set as a writing task in the next part of the lesson or as homework.) Activity A25: Share and Predict

Aim: To express predictions of the content of a talk Level: Intermediate and above Time: 40–50 minutes Materials: A TED Talk video from YouTube or a shorter video talk from any other source; an example of how to predict what speakers will say based on a key word; optional: e-tools for brainstorming such as Mentimeter Preparation: Select a video for a talk that is appropriate to your students’ level and interest; set up the e-tool if one is used. Speaking skills: Express predictions, ask questions, explain reasons Procedure

1. Ask students whether they prepare themselves for listening to a talk. 2. Explain the importance of asking themselves questions about a topic and how it can help them when listening to the talk. 3. Show them a prepared example of the questions listeners may ask if they listen to someone talk about “homeschooling” (Materials: Set 25). 4. Write the topic of the talk you have selected on the board. 5. Ask students what questions they have about this topic and what they would expect to hear in a talk. 6. Students share their ideas with the person next to them.

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Ask students to share their predications. If using a board, have some students come up to the front and write their ideas down. (If a brainstorming e-tool is used, ask students to key in their ideas.) 7. Play the video once. After this, ask students to share with their partner whether they predicted correctly. 8. Play the video a second time. Ask students to listen more comprehensively with a second listen. Materials Set 25: An example showing how to predict the main ideas according to the title Topic: Homeschooling What I want to know about the topic:

I think the speaker will talk about …

1. What is homeschooling? 2. How is it different from going to schools? 3. Do children like it? 4. What are the advantages? 5. What are the disadvantages?

• the advantages and disadvantages of homeschooling • examples of families doing homeschooling • how to help children make friends.

Activity A26: Summarise and Organise

Aim: To summarise sections of a story and agree on how the sections should be organised in the story Level: Upper-Intermediate and above Time: 50–60 minutes Materials: A written story that is appropriate to the students’ proficiency level and experience; useful expressions Preparation: Type the story and separate it into three or four sections by following the narrative structure of a story (orientation – complication – resolution). Label each section A, B, C, D (if there is a coda). You can print each section separately. In addition, prepare a list of expressions for checking understanding and asking for clarification. Speaking skills: Express predictions, ask questions to check understanding, summarise details, explain reasons

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Procedure

  1. Select a story from the internet or a book.   2. Write the title of the story on the board. Ask students to predict individually what the story is about. They write down their ideas by using a simple template (Materials: Set 26).   3. Have students work in pairs and tell each other what their predictions are.   4. Form groups of three or four. Give each group one section of the story.  5. Have students read through their section in their groups and clarify with one another the contents.  6. Get students to discuss what could have come before or after their section.   7. When the groups have finished, reorganise the students to form new groups of three or four according to the number of sections of the story.   8. Ensure that the group consists of students who each have a different part of the story.   9. Have students take turns to summarise the gist of content of the section they have and decide how the various sections should appear in the original story. 10. Check with each group and confirm that they have the right sequence. 11. Get students to share whether or not they like the story and give reasons for their views. Note: This is a more advanced version of Activity A3. This input can be audio instead – in the form of jigsaw listening where the input will be recordings of the various sections. Materials Set 26: A template for helping students predict content of a story Title of story: _____________ What I want to know about the story:

I think the story is about …

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Activity A27: Collate and Report

Aim: To compile an information report about places of interest in a city Level: Intermediate and above Time: 50–60 minutes Materials: Online resources; students’ own Preparation: Instruct students to search on the internet for information about famous tourist attractions in a city of their choice. Speaking skills: Describe places, make recommendations, explain reasons, express viewpoints Procedure

1. Inform students that a group of exchange students from several countries will have a two-day tour in City X. 2. Tell students that they will take on the role of the city residents and suggest a few tourist attractions. 3. Form groups of three or four and have each student look for information about one popular place in that city. Here is a list of things they are expected to do: a) Find a tourist attraction and explain why it is of interest to tourists b) Download/take pictures of the place 4. When everyone has finished, have the students meet in their groups. Tell them to listen to one another’s descriptions and compile an information report about the places of interest. 5. Each group presents their report in class. Activity A28: Infer and Tell

Aim: To describe an object and give reasons Level: Intermediate and above Time: 40–50 minutes Materials: Picture handouts of students’ family heirloom Preparation: Collect from students a picture of their family heirloom and instruct students to keep it a secret. Print the picture of an object for each student. Speaking skills: Express inferences, describe objects, explain reasons

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Procedure

1. Give each student a picture of a classmate’s family object of affection. Tell them to make inferences about the object by asking the following questions: a) What is it called? b) Where did it come from? c) What was/is that used for? d) Why is it valuable to the family? 2. When everyone has finished the questions, have students share with a partner what they think about the object. 3. Once they have finished, get students to walk around the class to find the owners of their objects. 4. When the owners of the objects are found, they first listen to their classmates’ inferences. Then, they relate the facts about their family heirloom. Activity A29: Consider and Resolve

Aim: To suggest an alternative solution to a problem Level: Intermediate and above Time: 40–50 minutes Materials: Several stories about problems that people had and how the problems were solved Preparation: Students select a story each from their preferred source. For more proficient students, they can write a short text of about 80–100 words to be used for class. The text must describe a problem that some people have and how the problem was solved. (Option: Search online for similar kinds of news reports.) Print each story on a separate sheet of paper or provide them as softcopies. Speaking skills: Retell an event, give opinions Procedure

1. Have students bring their stories to class. An example is provided here (Materials: Set 29). 2. Collect the printed stories from each student, shuffle them and distribute one to each student. 3. Ask the students to read the story individually and consider whether the solution is appropriate. Give their reasons.

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4. Have students express their opinion by taking on the perspective of one of the characters. Tell them to suggest an alternative resolution to the problem. 5. Introduce the sentence pattern, “If I were in that situation/If I were that person, I would have …” 6. Have students write out their option. When they have finished, form pairs and have the students share their views. 7. Tell students to walk about and look for the writer of the story. When the person is found, repeat what they have prepared to the author. 8. Wrap up the lesson by selecting several students to read the story they have and tell the class what they would have done. Materials Set 29: A sample anecdote with a problem and a resolution

Recently something happened to two of my neighbours. There was a tree at the edge of A’s garden. Many of its branches stretched into B’s garden and B frequently had to clear up the fallen leaves. One day, B could stand it no longer. He brought out his motorised saw and cut off these branches. A was very unhappy and they had a big argument over whether B had the right to cut off part of A’s tree.

Activity A30: Explain and Defend

Aim: To compare and explain decisions for prioritising actions Level: Pre-Intermediate and above Time: 40–50 minutes Materials: A scenario about Covid-19 vaccine shortage in a country Preparation: Print the material for everyone. Speaking skills: Compare, contrast, explain reasons, persuade Procedure

1. Distribute the handout and explain the situation of vaccine shortage to students (Materials: Set 30). 2. Form six groups by organising students into each one. (The number of groups can vary according to what is practical for the class size.)

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3. Explain to students that they are advocates for six types of potential vaccine recipients. 4. Ask each group to brainstorm reasons for prioritising the vaccination of the people they represent. 5. Each group draws up a list of reasons. One person is appointed to present their reasons to the class. The remaining members are told to support the presenter and defend their reasons. 6. The group rehearse their presentation. 7. Invite the representative from each group to present their arguments. After this, encourage the rest of the class to ask questions. 8. Repeat this for each group. 9. End the lesson by having the class decide which group was most convincing by casting their votes. Materials Set 30: A scenario of Covid vaccine shortage in Country X

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Country X does not have its own vaccine manufacturing facilities. It has to rely on other countries for vaccine supply. However, supply is limited and not everyone who wants to be vaccinated can be vaccinated immediately. Prioritisation is needed. Directions: Imagine you are advocates for a specific group in the population. List reasons to support your group to be vaccinated first.

• Group 1: Medical and health workers • Group 2: Grocery and convenience store staff • Group 3: Ministers and civil servants • Group 4: Transportation workers • Group 5: Teachers • Group 6: Residents in senior care facilities Activity A31: Understand and Retell

Aim: To understand and retell a story Level: Pre-Intermediate and above Time: 40–60 minutes Materials: Select several short narrative texts appropriate for the students’ proficiency level. Alternatively, students can contribute one each to a common pool for redistribution.

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Preparation: Identify the stories from the internet or other sources. Prepare the number of stories based on the number of students. Print as handouts or upload softcopies. Speaking skills: Narrate a story, ask questions to clarify understanding Procedure

1. Organise students into pairs and give each pair one text each. 2. As pre-task planning, give them 5–10 minutes to read and prepare to tell the narrative. 3. Have the pairs tell their story to each other. They should ask each other questions if they do not understand anything or need clarifications. 4. Repeat the task when all the pairs have finished telling their stories to each other. Have students walk around the class and find two other students to retell their stories. (In a large class, make this into a sit-down group activity by assigning students to each group.) 5. End the class activity and have the students go back to their original partner. 6. For further repetition of the task, ask the pairs to retell their story to each other again. 7. Have students talk about their experience of retelling their stories. 8. As a closing class activity, explain the benefits of task repetition for improving fluency and language. 9. Encourage students to find opportunities outside class to retell narratives and anecdotes in their L2. Set 31: Online resources for short stories and anecdotes

The following are some websites with stories that you can use or adapt. https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/general-english/story-zone https://blog.lillypad.ai/english-short-stories/ www.really-learn-english.com/support-files/english-short-stories-free.pdf https://thefunnybeaver.com/15-funny-short-stories-hilarious/ Activity A32: Describe, Ask and Present

Aim: To describe and ask about interests and hobbies, and summarise information for presentation Level: Pre-Intermediate and above Time: 50–60 minutes

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Materials: A template for filling in interests and hobbies Preparation: Prepare hard or soft copies of the template for distribution or uploading. Speaking skills: Describe, explain, ask questions, summarise Procedure

  1. Distribute the template for interests and hobbies to the class. Explain the difference between the two.   2. To allow students to plan before the task, give them five minutes to write down their interests and favourite hobby (Materials: Set 32).   3. Have students ask one another their interests and hobbies. If you have a big class, organise students into groups of 8–10 for mingling.   4. When the time is up, tell those who have similar interests and hobbies to form their interest groups. Limit each group to five students in big classes and three students in smaller classes.  5. Have the students sit in their respective interest groups and ask one another questions about their common interests and shared hobbies.   6. As a whole-class activity, find out the interests of each group and list each one on the board. (There may be overlapping areas and the teacher can help to summarise and group interests accordingly.) Highlight any diversity of interests.   7. Allow another round of planning. Ask each group to discuss how they can describe their collective interests and present them to the rest of the class.   8. Have one person from each group rehearse the presentation with the group.   9. Get the representative from each group to present. Others can help to answer questions from the class. 10. To end the lesson, have each student choose an area of interest that is different from theirs that they would like to learn more about in future. Materials Set 32: Template for filling in interests and hobbies

First write down your own interests and a favourite hobby. Then ask your classmates about theirs. If anyone shares the same interests and hobby as yours, write “Y” and if they do not share, write “N”.

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Name

Interests Same as mine (Maximum: 2) (Y/N)

1. 2 3 4 5

_

Favourite hobby Same as mine (Y/N) _

Activity A33: Describe, Draw and Compare

Aim: To describe food items, draw and compare with the original items Level: Pre-Intermediate and above Time: 30–40 minutes Materials: Vocabulary for naming vegetables, fruit, dairy products and protein products (or other groups of food); pictures for each food item Preparation: Print the different sets of material as handouts or upload soft copies. Speaking skills: Describe objects, ask questions to make clarification Procedure

1. Show the class some sample pictures and names of different food items under one of the four prepared categories. 2. Ask students to give more examples for each category. 3. Distribute the vocabulary list and ask students if they need the pronunciation for some of them (Materials: Set 33a). 4. Organise students into pairs and give each pair a set of four names and pictures. Make sure that the pictures are facing down and they cannot see the items (Materials: Set 33b). 5. Instruct students to take turns to pick one item and describe it to their partner without naming it, using structures such as “It is …” and “It has …”. 6. Have the other student draw the item is as it is being described. 7. Allocate about two minutes to each item. When the time is up, the students compare the picture drawn with the original. 8. Have students switch roles. Repeat the activity for all the items. 9. As a whole-class activity, ask students which items were most difficult to describe. Offer some suggestions for words that they can use in future for making those descriptions.

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Materials Set 33a: Common vocabulary items for four groups of food products Vegetables

Fruit

Dairy products

Protein products

beans celery beet broccoli carrot okra spinach mushroom tomato squash potato radish cucumber peas

apple pear banana orange mango blueberry strawberry watermelon avocado pineapple kiwi papaya grape

milk cheese butter yogurt cream ice cream paneer powdered milk condensed milk

beans beef pork eggs chicken turkey seafood soya meat fish tofu seed

Set 33b: Pictures of selected food items

Note 1 This activity can be carried out as often as possible. If your class is small, you can do it as a whole-class activity. Students could choose something of interest from many sources (e.g., newspapers, magazines, websites) and share it in small groups of two or three minutes. After a few sessions, give students an opportunity to reflect on the effectiveness of the activity and plan for further fluency practice.

B. LEARNING TO DISCUSS

Discussion tasks offer learners authentic learning opportunities to express their personal views and ideas. Compared to many communicative activities which are fluency oriented, discussions are more cognitively and linguistically challenging for L2 learners. Besides engaging in conceptualising, formulating and articulating a message, learners must listen closely to what other group members are saying and think critically to respond to their views. Discussion activities, however interesting, do not in themselves develop learners’ discussion skills. Thus, teachers must plan activities that teach learners about the demands of discussion and the skills for discussing effectively. There should also be opportunities for learners to engage in discussion through activities that can build confidence and fluency. We suggest a range of activities here for helping learners develop their abilities to discuss in an L2 and have organised them in two sub-sections. The two types of activities are: I. Understanding the Demands of Discussion; II. Practising Discussion Skills. Teaching discussion skills is also an opportunity to teach language needed to enact those skills. In both types of activities, the teacher can provide learners with language needed to support discussion so that they do not need to rely on their linguistic resources which may be quite limited for the lower proficiency L2 learners. Some of the cognitive and social demands in discussion overlap with various other speaking tasks and learners need to manage these demands strategically. We will offer ideas for developing oral communication strategies in Part 2D as an approach to supporting L2 speaking in general. DOI: 10.4324/9780429265402-4

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In the first section of understanding task demands in discussion, we introduce activities that help learners develop their awareness and task knowledge about discussions. This means knowing about the nature and demands of group discussions, and the skills and kind of language needed to support discussions. We use a loop technique, where students learn about these different aspects of discussions while engaging in group discussions. We recommend that you begin with the first two activities, as these provide important foundations for understanding what discussion entails. Laying the foundation for learners’ task knowledge about discussion will help them become aware of what is involved each time they engage in small group discussions. The other two activities do not need to be conducted sequentially. Activities such as recognising and managing problems, and leading a discussion are useful skills to develop in students especially those who are in the higher-intermediate and advanced levels. These activities can be introduced when learners have experienced some discussion activities and have experienced some challenges when participating in group discussions. In the second section we include a range of oral communication practice activities that engage students in simulations and other group activities where they can develop greater confidence and fluency for discussions. Young learners can also benefit from learning to discuss. Thus, while some of the learning points about discussions and pedagogical procedures may appear to be more suited for older and adult learners, you can adapt the activities for younger learners by including topics and scenarios for discussion that are more age appropriate. Instructions about discussions, prompts and language support could also be simplified.

THINKING ABOUT SPEAKING There is a mistaken notion often held by teachers that putting students in groups to discuss a topic will automatically develop their ability to discuss. Teachers need to teach their students how to discuss. Discussions require a complex set of cognitive, metacognitive and interactional skills. Many L2 learners do not have sufficient language to express their ideas or understand other speakers in a discussion. Effective discussions require group members to listen, speak and think together. Discussion activities in the language classroom should therefore focus on developing learners’ task knowledge about how to discuss effectively, as well as skills and strategies for discussion. Can you think of other differences between general fluency practice and group discussion activities? State two or three skills that you should teach your students for them to discuss well in their L2.

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I. Understanding the Demands of Discussion Activity B1: Learn about Discussion 11 Aim: To understand the importance of discussion and recognise the skills, language, speaker roles and ground rules important for discussion Level: Intermediate and above Time: 60 minutes Materials: Blank concept maps for completion; a list of discussion skills; roles and ground rules for participants in a discussion Preparation: Prepare the blank concept maps; handouts/cards on skills and roles. Digital copies can be prepared for classes where learners have access to electronic devices. Speaking skills: Express personal opinions, agree and disagree, make suggestions

Procedure   1. Organise the class into groups of four or five (If the class cannot be neatly divided by four, some groups can have five; then have two students share the work of one role).   2. Have students complete a concept map to share their understanding of what discussions entail (Materials: Set 1a).   3. When the groups have completed the map, ask them to share with one another those aspects of discussions they find challenging.   4. To the whole class, explain that there are some enabling skills that can help them think and speak more effectively during discussions. Explain that these skills are enacted through language expressions that they can learn to use.   5. Give each group the list of discussion skills and useful expressions (Materials: Set 1b).  6. Check students’ understanding of the skills. Explain and give more examples if necessary. Ask them whether they have used any of these expressions before. (For more advanced learners, have them discuss the degrees of formality of these expressions. They can also suggest polite expressions which are more suited to informal and casual discussions.)   7. Have the class complete a second concept map on the roles of members in a discussion and the ground rules for discussion (Materials: Set 1c).

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  8. Give students a set of role cards that explain the roles that participants can play in a discussion (Materials: Set 1d). Show them some prepared examples of ground rules (Materials: Set 1e). Tell them that they will have opportunities to take on different roles in class and observe ground rules when discussing.   9. Get students to compare their views and the information about roles and rules that they have been given. 10. Have them list five ground rules that the group agree to be most important. They can also refer to their own ideas in Step 8. 11. Each group present their rules. 12. Make a note of these rules on the board. Identify the top five that the whole class agree to be the most relevant and important. Help to reword these rules if necessary. 13. Have students write down these rules. Tell them that these will be the ground rules for the class. Appoint a student to present them as a poster to be displayed in the class the following week. 14. To end the lesson, advise students to refer to the materials as often as necessary to remind themselves of the language, skills, roles and rules whenever they participate in a group discussion.

Materials Set 1a: Thinking about skills that help you in discussions

LEARNING TO DISCUSS What do you understand by “discussion”? What do you need to do when you discuss a topic with others? Prepare a concept map using the space below. You can include more lines to show the ideas that you group members have.

Discussion skills

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Set 1b: Discussion skills and useful expressions2 Skill: Expressing tentativeness It may/could be the case, but ...

Skill: Disagreeing politely I’m afraid I don’t quite agree with you on this.

It’s likely that … It seems to suggest that … It appears that could be the reason. They might be right.

I’m not sure about that. Skill: Agreeing I can’t agree more. That’s true. You have a good point.

You might be right, but I believe… I see your point, but don’t you think that …? Yes, that could be the case, but I’d like to point out that…

I feel the same way, too. There’s no doubt about this. I was going to say that, too. Skill: Eliciting explanations

Skill: Stating a position

Can you give an example? Would you like to say something more about it? That’s an interesting point. Could you elaborate on it? Can you say more about it?

In my opinion, we should…

Skill: Checking/confirming understanding

Based on what I know/understand … I think/I believe that …

Is my point clear?

It’s important that we …

Do you have any questions?

I feel quite strongly that …

Are you with me? How would you explain the …? Could you give us more information about …? Can you say more about it?

Set 1c: Thinking about roles and rule in a discussion

ROLES For a discussion to be productive, every member must play a part. Can you think of some of the roles that members can play to ensure the success of group discussions? You can include more lines to show the ideas that your group members have.

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Roles that group members play

Group members should abide by ground rules during discussions. Two examples are given below for you. Can you suggest a few more?

Ground Rules for Discussions 1. Listen closely to what your friends in the group are saying. 2. Keep to the topic – don’t talk about other things. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Set 1d: Role cards Discussion role cards Note-taker (Formal role – one person) Group leader (Formal role – one Writes down members’ opinions/ person) ideas during discussions and reminds Leads the group discussion, explains the members to focus on the topics. discussion topics and makes sure all members understand the topics. Reporter (Formal role – one person) Observer (Informal role – every Summarises group discussion results and member, but particularly the group reports them to class. leader) Makes sure that discussion is on track and all members have equal opportunity to contribute to discussion. Encourager (Informal role – every Timekeeper (Formal role – one member, but particularly the group person) leader) Is aware of time constraints and makes Be responsible for member participation sure that discussion starts and ends in the activity and encourages silent within a given time period. members to speak up.

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Set 1e: Examples of ground rules

GROUND RULES FOR DISCUSSION   1.   2.   3.   4.   5.   6.   7.   8.   9. 10.

Listen closely to what your friends in the group are saying. Don’t keep quiet throughout the discussion. Stop after you have shared your point and listen to others. Invite others to share their views. Keep to the topic – don’t talk about other things. Give others a chance to speak. Take turns to speak. Speak up so everyone can hear you. Don’t shout. Sit comfortably in your group and not far apart.

Activity B2: Learn about Discussion 2 Aim: To help learners experience a discussion and apply the skills, language, roles and rules for group discussions Level: Intermediate and above Time: 50–60 minutes Materials: Lists of discussion skills, language, roles and rules from Activity 1; three discussion prompts Preparation: Remind students to bring along the material given for the previous session. Have the discussion prompts ready as prompt cards or to project on the screen. Speaking skills: Express personal opinions, agree/disagree, state a position

Procedure   1. Put students into the same groups of four or five as in Activity B1 (If class cannot be neatly divided by four, some groups can have five; then have two students share the work of one role).   2. Tell them to refer to the materials they received about skills, language, roles and rules.  3. Review what they have learnt about the process of discussion in Activity B1.  4. Tell each group to assign the following two roles to different group members: one as the group leader and another as a note-taker/reporter. The note-taker/reporter will not participate in the discussion.

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  5. Introduce three topic statements and have the group decide which one they would like to discuss (Materials: Set 2a, or choose other topics that you find more appropriate for your class).   6. Give the groups 15 minutes to discuss the topic.  7. Before they begin, remind students of the roles they have and the ground rules they have agreed on. Encourage them to refer to the materials on skills and useful expressions when discussing.  8. When the time is up, stop the discussion. Next, ask the note-taker/ reporter to sum up the views expressed within the group.   9. Arrange for one of the students to move to another group, to share the group’s views on the matter discussed. It is not necessary to ask the note-taker/reporter to do this. Any student can volunteer for this task. 10. When all the groups have finished, have students return to their original group. Encourage them to reflect on what they have learnt about discussions from this activity and Activity 1. Have them share some of the points with one another in the group (Materials: Set 2b).

Materials Set 2a: Topic statement prompts of open-ended topics

1. Examinations decrease children’s motivation for learning. 2. Learning to be adaptable is more important for one’s future than doing well in examinations. 3. Once you master two languages, you can easily learn a third and a fourth. Set 2b: Thinking about group discussions The two activities showed you some of the important things that language learners need to do to have a successful group discussion. 1. Refer to the skills for discussions. Which skills are familiar to you? Which are not? 2. Did you use all the skills during the short discussion you participated in today? 3. Do you have problems using any of the skills? Did you find the expressions given useful? 4. Name one difficulty you had during your group discussion. What will you do about it in future? 5. Did your group members carry out their roles well? What advice would you give the members for the next discussion they participate in?

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Activity B3: Learn to Manage Problems during Discussions Aim: To recognise and manage problems during discussions by brainstorming ideas and suggestions Time: 40–50 minutes Level: Intermediate and above Materials: A blank chart for brainstorming problems and solutions; a list of common problems that affect group discussions Preparation: Plan a simple template and collate a list of problems. Digital copies can be provided. Speaking skills: Describe problems, express opinions, make suggestions

Procedure 1. Form students into groups of four or five. 2. Show them an example of problems that impede group discussion and explain what they can do and say should that happens (Materials: Set 3a show only the first row). 3. Have the groups brainstorm further problems and solutions when participating in group discussions. Distribute to each student one table as a handout or an e-copy (Materials: Set 3a). For less proficient learners, have them use the prompts provided to complete their sentences. 4. Reorganise the groups with new members. The new groups share the discussion results from their first group. 5. When everyone has finished, show on the screen the list of problems and solutions you have prepared (Materials: Set 3b). 6. Ask students to identify those that are similar to what their groups talked about. 7. As a whole-class activity, ask students to contribute other ideas from their experience of discussions and add their suggestions to the template. 8. Tell students to reflect on the problems and focus on those that apply to them. 9. Invite students to complete a commitment statement for future discussions (Materials: Set 3c). Have them keep a copy of this statement and share a copy with you.

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Materials Set 3a: Template for brainstorming problems and solutions for better group discussions Problems that affect discussion

Solutions

1. Students are often shy and unwilling to talk. 2. Students are... 3. Students do not … 4. Some students … 5. Some students … 6. 7. 8.

The group leader can ask each person to take turns to say something. The group leader/teacher can … The group leader/teacher can … The group leader/teacher can …

Set 3b: Examples of problems and solutions for better group discussions Problems that affect discussion

Solutions

1. Students are often shy and unwilling The group leader can ask each person to to talk. take turns to say something. 2. Students are not familiar with the The teacher can give students time to discussion topic. do some research online before the discussion starts. 3. Students do not know the words to The teacher can teach some strategies and use. things to say. 4. Some students do not keep to the The teacher should remind everyone topic. about ground rules before starting the discussion. 5. Many students speak at the same The group leader must remind everyone time. to take turns to speak. 6. What the teacher wants is not clear. Students can ask the teacher to explain again. 7. 8.

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Set 3c: Commitment statement

MY COMMITMENT STATEMENT When I participate in group discussion activities in class, I will do my best to  I will encourage others to participate by



Activity B4: Learn to Lead a Discussion Aim: To recognise and develop the skills needed for leading a discussion and managing group talk Time: 50–60 minutes Level: Intermediate and above Materials: A list of teacher-selected open topics (students can also contribute topics they would like to discuss); a list of language expressions for leading and directing a discussion; a checklist for self-assessment Preparation: Have the materials ready as handouts or softcopies for uploading. Speaking skills: Explain purpose, invite participation, direct discissions, summarise outcomes

Procedure First stage: Teach students about leading a group discussion.   1. Form groups of five or six students (If class cannot be neatly divided by five, some groups can have six; then have two students share the work of one role).  2. Give each group a set of skills for leading a group discussion and have students read through the parts of the process (Materials: Set 4a).   3. Invite students to ask you questions about anything they are unclear about.

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  4. Give each group the list of language expressions that enable group leaders to use the skills (Materials: Set 4b).   5. The group identify one or two expressions that they would like to use when they lead a discussion.   6. The leader should try to familiarise themselves with these guidelines.   7. End this part of the lesson and introduce a discussion task. Second stage: Conduct a discussion activity and have selected students lead discussions.   8. Let each group choose a discussion topic (Materials: Set 4c).   9. Appoint a group leader and an observer. 10. Allocate time for this group discussion and instruct the appointed students to lead the discussions in their respective groups. 11. Instruct the observer to take note of the discussion process based on the six points in the set of guidelines. 12. When the discussion activity ends, have the observers share their observations with the group. Encourage the group leaders to share their experiences and responses to the observer’s feedback. 13. Distribute the self-assessment checklist to the groups and have only the group leaders complete it at home (Materials: Set 4d). Note: Conduct this activity several times over the duration of the language course, so that other students have a chance to experience leading a group discussion.

Materials Set 4a: Guidelines for leading a discussion

1. Introduce a topic and/or explain any relevant background information. 2. Invite group members to introduce themselves. 3. Encourage all members to contribute to the discussion and manage members who are dominating the discussion. 4. Ensure that the discussion is on track. 5. Signpost transitions to direct the discussion. 6. Conclude by summarising the points raised by the members. If a decision is needed, state what it is.

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Set 4b: Language to enact skills for leading a discussion 1. Introducing a topic Hello everyone, today’s discussion topic is … This topic is relevant to our situation because …

4. Ensuring that discussion is on track.

2. Inviting members to introduce themselves Let’s introduce ourselves. I’ll start. I am X. Please introduce yourselves to the group.

3. Encouraging all members to contribute to the discussion and managing members who are dominating the discussion. A, what are your thoughts?

We could talk about that after finishing our first point.

B, how do you feel about C’s idea?

I understand your idea, but I’m afraid it’s not quite related to our topic.

Thanks, B, for your point. Shall we hear from others?

Let’s focus on this question.

Let’s hear from A.

What an interesting idea, C! What do others think? Thanks, A. You’ve explained this point clearly.

6. Concluding a discussion 5. Signposting transitions

It’s time to wrap up today’s discussion.

Shall we begin with the first question?

Our discussion is really going well, but we’ll have to end soon.

Now that the first question is done, it’s time to discuss the second one.

Let me summarise what we discussed …

I think we can move on to the next one.

Let’s consider the next point.

Let’s consider the next point.

Thanks for a great discussion!

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Set 4c: Suggested open discussion topics

1. International students should focus on studies and not work. 2. Why cook when there is a Grab/Uber/food delivery service? 3. Why learn a language when there is Google Translate? Set 4d: Checklist for group leader’s self-assessment Leader’s responsibilities

My performance in the discussion activity

Introduction Introduce the topic Invite members to introduce themselves During the discussion Invite everyone to contribute ideas Manage dominant speakers Signpost transitions Keep discussions on track Concluding the discussion Signal the end of the discussion Summarise the discussion outcomes Thank everyone Option: If possible, show a short video of a group discussion as a model showing how an effective discussion leader manages a discussion.

II. Practising Discussion Skills Activity B5: Discuss and Advise Aim: To explain a problem, and seek and give advice Level: Intermediate and above Time: 50–60 minutes Materials: Students’ own description of a problem; skills and language for seeking advice; a template for guiding discussion and note down outcomes Preparation: Tell each student in advance to think of a problem that a friend is facing. (They can also describe their personal problem if they

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so choose.) They should describe it in a written text of fewer than 80 words and bring it to class. Speaking skills: Describe experience, summarise, ask for advice, express opinions, explain reasons for opinions

Procedure  1. Organise students into pairs. Have students take turns describing a problem they or a friend is facing.   2. Tell each pair to discuss and rank their problems. Have them select the problem that they think is the most challenging and in greatest need of advice.   3. After the pair has completed their discussion, pre-teach the whole class simple skills and language for seeking advice. Explain which expressions are more formal or informal (Materials: Set 5a).   4. Form groups by combining two pairs of students: Pair A and Pair B.   5. Assign two roles in each pair: Reporter and Note-taker.   6. In their groups, have the Pair A Reporter describe the problem they have selected to Pair B and ask them for advice.   7. Remind Pair A note-taker to make notes of Pair B’s advice (Materials: Set 5b).   8. Switch the Pairs and have Pair B now describe their problem and ask Pair A for advice.   9. To wrap up the lesson, invite a few pairs in the class to report the outcomes of their discussion to the entire class. 10. As a post-speaking activity, have students reflect individually on the discussion activity in Step 3 and their own performance and how they can continue to develop their discussion skills (Materials: Set 5c).

Materials Set 5a: Skills and Language for seeking advice

ASKING FOR ADVICE Step 1: Approach someone who can help you I need to ask you for some advice.* I wonder if you could advise me on a matter.* I need your help/advice.

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Step 2: Describe the problem My friend has this problem. She/He … I have this problem. I …

Step 3: Ask the person for advice Could you advise me on how to help her?* If you were me, what would you tell her?* What do you think she should do?* How should I advise her? Could you advise me on what I should do?* What should I do? Can you help me? I don’t know what I should do. What do you think?* Help! Legend: More formal expressions are indicated by an asterisk (*).

Set 5b: Template for note-taking and reporting to the class Notes by Pair A/B The problem we shared with the other pair: The advice given: Other interesting points discussed, if any:

Set 5c: Post-speaking reflection on discussion

When I was discussing with my group members: I did well when I __________________________________________________ I didn’t do so well when I __________________________________________ Overall, I am satisfied/not satisfied with my performance (circle one). My reason is that ________________________________________________________________ To improve my discussion skills further, I plan to __________________________

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Activity B6: Discuss and Justify Aim: To evaluate a matter or an action, take a position and give reasons Level: Intermediate and above Time: 50–60 minutes Materials: A film or a story plot; a selected portion of the scenes or chapters; flipchart or e-tools for sharing ideas Preparation: Select a film or a story that addresses an issue or a theme and is appropriate to the students’ level and interest. Speaking skills: Express opinions, agree, disagree, explain reasons for opinions

Procedure   1. Give an overview of a film/story you have selected for the class (Materials: Set 6a).   2. Highlight an issue in the film/story. Play a selected part of the film or distribute a short text from the story.   3. Ask the students to think about their own views on the theme/issue. Tell them that they will be sharing their views and discussing with other students their views.   4. Have students plan individually how they would approach the discussion task. Give them some prompts to guide them in their thinking about the task demands (Materials: Set 6b).  5. Organise students in groups of three and have them share their opinions.   6. Instruct each group to note down their key points on the flipchart or the e-tool.  7. Group students according to the film/story they have chosen. Have them exchange their viewpoints.   8. Have the groups post their discussion outcomes online or organise a poster carousel on flipcharts for groups to walk around and read the outcomes of other groups’ discussions.  9. As a post-speaking activity, have students reflect individually on the discussion activity and their own performance and consider how they can continue to develop their discussion skills (see Materials: Set 5c). 10. As an extension language learning activity, encourage students to watch the entire film or read the story.

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Materials Set 6a: Blurbs of selected films for a range of age groups Rise of the Guardians This animated film is about the adventure of legendary characters in some children’s stories – Jack Frost, the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and Sandman. They fight an evil character called Pith, who tries to take over the world, to protect the hopes and dreams of children everywhere.

Wreck-It Ralph This animated film is about the main character, Ralph. He is the bad guy in a popular video game. Fed-up of being the bad guy, Ralph decides to prove to everyone that he can be a hero too. His chance comes when an enemy threatens to destroy the entire video arcade.

Lincoln This film is about the final four months of the sixteenth president of the United States. It reveals a man of moral courage and determination. During his time in office, Abraham Lincoln pursued a course of action to end the Civil War, unite the country and abolish slavery.

Ah Boys to Men This is a coming-of-age film of the main character Ken, who was born into a rich family in Singapore. Since he was a little boy, Ken has been pampered by his mother and grandmother. His plans to study abroad are disrupted by the mandatory National Service in Singapore.

Set 6b: Task demands planning for discussion When I discuss with my group members: I will present my views by _________________________________________ I think my problem may be: _______________________________________ This is how I will manage the problem: ________________________________________________________________

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Activity B7: Discuss and Construct Aim: To jointly construct the ending of a story Level: Intermediate and above Time: 60 minutes Materials: Two appropriate short stories which have a twist in the ending. Preparation: Select two short stories (Story A and Story B) – original or abridged – that are appropriate to the students’ interest and level. Leave out the endings and prepare paper or digital copies. Speaking skills: Express predictions, suggest ideas, explain reasons

Procedure 1. Organise students into groups of three. Give Story A to half the class and Story B to the other half. 2. Get the groups to read their respective stories and then predict the ending. 3. Have them discuss a plausible ending and construct the written text. Higher-Intermediate or advanced learners should just make brief notes that they can refer to. 4. When each group has finished, combine two groups that have the same story. Have the students share their endings. 5. Get each group to discuss and agree on a more interesting ending which has an element of surprise. 6. As a whole-class activity, have all the combined groups take turns to read aloud their ending or retell the ending from notes to the whole class. For large classes, select the groups with the most interesting endings. 7. As a post-speaking activity, have students reflect individually on the discussion activities and their own performance and consider how they can continue to develop their discussion skills (see Materials: Set 5c).

Activity B8: Discuss and Evaluate Aim: To compare views on the effectiveness of three advertisements and reach a consensus Level: Intermediate and above Time: 50–60 minutes Materials: Three TV or online advertisements on the same type of product

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Preparation: Select three TV or online advertisements on one type of product (e.g., perfume, toothpaste, milk, airline, etc.) for playback in class Speaking skills: Express personal opinions, explain reasons, agree and disagree, persuade

Procedure 1. Organise students into groups of three. 2. Show the three advertisements. After each advertisement, tell the students to note down their personal reactions to the advertisement. 3. Have each student rank the three advertisements according to their effectiveness in persuading an audience to buy the product. 4. Get the students together to discuss their evaluations of the advertisements. Tell them that they must reach a consensus and select the most effective advertisement. 5. Have one representative from each group present their choice and their rationale for choosing it to the rest of the class. 6. Based on the choices reported, identify the winner of the three advertisements. 7. Lead a whole-class discussion to identify the features of the winning advertisement that make it the most effective. 8. As a post-speaking activity, have students reflect individually on the discussion activities and their own performance and consider how they can continue to develop their discussion skills (see Materials: Set 5c).

Activity B9: Discuss and Plan Aim: To identify problems, offer suggestions and develop an action plan Level: Intermediate and above Time: 50–60 minutes Materials: A scenario that requires planning Preparation: Prepare a scenario where a family must find ways to increase their household income and reduce their utility bills. Speaking skills: Describe problems, offer suggestions, explain a process

Procedure 1. Explain to the class what a simulation activity is. Organise students into groups of five or six (if the class cannot be neatly divided by five, some groups can have six; then have two students share the work of one role).

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2. Have group members take on the roles of different members in a family: father, mother, eldest daughter (age: 22), second daughter (age: 19), youngest son (age: 12). 3. Have each member identify a problem that they have and offer ways to reduce their expenditure and reduce household expenses (Materials: Set 9). 4. Get the “family” to simulate a meeting with one of the parents leading the discussion. 5. The “parent” invites each member of the family to describe their problem and suggest how they could improve the household financial situation. 6. After each person has presented their views, the family discuss steps to carry out their plans. 7. A “parent” from each family will present their plans to the class. 8. As a post-speaking activity, focus the learners’ attention on language by referring to the skills and expressions for agreeing, disagreeing and expressing tentativeness. Ask the students whether they had used similar expressions when they were discussing as a “family”.

Materials Set 9: Template for identifying problems and offering solutions Role: Father/Mother/Eldest Daughter, Second Daughter, Youngest Son Problem with household expenses Action to take

Activity B10: Develop Others’ Viewpoints Aim: To listen closely and express agreement with other speakers’ viewpoints and elaborate them Level: Intermediate and above Time: 50–60 minutes Materials: Discussion prompts; Skills and language cards from Activity B1 and Activity B12 Preparation: Prepare three topics for discussion. Remind students to have their skills and language cards with them for the lesson. Speaking skills: Express personal opinions, agree with another speaker, elaborate a viewpoint

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Procedure 1. Organise students into groups of four or five (If the class cannot be neatly divided by four, some groups can have five; then have two students share the work of one role). Have them review the skills and language card from Activity B1 (see Materials: Set 1b; see also Set 12d in Activity B12). 2. Have students choose a discussion topic that they are interested in from the three options (Materials: Set 10b). 3. Tell each student to note down some ideas in support of the statement prompt. 4. Explain that there is a prescribed structure for this discussion activity which students must follow. 5. Have Student A begin the discussion followed by Student B and Student C and Student D. Repeat the sequence starting with Student D. See Materials: Set 10a for an illustration of this arrangement. 6. Once the groups have finished the two rounds, get them to summarise the key points of the group’s views. 7. As a whole-class activity, invite students to share what they have learnt by building on other speakers’ ideas. 8. Explain the importance of listening closely to other speakers in a discussion and developing other people’s ideas to arrive at better outcomes. Note: To adapt this activity for younger learners, ask them to choose two or more favourite characters from a book they have read in class. Students prepare some talking points about their favourite characters, ready for explaining to each other why they like these characters.

Materials Set 10a: How to organise and conduct a group discussion where every student gets to speak 1 4

C

D

2 B

A 3

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Set 10b: Discussion prompts (examples)

• All students should have a personal computer that they do not share with anyone else. • Students who work part-time should be given more time to submit their homework. • Students should be evaluated in ways beyond testing and homework.

Activity B11: Offer Alternative Viewpoints Aim: To listen closely and express disagreement and offer alternative viewpoints Level: Intermediate and above Time: 40–50 minutes Materials: Discussion prompts (See Activity 10); skills and language cards (see Activity B1 and Activity B12) Preparation: Prepare three topics for discussion. Remind students to have their skills and language cards with them for the lesson. Speaking skills: Express personal opinions, disagree with another speaker, express an alternative viewpoint

Procedure   1. Organise students into groups of three. Have them review the skills and language card from Activity B1 (see Materials: Set 1b or see Materials: Set 12d in Activity B12).   2. Have students choose a discussion topic which interests them from the three options (Materials: Set 10b).   3. Tell Student A to note down some ideas in support of the statement prompt.   4. Tell Student B and Student C to note down some ideas opposing the statement.   5. Explain that there is prescribed structure for this discussion activity: a. Student A begins, Student B disagrees with Student A’s point. Student C builds on Student B’s point. b. Student C begins the second sequence with a new point in support of the statement. Student B disagrees with Student C’s point. Student A builds on Student B’s point.

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  6. Have Student A begin the discussion followed by Student B and Student C, and repeat the sequence starting with Student C (as explained in Step 4).  7. Once the group have finished the two rounds, get them to summarise the key points of the group’s views. In this activity, there will be dissonant views so students must capture both sides of the arguments.   8. Ask the groups to select another discussion prompt and repeat the same sequence.   9. After the students have finished, lead a whole-class discussion. 10. Invite the students to share what they have learnt by practising disagreement and offering alternative viewpoints. 11. Explain the importance of listening closely to other speakers in a discussion and offering alternative perspectives to arrive at better outcomes. Note: Just as in the previous activity, you can adapt this activity for younger learners: Select two or more characters from a book they have read in class. They prepare some points about their favourite character and they explain why they like the character. To go further, ask the students to select their least favourite character that their friends shared. Have them give a reason.

Activity B12: Explore Ideas Together Aim: To learn how to explore ideas by agreeing, disagreeing and taking turns Level: Intermediate and above Time: 60 minutes Materials: Statement prompts for group discussions; short notes for expressing support and disagreement; useful expressions for disagreeing and stating a position (see also the Discussion Skills and Useful Expressions card for Activity B1); Cards indicating “Support” and “Against”; reflection prompts Preparation: Prepare the above materials for the activity. Remind students to have with them the Discussion Skills and Useful Expressions card from Activity B1. Speaking skills: Express reasoned opinions; persuade; agree and disagree; summarise; express tentativeness; take turns to speak

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Procedure   1. Organise students into groups of five and tell them to identify themselves as A, B, C, D or E.   2. Instruct them to assign formal roles among themselves: group leader, timekeeper, note-taker/reporter as they have learnt from Activity B1.   3. Tell them that they will be given 20 minutes for a discussion later and that the note-taker/reporter will be summarising the group’s discussion and views.   4. Give students three topics of interest which they can select from (Materials: Set 12a).   5. Tell Students A and C that they have to adopt a “supporting” position that agrees with the topic statement while students B and D adopt an “opposing” position. Assign the note-taker/reporter role to Student E.   6. Distribute the role cards of “Support” to Students A and C. Distribute “Against” role card to Students B and D.   7. Explain the speaking sequence to Students A–D (Materials: Set 12b). a. Student A begins by supporting the topic statement. b. Student B speaks next and continues from Student A’s point. Student B must offer a counter argument by using one of the “against” points that he/she has prepared. c. Student C speaks next and continues from Student B’s point by a counter argument to support the topic. d. Student D counter Student C’s point with the notes he/she has prepared.   8. Before they begin, give students time to jot down some points based on their respective positions. Lower proficiency learners should be given more time to formulate their utterances, which they may want to write down (Materials: Set 12c).   9. Encourage students to refer to the Discussion Skills and Useful Expressions card in Activity B1 or one that you provide (Materials: Set 12d). 10. Once the four students have finished the sequence, have them repeat the sequence once, beginning with Student D. 11. When the discussions are over, have the note-taker/reporter from each group present a summary of the key points put forward. This can be done as a whole-class activity for a small class. In a big class, instruct the note-taker/reporter to move to another group to share the ideas from their respective groups. 12. To end the lesson, have each student reflect on their learning about discussion. Student E summarises his/her observations and shares them with the group or class (Materials: Set 12e).

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Materials Set 12a: Suggested statements for group discussions

Children should be banned from playing games on digital devices. Pets should not be allowed on public means of transportation. English is an easy language to learn. It is important for a country to become a part of a larger union. Private home tuition is a solution for academically weak learners.

Set 12b: How to organise and conduct a group discussion where students take opposing views Support C Against

D

B

Against

A Support

Set 12c: Short notes for expressing support and disagreement

Topic: Points for supporting the topic statement Preparation points for Students A and C

Points for disagreeing with the topic statement Preparation points for Students B and D

Notes from the group discussion by Student E

Notes from the group discussion by Student E

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Set 12d: Useful expressions for disagreeing and stating a position Stating a position In my opinion, we should … Based on what I know/ understand … I think/I believe that … It’s important that we … I feel quite strongly that … X is not the right thing for… X is the best thing for …

Disagreeing politely

Expressing tentativeness

I’m afraid I don’t quite agree with you on this. I’m not sure about that. You might be right, but I think … I see your point, but don’t you think that …? Yes, that could be the case, but I’d like to point out that … That’s an interesting idea, but …

It may/could be the case, but... It’s likely that … It seems to suggest that … It appears that could be the reason. They might be right. It is probably true that …

Set 12e: Reflecting on what you learn about discussions Thinking about learning to discuss Students A, B, C and D 1. What do you think of your performance in the group discussion? 2. What discussion skills did you use? 3. What did you learn about how to discuss? Student E (Note-taker/reporter) 1. What did you observe about the way your friends discussed? 2. Do you have any advice for them? 3. What did you learn about how to discuss?

Activity B13: Discuss and Elaborate Aim: To infer contents and add details to the headline of a news story Level: Intermediate and above Time: 50–60 minutes Materials: Selected headlines of news stories Preparation: Select appropriate headlines from physical or e-newspapers. Print the headlines as handouts or capture them as screenshots and put them on a slide for projection on the classroom screen. Speaking skills: To express possibilities, make suggestions, express agreement and read aloud clearly

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Procedure 1. Organise students into groups of three. Tell each group to select a headline that they find interesting (Materials: Set 13). 2. Get each group to discuss what the story is about based on the headline they have chosen. 3. Have each group write a short report of about 50–60 words by answering the questions of who, what, when, how and why. Increase the word limit for more advanced learners. 4. When the groups have finished their reports, reorganise the students into new groups of three. 5. Have the students read aloud their reports to the new group members. 6. After hearing the reports, have the groups discuss the merits of each report and then vote for the most newsworthy one. Set 13: Sample headlines

Construction worker survived seven-storey fall Covid-19 curbs scrapped Tensions threaten united stand against war Prices of eggs go up Man jailed for throwing beer bottles from flat World’s youngest climber reached Everest base camp

Activity B14: Discuss and Propose Aim: To explain a problem, reach consensus and recommend solutions Level: Intermediate and above Time: 40–50 minutes Materials: A slide with several problems that are appropriate for the interest and age group of the students; a template to guide and note down outcomes Preparation: Prepare a slide with some problems in one area of society (e.g., school, family, neighbourhood, etc.). Speaking skills: Explain a problem, express personal opinions, persuade and summarise

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Procedure 1. Organise students into groups of four. Have students plan individually how they would approach the discussion task. Give them some prompts to guide them in their thinking about the task demands (Materials: Set 6b). 2. Flash the slide with problem topics on the screen (Materials: Set 14a). 3. Each group selects one challenge to discuss and appoints a note-taker. 4. The group must identify three reasons for the challenge and offer suggestions to help the students manage the challenge (Materials: Set 14b). 5. Encourage the students to discuss and reach a consensus on the reasons and suggestions. 6. When the groups have finished discussing, invite the note-taker from each group to report the groups’ views to the class.

Materials Set 14a: Problem topics for discussion

Challenges that some students face in school: Bullying

Exams Homework

Set 14b: Template for brainstorming problems and solutions

The challenge that some students face in school: ____________________ Three reasons for this challenge Suggestions for helping students manage this challenge

Activity B15: Discuss, Demonstrate and Observe Aim: To learn how to engage in the discussion process by participating in and commenting on it Level: Higher-Intermediate and above

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Time: 60–70 minutes Materials: Discussion role cards; discussion skills and useful expressions; topics for discussions Preparation: Reuse the material from other activities in learning how to discuss and lead a discussion; six to eight general topics for discussion. Speaking skills: Express opinions, invite participation, summarise, make and explain observations

Procedure  1. Form groups of three. Have students review the skills and language cards from Activity B1.   2. Present a list of general topics on the board or screen (Materials: Set 15). Refer to topics in the appendices too.   3. Tell each group to select three topics and appoint a group leader for each topic.   4. Have the group leaders write down two questions based on their respective topics.  5. Explain to the groups that there will be three rounds of discussion. Allocate a specific amount of time, e.g., ten minutes for each round.   6. Start the first round of discussion led by one of the group leaders using the prepared questions.   7. When the first round is over, have the second group leader to begin the second discussion.   8. When the second round is over, have the third group leader begin the final round of discussion.   9. As a whole-class activity, invite one group to conduct their discussion of a topic again as a “fish-bowl” demonstration. (They will do this for the entire class to observe.) 10. At the end of the demonstration, invite students to comment on what they have observed. Allow the students to focus on any aspect of the discussion. Alternatively, structure this by giving the class some prompts to comment on. 11. Wrap up the lesson by reiterating what students should do to participate effectively in a group discussion for good discussion outcomes.

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Materials Set 15: Topics for group discussions

Select a topic and write two questions on it:

• • • • • • • •

studying abroad exchange students graduate studies online courses extracurricular activities extreme sports shopping online social media.

Activity B16: Discuss and Select Aim: To discuss and arrive at a consensus based on information provided Level: Intermediate and above Time: 40–60 minutes Materials: Resources for group discussions such as role cards, useful expressions; templates for discussion points and summary; information for simulation and discussion Preparation: Prepare the above and any other materials as needed for group discussions. Reuse materials from earlier Activities 1–4. Information for discussion prepared as handouts or soft copies. Skills and language cards from previous activities. Speaking skills: Express opinions; agree and disagree viewpoints, state a position, ask questions to clarify and elicit responses

Procedure 1. Inform students that they will be doing a discussion task in a simulation activity. Have them refer to the skills and language cards used in Activity B1. 2. Explain what a simulation activity is. Explain the scenario to the class (Materials: Set 16). 3. Form groups of four students and tell them that they are the School Board Committee of the Bright Vale High School.

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4. Give each group a set of information of four nominated students (Materials: Set 16). 5. Have the groups discuss and reach a consensus on two shortlisted candidates. These candidates will have to appear before the Committee for a final interview. 6. After each group have reached their consensus, they present their choices to the rest of the class. 7. If the two choices differ among the groups, the class will discuss and reach a final consensus on the two shortlisted candidates.

Materials Set 16: Conducting a simulation activity Scenario: College Scholarships from Bright Vale High School The Bright Vale High School awards a college scholarship each year to a graduating student who excels in academic studies and is a role model for other students in their attitude and character. The school will convene a meeting of the School Board Committee to select the student from four final nominees.

Summary information for the four nominated students for the scholarship Student A Student A is from a family that migrated to the country six years ago. When she arrived, she could hardly speak a word of English, yet she has made great progress due to hard work and passion about learning English. She has also achieved one of the best results in her year’s final examination. She is friendly and approachable and often helps other students who struggle with learning English.

Student B Student B not only excels in academic studies but is always ready to help others. He often helps weak students who are weak in mathematics and English. He enjoys writing and has written many poems and short stories to share with his schoolmates to encourage them during the Covid-19

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pandemic when schools were closed and many felt isolated and anxious. He also volunteers at a soup kitchen at weekends.

Student C Student C volunteers in the Language Learning Center of her school whenever she has some free time. She organises workshops and fun activities to attract students to the learning centre. She comes from a single-parent home and managed to support her family and herself by working part-time in a shop after school. In spite of her challenges, she was one of the top performers in her final year examination.

Student D Student D is actively engaged in class activities and often encourages those who are shy to speak up more. Recently he has been chosen to be the valedictorian to make a speech at the high school graduation. He was a top scorer in the final year examination, but he has not always excelled in his studies. In his junior high, he was struggling with mathematics but eventually caught up and did very well through hard work and determination.

Notes 1 This is the first of two connected activities to help students understand what discussions entail. For higher proficiency and older learners, these activities can be combined into one lesson of about 120 minutes. The activities can also be broken up into shorter activities carried out over several lessons. 2 These can be presented as small cards that students can carry around with them physically or electronically.

C. LEARNING ABOUT SPOKEN DISCOURSE AND LANGUAGE

Many factors affect the use of language for speaking. Contextual factors such as topic, situation, setting, participants and communication purpose can influence how individuals speak and the language choices they make. Contexts create the genre of spoken discourse. This is seen in the way the spoken text or discourse is structured and the format that they take. Some genres that language learners often have to produce include conversations, narratives, recounts, explanations, expositions and discussions. They need to learn how longer spoken texts such as narratives and presentations are organised in a predictable manner and listeners would expect speakers to organise their speech in these ways. Learners’ ability to speak confidently and fluently often depends on knowing how to structure spoken discourses as well as applying their vocabulary and grammar knowledge for formulating utterances appropriate for specific contexts. Apart from this, learners should also understand that there is a difference between spoken and written texts, so that they can speak naturally as proficient speakers do, and not think that they must produce utterances that are the same as sentences found in a piece of written text. In oral communication activities, fluency is usually prioritised over grammatical or vocabulary accuracy. Learners rely on their existing linguistic knowledge or incorporate some language input provided by teachers. Most language learners before the advanced stage do not have sufficient linguistic resources to convey their meaning precisely and comprehensively. Nevertheless, in the overall pedagogical process of L2 speaking development, teachers must intentionally include activities that are language focused. Even advanced learners who can speak with relative confidence will also benefit DOI: 10.4324/9780429265402-5

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from developing better understanding of spoken texts and acquire new linguistic knowledge to help them reach a higher level of oral competence. In view of the above, the activities in this part of the book aim to raise learners’ awareness of linguistic factors that influence L2 speaking and teach them language that can enhance their speaking for a number of common communicative purposes. The activities are organised in two sections: I. Discourse Structure Activities; II. Language Knowledge Activities. Discourse structure activities teach learners explicitly about how common types of speech are organised. They consist of the eight text types introduced in Part 1. In addition to learning about the structure for each type of text, students’ attention is also drawn to the grammatical features common in text type. Language activities focus on selected communicative functions and the language expressions that can help to communicate those functions. Some activities in this section are developed from the fluency and discussion activities in Part 2A and Part 2B. Where this is the case, the specific activity will be indicated at the start of activity in this part. The activities here show teachers how to include an explicit focus on language after activities for practising fluency and skills, where the focus has mainly been on conveying meaning with and without language support. Included are also some activities to help students see the difference between spoken and written language. The activities in this part can be used in any order for raising language awareness and strengthening their language to support their speaking skills. The activities are also designed as oral practice activities. Thus, while acquiring discourse, grammar and vocabulary knowledge as well as understanding the difference between spoken and written language they can also develop their fluency and speaking skills.

THINKING ABOUT SPEAKING Learners often think they must speak in the same way that they write. They think their utterances must be complete and grammatical. Many sound stilted as a result and, in some cases, these learners may feel discouraged because they think their sentences are imperfect because they are unable to speak in the way they try to write complete and grammatical sentences. It is important therefore that learners know that spoken language differs from written language in many ways. For example, spoken language has some grammatical features that are unique to speech, such as question tags. They should also know that some spoken texts such as conversations are not always as neat as written text or indeed as well structured as the

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dialogues that they encounter in course books. Helping students recognise the features of the spoken language will set the right kinds of expectation about their speech and enable them to focus on areas that they can improve on. List two or three differences between spoken and written language that are important for learners to know. How does knowing about these differences help in learners’ spoken language development? It is not possible to teach learners all the grammar and vocabulary that they need to speak confidently. List two or three areas of grammar and/ or vocabulary that will be most helpful for pre-advanced learners to learn explicitly.

I. Discourse Structure Activities Activity C1: Structure of a Casual Conversation Aim: To understand how a conversation is typically organised and to practise participating in one Time: 60 minutes Level: Pre-Intermediate and above Materials: An online video or audio conversation between two speakers at the start of term; stages of a conversation To find a suitable conversation, search on Google or YouTube for “simple conversation”, “basic conversation”, “simple English conversation”, “daily English conversation”, or “English conversation”, etc. Here is an example: www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHK-xsvW0TQ Preparation: Search online for an appropriate video or audio conversation that fits your students’ proficiency level, or record one yourself.

Procedure 1. Play a video/audio conversation that two new students have at the start of a term and instruct the class to listen closely for the content. 2. In pairs, students share with one another what the conversation is about. Ask some students to share with the class.

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3. Have students listen again to the conversation and this time tell them to identify its stages (Opening, Middle, Closing). 4. Show the stages of a conversation (Materials: Set 1a). Have the students relate these stages to the video/audio they have just watched or listened to. Point out the language expressions that are helpful for supporting their participation in a conversation. 5. Explain that the middle section can consist of a variety of topics. Ask students what topics are covered in this conversation they listened to. 6. Show students a list of conversation topics and an opening line (Materials: Set 1b). 7. Pair students up and ask them to pick a topic and practise a conversation on the topic following the stages shown earlier. 8. To end, invite a few pairs of students to demonstrate their conversation to the class.

Materials Set 1a: Stages of a conversation

This conversation takes place between two students on campus. Typically, a conversation follows three stages. Here are some examples for the opening and closing stages.

Opening 1) Greeting Student A: Hello, how are you? Student B: Hi, I’m good, and you? Student A: Fine. Thank you. 2) Introducing yourself Student A: I’m Ampreet, and I’m from India. Student B: Nice to meet you, Ampreet. My name is Lan. I come from Vietnam. Student A: Nice to meet you, too. 3) Initiating Exchanges Student A: Hi, Xiaomei. What have you been up to? Student B: Not a lot, John. And you?

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Closing Student A: Oh, it’s so late. I’d better be going. Student B: Yes! Bye. Student A: See you soon and take care!

Set 1b: Topics for conversations Scenario You’re with another student in your language course. You’d like to get to know the person better. Use the prompts below to help you initiate a conversation.

Directions For each of the topics listed, an opening line has been included. It is to introduce the topic a speaker is interested to talk about with another person. Choose one topic and conduct a conversation with another student. Remember to structure your conversation by including greetings and some expressions to signal closing. Weather Sports Travel Family Future plans Gadgets

– – – – – –

It’s cold today, isn’t it? What’s your favourite sport? What is your favourite travel destination? Where do your parents live? What do you plan to do after graduation? Your mobile phone is the latest model! What can it do?

Activity C2: Structure of a Narrative (Based on Activity A11 in Part 2A) Aim: To reconstruct a story together and learn about the structure of a narrative text Level: Intermediate and above Time: 50–60 minutes Materials: A short story appropriate to learners’ proficiency level; a completed summary of a narrative based on three stages in a narrative

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Preparation: Divide the story into three or four sections according to the phases of a spoken narrative: Orientation – complication – resolution – coda (optional). Print the different sections separately (or provide separate digital copies).

Procedure   1. Write the title of the story on the board. Ask students to predict individually what the story is about. They can write down their ideas if they wish.  2. Have students work in pairs and tell each other what their predictions are.   3. Depending on the number of sections in the story, form groups of three or four. Give each group one section of the story.   4. Have students read through their section in their groups and clarify the meaning with one another.   5. Reorganise the students into new groups. Be sure that each group consists of students who each have a different part of the story.   6. Get students to read their section and summarise the main points. In turn they relate the gist of their section to their group.   7. Tell them to discuss and sequence the different sections into a coherent story.   8. Once done, have them retell the story by taking turns to relate the gist of their respective sections.   9. When all the groups have finished, repeat the activity by having them in turn narrate their story to the whole class. (If the class is big, select a few groups.) 10. Distribute a diagram on the text structure of a narrative (Materials: Set 1). 11. Explain to the students how a narrative is structured. Tell them to write their respective short summaries into the appropriate section. 12. Project on the screen a completed summary you have prepared. Point out some grammatical feature of narratives: Verbs in simple past and past continuous tense for relating events, adjectives and adverbs for describing people and actions. 13. As homework, have students construct their own story using the same structure and share with the class the next lesson. Note: You can apply the procedure here with Activity C5 on recounting a personal anecdote. For an alternative narrative activity, try Activity A11 in Section 2A.

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Materials Set 1: Structure of a narrative (story) 1. Orientation

2. Complication

Who was there? When and What problem(s) occurred where did the action take to the main character? place?

3. Resolution How was the problem solved? What happened in the end?

Activity C3: Structure of an Explanation Text Aim: To learn the structure of an explanation text in oral presentations Time: 60–90 minutes Level: Intermediate and above Materials: An outline of the structure of an explanation text and content and stages in an oral presentation; a list of topics; peer-assessment checklists Preparation: Using the outline, record (either audio or video) a short presentation. Print or upload copies of the materials.

Procedure   1. Tell students that they will learn how to structure an explanation text in an oral presentation.  2. Explain the meaning of “explanation text” as a written or spoken text that helps readers or audience understand a topic of interest or importance.   3. Ask students to discuss in pairs what should be included in an explanation text and think of examples from their own experience. When they finish, have students share their ideas with the class.

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  4. Ask them to discuss how they would structure an explanation text in an oral presentation. To facilitate their thinking and discussion, give them a simple topic to work on (e.g., the effects of a good diet).   5. Have them make brief notes about parts of the text and set them aside for later.   6. Play a recording of a short talk explaining a situation or a phenomenon (Materials: Set 3a).   7. Check students’ comprehension by asking them what they understand about the topic from the presentation.  8. Play the recording again. This time ask students to identify different parts of this talk. Allow them to take brief notes as they listen.  9. Have students share what they have identified in pairs or with the class. 10. Show students the structure of an explanation text and how it is presented (Materials: Set 3a and 3b). 11. Highlight some grammatical features of an explanation text: Verbs in the present and the past tense that describe a phenomenon or event, conjunctions to show logical relationships. 12. Play the recording again and point out discourse markers that enhance the coherence and cohesion (or “flow”) in the text (Materials: Set 3c). 13. Tell students that their next task is to prepare an explanation text for a talk (2–3 minutes). 14. Form groups of three. Let students choose their own topic and develop an outline (Materials: Set 3d). Allow students to search for information online if they wish. 15. When the groups are ready with their outlines, arrange for them to take turns to give their talk in their group using their notes. 16. Distribute a copy of the peer-assessment checklist (Materials: Set 3e). 17. After the first student finishes, have the rest of the group complete the checklist. 18. Repeat the process for every student. 19. After the groups have finished, have students share their assessment and feedback with one another. 20. End the lesson with a summary of the stages in an oral presentation of an explanation text and recap the importance of organising their speech according to the structure.

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Materials Set 3a: The structure of an explanation text

STAGES IN AN EXPLANATION TEXT 1.  Identification and description of the phenomenon Topic: The Impact of Covid-19 on Tourism Identification of the topic: The Impact of Covid-19 on Tourism (Covid-19 has left a profound impact on global tourism in many ways).

2.  Explanation Sequence Description of the pandemic problem and explanation of its impact on countries that rely on tourism as income 1. Countries whose economies rely heavily on tourism have seen a massive decrease in earnings from loss of tourists. 2. Workers in the tourism industry have been given reduced work hours or lost their jobs. 3. Many World Heritage Sites have been forced to close their doors to the public due to loss of visitors and high costs of maintenance. 4. Conclusion: Tourism has been badly affected in different ways. The impact continues to be felt especially in the loss of jobs in the tourism industry.

Set 3b: The structure of an explanation text for oral presentation

Introduction: Statement of the topic to be addressed and how the information about the topic will be developed and presented. Description and explanation of the problem: All the information related to the topic is presented in an orderly manner. The different parts are clearly organised and signalled with transition markers. Conclusion: A synthesis or summary of the information presented and a repetition of the main idea.

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Set 3c: Discourse markers and expressions for signposting sequence and transitions in speech Introduction

Development of explanation Conclusion

The topic for my talk is … First First of all Second To begin my talk, let me … Finally I’ll now move to … The next point is … My last point is …

In conclusion In summary To sum up To end my talk, let me …

Set 3d: Suggested topics for an explanation text for a talk

Impact of Covid-19 on tourism Effective ways to fight racism The benefits of exercise Preparing for university

Helping children with online learning How to ensure healthy aging Eating a healthy diet Impact of social media on young people

Set 3e: Peer evaluation of presentation organisation Directions: Circle the number in each column that best represents the speaker’s performance. 3 = Good; 2 = Average; 1 = Needs improvement Name of Introduction speaker The preview was clear and helpful. 321 321 321 321

Development (Body) Conclusion It was easy to follow the The summary and conclusion speaker’s main points. were clear and useful. 321 321 321 321

321 321 321 321

Activity C4: Structure of a Formal Conversation: Survey Interview Aim: To recognise how a survey interview is structured, learn to write questions, and conduct an interview Time: 60–80 minutes

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Level: Intermediate and above Materials: Stages, roles and unique features of a survey interview; sample questions for a survey interview Preparation: Search online for a suitable video/audio survey interview that is appropriate to the level of your students. The teacher could also conduct and record an interview with a colleague based on the outline in Materials Set 4a.

Procedure 1. Play a short video/audio clip of a survey interview to illustrate its structure. 2. Have students watch/listen to it again and highlight to them the opening, middle and closing stages of an interview. Explain how interviews differ from and are similar to a casual conversation (as in Activity C1). (Interviews are a form of interactional discourse that has a clear topic focus and often develops according to questions prepared by the interviewer.) 3. Arrange students in groups of three and have them review their understanding by answering these questions: • What roles are played by the interviewer and the interviewee? • How does an interview differ from other forms of spoken language, such as a casual conversation, a discussion or an oral presentation? 4. Show the stages, roles and features of an interview to the students; have them relate the information sheet to the video/audio they have just watched/listened to (Materials: Set 4a). 5. Highlight the structure and types of interview questions that are asked: What, Who, When, How and Why. 6. Ask students to think of a survey topic they are interested in and develop a set of five questions on the topic (Materials: Set 4b). 7. Have students take turns to interview their group members following the stages discussed earlier (Materials: Set 4a). 8. Tell students to go to another group and continue with their interview. Alternatively, set a time limit and have students interview as many classmates as time allows. 9. When they have finished, invite volunteers to share their experiences with the class.

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Materials Set 4a: Stages, roles and unique features in a survey interview Stages

Roles

Interviewer: 1. Introduction 1. Preparing for the • greetings, interview self-introduction •  arranging schedule • purpose of the • developing questions survey for the interview •  requesting time 2. Questions and answers 2. Asking questions and recording answers • asking and answering during the interview questions 3. Opportunity for the Interviewees: interviewee to ask 1. Listening carefully questions 2. Answering questions 4. Closing the interview • thanking the interviewees for their time and cooperation

Unique Features 1. Formal in-person meeting 2. Controlled topic 3. Structured process 4. Pre-arranged questions 5. Unequal roles of the interviewer and interviewee

Set 4b: Topic and sample questions for a survey interview

TOPIC: UNIVERSITY EXCHANGE PROGRAMME 1. What do you think about university exchange programmes? 2. Would you be interested in becoming an exchange student? Why? 3. What do you want to learn in a new culture? 4. How can you prepare for an exchange programme? 5. What challenges do you expect to meet in a new culture?

Activity C5: Structure of a Recount Aim: To recognise and apply the generic structure of a recount (a text that retells a past event in a chronological order) Level: Higher-Intermediate and above Time: 90–120 minutes Materials: A personal recount of a significant experience (recorded and printed); a template for generic stages of a recount; prompts for recognising features in a recount

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Preparation: The recount can be read aloud by the teacher or made into a recording to be played in class. The templates and guide can be prepared as hard copy handouts or soft copies for uploading.

Procedure   1. Let students listen to a recount by Mary, a survivor of a devastating earthquake.   2. Ask them to share with others in the class what they have understood about the event.  3. Show students the transcript and have them work with a partner to identify different parts in the recount (Materials: Set 5a).   4. Project the analysed transcript on a screen and highlight the stages of the recount: Abstract, orientation, record of events and coda/overall comments (Materials: Set 5b).   5. Using the same transcript, help students identify the grammatical features of a recount, e.g., past tense action verbs, sequencing of events with connectors: Then, next.   6. For the next part of the lesson, organise students into groups of three.   7. Tell them that they will now have to retell a memorable event which they have experienced themselves.  8. Have students recall what you showed them about the stages of a recount.   9. After their brief discussion, present them with a blank template showing the stages of a recount (Materials: Set 5c). 10. Have students prepare their own story using this structure as a guide. 11. Give students time to rehearse what they will be retelling. 12. Let students take turns to narrate their recounts in their groups. 13. Review the generic structure of a recount with your class. 14. Get students to assess their learning about recount and plan how to improve their speaking ability (Materials: Set 5d). Similar kinds of reflection tasks can be found in Section 2D. Note: This is a long lesson. You can simplify and adapt the lesson to suit the proficiency level of your students by summarising the contents in the various stages of the recount.

Materials Set 5a: Listening to a recount and identifying its generic stages

1. Listen to this story by Mary who is recounting an event she experienced with the most memorable person in her life.

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2. After you have listened to it, tell your group members what you have understood. 3. Next, your teacher will show you the transcript of the story. Read through the story and try to find different parts or stages in this story. 4. Listen to your teacher as he/she explains the stages of retelling an experience or event. You will need to do the same later.

TRANSCRIPT OF MARY’S RECOUNT OF SURVIVING AN EARTHQUAKE I’m going to tell you an experience I had with a person I will never ever forget as long as I live. My family and I were on holiday. It was supposed to have been a quiet getaway for my husband, my six-year-old daughter and me, but disaster struck on the second day. That was also the day when my life was saved by Mr M. I will never forget him. We had just returned to our hotel lobby from some sightseeing when suddenly we felt the earth was shaking violently. I held my daughter’s hand tight and the next thing I knew we fell to the ground. We were rolling around and I could see other objects falling down near us. I knew it was an earthquake! There was dust all around and at that moment I could feel that the hotel was collapsing all around us. Suddenly, I felt a sharp shooting pain on my thigh. Something very heavy had fallen on top of my lower body and the weight was crushing my body to the ground. My daughter was crying next to me but her body was free even though there was debris all around her. At that very moment, a middle-aged man ran towards us. He was wearing a red polo-shirt. He managed to pull my little girl out but I was still stuck. I could also see my husband running towards us. Luckily for my husband, he was not injured. I told them to take my daughter away as quickly as they could so that she could be safe. I closed my eyes and prayed – not knowing if I would be crushed by more falling debris. I thought I was going to die! I was also in great pain. Suddenly I heard a man’s voice calling out to me telling me that he had come back to rescue me. He tried to move the concrete, but it wouldn’t move. I was sobbing and he tried to keep me calm. I think an hour must have passed when some men from the local town eventually came to help. Luckily for me, they managed to lift the concrete and they pulled me out. I was lucky to be reunited with my family. I felt so grateful to this man who came to help me. I found out later that his name was Mr M. He risked his life to save my daughter and me. We were complete strangers to him. I will be forever indebted to him.

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Set 5b: Key to the task in 5a

• Generic stages are indicated in bold capital letters as subheadings. • Examples of useful vocabulary/expressions are in italics. • Examples of grammar patterns are underlined. TRANSCRIPT OF MARY’S RECOUNT OF SURVIVING AN EARTHQUAKE (ANALYSED) Abstract I’m going to tell you an experience I had with a person I will never ever forget for as long as I live.

Orientation My family and I were on holiday. It was supposed to have been a quiet getaway for my husband, my 6-year-old daughter and me, but disaster struck on the second day. That was also the day when my life was saved by Mr M. I will never forget him.

Record Of Events We had just returned to our hotel lobby from some sightseeing when suddenly we felt the earth was shaking violently. I held my daughter’s hand tight and the next thing I knew we fell to the ground. We were rolling around and I could see other objects falling down near us. I knew it was an earthquake! There was dust all around and at that moment I could feel that the hotel was collapsing all around us. Suddenly, I felt a sharp shooting pain on my thigh. Something very heavy had fallen on top of my lower body and the weight was crushing my body to the ground. My daughter was crying next to me but her body was free even though there was debris all around her. At that very moment, a middle-aged man ran towards us. He was wearing a red polo-shirt. He managed to pull my little girl out but I was still stuck. I could also see my husband running towards us. Luckily for my husband, he was not injured. I told them to take my daughter away as quickly as they could so that she could be safe. I closed my eyes and prayed – not knowing if I would be crushed by more falling debris. I thought I was going to die! I was also in great pain. Suddenly I heard a man’s voice calling out to me telling me that he had come back to rescue me. He tried to move the concrete, but it wouldn’t move. I was sobbing and he tried to keep me calm. I think an hour must have passed when

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some men from the local town eventually came to help. Luckily for me, they managed to lift the concrete and they pulled me out.

Personal Comments/Reflections I was lucky to be reunited with my family. I felt so grateful to this man who came to help me. I found out later that his name was Mr M. He risked his life to save my daughter and me. We were complete strangers to him. I will be forever indebted to him.

Set 5c: Retelling your own experience in a personal recount

The table below shows the different stages of a recount. Using it as a guide, prepare a story that you can tell your group members later. This should be a story of an unforgettable experience that you had. Stages in a recount

Points to include in my recount

Abstract (Signalling that a story is about to begin) Orientation (The people, places, events and circumstances – who, where, what, why, when) Sequence of events (Retelling of events as they happen with comments) Comments (Summary of events, what is learnt and your feelings now) Set 5d: Reviewing your learning of producing oral recounts

REFLECTING ON YOUR LEARNING Think back to the previous activity on Mary’s recount and how you prepared and retold your own experience. 1) Write down some things that you have learnt about speaking confidently in this kind of tasks.

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2) How can you do even better the next time you have to retell an event or experience?

3) Share your ideas with your teacher and your classmates.

Activity C6: Structure of a Procedure Text Aim: To give instructions for how something should be done Level: Intermediate and above Time: 40–50 minutes Materials: An example of a procedure text with a scenario and simple instructions Preparation: Prepare a procedure text where instructions are given. Students think of a set of instructions they want to give for how something should be done.

Procedure 1. Ask students how often they listen to instructions in English or the language they are learning. Ask them to tell the rest of the class these situations. 2. Ask them whether they have had any experience in giving instructions and have them compare experience when listening to instructions with giving instructions. 3. Describe a scenario to the students and tell them that they will be listening to a set of instructions from a hospital (Materials: Set 6a). 4. Read aloud the instructions and have students take notes. 5. Show them the instructions on the screen. Help students identify the two stages: Goal and instructional sequence, followed by a comment which is optional. 6. Draw their attention to how instructions are sequenced and highlight the use of imperative verbs when giving instructions. 7. Ask students to prepare a set of instructions like the set they have heard. They should think of a scenario and then write out the instructions with five to eight points.

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8. When they are ready, have them give the instructions to one another in groups of three. 9. As the final stage of the lesson, have students reflect on their learning (Materials: Set 6b). Note: You may want to refer to other activities of similar text types where a clear temporal sequence is used. See other activities in Part 2 of this book. Set 6a: Listening to a set of instructions

Scenario: Your friend is scheduled for a surgery at the local hospital. You have offered to help take care of her before and after her surgery. Pay attention to the instructions from a nurse given below:

The day before the surgery

• • • •

Abstain from any food and drinks after midnight. Go to bed early to get sufficient sleep. Pack a simple change of clothes. If you are unwell, call the hospital to postpone your surgery.

On the day of the surgery

• • • • • • •

Have a shower in the morning. If daily medication is needed, take it before 6 a.m. with small sips of water. Leave cash and valuables at home. Do not put on any make-up or jewellery. Do not drive yourself to the hospital. Report punctually at the admissions office. Have a responsible adult to accompany you home after your discharge.

Follow these instructions to ensure a smooth start to your surgery. After listening to the instructions, your teacher will discuss the following questions with you: 1. What is the goal of this set of instructions? 2. How are the instructions organised? 3. What do you notice about the verbs being used?

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Set 6b: Reviewing your learning of producing oral instructions

THINKING ABOUT GIVING ORAL INSTRUCTIONS TO OTHERS Recall how you prepared to give instructions orally in this activity. 1) What have you learnt about speaking confidently when giving instructions? 2) How is this activity different from giving instructions for how to cook something in a recipe? 3) Share your ideas with your teacher and your classmates.

Activity C7: Structure of an Information Report Aim: To describe a place and all its attractive features and characteristics Level: Pre-Intermediate and above Time: 40–50 minutes Materials: An example of an information report on a well-known tourist destination Preparation: Prepare a description of a famous place with text and photographs. Students to prepare their own information text.

Procedure 1. Students listen to an information text on a well-known tourist destination (Materials: 7a). 2. In pairs, students tell each other what they recall about the place. 3. Have students work in pairs to identify a well-known place in their country or the country they are living in. 4. Have them write a piece collaboratively, using an electronic device like their laptops, to be presented to the rest of the class. They may go online to look for information and images. When they have finished, have students put aside their text. 5. Tell students that they will be listening to the text in (1) again (Materials:  7a). This time ask them to pay attention to how the speaker has organised it. 6. Ask students whether they identified any stages in the spoken text they have heard. Show them a copy of the text (images optional) and show how the text is structured (Materials: 7b).

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7. Highlight some grammatical features of an information text: Verbs that are in the present tense for timeless statements, adjectives for describing details. 8. Tell students to review their script and check the way they have written and organised it. Have them identify the stages and make a note of each stage in their script. If they have not organised it this way, give them time to edit the script. 9. When they have finished, form groups of four or five and have students present their information text to the other pair. (If the class cannot be neatly divided by four, some groups can have five; then have two students share the work of one role.)

Materials Set 7a: Listening to an information text describing a well-known place

KYOTO Kyoto is a well-known tourist destination. It is a major city on the island of Honshu and a former capital city of Japan. Kyoto is famous for its shrines, temples, gardens and imperial palaces. It is a city rich in history and culture. Kyoto has interesting streets that sell all kinds of food and souvenirs. The nearest airport to Kyoto is Osaka. From there you can take a train to Kyoto or arrive at the city by road. There are also bullet trains from Tokyo to Kyoto. Autumn is a good time to visit Kyoto to see the colours of its beautiful autumn leaves.

Set 7b: Organisation of an information text Identification and classification Features, attributes and characteristics

Kyoto is a well-known tourist destination. It is a major city on the island of Honshu and a former capital city of Japan. Kyoto is famous for its shrines, temples, gardens and imperial palaces. It is a city rich in history and culture. Kyoto has interesting streets that sell all kinds of food and souvenirs. The nearest airport to Kyoto is Osaka. From there you can take a train to Kyoto or arrive at the city by road. There are also bullet trains from Tokyo to Kyoto. Autumn is a good time to visit Kyoto to see the colours of its beautiful autumn leaves.

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Activity C8: Structure of an Expository Text Aim: To make a short speech by taking a position on a topic and persuading listeners of their point of view Level: Intermediate and above Time: 40–50 minutes Materials: A video or an audio recording of a speech where the speaker takes a position and attempts to persuade or convince others Preparation: Select a speech or an excerpt of it by a well-known person. Search for an appropriate audio or video recording on the internet. Download the transcript for use with students who need it. TED Talks are good sources of such speeches.

Procedure   1. Students listen to an excerpt of the “I have a dream” speech by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr or another one that is shorter and simpler, and is more appropriate to the level of proficiency of students.   2. Explain the main ideas of the speech and discuss with students why the speech is persuasive.   3. Have students identify two or more arguments that the speaker uses to persuade his/her audience.   4. Show students the structure of an exposition text (Materials: Set 8).   5. Have students work in pairs to discuss some key points of the speech within that structure.   6. Check students’ responses and understanding.  7. Highlight some grammatical features of an expository text: Verbs in the present tense to assert a fact or view and for making timeless statements, verbs indicating belief and knowledge, modal auxiliary verbs to express certainty, probability, obligation, conjunctions and connectives to indicate cause and effect, reason, condition, etc.   8. Ask students to identify some expressions that the speaker uses to help him/her speak persuasively. Have students write down these expressions so that they can be used in speeches that they make.   9. Give students time to write a short two-minute speech on a topic they care strongly about. 10. Have them rehearse the speech before delivering it to a small group of three or four. Note: Steps 8 and 9 can be done outside class after this lesson. Arrange a day for them to deliver their speeches. This should take into consideration

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the amount of time or number of days that students need to prepare their speech and rehearse it. Students can be given further practice by participating in class debates (see Activity C9).

Materials Set 8: Structure of a spoken exposition text Stages

Content from the speech

Statement of position Argument 1 Argument 2 Argument 3 Conclusion (restatement of position)

Activity C9: Making Speeches in Class Debates Aim: To experience the process of a class debate by making their own speeches to persuade audience to accept their point of view Time: 60–90 minutes Level: Intermediate and above Materials: An outline of the format for a class debate and the stages involved; a set of debate topics; useful expressions for participating in a debate; a video recording of a debate from YouTube Preparation: Prepare the information on the debate stages, topics and lists of language expressions as handouts or soft copies for uploading. Identify a suitable video online.

Procedure   1. Show a short video clip of a debate to give students an idea of the procedure for a debate.   2. Show the stages of a debate and relate these to the video they have just watched (Materials: Set 9a). Note that this is a suggested format and it can be modified for your class.   3. Explain the meaning of these terms used in debates: Proposing team, opposing team, motion, rebuttal.

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  4. Project on the screen or hand out a list of useful expressions for participating in a debate (Materials: Set 9b). Ask the class if they know of other expressions. They can refer to how they have structured their individual speeches in the previous activity (Activity C8).   5. Ask students to contribute more useful expressions to the class and add these to the list.   6. Select four or six students to form two debating teams: Proposing and opposing a motion. Appoint a Chair and a timekeeper. Assign the rest of the students as the audience. (Depending on the readiness of the class, volunteers could be asked to form the two teams.)   7. Allow the two teams to choose a topic for debate (Materials: Set 9c). Have the students offer more topics if they would like to. Add these topics to the list.   8. Have the two teams in the debate select one topic or assign it to them.   9. Assign the preparation of the debate as homework for the two teams. After consulting one another, they should individually prepare their respective speeches with the following considerations: • • • • •

Take positions and introduce arguments. Prepare logical arguments for or against the resolution. Gather evidence to support each position. Anticipate counter arguments of the opposing side. Summarise main points.

10. Arrange a time to meet each team and guide the students in their preparations. (This is important for students who are not advanced in their language proficiency or have never participated in a debate before.) Note: Depending on the size of your class, you can form several debate groups and conduct the debates at different times in the term of study.

Materials Set 9a: Format of a class debate 1. The Chair introduces the debate motion and the members of each team. 2. The first speaker of the proposing team presents arguments in support of the motion (2–3 minutes). 3. The first speaker of the opposing team presents arguments opposing the motion (2–3 minutes). 4. The second speaker of the proposing team adds more arguments defending the motion (1–2 minutes).

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5. The second speaker of the opposing team presents more arguments against the motion (1–2 minutes). 6. The third speaker in the proposing team starts the first rebuttal (2–3 minutes). 7. The opposing team follows with their first rebuttal (2–3 minutes). 8. The first two speakers in each team take turns to make the second rebuttal (5 minutes). 9. The third speaker in each team summarises their arguments (1–2 minutes).

Set 9b: Useful expressions for participating in a debate

INTRODUCING THE MOTION AND THE ARGUMENTS FOR OR AGAINST IT The motion for our debate today is … Let me explain why our team is supporting/opposing this motion. My first/second/third point is …

Giving examples Here is an example for/against this argument. Take the case of X, for example. There are many examples in our real life. For instance, …

Agreeing politely and offering counter arguments I understand that … however, … While Speaker X has made a point about …, don’t you think that …? Yes, that could be the case, but I’d like to point out that …

Concluding Finally, let me summarise my points/position of my team. To sum up, my team and I are proposing that... In summary, my main points are … To conclude, let me emphasise that …

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Set 9c: Suggested controversial topics

Surveillance cameras are necessary for public security. Space tourism is a waste of resources. Recreational drugs should be legalised in all countries. All employees should have a four-day work week.

II. Language Knowledge Activities Activity C10: Language for Talking about the Future (Based on Activity 4 in Section A) Aim: To describe people and places in the future and learn about grammar for talking about the future Level: Pre-Intermediate and above Time: 40–50 minutes Materials: Light background music; future life worksheet/template; future verb tenses and examples Preparation: Select a suitable piece of music and a device to play it; print templates and vocabulary for the activity or provide digital copies.

Procedure 1. Play some light music and ask students to imagine their future life in ten years’ time: Their career, where they would be living, etc. 2. Ask them to write about or draw pictures of that future. They should explain their aspirations and plans. 3. Pair students and have them describe their imagined futures to each other. 4. When they have finished their fluency practice, introduce language and grammar forms for talking about the future, such as the use of future verb tenses and modal expressions (Materials: Set 10). 5. Ask students if they used these forms. Have them share some sentences they used to describe their imagined future. 6. Have students make some new statements using the forms of verbs shown in the examples given. 7. Write some of these forms down for all to refer to for future practice.

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Materials Set 10: Use of future verb tenses and modal verbs with examples Future verb tenses

Examples

Simple future

I am (I’m) going to find a job after I graduate from college. I will (I’ll) be visiting my parents every month. By the time I start working in five years, I will (I’ll) have moved to the city I love. Examples I may invite my parents to live with me. My family and I could be living in a foreign country.

Future progressive Future perfect Modal verbs Future modal Future progressive modal Future expectation

I should have a steady job when I get a graduate degree.

Activity C11: Language for Conveying Preferences and Comparing (Based on Activity 5 in Section A) Aim: To express personal responses to art and explain their preferences: Learning the language to convey preferences and make comparisons Level: Intermediate and above Time: 50–60 minutes Materials: Images of three famous paintings by one artist Preparation: Select images of three famous paintings of one artist from the internet for projection on a screen.

Procedure 1. Project the three images of famous paintings on the classroom screen or students’ monitors. 2. Hold each image on the screen for at least one minute and ask students to note down their feelings when they look at the painting. 3. After all the images have been shown, organise students into groups of three or four (if class cannot be neatly divided by three, some groups can have four; then have two students share the work of one role). 4. Have each student explain their personal response to each of the painting and the one that is their favourite.

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5. As a whole-class activity, ask the students to share their favourites and identify the one that is most popular among them. 6. When the speaking activity is over, have students focus on the language that expresses preferences and comparisons. 7. Introduce expressions for talking about opinions and preferences (Materials: Set 11a). 8. Introduce language to express comparisons (Materials: Set 11b). 9. Ask students to use the grammar forms to construct some sentences about the three paintings.

Materials Set 11a: Sample expressions for expressing viewpoints about the paintings In our opinion, Painting 1 (or the title of the painting) is the best because … The reason I think Painting 2 (or the title of the painting) is the most appealing because … I feel the other two are not as good as this one (or the title of the painting) because …

Set 11b: Basic structure of adjective degrees of comparison and examples Degrees of comparison Language form

Examples

Positive degree Comparative degree

as + adjective + as adjective + er + than; more + adjective + than

Superlative degree

adjective + est; most + adjective

It’s as lovely as the other painting. Painting 1 is prettier than Painting 2. The colours in Painting 1 are more vibrant than Painting 2. Painting 3 is the loveliest of all. Painting 3 is the most appealing one for me.

Activity C12: Transition Markers When Describing a Process (Based on Activity A10 in Section A) Aim: To use transition markers to explain a process by showing the time sequence

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Level: Pre-Intermediate and above Time: 40–50 minutes Materials: A list of transition markers; students’ own text on a process or procedure Preparation: Students identify a process they want to describe and prepare a set of instructions or reuse materials: A sample recipe from Set 23b of Activity A23 – reproduced here as Set 12a.

Procedure   1. Project on a screen the recipe (Materials: Set 12a).  2. Highlight the use of verbs for giving instructions on the steps in a process.   3. Ask students to refer to the transition markers (Materials: Set 12b).  4. Tell them to review the recipe and decide where they would like to include transition markers to make the instructions easier to follow.   5. Have them write the markers in the relevant places on a copy of the recipe.   6. As a whole-class activity, go through the text and ask students for the markers they used.  7. To reinforce the use of transition markers, have students work in pairs to plan something that they can teach their classmates (e.g., register for a course online, make an oral presentation, order food online).  8. Have them write the steps down and remind them to use transition markers. Once that is done, they take turns to practise explaining the process to each other.   9. Reorganise the students by combining two pairs to form several larger groups of four. 10. Instruct one pair to give their instructions while the other pair listen and take notes. 11. Wrap up the lesson and ask students to tell one another how well they have understood the instructions – what made their understanding easy and what their partners could improve in.

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Materials Set 12a: A sample recipe to show a process

SCRAMBLED EGG WITH TOMATOES AND SHRIMPS Cooking Instructions  1. Dice two tomatoes into one-inch cubes.  2. Cut spring onions into half-inch pieces.  3. Whisk eggs in a bowl and sprinkle salt in it.  4. Chop two cloves of garlic into fine pieces.  5. Put two tablespoons of cooking oil into a skillet and heat it till hot.  6. Fry the garlic lightly till golden brown.  7. Pour in egg mixture and reduce heat to medium.  8. Add chopped spring onion and sugar into the mixture.  9. Stir the egg mixture lightly until it becomes slightly thickened. 10. Add tomato cubes and shrimps. 11. Sprinkle soy sauce and sugar evenly into the egg. 12. Fry for one minute before serving. 13. Scoop the cooked egg on to a plate and serve it with some garnishing, like parsley.

Set 12b: Transition words to show order in an event or steps in a process

First First of all Second Third In addition Also Finally

Next Then After that Before that Once that is finished The next day Now

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Activity C13: Language for Expressing Regrets (Based on Activity A24 from Section A) Aim: To describe past experiences of regrets and options and learn structures for expressing things that should have happened Level: Intermediate and above Time: 40–50 minutes Materials: Light music; reflection prompts; a personal anecdote story with modal sentences; writing paper Preparation: Select a suitable piece of light music and a device for play back; type the reflection prompts for screen projection; prepare slips of paper or small index cards.

Procedure  1. Have students sit at their individual places and play music in the background. Flash this on the screen: Have you ever wished you could have done something differently? What should you have or shouldn’t have done?   2. Tell students to write down their thoughts.   3. Distribute the slips of paper or small index cards. Have each student write one word in capital letters that represents their experience.   4. Organise the students into groups of three. Tell students to take turns to show their group members the word they have written down.  5. After the first student (Student A) has shown the word, get the rest to guess what that event is about. Encourage them to ask Student A questions to check their guesses. Student A should not describe what happened.   6. Student B and Student C repeat the same process.   7. When all three have finished, they take turns to narrate their personal anecdote and explain what their regret was.   8. Change the focus of the lesson to show learners the language to express the things that they wish they had done.   9. Show students the sample language items (Materials: Set 13a) and ask them if they are familiar with the structures. 10. Have the students use the structures to express again what they conveyed in the fluency activity and practise with one another. Option: Include an activity that teaches students the use of “if” conditional clauses to express something that did not happen and the consequences should it have happened (Materials: Set 13b).

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Materials Set 13a: Modal verbs to express past regrets and options Past modal forms

Examples

Fact

I didn’t ask my teacher to I should have asked my explain the requirements teacher to explain to me, so I didn’t do a the oral presentation good job. requirements to me. Regret – form 2 I ought to have checked I didn’t check the Ought to + have + past my schedule for the final schedule, so I missed the participle of the verb (pp) exam. final exam. I had the time to ask her, Option I could have asked my but I didn’t do it. Could + have + past teacher to explain participle of the verb (pp) the oral presentation requirements to me. Regret – form 1 Should + have + past particle of the verb (pp)

Set 13b: The use of “If” conditional clauses to express something that did not happen

Make conditional sentences that did not happen and the consequences should it have happened using the structure: “If I had …, I would have...”. When you practice your speaking, you would sound more natural by using contractions “If I’d …, I’d have …”

Example: Situation: Winning a lottery “If I had won a lottery, I would have travelled around the world.” “If I’d won a lottery, I’d have travelled around the world.” Situations 1. Missing the bus 2. Losing my credit card 3. Failing to submit my assignment 4. Saving enough money 5. Quarrelling with my best friend 6. … 7. … 8. …

Construct your own sentences here

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Activity C14: Language for Interrupting with Questions (Based on Activity A31 in Section A) Aim: To understand and retell a story and use expressions for interrupting and asking questions for understanding Level: Pre-Intermediate and above Time: 40–50 minutes Materials: A list of expressions for interrupting, checking understanding and asking for clarification. Select several short narrative texts appropriate for the students’ proficiency level. Alternatively, students can contribute one each to a common pool for redistribution Preparation: Prepare the number of stories and lists of expressions based on the number of students. Print as handouts or upload soft copies.

Procedure 1. Organise students into pairs and give each pair one text each. (For an odd number of students, there could be a group of three; then have two students in that group of three share the work accordingly.) 2. Give them five to ten minutes to read and prepare to tell the narrative. 3. Have the pairs tell their story to each other. They should ask each other questions if they do not understand something or need clarifications. 4. When students have finished retelling their stories, ask them whether they asked each other questions. 5. Present the list of expressions for interrupting, checking understanding and asking for clarification (Materials: Set 14). 6. Ask the class whether they used any of these expressions in the fluency activity they have just done. 7. Invite them to suggest others that they use. Write some appropriate ones on the board or screen for all to refer to for future practice. 8. Have students practise the expressions presented to them with their partners.

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Materials Set 14: Expressions for interrupting and asking questions

Excuse me. What does the word X mean? Sorry, but what does that mean? I’m sorry I didn’t quite understand it. Could you say that again? Could you speak more slowly? Did you say it was …? I didn’t quite get that. Could you say that again?

Activity C15: Features of Spoken Language Aim: To identify common features of spoken language Level: High-Intermediate and above Time: 40–50 minutes Materials: Sample conversations; list of features of conversations Preparation: Make copies of the material or search for more natural conversations. Download a recording or make one using the transcripts.

Procedure 1. Write on the board “Spoken language” and ask students how it differs from written language. 2. Play a recording of natural speech (e.g., conversations, a spontaneous speech, an interview). 3. Have students talk about the differences in pairs. 4. Show a list of typical features in conversations and ask students whether they have also identified these features (Materials: Set 15a). 5. Form groups of threes and hand out Conversation 1 to half of the groups and Conversation 2 to the other half (Materials: Set 15b, conversations 1 and 2). 6. Have students read and identify the features of spoken language shown earlier.

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7. Ask students to discuss whether knowing the “messiness” of spontaneous spoken language changes the way they learn L2 speaking. 8. Have the class share their views and respond to these views. 9. Wrap up the lesson by reiterating the differences between speech and writing.

Materials Set 15a: Some typical features in conversations

When compared with written language, spoken language in conversations generally:

• • • • • • • • • •

has shorter and simpler sentences/utterances uses everyday vocabulary words and fewer technical words is unplanned and spontaneous is less structured and repetitive in content has sentence fragments (incomplete sentences) or short utterances has incomplete grammatical structures (e.g., ellipsis) uses contractions (e.g., isn’t, don’t, won’t) uses simple conjunctions for linking many clauses (e.g., and, but) uses fillers (e.g., um, uh, er, you know) uses simple discourse markers to mark transitions and attitude (e.g., well, right).

Set 15b: Samples of natural conversations by international students Conversation 1 Situation: This is a conversation between Jack and Carl about a Halloween party organised by the Student Activity Centre. J: C: J: C: J: C: J:

Hey Carl, how’s it going? Interested in the Halloween thing? Not sure … I’ve got an assignment … er … will see. You’re going? Yeah, lots of fun … games, music, what not … and gorgeous food. Well, have fun! What you gonna wear? Mm … no clue … maybe a Spiderman, I think. Good idea! See yah! See yah!

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Conversation 2 Situation: Two friends Yumi and Hilda are having a conversation on campus. Y: H: Y: H: Y: H: Y:

Hey Hilda, you know, I heard that on the radio, a silver alert system. Did you? What’s that? A silver alert system … mm … something like the Amber Alert. Ok, what for? Well, for seniors … er … you know, when they … lost … go missing, people can find them. I see … good idea! I think important to have something like this. Me, too, cos it’s easy to find them … if they missing … and quicker.

(Author’s data)

Activity C16: Features of Spoken and Written Language Aim: To identify some differences between spoken and written language Level: Higher-Intermediate and above Time: 60–90 minutes Materials: Students’ recording of their speech and a written text on the same topic Preparation: Students record their own speech and write their own text.

Procedure   1. Have students bring their notes prepared for a talk from a previous lesson (for example, the talk they prepare for Activity C3 on an explanation text).   2. Ask them to take turns making a speech using the same set of notes and record it on their mobile phones.   3. Tell them to put aside their recording for later use.   4. Instruct students to write an explanation text based on the same set of notes for their chosen topic.   5. Set a time limit (but not a word limit) to encourage students to write as much as they are able to.   6. After they have finished writing, have students exchange their texts.   7. Ask students to compare each one’s recorded speech and written text, and note down their observations for each one (Materials: Set 16a).

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 8. As a whole-class activity, elicit students’ observations and note them down for all to see (on board, screen, etc.)   9. Using what the students have observed, explain some similarities and differences between spoken and written explanation texts. 10. Highlight that the differences are greater between casual speech and written language (Materials: Set 16a). 11. Get students to reflect on what they have learnt about the features of spoken and written text. Ask them how this knowledge can help them to speak confidently in another language (Materials: Set 16b).

Materials Set 16a: Differences between speech and written text

Write down some things you notice about the recorded talk and the written text on the same topic. Name of speaker

Speech

Written text

Differences between the two texts

Overall observations

Set 16b: Reflections for learning to speak an L2 1. Here are some similarities and differences between spoken and written language that I have learnt:

2. Here is what I plan to do to help me speak more confidently in future:

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Activity C17: Features of Different Spoken Texts Aim: To review understanding about different types of spoken text and consolidate their understanding about the features of these common speech genres1 Level: Higher-Intermediate and above Time: 50–60 minutes Materials: Templates or tools for capturing discussion points, samples of each type of spoken text (optional) Preparation: Prepare templates or tools for discussion; select a sample of each type of text and prepare copies (optional)

Procedure 1. Present to students the names of the spoken text types which they have encountered in the earlier activities under Discourse Structure Activities. 2. Organise students into groups of three or four. Assign two types of spoken text to each group and making sure that all the text types are covered. 3. Give groups some time to discuss how the text types differ. 4. When they have finished, give them the table “Comparing different types of spoken text” and have them complete it based on their understanding (Materials: Set 17). 5. As whole-class activity, go over each text type and ask students to share their understanding. Fill up the form with these ideas. Project them on a screen. Note: Refer to Table 1.1 for information on stages (organisation).

Materials Set 17: Comparing different types of spoken text Spoken text

Stages (organisation)

Other interesting points

Conversation Narrative (Continued)

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(Continued) Spoken text

Stages (organisation)

Other interesting points

Interview Explanation Recount Procedure Information Exposition

Note 1 Conduct this activity after students have learnt about the structure of different types of spoken discourse in the first part of this section.

D. DEVELOPING METACOGNITIVE KNOWLEDGE AND STRATEGY USE

L2 learners often find speaking challenging because they think of speaking as one massive task that they must accomplish in real-time and often under the scrutiny of listeners like their teachers and peers, and competent L1 speakers. To help students develop their speaking ability, teachers can provide fluency practice, give time for preparation and repetition of a task, as well as focusing on language and discourse in the context of a task. We showed how this can be done in the last Sections A, B and C. Another way to help students is to enable them to take greater control over their learning and communication processes by becoming strategic learners as discussed in Part 1. Teachers can do this by increasing students’ metacognitive knowledge about themselves as L2 speakers. For example, beliefs regarding learning to speak an L2, challenges, plans and aspirations (person knowledge); the nature and demands of L2 speaking which include unseen cognitive processes that enable speech production and metacognitive processes that direct, manage and evaluate speaking performance (task knowledge), and effective strategies that can facilitate learning how to practise speaking in their L2 and during real-time oral communication (strategy knowledge). Other than this, teachers can carry out strategy instruction to teach learners to enact behaviours and actions that can facilitate real-time speaking performance (strategy use). Through such a metacognitive approach, teachers can support learners throughout their process of learning to communicate orally in an L2 and progressively become confident speakers. In Part B (Learning to Discuss) we introduced some activities for developing learners’ metacognitive knowledge about the demands of discussion. Here in Part D, we expand this theme of learners’ metacognition and offer DOI: 10.4324/9780429265402-6

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a range of activities that can develop L2 speaking more generally. The activities enable learners to understand themselves as L2 speakers, the nature and demands of L2 speaking, as well as strategies for communication and learning to speak an L2. It is possible to modify and integrate some of these metacognitive activities with speaking practice activities from Parts A–C. The activities in this part are organised into two sections: I. Person and Task Knowledge about L2 Speaking; II. Strategy Knowledge and Strategy Use. There are more activities on strategies than person and task knowledge combined. The reason is that communication strategies (CSs) can directly help learners manage and enhance their L2 speaking interaction. It is important that learners are instructed on the use of these strategies through awareness raising and explicit practice of these strategies. Reflections have been included as an important metacognitive tool in Part D. Students can write their responses to the prompts provided in a learning journal if they have one. If they do not have a journal, we recommend that they start one.

THINKING ABOUT SPEAKING Besides practising frequently, attending to skills and understanding of language and discourse, learners must also learn how to learn L2 speaking. Teachers can help them understand that there are things that they can do to manage their efforts at learning to speak and facilitate their speech production. To do this we should increase learners’ metacognitive knowledge about L2 speaking so that they can approach their speaking development systematically and intentionally. We can begin with eliciting and increasing their person knowledge so that they understand their own beliefs, approaches, challenges and strengths better. In addition, we develop their task knowledge by helping them recognise unseen cognitive and metacognitive processes that enable effective speech production. Furthermore, we can develop their strategy knowledge which can lead to more effective strategy use. The use of CSs can help students remain engaged in an interaction to complete the communication. They also offer students important tools to build up their confidence when speaking with more competent speakers. Why do you think some learners face challenges in speaking even though they spend time practising? How can increasing metacognitive knowledge and strategy use help them in learning to speak an L2 more effectively?

I. Person and Task Knowledge Activity D1: An Overview of Metacognitive Knowledge1 Aim: To provide an overview of the three types of metacognitive that support language learning, and specifically L2 speaking

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Level: Intermediate and above Time: 30–50 minutes Materials: A concept map of three types of metacognitive knowledge; a table detailing three types of metacognitive knowledge to guide students’ introspection Preparation: Print the material as handouts or upload soft copies.

Procedure   1. Organise the class into groups of three or four.  2. Have students individually complete the short True/False questionnaire about L2 speaking (Materials: Set 1a).   3. After they have finished, get students to share their responses with the group.   4. Conduct a whole-class discussion by selecting some of the statements in the questionnaire and inviting students to talk about them. Explain why it is important for them to think about L2 speaking to help them in their learning to speak.  5. Explain the three types of metacognitive knowledge. Depending on the age and proficiency of your students, use the original term or just the definition provided after the term (Materials: Set 1b).   6. Assign one type of metacognitive knowledge to each group. Depending on the size of your class, you may not have an equal number of groups for each type of knowledge.   7. Have students share with one another their responses to the prompts. Encourage them to jot down brief notes.   8. As a whole-class activity, invite the groups to share with the rest. Start with the groups for person knowledge and follow the sequence in the template.  9. To consolidate the students’ learning, restate how their metacognitive knowledge can help them understand and plan their learning and speaking better. 10. As homework, ask the students to complete the template individually and submit their written introspections to you. Note: This activity can be split into two parts (Steps 1–4 and Steps 5–10). For younger and lower proficiency learners, the materials can be simplified and the first part would be sufficient for one lesson. For more advanced learners, both parts can be carried out if time permits or carried over to the next lesson.

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Materials Set 1a: What I think about speaking in an L2* What I think about … A.  Myself as an L2 speaker. 1. I enjoy speaking my L2. 2. I am often scared to speak my L2. 3. I can speak the L2 confidently. 4. Speaking in my L2 makes me scared/anxious. 5. I prefer writing to speaking in my L2. 6. I want to be able to speak the L2 well one day. B. How to speak the L2 and get better at it. 1. I need to know what to say and how to say it. 2. I should be relaxed when I speak. 3. The people I speak with (my teacher) can help me. 4. It’s easier to tell a story than explain a science experiment. 5. I need to have ideas and words to express the ideas. 6. I should speak L2 with other students more often. C. Special actions to help me when I speak. 1. If I don’t have a special word, I use many words to explain it. 2. I can prepare some notes to use when I speak. 3. If I don’t understand a question, I ask for help. 4. I memorise some questions to ask for help. 5. I use some phrases like “Excuse me” frequently. 6. I watch videos of people talking and learn from them.

Choose the answer closest to what you think True/False/Unsure True/False/Unsure True/False/Unsure True/False/Unsure True/False/Unsure True/False/Unsure

True/False/Unsure True/False/Unsure True/False/Unsure True/False/Unsure True/False/Unsure True/False/Unsure

True/False/Unsure True/False/Unsure True/False/Unsure True/False/Unsure True/False/Unsure True/False/Unsure

* Replace “L2” with English or another language.

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Set 1b: Three types of metacognitive knowledge 1) Person knowledge: What I know about myself as a speaker of English (or another language) a) What makes me happy or unhappy when I learn to speak English (or another language) b) Problems I have when speaking English (or another language) c) I am a good/average/poor* speaker because … d) What makes speaking easy/difficult* for me * Choose one. 2) Task knowledge: What I know about speaking English (or another language) and what I need to do to get better at it a) Speaking involves many things such as … b) A good way to speak well is by … c) Speaking is different from writing because … d) Speaking well depends on things such as … 3) Strategy knowledge: What I know about strategies (special actions) for speaking a) These actions can help me speak more confidently: b) These actions don’t help as much:

Activity D2: Person Knowledge (Knowing about Myself) Aim: To help learners verbalise their person knowledge Level: Intermediate and above Time: 30–40 minutes Materials: Reflections of an L2 learner (as a handout or a recording); question prompts for eliciting person knowledge Preparation: Print the material as handouts or upload soft copies; prepare an audio or video recording (optional); mobile phone or a recording device (optional).

Procedure 1. Explain the purpose of the session is to help students reflect on their knowledge about themselves as L2 speakers.

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2. Share the reflections of an L2 student, Rosa, with the class to help them see an example of a reflection on learning to speak (Materials: Set 2a – part 1 only). 3. Show students the five question prompts one at a time and have them write down their responses (Materials: Set 2b). Give students adequate time to reflect. Do not rush through the prompts. 4. Form pairs and have students share with each other their responses. 5. As a whole-class activity, invite students to share their responses. If the class is a large one, form groups instead by merging three pairs and have them share. 6. Ask students to compare their responses with Rosa’s reflections on person knowledge. 7. Listen to students’ sharing and summarise some key observations. Option: Show students all five questions and have them record their responses individually in the classroom or as homework at home.

Materials Set 2a: A second language learner’s reflections on learning to speak English Hi, my name is Rosa. I am 18 years old. I’ve been learning English for five years now.

Part 1 I think my spoken English is OK – not so bad and not so good. When I speak to others in English, they mostly understand what I say. Sometimes they don’t and I have to repeat myself. I don’t know what my problem is. Is it my pronunciation? Is it my grammar? I want to become very good one day – like my English teacher. My problem is I don’t have enough time to practise speaking with others. Most of my classmates don’t like to speak English. Sometimes I feel very nervous when I speak. I think people will laugh when I make mistakes. I still try my best because I want to go to Britain one day.

Part 2 In class my teacher often asks us to speak with other classmates in pairs or groups. I like this. It’s easy and it’s fun. Sometimes, she asks us to discuss a

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difficult topic. I find it hard to express my ideas sometimes. I prefer to tell stories, like what I did on the weekend, or tell others about my family. I’m scared when I have to speak alone in front of the class. If I can, I will prepare well. Sometimes, the teacher just asks us to stand up and tell the class something. This is difficult. But I still try to use all the words and ideas I have!

Part 3 When I speak with others, I’m not shy to ask for help. When I don’t understand them, I say “Excuse me, can you say that again?” or “Sorry, I can’t understand what you say”. When I speak in my group, I listen carefully and then give a good answer, or I say “That’s very interesting”. I think this makes my classmates happy! I often speak to myself in English, like when waiting for the bus or walking on the road. I think some people think I’m crazy!

Set 2b: Question prompts for eliciting students’ person knowledge

KNOWING ABOUT MYSELF AS AN L2 SPEAKER Answer these questions honestly 1. Do I speak the L2* well? Why do I say this? 2. Am I satisfied with my speaking ability now? 3. What challenges or problems do I face? 4. How can I overcome these challenges? 5. What is my goal in learning to speak English (or the L2)? Can I achieve it? *Replace L2 with English or another language.

Activity D3: Task Knowledge (Knowing about Speaking Tasks) Aim: To identify the differences in the nature and demands of selected speaking tasks Level: Intermediate and above Time: 30–40 minutes

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Materials: Reflections of an L2 learner (as a handout or a recording); question prompts for eliciting person knowledge; a list of speaking tasks for comparison Preparation: Print the material as handouts or upload soft copies; prepare an audio or video recording (optional).

Procedure 1. Prepare students for this task by telling them to read or listen to the reflections of an L2 student, Rosa (See Materials: Set 2a – part 2 only). 2. Hand out a list of speaking tasks (Materials: Set 3). 3. Have students individually rate the level of challenge of the various speaking tasks and state reasons. 4. Organise students into groups of three or four. 5. Instruct them to compare their responses. 6. As a whole-class activity, ask students to share their responses. Collate and identify two tasks that the class find most difficult. 7. Conduct a discussion on the purpose of students reflecting on the demands of different speaking tasks. 8. Ask students to compare their responses with Rosa’s reflections on task demands. 9. Summarise the students’ input and provide some advice on how students can handle the difficulties. Note: It is better to conduct this activity after students have completed two or three speaking tasks from Sections A, B or C. They can reflect on their experience when responding to the questions. The speaking tasks in Set 3 can also be modified according to the type of activities they have engaged in prior to this activity.

Materials Set: 3: Rate the level of challenge of a variety of speaking tasks and give reasons Knowing about the Demands of Speaking Do I find these tasks easy or difficult? Show with a tick (√). Speaking tasks 1. Having a conversation with a friend 2. Discussing an open topic in a small group

Easy

Difficult

Reason

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3. Telling a story in a group 4. Conducting a survey interview a. Asking the questions b. Answering the questions 5. Giving a presentation to your class 6. Speaking in a class debate

Activity D4: Task Knowledge (Cognitive Processes in Speaking 1)2 Aim: To help learners recognise task demands of speaking by experiencing the cognitive processes involved – conceptualisation, formulation and articulation Level: Intermediate and above Time: 40–50 minutes Materials: A set of topics for a short talk; a checklist for reflecting on performance; peer feedback prompts Preparation: Print the materials as handouts or upload soft copies.

Procedure 1. Organise students into groups of three. 2. Show the list of topics (Materials: Set 4a). 3. Ask each student in the group to choose a topic from the list. Members in the same group must choose different topics. Tell them they must each speak for one minute on the topic. 4. Give students three minutes to think of what they would like to say. They should not make any notes. 5. When the groups are ready, begin the activity with the first speakers at the same time. Ring a bell after one minute. Repeat the task with the second and the third speakers in the same way. 6. When all the students have completed their tasks, give them the checklists to reflect on their own performance. Allow them two minutes for reflection (Materials: Set 4b). 7. After they have finished this, give out the peer feedback form and allow students one minute to write down some feedback for their group members (Materials: Set 4c).

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8. Allow students three minutes to reflect on their peers’ feedback. Then facilitate a discussion so that students share their reflections with one another. 9. Wrap up the discussion by explaining the three cognitive processes in speaking and how they make demands on L2 speakers. Instead of using the technical terms of conceptualisation, formulation and articulation, refer to these as (a) selecting and planning what to say; (b) using words and grammar to form sentences/utterances; and (c) conveying ideas by saying the utterances aloud clearly (Materials: Set 4b).

Materials Set 4a: Suggested topics

• My favourite food • My favourite past time/hobby • My favourite movie • My favourite holiday destination • My favourite social media platform • My family • My country • My pets • My goal for the next five years • My last school • My ambition • Should students be allowed to use their cell phones in class? • Should students tell their teachers what they think of their teaching? • Describe a local food from your hometown. Why do you like/dislike it? • Describe someone you admire. Why do you admire him/her? • What is/was your favourite subject in school? Why do/did you like it? • What is the best decision you have ever made? Why? Set 4b: Checklists: Reflecting on your own performance

Checklist 1 Did you try to …? a) Select and plan what you wanted to say b) Use correct grammar and words to express your ideas c) Say your ideas aloud clearly

If your answer is yes, describe what you did

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Checklist 2 I feel that I …

Very well (3); well (2); not so well (1)

1) prepared good points 2) used relevant vocabulary 3) used correct grammar 4) presented ideas clearly 5) pronounced words clearly

321 321 321 321 321

Set 4c: Checklist: Telling your classmates about their performance

Circle the number that matches your classmate’s performance: very well (3); well (2); not so well (1). The speaker …

Speaker 1

Speaker2

1) prepared good points 2) used relevant vocabulary 3) used correct grammar 4) presented ideas clearly 5) pronounced words clearly

321 321 321 321 321

321 321 321 321 321

Activity D5: Task Knowledge (Cognitive Processes in Speaking 2) Aim: To help learners recognise task demands of speaking by experiencing the cognitive processes involved – conceptualisation, formulation and articulation Level: Intermediate and above Time: 30–40 minutes Materials: A diagram showing three cognitive processes in speech production Preparation: Print the materials as handouts or upload soft copies.

Procedure 1. Begin this activity by reviewing Activity D1 that students have completed. 2. Show the diagram that represents the three cognitive processes (Materials: Set 5). 3. Explain why it is important for students to recognise these cognitive processes that occur when we speak: (a) selecting and planning what to say; (b) using words and grammar to form sentences/utterances; (c) conveying ideas by saying the utterances aloud clearly.

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4. Ask students to look at the diagram and think back to when they were speaking in their groups. Have them answer the three questions in the handout (Materials: Set 5). 5. After they have answered the three questions, lead the students in a discussion about how recognising these processes can help them improve their speaking. 6. Inform students that there will be another follow-up activity after this one, in which they will get a chance to repeat their short speech.

Materials Set 5: Thinking about processes in speech production

Thinking about my speaking

Do you wonder why it is often difficult to speak in a language you are not familiar with? Is it because you don’t know enough words? Or are there other things that make L2 speaking difficult? Let us think about what happens when you speak.

Select and prepare what to say

Use grammar and words to form uerances Say ideas aloud clearly

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Activity D6: Task Knowledge (Monitoring and Evaluation) Aim: To help learners recognise the demands of speaking by understanding the respective roles of monitoring (during speaking) and evaluation (after speaking) Level: Intermediate and above Time: 40–60 minutes Materials: Prompts for reflecting on monitoring and evaluating speech; completed checklists from Activity D4; new blank checklists Preparation: Students bring completed checklists from Activity D4. Print the new materials as handouts or upload soft copies.

Procedure 1. Review the three processes for speaking from the previous activities (see Activity D4 and D5). 2. Ask every student to refer to their completed checklists on processes (conceptualisation, formulation, articulation) and review what they did. 3. Get students to work with the same group of three classmates as in Activity D4. 4. Tell students to repeat the previous activity by speaking on the same topic. 5. After the students have finished, ask them to compare their second performance with their first performance. They should use a new copy of the checklist this time (Materials: Set 6a). 6. Ask students to reflect on the metacognitive processes that they engaged in and respond to the prompts (Materials: Set 6b). 7. As a whole-class activity, explain to the class that they have experienced and reflected on different processes in speaking. Highlight that these processes are mainly unseen but it is important to elicit them and reflect on them so they can understand the demands of speaking better. With this knowledge of themselves as learners and the demands of speaking, they can prepare better ways of improving their speaking throughout their course of study. 8. If this is the beginning of a term of study, ask the students to write down their reflections and plans, and hand them in to you. To support your students, read and respond to their reflections and plans.

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Materials Set 6a: Checklist: Reflecting on your own performance

Think about your repeat performance when you spoke on the same topic a second time. Complete the following checklist. I feel that I …

Very well (3); well (2); not so well (1)

1) prepared good points 2) used relevant vocabulary 3) used correct grammar 4) presented ideas clearly 5) pronounced words clearly

321 321 321 321 321

Set 6b: Checklist: Reflecting on your own performance

Think again about your performance and respond to the two questions below. The word “monitor” refers to checking how well you are saying things while you are speaking. The word “evaluate” refers to checking how well you have spoken after you have completed the task. Did you do this?

If your answer is “yes”, did you do any of the following? (Put a tick 3 next to the point(s) below.)

• • • • • • 2. Evaluate: • Decide how • satisfied you were with your • speaking when • • you finished. 1. Monitor: Check your performance while speaking.

I mentally checked the points that I was making. I corrected myself as I was speaking. I corrected my pronunciation as I was speaking. I corrected my grammar as I was speaking. I looked at the listeners to check that they understood me. I began evaluating my speaking as soon as I stopped talking. I did it only when the teacher asked me to do it. I checked whether my points were good. I checked whether my vocabulary was appropriate. I checked whether my pronunciation was clear. I checked whether my grammar was accurate.

THINK ABOUT YOUR ANSWERS 1. If you answered “yes” to some of the points, describe to your group members how you did it. Was it easy or hard to do? What will you do in future? Review those things that you did. Explain to your group what you did. 2. If you didn’t monitor or evaluate your speaking, tell your group members why. Do you think you should do it the next time you speak?

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Activity D7: Task Knowledge (Evaluating Speaking Performance) Aim: To deepen task knowledge by learning how to evaluate speaking performance and give feedback to peers Level: Intermediate and above Time: 30–40 minutes Materials: Peer evaluation checklists; reflection questions on difficult areas and plans; topics for speech; students’ own recording device Preparation: Print the new materials as handouts or upload soft copies. Students bring their mobile devices to class.

Procedure  1. Remind students of some important processes in speaking: Selecting ideas, expressing ideas, choosing the right words, pronouncing clearly for others to understand, using clear utterances or sentences, and checking and correcting ourselves.   2. Form groups of three and encourage students to share their own experiences and challenges when speaking in an L2.   3. Explain the importance of peer evaluation.  4. Tell students that they will have more speaking practice with random topics and at the same time learn to evaluate speaking performance.   5. Distribute a copy of the peer evaluation checklist to the students and have them read through the content and ask questions if they have any (Materials: Set 7a). Checklists for Activity D4 and D5 can also be used.  6. Give each group an envelope that contains strips of paper with one topic written on each strip (Materials: Set 7b).   7. Have students take turns to pick a topic and speak about it for one minute. Tell them to record their own speech.   8. Tell the other students in each group to listen to the speech and evaluate it using the peer evaluation checklist.   9. When everyone in the group has finished, have the students share their evaluation results with one another. 10. Wrap up the lesson by explaining to students that there are different aspects of speaking and they can address any weaknesses in each one and improve gradually.

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Materials Set 7a: Peer evaluation checklist

HOW WELL DID YOUR FRIEND SPEAK? Listen to your friends in your group. Did you enjoy listening to them? What have they done well in? What can they do better at? Circle the number based on what you think. Very well (3); Well (2); Not so well (1); Not well at all (0)

1. Content 2. Choice of words 3. Pronunciation 4. Grammar in sentences 5. Self-corrections 6. Overall performance

Student A

Student B

Student C

3210 3210 3210 3210 3210 3210

3210 3210 3210 3210 3210 3210

3210 3210 3210 3210 3210 3210

Set 7b: Suggested topics   1) Describe my favourite animal   2) Describe a popular dish from my country   3) Share with others my childhood ambition   4) Tell others about my favourite song in my first language   5) Tell others about my favourite song in English (or another L2)

  6) Share advice on how to achieve academic success   7) Explain the benefits of taking courses online   8) Explain the benefits of shopping online   9) Describe a good experience I had in my last school 10) Tell others which country I would like to visit most

Activity D8: Person and Task Knowledge (Self-Evaluation and Planning) Aim: To deepen person and task knowledge by learning to self-evaluate and plan for further improvement Level: Intermediate and above

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Time: 40–50 minutes Materials: Students’ own recording of their one-minute speech from the previous activity; self-evaluation checklists; reflection questions on areas for improvement; teachers’ comments; recording playback device Preparation: Students to prepare the materials themselves and bring them along to class (checklists, peer/teacher comments, mobile devices, earphones).

Procedure  1. Explain to students why it is important for them to review their own speaking performance to identify strengths and areas for improvement.   2. Have students form the same groups as in the Activity D7.   3. Ask students to listen to their individual recordings of their speeches and evaluate themselves.   4. In the first listen, they should just think about how satisfied they are with their own performance (Materials: Set 8a part (i)).   5. In the second listen, they answer questions about specific areas of their speech (Materials: Set 8a, part (ii)).   6. Get students to share with one another their self-evaluation.   7. Ask each student to reflect on their peers’ comments about their speaking in the last activity – do they agree?   8. Have students work individually and plan how they will improve their areas of weakness (Materials: Set 8b and/or Set 8c).   9. Ask students for their ideas for improvement and summarise some key points according to conceptualisation, formulation, articulation and monitoring. 10. In summing up, encourage students to set realistic goals. Discuss what this means. (For advanced learners, encourage them to set more challenging goals such as monitoring their speech and self-correction.) 11. Ask the students to hand in their self-evaluation and reflections to you. Return it with your comments to encourage them and advise them on the strategies they can use to improve their speaking proficiency (Materials: Set 8d). Option: Use a more detailed self-evaluation checklist (Materials: Set 8d)

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Materials Set 8a: Self-evaluation checklist Listen to the recording of your speech. Pick a number to indicate your evaluation of your performance. Very pleased (3) Pleased (2) Not so pleased (1) Not pleased at all (0)

(i) What do I think of my own performance? 3 2 1 0 (ii) Specific areas of my speech 1. Content 2. Choice of words 3. Pronunciation 4. Grammar in sentences 5. Self-corrections 6. Overall performance

The next time I make a speech, I will focus on these areas: 3210 3210 3210 3210 3210 3210

Yes Maybe No Yes Maybe No Yes Maybe No Yes Maybe No Yes Maybe No Yes Maybe No

Set 8b: Reflecting on your performance and planning ahead 1. Does understanding the speech processes help me to improve my speaking? 2. Based on my self-evaluation, which aspect of speaking is the most challenging for me? 3. What do I plan to do to become better in future? What are some things that I should pay attention to? Do I need help from anyone? 4. What improvements do I hope to see by the end of my course?

Set 8c: Making a plan to improve future performance

MY PLAN FOR IMPROVING SPEAKING Areas for improvement (I need to work on these areas):

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Action (this is what I will do to make it happen):

Monitoring (this is how I will check my progress):

My teacher’s comments

Set 8d: Self-evaluation checklist focusing on personal observations

Put a tick (3) in the box that best shows what you think. Write any thoughts you have. Agree

Disagree Unsure Reason

  1. I prepared well for the task.   2. My classmates showed that they enjoyed listening to me.   3. I enjoyed speaking on the topic.   4. I felt nervous.   5. I made few grammatical mistakes.   6. My pronunciation was clear.   7. I could express my ideas clearly.   8. I spoke too fast.   9. I had too many pauses and hesitations. 10. I had the words I needed. 11. I spoke confidently. 12. I am happy with my performance today.

II. Strategy Knowledge and Strategy Use Activity D9: Strategy Knowledge (Knowing Which Strategies to Use) Aim: To learn a wider repertoire of strategies for oral communication and L2 speaking development Level: Intermediate and above

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Time: 40–60 minutes Materials: Sets of strategy questions and reflection prompts for planning Preparation: Print the different sets of material as handouts or upload soft copies.

Procedure 1. Write the word “Strategy” on the board. Explain to the class the meaning of the word – special mental actions or behaviours to achieve a goal in learning and communication. 2. Have students listen to the reflections by an L2 student, Rosa. Ask them to pay attention to Rosa’s problems and the strategies she uses (Materials: Activity D2 Set 2a, especially part 3). 3. Ask students to talk about the strategies that Rosa uses and compare them with their own strategies. 4. Give each student a set of questions and ask them to consider their own strategy use. They can jot down their answers and be prepared to share (Materials: Set 9a). 5. When the students have finished, have them share their responses with another student. Each student should jot down what the other student shares. 6. After the pairs have finished sharing, tell students to walk around the class and talk with two other classmates and note down their strategies. In a large class, form small groups for sharing instead. 7. As a whole-class activity, ask the students to report the strategies they have jotted down. Lead a discussion on the use of strategies in speaking. (See Appendix B for examples of speaking strategies.) 8. Explain to the class that strategies serve two purposes for speaking: Enhancing communication (Questions 1–7) and learning to speak an L2 (Questions 8–10). 9. As homework, ask students to review the strategies they heard from their classmates, compare the strategies with their own and identify those that they would like to learn to use (Materials: Set 9b). Option: If the class is too large or there is not enough time, skip step 6.

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Materials Set 9a: Questions about your strategies

STRATEGIES FOR ENHANCING ORAL COMMUNICATION AND LEARNING TO SPEAK   1. When I don’t understand something someone says in a casual conversation, what do I do? My response:  

My classmates’ responses:

  2. If I don’t have the right word to express myself, what do I do? My response:  

My classmates’ responses:

  3. When what a speaker says is unclear, what do I do? My response:  

My classmates’ responses:

  4. When I have to give a talk in class, how do I prepare for it? My response:  

My classmates’ responses:

  5. How do I try to participate in a group discussions? My response:  My classmates’ responses:

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   6. What do I do when my listener does not understand what I say? My response:  

My classmates’ responses:

  7. When asked to speak in class, what do I do? My response:  

My classmates’ responses:

  8. Name one thing I do frequently to improve my speaking. My response:  

My classmates’ responses:

  9. How do I motivate myself to learn to speak better? My response:  

My classmates’ responses:

10. How often do I check on my own progress? How do I do this? My response: 

My classmates’ responses:

 Set 9b: Plan for learning new strategies

Consider the strategies reported in your class. Are there strategies you have not learnt to use? Pick two that you would like to learn. Explain how the strategies will help you.

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My new strategy #1 This strategy will be useful because … My new strategy #2 This strategy will be useful because …

Activity D10: Learning about Communication Strategies Aim: To raise awareness of and learn to use CSs for enhancing speaking and comprehension in an oral interaction Level: Intermediate and above Time: 30–40 minutes Materials: Expressions for requesting clarification, repetition and checking and confirming comprehension; students’ own audio recording devices; materials for Part 2A Activity A33 Preparation: Print the sets of material as handouts or upload soft copies; ask students to bring their mobile phones or any other recording devices.

Procedure   1. Carry out Activity A33 (Describe, Draw and Compare) in Part 2A. Extend that lesson by including a strategy instruction segment as shown here.   2. To plan for this CS activity, have the pairs of students record their oral interaction during Activity A33 in Part 2A.   3. Show students the lists of language expressions for enacting CSs (Materials: Set 10a).   4. Have students listen to their own recording to listen out for instances when they asked for repetition, clarification, etc.   5. Have them note down any words or expressions that they used.   6. As a whole-class activity, ask students to share the results of their comparisons and discuss the use of CSs with the class.   7. Note down any new items contributed by the students and share them with all.   8. Ask students next whether they had any difficulty describing the objects. Have them check their recordings to see if they tried to make up for a lack of vocabulary.

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  9. Have students repeat the activity with deliberate use of CSs by referring to language items they can use (Materials: Set 10a). 10. Have a discussion with the whole class based on their observations of their own use of CSs. 11. As homework, ask students to respond to a set of questions on their CSs use (Materials: Set 10b).

Materials Set 10a: Questions to enact strategies for oral interaction and facilitating comprehension. Questions by the listener

Questions by speaker

Sorry, but what does that mean? I’m sorry, could you say that again? Could you speak more slowly? Did you say it was …? May I ask a question? You said … Are you saying that …? Do you mean that …? I didn’t quite understand you/get that. Could you say/explain that again?

Are you with me? I hope I’m making sense to you? Do you see what I mean? Can I carry on? Should I say that again? Let me know if I’m unclear? Would you like me to repeat that? Can you understand?

Set 10b: Reflecting on strategy use

THINKING ABOUT MY USE OF CSS WHEN SPEAKING 1. What CSs did I use in the activity? 2. When I didn’t have the words for something, what did I do? (For example, did I use other words, or give an example?) 3. How often do I use CSs? 4. When I have a problem saying what I want to say, do I keep quiet and avoid speaking or do I try to use some CSs to keep speaking?

Note: For younger learners or lower proficiency learners, modify the prompts in 10b and use a simpler oral communication activity from Part 2A.

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Activity D11: Strategies for Presenting and Asking Presenters Questions Aim: To practise using strategies for beginning and ending a presentation, and asking presenters questions to check and clarify understanding Level: Intermediate and above Time: 80–90 minutes Materials: Poster materials; a list of language expressions for beginning and ending a presentation, making clarification and checking comprehension; question prompts from Activity D10; reflection prompts Preparation: Students prepare a poster presentation and a poster. Print different sets of materials as handouts or upload as soft copies. Adjust the timing and the number of presentations according to class size.

Procedure   1. As homework, have each student3 research on the nutrition qualities of a food item or a dish. Instruct them to prepare a poster with the key points (with illustrations if they wish), and a 1–2-minute presentation.   2. Show students the language expressions that help presenters introduce and end a presentation and listeners to seek clarification and check comprehension (Materials: Set 11a. See also Material Set 10a).  3. Organise students as “presenters” and “visitors”. Tell them that they will switch roles at half-time.   4. Tell the presenters to prepare an introduction for the topic of their poster and another sentence to end their presentation (Materials: Set 11a). Allow them to write the sentences that they can refer to if necessary.  5. Concurrently, have the visitors prepare some questions to ask the presenter during or after their presentation (Materials: Set 11a and Set 10a).   6. Have the presenters set up their posters on the prepared wall space or any other facilities that are available to form a “carousel”.   7. Begin the poster presentation and arrange for students to visit two or more presentations (depending on class size class and the number of presentations). Remind the visitors to ask questions.   8. Set a duration for each presentation so that visitors get to move around the various poster presentations in the carousel.  9. When the first group of presenters have finished, take a five-minute break. During this time, the presenters and visitors will switch roles. 10. Repeat the process.

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11. End the poster carousel activity and ask students to return to their seats. 12. Have students work individually or with a partner to reflect on the strategies they have learnt and used (Materials: Set 11b).

Materials Set 11a: Expressions for beginning and ending your presentation Presenter: Introducing a topic and ending the presentation

Visitor: Asking the presenter questions for various purposes

Hello/Good Morning. Please allow me to explain the benefits of eating/ drinking … Hello/Good Morning. I’d like to explain to you the benefits of … Hello/Good Morning. Thank you for coming to see my poster. Please let me explain to you the benefits of eating … Hello/Good Morning. I wonder if I could briefly tell you the benefits of eating … That’s all I have to say, thank you for listening. Do you have any questions? Thanks for listening to my presentation. I’m happy to take questions now. I’ve explained to you X. I hope you’ve found this useful.

Excuse me, but what does that (or X) mean? I’m sorry I didn’t quite understand it. Could you say that again? Did you say the …? May I interrupt you? Did you say ...? Would you mind repeating that point on …? Could you explain X again, please? I was wondering if you could give an example for X? Would it be possible to say more about it? That’s a good point; could you elaborate?

Set 11b: Reflecting on the communication strategies used

THINKING ABOUT MY USE OF CSS WHEN SPEAKING 1. What CSs did I use today in the activity? As a presenter: As a visitor: 2. Did the CSs I used help me?

Activity D12: A Proficient L2 Speaker’s Strategies Aim: To increase strategy knowledge by learning from others and practise CSs for enhancing interaction and comprehension

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Level: Intermediate and above Time: 80–90 minutes Materials: An invited talk; language expressions and strategies from previous activities (Activity D10, Activity D11); guiding questions for asking the invited speaker Preparation: Invite a successful L2 speaker to give a ten-minute talk on the topic, “How I learned to speak confidently”. Ask the speaker to explain strategies he/she used for learning and communication.

Procedure  1. Tell your class that a guest has been invited to share experiences in learning an L2. Give the class relevant background information about the speaker.   2. Have your class predict what that the speaker will talk about. Get them to share their predictions with another person.   3. Explain the format of the session to the students – a talk followed by a Q&A session.   4. Have students work in pairs to review the language items that can support their strategies for enhancing comprehension when interacting with the speaker (Materials: Set 10a and Set 11a).  5. Instruct them to prepare some questions they would like to ask the speaker – for example, information about the speaker’s education and job, advice about language learning, strategies for speaking (Materials: Set 12a).   6. Invite the speaker to class and give an introduction.   7. When the speaker finishes, facilitate a 15-minute Q&A session. Invite students to ask their questions.   8. At the end of the session, thank the speaker.   9. After the speaker leaves, have a whole-class discussion to recall what the speaker has shared. (You may also ask the speaker permission to record the talk and use it for this part of the lesson.) 10. Get the students to identify CSs and learning strategies that the speaker mentioned (Materials: Set 12b). They can include others that are not in the list. 11. Discuss the strategies from the material with the class. Ask them whether they have used any of these before. 12. Review CSs covered in the other activities if they have already been carried out. 13. Encourage students to persevere in their efforts to learn to speak their L2.

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Materials Set 12a: Questions for the guest speaker QUESTIONS FOR THE GUEST SPEAKER Prepare two or three questions to ask the guest speaker about learning to speak in English (or another language). Remember to use some polite expressions when phrasing your questions. Refer to the materials in previous activities.

Examples 1. What was your biggest problem when learning to speak English (or another L2)? 2. You shared your experience in school/college. Could you elaborate? My questions: 1. 2. 3.

Set 12b: Strategies for learning to speak confidently

Put a tick (√) for the CSs that the speaker used: When speaking with others

To improve my speaking every day

I ask questions when I don’t understand. () I use some words in my L1. () I ask the person to repeat. () I repeat some words that the speaker uses. () I use phrases I have memorised. () When I don’t have a word, I explain it by using many simple words I know. ()

I practise my pronunciation of difficult words. () I listen to how proficient speakers speak. () I imitate the speech of my favourite speaker. () I memorise useful phrases and sentences. () I practise my oral English with my classmates. () I look for people I can practise with. () I read aloud dialogues from my textbook. () Others:

Others:

Activity D13: Sharing Experiences of Strategy Use Aim: To learn from peers how to use CSs Level: Pre-Intermediate and above

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Time: 50–60 minutes Materials: Questions to interview peers’ use of CSs; useful expressions for checking comprehension, asking questions and explanations from previous activities; reflection questions Preparation: Print different sets of materials as handouts or upload as soft copies.

Procedure 1. Tell the class that they will be finding out more about one another’s CSs. 2. Organise students into groups of three or four and distribute a set of questions for oral interviews about strategy use (Materials: Set 13a). 3. Assign one question to each group and instruct every student to interview two members in the other groups. Remind students to use the expressions they have learnt to frame some of their questions. 4. When time is up, have the students regroup, share their findings and collate and summarise the responses (Materials: Set 13b). 5. As a whole-class activity, invite students to share the summaries for each of the questions they are responsible for. 6. Collate the responses and provide the students with the complete list. (This can be done during class or after class and given to students in the next lesson.) 7. As homework ask students to reflect on the activity individually (Materials: Set 13c).

Materials Set 13a: Questions for oral interviews (each group is assigned one question) Questions for oral interviews Group 1 – When you do not have the words to express your ideas, what do you do? Group 2 – Do you keep quiet when you don’t know how to describe/explain something? What do you do? Group 3 – Do you make use of every opportunity to speak English/L2 as much as possible? How do you do it?

Classmate 1

Classmate 2

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Set 13b: Group Summary Sheet Question for oral interviews

Summary of interview results

Group 1 – When you do not have the right words to express your ideas, what do you do? Group 2 – Do you keep quiet when you don’t know how to describe/explain something? What do you do? Group 3 – Do you make use of every opportunity to speak English as much as possible? How do you do it? Set 13c: Questions for reflection on the activity

THINKING ABOUT THE ACTIVITY 1. Did I enjoy interviewing my classmates? What made the task easy/hard? 2. Did I have a chance to practise the language and strategies I learnt in previous lessons? Were they useful? 3. What did I learn from my classmates’ sharing?

Activity D14: Sharing Plans for Strategy Use Aim: To extend students’ use of CSs beyond the classroom Level: Pre-Intermediate and above Time: 30–40 minutes Materials: A list of CSs adapted from Appendix B; a plan for strategy use Preparation: Print the sets of materials as handouts or upload as soft copies.

Procedure 1. Hand out a list of CSs and go over the list with the class, explaining those that students do not understand with examples (Materials: Set 14a). 2. Discuss when students can and should use CSs. Tell students to go over the list and select three strategies they would like to use outside class.

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They should also think about how they are going to use them (Materials: Set 14b). 3. Form groups of three and have students share their plans with one another. 4. Arrange a lesson where students report what they have done. Option 1: Use strategies collated from previous activities. Option 2: In a non-English speaking environment encourage students to form speaking groups and use the CSs after class.

Materials Set 14a: Communication strategies Communication strategies

Specific strategies

Cognitive strategies (Strategies to help me when I have a problem with vocabulary) Metacognitive strategies (Strategies to help me plan, check and evaluate)

Learning set phrases by heart. Using an alternative (different) term. Describing an object, person or event to express the meaning of a specific word. Preparing the contents and the form of the message. Noticing my language form and message while speaking. Noticing my language form and message after speaking. Giving an example to make my point clear. Asking listeners whether they have understood the message. Repeating all or part of what I hear to check my own understanding. Asking the speaker to explain a point further. Asking the speaker to say something again. Asking the speaker to give an example. Asking the listener for help with difficult words.

Interactional strategies (Strategies to help me when I am talking with others)

(Source: Adapted from Goh & Burns, 2012)

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Set 14b: Planning to use selected strategies My three strategies from the list:

How I plan to try out the strategies outside class (e.g., Whom I will be speaking with, Where? When?)

1. 2. 3.

Activity D15: Demonstrating and Observing Strategy Use Aim: To practise using CSs in activities and observe how others use strategies Level: Intermediate and above Time: 50–60 minutes Materials: Selected interaction strategies from a longer list that students have been introduced to from other activities Preparation: Print the material or upload as soft copies.

Procedure 1. Organise students into groups of three or four. 2. Go over the six selected CSs for interaction and review how they can be used (Materials: Set 15 or select from Appendix B). 3. Select an activity from Part A, B or C that involve pair or group interaction. Have the students carry out the activity. 4. Set up a “fishbowl” format where some students demonstrate the activity and others observe. Adjust the number of groups according to the class size. 5. Tell the observers to pay attention to any CSs used and make a note of this. 6. As a whole-class activity, have the students share their observations. 7. Wrap up the lesson with a review of the six interaction strategies and encourage students to practise using them in their communication outside class. Remind them to review and use language expressions that can enact these CSs.

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Option: In addition to interaction strategies, the focus can also be on cognitive strategies for compensating for gaps in language knowledge. Activities that involve description and explanation would lend themselves to this focus.

Materials Set 15: Selected communication strategies

INTERACTION STRATEGIES Offering an example to make one’s point clear. Asking the speaker to give an example. Asking listeners whether they have understood the message. Rephrasing what is heard to confirm one’s understanding. Repeating all or part of what is said to check one’s own understanding. Asking the speaker to say something again.

Notes 1 Strategy knowledge is introduced here for completeness of metacognitive knowledge. 2 Activities 4, 5 and 6 should be conducted sequentially. They can also be combined into one or two longer lessons. 3 If this is a big class, you can get them to work in pairs or groups.

Part 3 FROM APPLICATION TO IMPLEMENTATION

DOI: 10.4324/9780429265402-7

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Introduction L2 learners often need to speak and respond to other people’s speech in real-time. When they have communication problems some would feel anxious or even lose confidence. Some may also avoid speaking in class, thus losing opportunities to speak that can help their speaking development. In Part 1 we concluded that it was important to help students develop both their proficiency as well as ways to manage their development process holistically. To apply these insights, we presented in Part 2 different types of learning activities that support learners’ L2 speaking development. Here in Part 3 we will describe ways of using and organising these activities in a single lesson and a unit of work on speaking, which is a series of lessons. To do this we apply the Teaching Speaking Cycle (TSC) model by Goh and Burns (2012). It comprises seven stages for planning and enacting lessons for L2 speaking. The principles underpinning such an approach are explained in the following list.

A. Planning Lessons for L2 Speaking A lesson or a unit of work on speaking should include activities that develop the cognitive, metacognitive and the social-emotional aspects of learning to speak an L2. To this end, a teaching plan should integrate the following types of activities:

• Fluency practice: Expressing ideas and presenting information freely by applying learners’ own linguistic knowledge.

• Skills practice: Engaging in tasks that develop different sets of speaking

skills that support oral communication: speech or communicative functions, interaction management and extended discourse organisation. • Knowledge about language and discourse: Examining linguistic demands for speaking in the context of specific tasks to learn grammar, discourse structure, vocabulary and pronunciation. • Pre-task planning: Selecting what to say, strategies to use and where possible, rehearsing. • Task repetition: Increasing time on task by doing the speaking task again and enhance fluency, language and content. • Strategy instruction: Learning to apply communication strategies to compensate for language gaps and facilitate speech production. • Metacognitive instruction: Increasing metacognitive knowledge about self through introspection, evaluation and feedback, the nature and demands of L2 speaking tasks, and strategies for communication and learning.

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This way of teaching provides learners with many opportunities to speak and develop their fluency. It also raises learners’ awareness about the role they themselves play in L2 speaking. It develops important knowledge about language and the way speech is structured differently for different purposes, contexts and audiences. Strategies for oral communication are also important in such an approach. By learning to use these strategies, learners can manage their speaking and interactions more effectively, thus giving them confidence to engage in more talk in the L2. Finally, feedback from the teacher and peers help learners plan and monitor their learning for future success. Importantly, these experiences also provide learners with many opportunities to use the spoken language in authentic learning. Teachers should bear in mind the cognitive processes involved in speech production that often result in problems for L2 learners. They will not be able to attend to conceptualisation (planning the message content), formulation (using grammar and vocabulary to express meaning) and articulation (forming utterances with clear and intelligible sounds) at the same time. They may experience cognitive overload or suffer undue anxiety. Teachers can make the speaking experience more manageable for learners by planning and sequencing different kinds of learning activities to scaffold their learning to speak. There should be activities that allow learners to just focus on expressing their ideas or conveying information without undue concern for language accuracy. There should also be other activities where learners can pay attention to specific aspects of language and speaking skills, and do this at a manageable pace. In brief the activities can be organised according to their focus – fluency, language (includes discourse) and metacognitive. By integrating these activities coherently in a pedagogical sequence, teachers can help learners develop their speaking comprehensively and holistically.

1.  Fluency Activities Fluency activities are communicative activities that allow learners to practise speaking in pairs or groups. The focus is on constructing and conveying a message using the learners’ own linguistic resources. Fluency practice helps learners become more confident even though they may not express all their ideas precisely because of imperfect language. These activities include information-­gap activities, role play, simulations, discussions and debates. Such activities can be challenging for learners as they must combine multiple aspects of speech production: content, vocabulary, grammar, discourse structure and pronunciation. Therefore, it is important to assure learners that they are not expected to produce accurate and fluent language, especially when they are at the initial learning stage. The emphasis is on getting

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their message using their knowledge of the language and content. This also takes the pressure off learners who have so heavy a cognitive load when engaging in a speaking task that they are not able to monitor their mistakes. Meaningful and motivating speaking tasks are important for developing learners’ oral skills. Communicative activities that aim to promote fluency should create the need to communicate and a purpose for getting the tasks completed. For example, a simulation task for choosing the right candidate for a scholarship requires a group discussion to set criteria, evaluate selected candidates, express opinions and make decisions. In a debate, learners must take a position and argue in support of or against it and a final resolution may or may not be needed. One way to engage and motivate learners to speak up is to use contexts and issues that they are familiar with. Authentic materials and real-life situations will generate more interest. Learners will also look forward to applying what they learn in the classroom to situations outside the classroom. Fluency activities also need not be confined to the classroom. Taking learners outside the classroom and assigning them tasks that involve them in communities or with other classes are interesting and motivating. It brings novelty to language leaning and a purpose for language use. In most speaking lessons, oral communication activities are typically done only once by students, and they move on to other activities such as reading or writing after that. In this book we advocate that fluency activities be repeated within the same lesson or in a subsequent one for the benefits we have discussed in Part 1. (You can find fluency activities in Part 2, Section A and B.)

2.  Language-Focused Activities Language-focused activities help learners focus on the linguistic aspects of spoken texts, namely grammar, discourse knowledge, vocabulary and pronunciation. Grammar, discourse knowledge and vocabulary will help learners improve the clarity and organisation of their message while pronunciation will enhance their intelligibility. By increasing learners’ knowledge of language, they can acquire more language to improve their next speaking performance. Over time, their accuracy may also improve. Language features such as discourse markers will help learners structure spoken discourse and signal their intentions clearly to listeners. Learning to use formulaic language in speech will also help them communicate more effectively without using too many cognitive resources for putting some ideas together. We can raise learners’ awareness of language before they carry out a speaking task as part of pre-task planning. We can also offer language support for them to carry out a task. Nevertheless, carrying out language-focused

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activities after they have engaged in a fluency task can create a need and a familiar context for them to pay attention to the forms being examined. They may also be more motivated to learn more about task-relevant language because they might have experienced some language gaps when carrying out the speaking task. Avoid overwhelming learners with too many language and discourse features they need to pay attention to. It is more helpful to pre-select at most two or three language features (e.g., particular topic-specific grammar and/or vocabulary items) that they can examine and learn for their next task. (You can find activities for learning about spoken discourse and language in Part 2, Section C.)

3.  Metacognitive Activities Metacognitive activities develop learners’ ability to think deeply about what they are learning. Equipped with metacognitive knowledge, learners can plan, monitor and evaluate their speaking performance; they can think about the difficulties they might have and plan the strategies they can use to overcome the difficulties. While being engaged in a speaking task, they can monitor their performance and make necessary corrections. After they have completed a task, learners reflect on the effectiveness of their tactics and strategies to make adjustment by using fewer of those that are not helpful and more frequently the ones that have proven to work effectively. Likewise, evaluation is a powerful strategy that enables the learners to examine and monitor their performance. Learning without evaluation is blind as there is no feedback on what has been going on and learners can end up wasting time before they realise if an approach or strategy is appropriate. We use the term evaluation interchangeably with assessment here. Planning, monitoring and evaluation (or self-assessment) are characteristics of effective L2 speakers. They are also characteristics of self-directed learners. These activities can be integrated with fluency and language-focused activities at different points in a lesson or a unit of work. Learners draw on their person knowledge, reflecting about themselves as L2 speakers. They draw on task knowledge to understand the nature and demands of L2 speaking and strategy knowledge to assess the strategies that may be helpful for oral communication and overall speaking development. For example, before they start a fluency task, students are asked to think about how they would approach it and think about the challenges they might face.  They prepare the content for what they are going to say and the strategies they might need. At the end of their lesson, learners reflect on the effectiveness of their speaking performance. (You can find metacognitive activities in Part 2, Section D.)

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B. The Teaching Speaking Cycle The TSC by Goh and Burns (2012) consists of seven connected stages. It can be taught as a single lesson or over several lessons in a coherent unit of work in a language course. Figure 3.1 presents the TSC, identifying the pedagogical purpose and the type of activities that teachers can do at each stage. Table 3.1 presents the various stages of learning in the TSC stages from the learners’ perspectives. It specifies the learning objectives and identifies how each stage supports learners’ speaking and learning processes. The type of activities that they experience is identified and the resources needed to carry out the respective activities are also highlighted. 1. Focus learners' attention on speaking METACOGNITIVE 2. Provide input and guide planning

7. Facilitate feedback on learning

LANGUAGE AND METACOGNITIVE

METACOGNITIVE

6. Direct learners' reflection on learning and performance METACOGNITIVE

Teaching Speaking Cycle

3. Conduct speaking task

FLUENCY

4. 5. Repeat speaking task FLUENCY

FIGURE 3.1 

Focus on language/ discourse/skills/strategies LANGUAGE AND METACOGNITIVE

The Teaching Speaking Cycle: A Model for Teaching L2 Speaking

Source: Adapted from Teaching Speaking: A Holistic Approach (p.153), by C. C . M. Goh and A. Burns, 2012, Cambridge University Press. Copyright 2012 by Cambridge University Press. Reproduced with permission of the Licensor through PLSclear.

TABLE 3.1  Developing learners’ speaking competence through each stage of the Teaching Speaking Cycle

Stages of learning

Objectives for learners

Activity type

Resources

1. Focus on what Tune in to the nature and demands of learning to Metacognitive speaking involves speak in an L2 Reflect on previous learning about speaking

(Continued)

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A set of prompts and questions or checklists to elicit learners’ thoughts on the speaking process generally or a speaking task specifically (See Sections 2A, 2B and 2D) Metacognitive and Texts or visuals to stimulate thinking about 2. Plan how to Identify what the task requires fulfil the Activate/learn knowledge about content and social Language-focused strategies and content Vocabulary lists speaking task and linguistic conventions Rehearsal of parts Prepare language and selected utterances (See Sections 2A and 2B) Activate strategies for approaching task 3. Do the speaking Develop fluency when speaking on a topic Fluency Outline of activities task Learn specific speaking skills (See Section 2A) Increase confidence and motivation Notice grammar, discourse features, vocabulary, or Language-focused Video/audio recordings of students doing 4. Examine and Metacognitive the task pronunciation language, Recordings of other people doing a similar discourse, skills Acquire new linguistic elements: grammar, task discourse, vocabulary and pronunciation and strategies Video/audio Recognise that contexts and genres influence Transcripts of spoken texts. grammar choices Prompts for observing teacher’s preLearn cultural appropriateness of use and selected grammar/discourse items, conventions vocabulary, skills and strategies Improve relevant speaking skills (See Sections 2A, 2B and 2C) Develop and evaluate communication strategies

Stages of learning

Objectives for learners

Activity type

Fluency 5. Repeat speaking Recognise the purpose for repeating tasks Produce better versions of spoken output task compared with Stage 3 – more use of complex and precise language, richer content and vocabulary greater fluency and accuracy Improve confidence and motivation 6. Reflect on own Evaluation of speaking performance at Stage 3 and Metacognitive learning and Stage 5 performance Increase person knowledge of skills and challenges Increase awareness of appropriate strategies for communication Metacognitive Consider feedback from teacher and peers on 7. Learn from teacher and peer performance Recognise areas of strengths and limitations feedback to improve future Make plans for developing areas of improvement performance

Resources The same or modified oral communication task from Stage 3. (See Sections 2A and 2B)

A set of prompts and questions or a checklist to elicit learners’ thoughts on their speaking performance. (See Section 2D) Teacher assessment for learning rubrics Teacher and/or peer feedback on the individual’s or group’s performance A set of prompts and questions or a checklist for planning and evaluation (See Sections 2A and 2D)

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TABLE 3.1 (Continued)

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A feature of the TSC is that learners get to repeat a fluency task after learning more about how to improve their performance. Teachers can use prompts that guide themselves and the learners to identify specific aspects of performance in the fluency tasks. They can consider how well the learners have expressed their ideas or conveyed information, and what contributed to this performance. They can compare learners’ performance when they first attempt a speaking task and when they repeat the task after learning more about how to do the task. In the TSC, learners have a chance to examine their own language use in the language-focused activity that follows the fluency task. Teachers should use this time to teach or correct language, draw attention to vocabulary, discourse organisation and other pre-selected aspects of language, skills and strategies. Teachers can prepare additional resources particularly for language-­ focused activities. One source is the internet where many audio or video resources are freely available. Many radio broadcasts are available as podcast for download with transcripts of the speech. Spoken texts can also be found in the recorded materials for listening comprehension activities that also come with transcripts. These recordings and transcripts are suitable material for learning grammar, vocabulary, discourse features and pronunciation. They are also resources for observing the use of skills and strategies for oral interactions and presentations. Metacognitive engagement is important for learning. This is done throughout the cycle and explicitly through the framing of the activities in the TCS. The cycle begins with learners thinking about the task of learning to speak and ends with reflections and feedback which can provide linkages to another cycle in the future. The increased awareness of L2 speaking can help learners become increasingly aware of the task of speaking and how to manage their speaking development better with time. Feedback on performance is important for learners and it has specific roles in the TCS. Many teachers refrain from giving immediate feedback to their students when they are performing a speaking task for fear of discouraging them if the feedback focuses on their weaknesses. That is the reason feedback from teachers in the TSC is delayed till the end of that cycle. It is given when the learners’ experience of the speaking task is still fresh on their minds and they have had other opportunities to work on their performance and reflect on their own performance and learning. When learners think about their performance after a task is over, they learn to evaluate it without solely relying on others to tell them how well they have done. Teachers can

•Focus learners' attention on speaking • Provide language input • Guide planning

(Fluency) •Practise and develop speaking skills • Develop confidence and motivation

PRE-SPEAKING (Metacognitive and Language-Focused)

TSC Stages 1 and 2 FIGURE 3.2 A

TSC Stage 3

• Examine language

and discourse features • Examine skills and strategies

POST-SPEAKING (Language-Focused and Metacognitive)

TSC Stage 4

SPEAKING TASK REPETITION (Fluency) •Improve fluency •Improve skill and strategy learning •Increase confidence and motivation

TSC Stage 5

•Direct learners' reflection on learning and performance •Facilitate feedback on learning

SELF-ASSESSMENT AND FEEDBACK (Metacognitive)

TSC Stages 6 and 7

Pedagogical Sequence for Teaching and Learning L2 Speaking (Based on the Teaching Speaking Cycle by Goh and Burns, 2012)

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SPEAKING TASK

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facilitate learners’ final reflections with individual prompts or a teacher-led discussion for the whole class. Peer feedback is just as valuable as teacher feedback. As it can be less high stakes than teachers’ feedback, peer feedback can be incorporated into earlier parts of the cycle. For example, it can be done after learners have completed an activity in pairs or groups. We show how this is done in some of the activities in Part 2, Section A. Learners, however, do not have the skills for evaluation and feedback. Teachers should teach them how to evaluate their peers’ performance so that their feedback is constructive and useful. An added advantage of peer feedback is that learners have to be focused on what their peers are doing in order to offer helpful comments/suggestions. When learners highlight areas of improvement for their peers, it also draws their attention to those areas they must pay attention to themselves. Similarly, when they recognise what their peers have done well in, they will also learn from these strengths. Figure 3.2 summarises the activities in the TSC stages into five main components and identifies the pedagogical purposes in each one – fluency, language-focused and metacognitive. This pedagogical sequence can be repeated with another topic; hence starting a new cycle of activities for new lessons or units of work.

C. Lesson Planning with the Teaching Speaking Cycle In this section, we will show how you can apply the TSC pedagogical model to plan a lesson or a unit of work, which is a series of lessons on the same topic. A lesson is typically completed on the same day. In many language classes, a lesson can range from under an hour to one or more hours. A unit of work spreads activities over several days. You will see that some stages in the cycle warrant more time while others may need less. For example, Stages 2, 3, 4 and 5 would require more time on the tasks, as they are on planning, delivering and repeating speaking tasks. The plans refer to selected activities in Part 2. Compared with the procedures in Part 2, the plans have more detail and may also be modified. This will give you an idea how you can adapt or modify the procedures according to your students’ needs and time available for conducting the lessons. For the longer lessons presented here, you can break up the plan into separate lessons and deliver them over several days as a teaching unit.

Sample TSC Plan 1

Duration:

Intermediate A Personal Anecdote Introduce a topic of an anecdote Describe actions and people Express feelings Formulaic expressions used in telling an anecdote (personal recount) Structure of an anecdote (abstract/overview – orientation – problem/sequence of events – comments/response) Simple past tense and past continuous tense Frame a narrative, use formulaic expressions, paraphrase, substitute 90 minutes

Stage

Procedures

Estimated time

Activities and resources from Part 2

1. Focus learners’ attention on speaking

a. Organise students into small groups of three. b. Introduce the activity of Recall and Recount. c. Tell students to write short responses to prompts about speaking in English.

10 minutes

2. Provide input and guide planning

10 minutes a. Give students the topic for narrating a personal anecdote. b. Explain the stages of a simple anecdote: overview/ abstract, orientation, problem and personal response. c. Ask students to select one topic individually and prepare the content and the way they will anecdote.

Section A13 Recall and Recount Prompts: Do you enjoy telling stories in English? How would you organise a personal story or an anecdote? See also Section 2D, Activity 2 Section A13 Recall and Recount Additional input: A list of vocabulary items relevant to the topics

Level: Topic: Speaking skills: Language focus: Strategies:

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1.

3. Conduct speaking task 4. Focus on language/ discourse/ skills/strategies

Students’ own notes based on Stage 2.

A recording by the teacher or another competent English speaker. Transcripts of the recording. Additional resources: Examples of Formulaic: expressions: “I’d like to tell you about …” “This happened when …” “It left a deep impression on me.” “Today when I recall this incident, I feel …”

(Continued)

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5. Repeat speaking task

15 minutes a. Instruct students to take turns to narrate their personal anecdote in their small groups. b. Ask them to use their mobile phone to record their own anecdote. 20 minutes a. Have students listen to an audio recording or watch a video recording of someone narrating a personal anecdote. b. Ask them to identify and write down expressions that the speaker uses for giving the overview and ending the anecdote with a personal response. c. Give students a transcript of the recording. Students listen again with the help of the transcript, underlining the relevant expressions when they hear them. d. Direct students’ attention to the following in the transcript: the four phases in an anecdote: overview/abstract: orientation, problem/sequence of events and personal comments/response formulaic expressions that signal these phrases. e. Get students to listen to/watch the recording again. Tell them to pay attention to the language features discussed in (d). 15 minutes a. Reorganise students and form new groups. b. Have students repeat their anecdotes in the new groups. c. Ask them to use their mobile phone to record their own anecdote.

Stage

Procedures

6. Direct learners’ reflection on learning and performance

a. Ask students to listen to the two versions of their 10 minutes anecdote (at Stage 3 and Stage 5). b. Give students a set of prompts for post-speaking self-assessment. c. Students compare their performance in the two Stages – 3 and 5 – and respond to the prompts. d. When the students have finished, give them another set of prompts for peer assessment. e. Tell students to consider how their group members have performed and write their responses in the prompt sheet. a. Have the group members share their assessment of 10 minutes one another’s performance. b. Ask students to reflect on their peers’ comments and make plans to further strengthen their good points and work on their areas for improvement. c. Collect all reflection and self-assessment sheets to find out more about your students’ learning and experience. Option: Make notes of students’ performance during the lesson and provide feedback on strengths and areas for improvement.

7. Facilitate feedback on learning

Estimated time

Activities and resources from Part 2 Section 2D, material from Activity D6 and D8. Adapt accordingly.

Section 2D, material from Activity D6 and D8. Adapt accordingly.

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(Continued)

2.

Sample TSC Plan 2

Strategies: Duration:

Intermediate Associating pictures with feelings and expressing them Describe objects, narrate an event, express feelings, express possibilities Useful expressions for talking about guesses and possibilities Past and present modal forms (modal + have + the past participle form of the verb; modal + verb) used to express past and present possibilities; past time verb tenses (simple past, past progressive, past perfect) Use narrative structure, talk about a past event, and use relevant expressions, 170 minutes

Stage

Procedures

Level: Topic: Speaking skills: Language focus:

Estimated time Activities and resources from Part 2 Section 2A, Activity A18: Draw, Share and Think 1. Follow the procedure in Section 2A Activity A18, or modify it as shown here. Additional prompts: 1. What was the most memorable event in your life? 2. Draw a picture of two or three objects that are related to the event. Material from Activity A18. This sample event can be recorded by the teacher or a competent speaker. Transcript of the recording (Continued)

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1. Focus learners’ a. Organise students in pairs. 10 minutes attention on b. Introduce the activity of Draw, Share and Think. speaking 2. Provide input and a. Tell students to recall the most unforgettable event in 30 minutes guide planning their life and draw a picture of objects (no more than three) that they associate with it. b. Have students show their partner their drawing and think about the question prompts. • How do the objects make me feel? • How do I organise the event associated with these objects? • They write down short responses to these questions. c. Explain the structure of a narrative: overview, orientation, problem and personal response. d. Have students listen to a short sample recount of an event and identify the four stages in the event. e. Project on the screen the transcript of the recording and highlight the four stages.

(Continued) Procedures

Estimated time Activities and resources from Part 2

30 minutes 3. Conduct speaking a. Have the pairs speak about their feelings and the task event that is behind the objects they drew. b. While listening to each other, instruct the pairs to observe their partner’s use of • adjectives to show feelings • past verb tenses • organisation of the event c. Have students exchange notes and help each other make adjustments. d. When students have finished, ask them to record their own event on their cell phone. e. When the recording is over, collect all the picture cards and put them in a box. 30 minutes 4. Focus on language a. Teach students the past modal form (modal + have /discourse/skills/ + past participle of the verb) and the present modal strategies form that show possibilities in the past and present respectively. b. Have students compare the past modal sentence with the present modal sentence and then make their own sentences. c. Invite two volunteers to write sentences on the board or project on the screen. Explain the two forms. d. Reorganise students in groups of three. Have them randomly pick a picture card and answer these three questions: • What could the objects mean? • What could be the story behind these objects? • How might the person who drew these objects have felt?

Students’ responses based on Stage 2 Materials from Activity A18. Additional prompts: 1. What adjectives have been used? 2. What past verb tenses have been used? 3. What are the stages of the event?

Additional resources: Example modal sentences: 1. Past modal form “The story could have happened in late autumn as the leaves had fallen on the ground.” 2. Present modal form “The picture of the fishing rod could mean that the owner enjoyed fishing.” Students’ own sentences Students’ present and past modal sentences

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Stage

5. Repeat speaking task

Section 2A, Activity A18 Section 2C, Activity C2 –Materials: Set 2

Stage 2D Students’ own story

Students’ own recording Use materials in Section 2D or the prompts suggested here. Peer comments Stage 3d and Stage 5c Questions for reflection: 1. Think about how you did in the following areas: • use of adjectives • use of story frame • use of modal verbs • use of past verb tenses (Continued)

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6. Direct learners’ reflection on learning and performance

e. Have students refer to the expressions to talk about their speculations. f. When the groups have finished, select two students to share with the whole class what they guessed about the drawings. g. Ask the students whose drawings are selected to share the actual feelings and stories for their drawings. When they tell their stories, they should use the structure for a narrative. a. Get all the students to organise their story according 20 minutes to the structure of a narrative. b. Instruct students to walk about, sharing their pictures and talk about their event. c. Ask students to record their story again using their mobile phone and send it to a classmate (text message or email attachment). a. Upon receiving their classmates’ recording, students 30 minutes complete the following: Listen to the recording. Note the expressions/words of feelings and check to see if the story develops according to the narrative frame. Send back comments. b. Instruct students to read peer comments on the recording. c. Tell them to listen to two recordings of their event and use the reflection questions to self-evaluate performance.

Stage

Procedures

Estimated time Activities and resources from Part 2

d. Have students compare their recount of the event in the two stages and respond to the four questions for reflection. e. Get them to consider how their peers have done and what they can learn from them. f. Instruct students to write down their responses to the questions for reflection. 20 minutes 7. Facilitate feedback a. Divide students into groups of three. on learning b. Get group members to share their reflections, peer comments and their plans. Collect what students have written. c. Read students’ reflections on performance and their plans to understand their learning processes. d. Plan a whole-class feedback session in the next lesson.

2. What differences have you noticed between the first and second recording? 3. What can you learn from your classmates’ performance? 4. What can you do to improve your speaking for similar tasks? Notes from Stage 3 and Stage 6

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(Continued)

3.

Sample TSC Plan 3

Level: Topic: Speaking skills: Language focus: Strategies: Duration:

Intermediate and above Compiling information reports about places of interest in a city Describe places, make recommendations, explain reasons, express viewpoints Transition markers to signal direction; passive voice sentences to refer to tourist attractions Use report structure, transition markers, formulaic expressions and passive voice sentences 170 minutes

Stage

Procedures

1. Focus learners’ attention on speaking

10 minutes a. Tell students they will search on the internet for information about tourist attractions in their city and recommend them to a group of exchange students. They will take the role of the city residents. b. Direct students’ attention to the three prompts and tell them to take notes.

2. Provide input and guide planning

a. Show an example of a tourist attraction with pictures 20 minutes and reasons why it’s special/interesting. b. Have each student follow the example and complete the following tasks: • looking for information about one popular place in the city • explaining why the place is of interest to the exchange students • downloading/taking pictures of the place.

Estimated time Activities and resources from Part 2

(Continued)

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An expanded version of Section 2A, Activity A27: Collate and Report Prompts: 1. What is your favourite place of interest in the city? 2. What is so special about that place? 3. Do you think you can describe this orally to a partner? Why or why not? Teacher’s example, reasons and pictures. Students’ own resources from the internet

(Continued) Procedures

Estimated time Activities and resources from Part 2

3. Conduct speaking a. When finished, divide students into groups of three 30 minutes task and tell them to listen to one another’s descriptions of places and fill in the information sheet “Places and Reasons”. b. Each group projects on the screen or provides a digital copy of the recommended places and reports them in class. a. Ask students to compare an information report with 40 minutes 4. Focus on a short story and get them to share their knowledge language/ with students next to them. discourse/skills/ b. Have one or two volunteers share their ideas in class. strategies c. Explain the organisation and transition markers of an information report and a story (set b). d. Have students watch a short video/audio report and draw their attention to the structure and signposting of the report e. Give students a few minutes to talk in pairs about what they have noticed. f. Project the transcript of the report on the screen and ask students to identify different sections and the transition markers. g. Have students individually reorganise the descriptions of their places according to the example in the video/ audio. h. Form new groups of three and have students present the place they recommend. i. Introduce the past form of the passive voice and explain its basic formation and functions. j. Have each student make two sentences following the examples and add them to their information report.

Additional resources: Materials: Set a: Places and Reasons Groups’ completed sheets Additional resources: Questions comparing an information report with a story 1. How does an information report differ from a short story? 2. How are they organised? 3. What transition markers are used for a report and a story? Materials: Set b. A video/audio from the internet or recorded by a competent speaker Transcript of a video/audio report Students’ own Example sentences in the passive voice: 1. The city hall was designed and rebuilt in 1950. 2. Two years before that, it had been destroyed in a fire.

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Stage

Index cards for displaying place names Students’ own 1. Peer and self-assessment checklist 2. Formulaic expression “Today I’d like to recommend …” “Now let’s move on to the …” “To sum up, these are the reasons I think …” Peer and Self-assessment Checklist Questions for reflection: 1. Think about what you have done well and what you are not satisfied with. 2. What do you think are the causes? Peer and self-assessment checklist Section 2D, Activity D4, Set b and set c: self and peer assessment checklist

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20 minutes a. Instruct students to write their place name on an index card and display it on their desk. b. Have half of the class play the role of the city residents who present tourist attractions; the other half will play exchange students who listen and assess the speakers. Encourage speakers to include some formulaic expressions to facilitate their speech. c. When the first half has finished, ask the rest of the student to take over the role play by repeating the procedure in b. a. When all the popular places have been recommended, 20 minutes 6. Direct learners’ get students to look at their peers’ assessment and reflection on make clarifications as needed. learning and b. Instruct students to assess their own delivery of performance the report using the self-assessment sections of the checklist. They probe into the reasons for their performance. 7. Facilitate feedback a. Have students think about their peers’ assessment and 30 minutes on learning comments. b. Plan concrete steps for addressing weaknesses. c. Collect students’ peer and self-assessment checklist. Arrange individual conferencing to give feedback. 5. Repeat speaking task

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Materials Set a: Places and reasons Places

Reasons I recommend this place

Student A’s place Student B’s place Student C’s place Student D’s place

Set b: Comparing information report with a short story: Organisation and transition markers Types of speaking form

Organisation

Transition markers

An information report

Basic structure of a report Typically, a group of words showing a listing • Introduction order: • Main part • First/First of all, • Conclusion • Second, • Another reason is… • In addition, …

A short story

Basic four-stage story • overview • orientation • problem • event response

Words that show a chronological order: • First, • Second, • Before …, • After… • When • Later • At the same time

Set c: Peer and self-assessment checklist Directions: Circle the number that matches your classmate’s and your own performance: Very well (3); well (2); not well at all (1).

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Name of Students

Assessment criteria

Peer Peer Self-assessment 1 assessment comments

Student 1

• Organisation of the report • Use of transition markers • Use of formulaic expressions • Use of the passive voice

321

321

321

321

321

321

321

321

Student 2 Student 3 Student 4

Self-assessment 2 Areas that I like: Areas for improvement: Two things to do to improve:

4.

Planning Your Own Teaching Speaking Cycle

The TSC plans above demonstrate how teachers can use the TSC as a framework to integrate various kinds of activities for teaching and learning of L2 speaking – metacognitive activities, language-focused activities and fluency activities. Although the lesson duration in all three plans is 90 minutes or more, it does not mean that all the stages must be completed on the same day. Each cycle can be seen as a unit of work and can be delivered over several lessons spread over several days, or on the same day if a language lesson is 90 minutes or longer for your students. You should adjust the delivery of the different stages of the TSC according to the way the timetable is structured in your teaching situation. In Table 3.2 you will find a planning outline that you can use to try your hand at planning a TSC. As we have shown above, the activities for each stage of the TSC can be taken from Part 2. You can use your own activities too. The main aim of using this framework is to help teachers be intentional in including activities that can develop different aspects of our students’ speaking.

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Here are some simple steps you can follow: 1. Think about a class you want to teach – the students and their proficiency level. 2. Identify a topic that is of interest to this class. 3. Decide how long this TSC (a lesson or a series of lessons) will be. State the duration in minutes. 4. Identify skills, language items and strategies you aim to help your students develop. (If you are planning a short lesson, you can choose to focus on just one of each.) 5. Refer to Sections 2A–D and select activities that will deliver your objectives for learning speaking skills, language and strategies, as well as developing confidence and fluency. 6. Match these activities to the relevant stages in the TSC. You may also want to adapt the activities or combine them in ways that suit your students’ needs better. 7. Review your plan to see that the time allocation is realistic. TABLE 3.2  Lesson planning outline for the Teaching Speaking Cycle

Level: Topic: Speaking skills: Language focus: Strategies: Duration: Stage 1. Focus learners’ attention on speaking 2. Provide input and guide planning 3. Conduct speaking task 4. Focus on language/ discourse/skills/strategies 5. Repeat speaking task 6. Direct learners’ reflection on learning and performance 7. Facilitate feedback on learning

Procedures Estimated time

Activities and resources from Part 2

Part 4 FROM IMPLEMENTATION TO RESEARCH

DOI: 10.4324/9780429265402-8

202  From Implementation to Research

Introduction Part 1 of this book introduced you to some theory and research insights into L2 speaking. Part 2 offered many activities for teaching speaking, while Part 3 showed you how to organise these activities into coherent lesson sequences and larger units of work. Now that you have considered, or maybe even tried out, these ideas and activities, you are ready to carry out some inquiries that can help you explore, examine and reflect on your own understanding and practice of L2 speaking instruction.

A. Teachers Inquiring into Your Own Practice Your development as a teacher is a lifelong process of learning and there are many ways that you can do this to become an effective teacher of L2 speaking. For example, you can attend professional learning courses, read books on pedagogy, listen to podcasts or visit language education and research websites to learn from other teachers and experts. You can also be a part of a teacher community of practice to learn from one another by sharing your best practices. An important way in which you can develop professionally is through inquiring into what you do in the classroom and how you think about student learning. Although academic researchers are the ones who conduct most of the research on various aspects of teaching and learning, as teachers you are well placed to study what happens in your classroom and why it happens. Teachers can carry out research that focuses on their classroom and teaching to understand better their students’ learning and improve it (Woodward, Graves & Freeman, 2018). In other words, you can find out about how your students learn speaking skills and the teacher actions that are more effective for teaching speaking and those less so. One popular approach is through action research, where teachers aim to intervene in a teaching situation “in order to bring about changes and, even better, improvements in practice”. Such improvements are based on data collected and not from “our hunches or assumption about the way we think things are” (Burns, 2010, p. 2). In addition to examining your practice (externals) of teaching, you are also strongly encouraged to examine your thinking and recollections (internals) of experiences by inquiring collectively or individually, as well as supporting your colleagues in their own inquiry (Woodward et al., 2018). Such inquiry allows you to investigate your thinking and beliefs related to how students learn to speak in an L2 and what effective ways there are to help them develop as L2 speakers. In doing this, you are examining your own “cognition”, which includes assumptions, beliefs, decision-making processes and knowledge (Borg, 2006).

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The word “inquiry” will be used in the rest of this chapter to refer to the processes by which you can collect data about yourselves, your students and your teaching, and understand how these various elements contribute to your students’ learning of L2 speaking. There are two ways by which you can engage in teacher inquiry: by doing inquiry tasks and through conducting inquiry projects. These will be explained later in this chapter. You can participate in inquiry tasks individually or with colleagues as your professional development activities. Projects would require more time to complete and enable you to collect data from which you can draw conclusions and teaching implications. These can be individual or collaborative endeavours (see Burns, Edwards & Ellis, 2022). You can focus on distinct aspects of your work as a speaking teacher. Here are three areas of inquiry that are relevant to L2 speaking:

• Examining your personal knowledge, beliefs and assumptions of teach-

ing L2 speaking. You can refer to the theoretical and research insights discussed in Part 1. These areas can be the focus for your examination and reflection as to how much you know about the concept of L2 speaking. You can also review your current classroom practice and explain your personal theories, which are your beliefs and assumptions, for the way you have been teaching L2 speaking.

• Finding out about the effectiveness of your teaching activities

As you carry out your regular teaching activities as well as new ones, it is important that you also find out how these activities have influenced your students’ learning. Part 2 of this book offered various activities that help to develop your students’ awareness of speaking processes as well as improving their fluency, language knowledge, skills and strategies. These activities can be the focus of your inquiry.

• Understanding your learners’ characteristics and learning needs

This area of inquiry focuses on your learners’ characteristics and learning needs with respect to learning L2 speaking. It enables you to understand your students better so that you can plan activities and speaking lessons that can address their interests, knowledge, habits and goals. When you are intentional in understanding your students from their perspectives, you give them a voice to guide you in planning better learning experiences for them.

Within each of the three areas above, there are a number of topics you can focus on according to your purpose for inquiry. Table 4.1 states objectives for each area and suggests topics that you can focus on. You can match the

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topics to different objectives. These objectives and topics can be addressed in short professional developments tasks or addressed more comprehensively in projects that research a specific topic of interest. This will be elaborated upon in the following sections. TABLE 4.1  Areas, topics and objectives for inquiring into L2 speaking

Area of focus

Objectives of inquiry

• To examine ideas that have Personal influenced your teaching. knowledge, • To understand your own beliefs and thinking about the construct assumptions of L2 speaking. about teaching • To identify areas where L2 speaking you will need professional development. • To develop a set of vocabulary for sharing experiences on teaching L2 speaking with other teachers. • To improve the teaching of L2 Effectiveness speaking for better learning. of teaching activities for L2 • To understand teaching conditions that facilitate or speaking impede teaching and learning. • To generate questions for further inquiry. • To identify ways of adapting activities and material. • To obtain insights into your Learner students’ perceptions of characteristics their own understanding and and needs in learning. L2 speaking development • To identify sources of anxiety and motivation for your students. • To identify students’ learning needs for planning appropriate teaching activities. • To provide students with appropriate levels of support and guidance.

Topics • Processes in speech production • Linguistic knowledge for L2 speaking • Speaking skills • Speaking and thinking • Speaking and writing • Affective factors in speaking • Communication strategies • Supporting speaking

• Increasing awareness about L2 speaking • Learning about language • Developing fluency • Learning to discuss • Planning before tasks • Repeating tasks • Using communication strategies • Awareness levels about the L2 speaking process and demands • Challenges in L2 speaking development • Tasks and events that lead to speaking and learning anxiety • Teacher actions, personal goals and efforts that influence learner motivation • Learners’ plans for improvements and perceived challenges • Learning strategies for monitoring progress • Use of communication strategies to facilitate speaking

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B. Inquiry Tasks Inquiry tasks are short professional learning activities that you can complete in a relatively brief time on your own or with other colleagues in a professional learning community. While each one is relatively short, they should build on each other. For example, a task that involves thinking and discussion about teaching speaking can be followed up with a task that examines the effectiveness of a teaching activity. It is important to have a clear focus for your inquiry. This can be determined by what you or your learning community consider to be your professional needs. For example, you may find that you have been carrying out speaking lessons by using activities in a prescribed textbook without thinking about the theory or pedagogical principles underpinning these activities. You may then want to examine your professional knowledge about the construct of speaking and what it takes to teach speaking effectively. You can start by planning a personal reflection or group discussion task to inquire into your knowledge as well as assumptions and beliefs about teaching speaking. A good follow-up task would be to examine some activities that you have been using and identify what theory or pedagogical principles are involved. After this, you may want to try out some activities presented in Part 2 of this book to see if these theory-informed approaches can be used effectively with your students. You can then examine whether your students have responded well to these activities by collecting some information about them directly. Finally, you can compare these activities with the ones in your textbook and see areas of similarities and differences, and consider whether you need to adapt the textbook activities. Figure 4.1 illustrates this process.

Select a topic of inquiry

Reflect individually or discuss with peers

Try out new activities and observe learners’ response

Compare and contrast existing and new material and activities

FIGURE 4.1 Planning

Examine existing teaching material and activities

a series of inquiry tasks to examine teachers’ knowledge and use of teaching activities

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As inquiry tasks are short, you can fit them into your professional routine daily, weekly or fortnightly. Moreover, since they do not require a large amount of time, you can focus on various aspects of teaching speaking.

1.  Doing Inquiry in a Group If you are doing the inquiry as a group, here are some easy steps you can follow to organise this inquiry:

• Agree on one of the three areas of focus for your inquiry (see Table 4.1). • Identify one or more objectives. • Select a topic that is of greatest interest to all. • Decide on some questions you want to answer in your collective inquiry. • Set aside a day and time (for example, 90 minutes a week) for your collective inquiry.

• Refer to Parts 1 and 2 of this book and identify a relevant section for pre-inquiry reading. • Appoint a leader to facilitate your reading and discussion on the day of your inquiry. (If you are doing this regularly with a group, different members can take turns to be the leader.) • Have each person prepare some responses to the questions before the inquiry day. • When you meet, share your responses to the questions and provide examples to illustrate your experience or views. • Identify next steps to follow up on your inquiry sharing. (For example, conducting peer observations of your speaking lessons, inviting a local expert to help address your areas of professional needs, carrying out selected teaching activities and observing students’ learning.) • Continue with your group inquiry by choosing another area or topic and repeat the rest of the steps.

2.  Doing Inquiry on Your Own If you are inquiring alone as part of your personal professional development, you can modify the steps above by doing the following:

• Set aside 30–40 minutes to begin your personal inquiry. For your first attempt, it would be better to spend a bit more time to work out a process.

• Prepare a professional development journal (a physical notebook or a Word file on your computer).

• Start by reflecting on your experiences in teaching L2 speaking. • Identify an area of immediate interest or need for you.

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• Select one or more objectives. • Select a topic of greatest relevance to you. • Write down one or two questions you want to answer. • Refer to Parts 1 and 2 of this book and identify a relevant section (A, B, C or D) for your reading.

• After you have reviewed that section, write down your responses to the questions and provide examples to illustrate your experience or views.

• Identify next steps that you can follow up on. (For example, invite a col-

league to observe your lesson, go online and search for useful websites, videos or podcasts concerning your area of interest, carry out a teaching activity and observe your students’ learning.)

3.  Questions to Ask Regardless of whether you are inquiring on your own or with colleagues, you should identify questions that you want answered. These questions would normally arise from your everyday practice – professional reflections, observations in class, doubts, a hunch, a plan, etc. The following box contains questions that you may have or may want to ask. They are organised according to the three areas of focus in Table 4.1. These questions are not exclusively for inquiry tasks. Many of them can also be considered when planning inquiry projects that will be discussed in the next section.

QUESTIONS FOR INQUIRY TASKS 1. Personal knowledge, beliefs and assumptions about teaching L2 speaking Here are some common questions that teachers may have about their own knowledge, assumptions and beliefs: 1. What does L2 speaking involve? 2. What does it mean to teach speaking? 3. Is speaking a single macro-skill or can it be broken down to smaller components or processes? 4. What factors affect good speaking performance? 5. Why do I teach speaking the way I do? What are my assumptions and beliefs? Other questions I or my colleagues and I can ask:

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2. Effectiveness of activities for teaching L2 speaking Here are some common questions that teachers may have about their teaching and students: 1. How can I help students to develop greater understanding of the speaking process? 2. Is it useful to have students repeat a speaking task and how can I do it in a way that they find interesting and motivating? 3. How do I teach pronunciation, not as drill and practice, but in a way that is meaningful? 4. How can I ensure that planning by students enables them to have good ideas to share? 5. How should I organise a speaking lesson? How long should students talk in a group activity? Other questions I or my colleagues and I can ask:

3. Learner characteristics and needs in L2 speaking development Here are some common questions that teachers may have about their students: 1. What makes my students interested in speaking lessons? 2. How can I help my students to view speaking as equally important as writing for their learning? 3. How do I get my students to contribute readily to discussions in class and prevent a few students dominating the talk? 4. How do I encourage my students to give elaborated/extended responses? 5. Why do my students communicate well in one situation but do poorly in another? Other questions that I or my colleagues and I can ask:

C. Inquiry Projects Inquiry projects for L2 speaking are research activities that focus on one specific area and topic over a period of time. It is likely to be a matter that is close to your heart and because of that you will want to devote a substantial amount of time inquiring into it. In some cases, you may undertake

From Implementation to Research  209

them as part of a formal teacher education programme or a research component in a graduate programme. If you are doing it as an extended part of your work as a teacher, you may want to do it with one or two other colleagues. In some cases, it may be more beneficial for you to examine areas of L2 speaking with some colleagues. This way you can compare your data, exchange views and draw useful applications for your common teaching situations. If you are interested in undertaking a project, three research categories proposed by Woodward et al. (2018) can help you decide which approach to take: Classroom research, teacher research and action research. These are explained in the following list with examples from L2 speaking we have added:

• Classroom research documents what takes place inside the classroom,

particularly in relation to student learning. Such studies are usually done by external researchers or teachers conducting research with formal supervision. For inquiry into L2 speaking, you can study teaching and learning processes, the use of textbook materials as well as student engagement with learning processes such as group activities. • Teacher research generates knowledge about teaching and learning from the teacher’s perspectives in order to understand and improve student learning. Such studies can be done by external researchers but also teachers themselves. For L2 speaking, you can elicit perceptions from yourself and other teachers about how L2 speaking should be taught and how students learn and what their learning needs are. • Action research aims to examine conditions and outcomes of teaching by teachers themselves in order to improve teaching and learning in their context. You can research your own practices in teaching L2 speaking and obtain data on your students’ learning and speaking development. This information helps you reflect on your teaching and plan future lessons to further your students’ improvement. In summary, the above approaches can help you and other teachers achieve the following aims:

• observe and understand how students learn in the classroom • obtain information on students’ learning characteristics and needs • carry out a method or techniques for teaching speaking and examine their effectiveness in improving learning and learner engagement

• document and explain your own knowledge, assumptions, beliefs and

decision-making processes regarding L2 speaking instruction and learning.

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1.  Topics of Inquiry Focus Just like inquiry tasks, inquiry projects are built on questions that you as a professional may have about yourself, your teaching and your students. To see how some language teachers undertook projects in the domain of L2 speaking, look at the list of project topics collated in Table 4.2. Most of these projects focused exclusively on speaking, while some included a component on speaking or oral skills. The topics of these projects are organised according to the three areas of focus presented in Table 4.1. It also shows the contexts in which these teachers were working and the types of students and classroom contexts they studied. Many of these topics are also relevant in contexts other than those that the teachers worked in.

TABLE 4.2 Projects that investigated the teaching and learning of second language

speaking

Area of focus

Project topics

Context

Personal knowledge, beliefs and assumptions about teaching L2 speaking

Teacher cognition in L2 oral English instruction in the Chinese university classrooms

Tertiary

Speaking in the secondary English Language classroom: Teachers’ beliefs, strategies and use of talk Challenges to teaching oracy skills in a neighbourhood secondary school: Perspectives from students and teachers Examining teacher expertise: A study of teacher beliefs, knowledge and practices for oral English instruction of young learners Managing second language speaking anxiety in postgraduate foreign students: A classroom intervention Group discussion in college EFL classrooms: Use of oral communication strategies, attitudes, participation and beliefs Influence of ICT-enabled pedagogy on speaking skills for picture discussion Teaching picture discussion skills for oral language development An intervention study in using communication strategies to improve speaking skills in conversations

Secondary

Effectiveness of teaching activities for L2 speaking

Secondary Primary Tertiary Tertiary Primary Primary Primary

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Learner characteristics and needs in L2 speaking development

Developing Primary Five students’ conversational performance through role play and conversational strategies Improving quality talk during small group discussions for P5 students Teaching of pronunciation for international intelligibility Singaporean Secondary Three students’ metacognitive knowledge about English oral skills learning Motivation for learning standard spoken English Metacognitive knowledge about English language learning of Chinese tertiary-level students A study of Secondary Three students’ language anxiety Investigating small group talk in a polytechnic classroom A discourse approach to the investigation of intonational features of the Chinese L2 learners of English Perspectives from students and teachers on the challenges to teaching oracy skills in a neighbourhood secondary school Primary school students’ discussion skills

Primary

Primary Adult education Secondary Secondary Tertiary Secondary Tertiary Tertiary Secondary Primary

2.  Considerations When Planning an Inquiry Project Here are some steps that you will need to follow if you would like to study you own practice and other aspects of teaching L2 speaking:

• getting started – thinking about your students’ learning needs • reflecting on your practice/experiences • identifying an inquiry focus • asking the relevant inquiry questions • finding out what others have done • identifying your research design • choosing you methods for collecting evidence/data • analysing your data • relating your analysis to your inquiry question to identify findings • communicating your findings to others • determining the implications for your practice.

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For more details on how you can carry out your studies, you can refer to Burns (2010) and Burns et al. (2022), as well as other books for teachers interested in research. If you plan to undertake formal courses at an academic institution, you will receive supervision to help you complete your project. If you are doing this as part of professional inquiry in your school or college, you can get the help of experienced researchers as action research mentors to guide your research while partnering the leadership of the educational organisations where you work to ensure your research is sustainable (Burns et al., 2022).

3.  Inquiry Tools and Procedures Many teachers may have encountered “control groups” and “experimental groups”, “pre-tests” and “post-tests” in conferences and workshops on teacher inquiry. These are important ways of doing research, but they are not the only ways to design your project. There are other tools and procedures that are more easily planned and carried out in natural settings for inquiry. What you choose to use should fit the purpose for answering the questions that you have. A useful way to carry out inquiry tasks is the observational approach, that is, to observe and record what happens in the classroom in order to examine practice after it has taken place. With technologies such as small, easily managed video and audio recording devices, it is now convenient for teachers to record a lesson and view it afterwards (rather than get third person observers to watch and use pen and paper recording techniques). Such recordings can be transcribed to varying levels of detail, in order to look for patterns or instances of interaction that relate to spoken communication and the language used. Increasingly, it is possible for teachers to annotate directly on to the video itself and upload the files to online platforms where annotated videos can be inspected or further edited by other members of the inquiry team. In addition to observational methods of collecting data on the classroom practice, there is a range of tools for finding out what was going on in the students’ minds – an important aspect of teacher inquiry. Teacherfacilitated focus group discussions post lesson can be set up to explore students’ insights into what they were doing and thinking in the classroom. If the discussions are audio recorded, their responses to a facilitator’s carefully designed questions are an important source of data for further analysis. In some cases, it may be possible to combine video recordings of a lesson with a focus group discussion approach, and use the video as a prompt for further student insights. Students can be surveyed before and after lessons, which is less time consuming and easier to administer, in order to find out their beliefs, preferences

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and understandings of specific aspects of the teaching or the skills being focused on. Survey questions can be in two forms, multiple-choice, allowing for quantitative processes and statistical summaries, or open-ended, which can yield richer qualitative information more suitable to understanding an individual’s or a group’s internal perspectives. Last but not least, many of the checklists and reflection tools found in Part 2 of this book can be repurposed for studying various aspects of the teaching of L2 speaking in a sustained manner. You can also adapt them for use with your group of students or to answer other questions of inquiry. There are also many books on conducting research in the classroom. The following Further Reading section contains some titles for your follow-up reading.

Further Reading Burns, A. (2010) Doing action research in English language teaching: A guide for practitioners. New York: Routledge. Burns, A., Edwards, E. & Ellis, J. N. (2022) Sustaining action research: A practical guide for institutional engagement. New York: Routledge. Churches, R. & Dommett, E. (2016) Teacher-led research: Designing and implementing randomised controlled trials and other forms of experimental research. Carmarthen: Crown House Publishing Limited. Firth, J. (2020) The teacher’s guide to research: Engaging with, applying and conducting research in the classroom. London: Routledge. Hughes, R. & Reed, B.S. (2017) Teaching and researching speaking (3rd Ed.). New York: Routledge.

Conclusion and Final Thoughts We set out to write a practical and useful book for teachers. At the same time, we wanted the book to be based on rigorous research and guided by theoretical perspectives. In Part 1 of this book, we presented these perspectives, which we have found useful for informing teachers’ practice. While there is a growing body of research into many aspects of speaking, we have selected these perspectives because of their currency and relevance to the classroom. We drew implications from the research findings and theories, and distilled several key pedagogical principles which can be applied when designing practical activities for teaching L2 speaking. The activities you see in Part 2 are the result of this. We have tried many of these activities and variations on them ourselves, and, in the course of our work, improved them. Inspired by the opportunities to translate theory and research into practice, we have also created new activities based on the insights drawn from the theoretical perspectives in Part 1.

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As language educators, we believe that it is important to develop our students holistically. Language development must be a whole person development. Teaching and learning activities should therefore address more than the cognitive and social skills that learners must have to communicate effectively. Such activities should also be a means to help learners understand themselves as learners, manage their own learning process and emotional well-being, and plan for progress over the course of their language learning journey. Learning to speak in another language is a complex process, full of challenges for learners, thus we need to ensure that our approach is a holistic one. This calls for an approach that focuses on all aspects of learning to speak – skills, language knowledge and self-management and regulation, as well as collaboration with and support from peers and teachers. In Part 3 of this book, we provided a framework for systematically planning speaking lessons and units of work by using a Teaching Speaking Cycle. We wanted to show how different activities can be combined in a larger unit of teaching to address the learning needs of L2 students who aspire to become confident speakers. Finally, we believe it is important that as teachers you reflect on and critically examine the work that you do. The ideas we shared in Part 4 will provide you with ways of planning your own inquiry tasks and projects. This will in turn create new knowledge that can enhance the teaching of L2 speaking in your local context. We hope that you will try out the ideas in this book and inspire others to continue to find ways of helping L2 learners everywhere to develop their oral competence in a holistic manner.

APPENDIX A Three Types of Metacognitive Knowledge about L2 Speaking from Learners’ Perspectives

A. PERSON KNOWLEDGE Knowledge of the cognitive and affective factors that facilitate one’s speaking performance and overall speaking development. (a) Self-concepts and self-efficacy about speaking • I need to think a lot before I say something. • I think my speaking is OK but not so great. (b) Problems related to L2 speaking, reasons and possible solutions • My problem is not having the words to express some meanings in English. • I think I can speak better when I mix in some words from my language.

B. TASK KNOWLEDGE Knowledge about the nature and demands of a speaking task, how to approach the task and when deliberate effort is required. a. Mental, affective and social processes involved in speaking • You need to think about what to say and how to say it at the same time. • Speaking makes me stressed.

216 Three Types of Metacognitive Knowledge about L2 Speaking

b. Differences between spoken and written discourse • Telling a story is a bit different from writing one. • I speak like a text book! c. Skills for second language speaking • Having the right intonation when speaking is useful. • Discussion is quite challenging. d. Cultural and social differences of speakers • In my country you must not address people who are older than you by their first names. • People from Country X use different words to mean the same thing. e. Factors that influence speaking • I should speak English to everyone I meet and not be embarrassed. • Speaking in class is easy. Speaking at the college dinner is hard.

C. STRATEGIC KNOWLEDGE Knowledge about effective strategies for different types of spoken interaction, strategies for specific speaking tasks and strategies that may not be useful. a. Strategies for managing communication and discourse • If I don’t understand, I can always ask someone. • I memorise some words to use all the time. b. Strategies for specific types of speaking tasks • I learn how to take a stand and defend my argument when I join a debate team. • I make points for my oral presentation. I don’t memorise my speech. c. Ineffective strategies • When I don’t know some key words, I will keep quiet, but I know that isn’t good. • Memorising a whole speech is not good – you sound wooden.

APPENDIX B Communication Strategies for L2 Speaking

a) Cognitive strategies • Paraphrase: Circumlocution or describing an object, person or event to get the meaning of a specific word across. • Approximation: Using an alternative term, e.g., “squirrel” for “chipmunk”. • Formulaic expressions: Using language chunks, e.g., “What I’m trying to say is …” to buy processing time. • Message frames: Setting the global context for what is being described before attempting to describe it.

b) Metacognitive strategies • Planning: Preparing the contents and the form of the message. • Self-monitoring: Noticing one’s language and message during message production. • Self-evaluation: Noticing and assessing one’s language and speech after message production.

c) Interactional strategies • Exemplification: Offering an example to make one’s point clear. • Confirmation checks: Asking listeners whether they have understood the message.

218 Communication Strategies for L2 Speaking

• Comprehension checks: Paraphrasing what is heard to confirm one’s understanding. • Repetition: Repeating all or part of what is said to check one’s own understanding. • Clarification requests: Asking the speaker to explain a point further. • Repetition requests: Asking the speaker to say something again. • Exemplification requests: Asking the speaker to give an example. • Assistance appeal: Asking the listener for help with difficult words.

APPENDIX C Themes and Topics for Speaking Activities

Themes

Topics for speaking activities (activity numbers)

Art

Famous paintings (A5), cartoon strips (A1, A8), house design (A17), garden design (A21) Discussion rules (B1, B2, B4), giving and receiving advice (B5) Studying abroad (B15), exchange students (B15), online courses (B15), graduate studies (B15), extra-curricular activities (B15), preparing for university (C3), university exchange (C4), academic success (D7), students evaluating teachers (D4), favourite subjects (D4), metacognition about second language (D1, D2, D3) Heirloom (A28), family income (B9) Ingredients (A9, A10, C6), favourite food (D4), local food (D4), popular dish (D7) People and places in the future (A4), future plans (D8) Vaccine (A30), healthy aging (C3), diet (C3), benefits of exercise (C3), recreational drugs (C9) Personal interests (A31, D4), sports (B15) Features of spoken language (C15), features of spoken and written language (C16), speech genres (C16), speech production (D5), plans for improving second language speaking (D9), evaluating speaking performance (D8), reflecting on second language speaking (D2), strategies for improving second language speaking (D9, D12, D13, D14, D15), making presentations (D11)

Discussions Education

Family and friends Food and cooking Future Health Hobbies/Interests Language

(Continued)

220 Themes and Topics for Speaking Activities

(Continued) Themes

Topics for speaking activities (activity numbers)

Media

Social media (B15, C3, D4), newspaper headlines (B13), advertisements (B8) Movies that address issues (B6), favourite movie (D4) Favourite songs (D7) Short stories (A6, A13, A16, A18, A24, C13), sharing anecdotes (A13), past experiences (A24) Past regrets (A24, C13), self-evaluation and planning (D8), childhood ambition (D7), best decisions (D4), goals and ambitions (D4), someone you admire (D4) My pets (D4), favourite animal (D7) Social problems (B14), people’s problems and solutions (A28, B14), discussion problems (B3, B5), students’ problems (A16) Fighting racism (C3) Online shopping (B15) Surveillance cameras and public security (C9), mobile phones in class (D4) Places of interest (A2), effects of Covid-19 on tourism (C3), space tourism (C9), holiday destinations (D4), best countries to visit (D7)

Movies Music Narratives Personal aspiration Pets Problems and solutions Racism Shopping Technology Travel

APPENDIX D Language Items to Support Speaking Activities

Communicative functions

Activity numbers

Agreeing and disagreeing Asking and answering questions Asking questions to make clarification Comparing and contrasting Constructing an oral presentation Constructing a story Describing (sequencing pictures, people, places, past events, objects, etc.) Enhancing communication strategies Explaining a process or procedure Explaining reasons Expressing feelings Expressing inferences Expressing opinions

B1, B2, B8, B10, B11, B12, B13, B16, C9 A2, A21, A24, A31, C4 A15, A32, B16, C14, D11, D12

Expressing possibilities Expressing predictions Expressing preferences Expressing regrets Expressing tentativeness Giving examples Giving and following instructions

A30, A33, B8, C11 C3 A3, A11, A15, A20, B7, C2, C5 A1, A3, A4, A6, A7, A8, A10, A12, A13, A14 A16, A17, A18, A19, A20, A27, A32, A33, B3, B9, B10 D9, D10, D11, D12, D13, D14, D15 A9, A10, A22, B9, C6, C12, D4, D5 A22, A25, A26, A27, A28, A30, B6, B7, B8 A5, A12, A13, A18 A28, B13 A22, A27, A29, B1, B2, B3, B8, B10, B11, B12, B14, B15, B16 A18, B13 A3, A25, A26, B7 A1, A5, A8, A17, C11 A24, C13 B1, B12 A19, C9 C6, C12 (Continued)

222 Language Items to Support Speaking Activities

(Continued) Communicative functions

Activity numbers

Identifying differences and similarities Identifying features of spoken language Interrupting Leading and directing a discussion Making suggestions/giving advice Making transitions Narrating stories

A5, A6, A7, C16, C17

Opening, maintaining and ending a conversation Organising a survey interview Persuading Summarising Taking a position Talking about the future Understanding metacognitive knowledge about L2 speaking

C15 A31, C14 B4, B8, B9, B11, B15 A15, A16, A27, B1, B3, B5, B9, B13 B4, C3 A6, A11, A13, A14, A15, A22, A24, A31, B9, C6, C12, C13, D4 A16, C1, C15 C4 B8, B12, B14, C8, C9 A3, A19, A26, A32, B4, B12, B14, B15, C9 B2, B6, B16, C8 A4, C10 D1, D2, D3

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INDEX

Note: Entries in bold denote tables; entries in italics denote figures. accuracy 12 action research x, 202, 209, 212 adjectives 110; degrees of comparison 131; expressing feelings 52–3 adverbials 10 adverbs 10, 15, 110 advertisements, effectiveness of 90–1 advice: getting and giving 49–51; seeking 85–7 agreeing 76 anxiety 2, 12, 33, 179 approximation 217 articulation 3–4, 31, 179; experiencing 151–3; monitoring and evaluating 155; and pronunciation 10; and selfevaluation 159; and task repetition 21 ask and answer 37 assistance appeal 218 attentional resources 21 audio recordings 39, 125 awareness raising 32, 144 brainstorming 61–2, 67, 80–1, 100 cartoon strips 36–7, 43 casual conversation, structure of 107–9 character traits 54–5

checklists 31, 112; for inquiry 213; for peer evaluation 157–8; for reflecting on performance 151–3, 155–7; for selfassessment 82, 159–61 clarification requests 32, 218 classroom practice, everyday 2 classroom research 209 cognitive load 21, 28, 179–80 cognitive processes 3, 4, 6, 20, 31; explaining 32; in speech production 143–4, 153–4, 179; task knowledge about 151–4 cognitive processing 3, 21 cognitive strategies 21–2, 173, 175, 217 coherence 8, 15, 112 cohesion 8–9, 15, 112 collate and report 64 commitment statements 80, 82 communication: real-life 28, 30; strategies for enhancing 162–3 communication-gap activities 27 communicative functions x, 13–14, 26, 178 community of practice 202 comparison, language for 130–1 compensation strategies 21–2 complexity 12

Index  227

comprehension, checking 32, 165, 167, 171, 218 concept maps 74–5, 145 conceptualisation 3–4, 7, 31, 179; experiencing 151–3; monitoring and evaluating 155; and self-evaluation 159; and task repetition 21 conditional clauses 134–5 confirmation checks 217 conjunctions, simple 10, 138 connectives 8, 15, 125 consensus 16, 90–1, 99–100, 102–3 consider and resolve 65–6 construct and compare 44–5 construct and explain 43–4 construct and retell 48–9 content words 15, 48–9 contextual factors 105 contractions 135, 138 controversial topics 129 conversations 2, 7–9, 105–6; features in 137–8; stages of 107–8; topics for 109; see also casual conversation; formal conversation cooking equipment 58, 60 counter arguments, offering 128 Covid-19 66–7 create and demonstrate 58–60 critical thinking 16 CSs (communication strategies) 13, 20–3, 33, 144, 217–18; developing 72; extending beyond classroom 172–4; learning about 165–6; learning to apply 178–9; peer use of 170–2; practising 168, 174; see also strategy knowledge; strategy use cultural norms 2, 14 cumulative talk 16 debates, making speeches in 126–9 debating teams 127 decisions, comparing and explaining 66–7 deixis 10 demands of discussion, understanding 72–85 describe, ask and present 68–9 describe, draw and compare 70

describe and choose 54–5 describe and share 51–2 design and share 56 disagreement 14, 74, 88, 91; expressing 94–5, 97; polite 76, 98 discourse, learning about 29–30 discourse features 181, 185 discourse knowledge 7–9, 19, 180 discourse markers 9–10, 15, 180; in explanation texts 112, 114; in spoken language 138 discourse organisation 29, 178, 185 discourse organisation skills, extended 13–15 discourse structure 19, 36, 178–9; activities 106–29, 141 discuss, demonstrate and observe 100–2 discuss and advise 85–7 discuss and construct 90 discuss and elaborate 98–9 discuss and evaluate 90–1 discuss and justify 88–9 discuss and plan 91–2 discuss and propose 99–100 discuss and select 102–4 discussion: learning about 74–9; learning to lead 82–5; managing problems during 80–2 discussion activities 17, 28–9, 72–104 discussion points 102, 141 discussion prompts 78, 92, 94–5 discussion skills 16–17; and discussion activities 28–9, 72; lists of 74, 76, 95–6, 101; practising 85–104 dishes see food items draw, share and think 52 education, formal 16 ellipsis 10, 138 encounters 7 encourager 77 English language, as L2 14–16 evaluation 4–5, 155–8, 181; see also self-assessment events, record of 117, 119–20 examples, giving 128 exemplification 217–18 explain and advise 49–50 explain and defend 66–7 explanation sequence 113

228 Index

explanation texts 139; structure of 111–14 explanations 9, 105; eliciting 17, 76 exploratory talk 16 exposition 9, 105; structure of 125–6 extension activities 29, 57, 88 family heirlooms 64–5 feelings, adjectives expressing 53 film/story plots see story plots first language see L1 fish-bowl demonstration 101 Flavell, John 18 flipcharts 33, 55–6, 88 fluency 12; and communicative strategies 22; prioritising 105; and task repetition 21; see also speaking fluency fluency activities 179–80; language items in 30; and languagefocused activities 181; repetition of 28; and speaking skills 26–7; in TSC 185, 199 fluency and skills, thinking about 36 fluency practice 7, 36, 71, 143; and language knowledge 129; planning 178–9 focus groups 212 food items 44–5, 58, 70, 71, 158, 167 formal conversation, structure of 114–16 form-function relationships 27 formulaic expressions 8–9, 217 formulation 3–4, 7, 31, 179; experiencing 151–3; monitoring and evaluating 155; and self-evaluation 159; and task repetition 21 the future, language for talking about 129–30 genres 15, 105 grammar: correct 152–3, 156; spoken 10, 11–12 grammar knowledge x, 9–10, 12, 15, 19, 105–6 grammatical cohesion 8 grammatical features 12, 106; of explanation texts 112; of information texts 124; of narratives 110; of recounts 117 grammatical structures, incomplete 138

ground rules 74–5, 77–9, 81 group activities 28, 68, 73, 208–9 group discussion 73; common problems in 80–2; and inquiry 205–6; leading 82–3, 85; materials explaining 75–8; statement prompts for 95, 97; strategies for 163; summarising 96; thinking about 79; topics for 101–2; where every student gets to speak 93 group leaders 48, 77–8, 81, 83, 96, 101; self-assessment checklist 85 guest speakers 168–70 headlines 98–9 homeschooling 61–2 house designs 51 ideas, exploring together 95–8 imagine and share 39–40 improving speaking, plan for 160–1 index cards 52, 60–1, 134 infer and construct 55–6 infer and tell 64–5 information reports 64, 123–4, 198 information-gap activities 179 ingredients 44–5, 58–9 inquiry x, 24, 202–14 inquiry areas, topics and objectives 204 inquiry projects 203, 208–12, 210–11 inquiry tasks 24, 203, 205, 206; questions for 207–8 inquiry tools and procedures 212–13 instructional enablers 19–22 instructions: giving 14, 58, 121–3, 132; listening to 122 interaction management skills 13–14 interaction strategies 27, 174–5 interactional discourse 8, 115 interactional strategies 22, 173, 217–18 interactional talk 27 inter-cultural communication skills 14 interests and hobbies 68–70 internet, resources from 40, 56, 63–4, 68, 125, 130, 185 interrupting with questions 136–7 inter-thinking 16 interviews 8, 37; about strategy use 171–2; see also survey interviews intonation 10, 15 introspection 145, 178

Index  229

key points 88, 125, 167; summarising 93, 95–6, 159 key words 55, 61 King, Martin Luther Jr. 125

linguistic resources 30, 35, 36, 72, 105 listen and compare 42 listening: importance of 93, 95; jigsaw 39, 63

L1 2–3, 158 L2: knowledge about 2, 7–12, 11, 23; learning how to learn 144; metacognitive knowledge about 143–6; speech production in 3–6, 4 L2 speaking: areas of inquiry in 202–3; awareness of 185; cognitive demands of 152, 155; inquiry into teaching 207–9, 210–11; instructional enablers for 19–22; learner characteristics and needs 208; learning activities for 23, 26; planning lessons for 178–81; reflections for learning 140; skills for learning 12–19; strategies for 161–3, 168–70; see also TSC language, learning about 29–30 language accuracy 27, 179 language cards 92–4, 101–2 language classroom 7, 73 language development 3, 8, 214; spoken 107 language expressions, lists of 82–3, 126, 165, 167 language features 180–1 language forms, new 21, 23 language items 29–30 language knowledge 12–13, 178; activities 106, 129–42; and discussions 17 language learners: grammar and pronunciation knowledge 10; speaking abilities 12–13; speaking production x, 2–5, 7 language support 30, 73, 180 language-focused activities 180–1, 185, 199 learning activities 23–4; planning and sequencing 179 learning needs 203 learning processes 2, 214; beliefs about 18; engagement with 30, 209; in TSC 182 learning strategies 13, 23; general 22 linguistic knowledge 7–12, 105–6, 178–80

meaning-oriented activities 23 Mentimeter 33, 61 message frames 217 metacognition x, 17–19, 32, 143 metacognitive activities 144, 181, 199 metacognitive awareness 26, 31 metacognitive engagement 185 metacognitive knowledge 17–19, 23, 181; developing 30–3, 143–75; instruction in 178; overview of 144–7; types of 215–16 metacognitive processes 2, 4–5, 6, 22, 143–4, 155 metacognitive strategies 22, 173, 217 metacognitive tasks 5, 23 modal expressions 10, 11, 129 modal verbs 11, 125, 130, 135 monitoring 3–6, 22, 155–6, 159, 161, 181 monologues 27 music, light 39, 60, 129, 134 narrative structure 62 narratives 105; content words for 49; short 40–2, 67, 136; structure of 109–11 natural conversations 137–8 natural speech 10, 137 news reports 48, 65 note-taker 57, 77–9, 86, 96, 98, 100 note-taking, template for 87 observer 77, 83, 174 off-the-cuff activities 35–40 online resources 33–4, 64, 68 open-ended topics 29, 79, 82, 85, 150 opinions, reasoned 95 oral communication practice activities 73, 106 oral interactions 4, 13, 19; models of 20; resources for 185; strategies for 166 oral presentations 14; explanation texts in 111; expressions for beginning and ending 168; resources for 185; strategies for 167

230 Index

orientation: in narrative 38, 62, 110–11; in recounts 117, 119–20 paintings 40, 130–1 paraphrase 188, 217 participation, inviting 82, 101 pedagogical model 24, 187 pedagogical principles 33, 205, 213 pedagogical sequence 179, 186, 187 peer assessment 31; checklists 111–12 peer evaluation 114, 157–8, 198–9 peer feedback 151–2, 187 peer observations 206 person knowledge 18, 30–1, 143–4, 147–9, 215; activities for 144–61; self-evaluation and planning 158–61 personal opinions 74, 78, 91–2, 94, 99; explaining reasons for 86 personal recounts 116, 120 phonological skills 13, 15 physical appearance, describing 54 picture cards 53 pictures: associating with feelings 52–3; discussing 44–6; inferences about 64–5; sequencing 36, 43 planned activities 35, 40 planning, person and task knowledge for 158–61 planning time 20, 23, 35 podcasts 185, 202, 207 polite expressions 74, 170 positions, stating 9, 76, 78, 88, 98, 126 possibilities, expressing 52–4 poster carousel 88, 167–8 post-speaking activities 86, 88, 90–2 predications 38, 62 predictions 38, 61–3, 90, 110, 169 preferences, conveying 130–1 pre-inquiry reading 206 prepare and talk 47–8 presentational talk 27 pre-task planning 20, 22, 27, 35, 178, 180; for speaking fluency exercises 41–3, 45–6, 48–50, 68 problem and solution template 49–50 problem topics 100 problems: explaining 85–7, 99; identifying 91–2 procedure texts 121–3 processes, describing 131–3

professional development activities x, 24, 203, 206 pronunciation knowledge 9–10 psycholinguistic strategies 21 question prompts 147–50, 167 question tags 10–11, 106 questionnaires 37, 145 read and compare 40–2 reasoning, explicit 16 reasons, explaining 86–8, 90–1 recall and recount 46–7 recipes 58–60, 123, 132–3 recording devices 147, 157, 159, 165, 212 recounts 9, 105; structure of 116–21 reflect and share 60–1 reflecting: on CSs 168, 172; on discussions 98; on inquiry 213; on learning and performance 148–9, 151–3, 155–6, 160; as metacognitive tool 144; on monitoring and evaluating 155–6; on recounts 120–1 reflection prompts 31, 60, 95, 134, 162, 167 reflection tasks 117 regrets 14, 60–1, 134–5 repetition: requests 218; see also task repetition reporter 57, 77–9, 86, 96, 98 reporting, template for 87 respond and share 40, 46 role cards 75, 77, 96, 101–2 role play 179 second language see L2 segmental skills 15 select and explain 56–7 select and narrate 45 self-assessment 31, 158–60, 181, 217; checklist 82–3, 85, 198–9 self-concept 215 self-corrections 21, 158–60 self-efficacy 215 self-evaluation see self-assessment self-monitoring 20–1, 217 sequence and complete 36–7, 43 share and predict 61–2 share and reconstruct 38–9

Index  231

short stories: constructing 45; online resources for 68; reconstructing 38, 109–10; with twist endings 90 shyness 81, 104, 149 signposting 9, 83–5, 114 simulation activities 91–2, 102–4, 180 skills cards 74, 92–4, 101–2 skills practice 23, 28, 178 small groups: discussions 71, 73; presentations 34 solutions: alternative 65–6; brainstorming 80–1; recommending 99 speaker roles 74 speaking, demands of 150–1 speaking activities 7; feedback on 185–7; learning about language in 29–30; list of 150; meaningful and motivating 180; and metacognitive knowledge 18, 23; pre-planning 27; repeating 19–21, 23; topics for 26; in TSC 187 speaking fluency 17, 23; developing 26–8, 35–71 speaking instruction 2, 5, 18–19; and writing instruction 27 speaking performance 7, 18–20; evaluating 157; and metacognitive knowledge 30–1, 143 speaking sequence 96 speaking skills 13–15, 178; for various speech acts 26–7 speaking tasks see speaking activities speaking tasks, and task knowledge 149–51 speech genres 8, 15, 141 speech production 19; cognitive processes in 143–4, 153–4, 179; different aspects of 29; processes in 3–5, 6 speech/communicative function skills 13 spoken discourses 8, 23; text types in 9, 29 spoken interactions see oral interactions spoken language 13, 115; features of 137–40; and written language 106–7 spoken texts 105–6; authentic 19; different types of 15, 141–2;

extended 8; for languagefocused activities 180, 185; stages in 123 story endings 90 story plots 88–9 strategic abilities 23 strategy instruction 20–2, 143, 165, 178 strategy knowledge 18–19, 31–2, 143, 147, 216; activities for 161–75; knowing which to use 161–5 strategy use 21, 23, 26, 32–3, 143; activities for 161–75; demonstrating and observing 174–5; reflecting on 166; sharing experiences of 170–2; sharing plans for 172–4 structure, prescribed 93–4 suggestions, offering 91–2 summarise and organise 62–3 summarising 95 support, expressing 95, 97 suprasegmental skills 15 survey interviews 114–16, 151 surveys, of students 212–13 syntax, grammatical knowledge of 4 tags 10 task demands 23, 28; cognitive processes involved 151, 153; prompts for 88–9, 100; reflections on 150 task knowledge 18–19, 31–2, 143–4, 147, 215–16; about cognitive processes 151–4; about speaking tasks 149–51; activities for 144–61; and discussion activities 73; evaluating speaking performance 157–8; monitoring and evaluation 155–6; selfevaluation and planning 158–61 task repetition 20–1, 27–8, 178; in speaking fluency exercises 35, 48, 56; variations in 28 task-relevant language 181 teacher research 24, 209; see also inquiry teaching activities: effectiveness of 203, 208; inquiring into see inquiry; observation of 206–7, 212; organisation of 33 tentativeness, expressing 17, 76, 92, 95, 98

232 Index

text types 8, 9, 106, 122, 141 timekeeper 77, 96, 127 topic prompts 47, 79, 96–7 topics of interest 96, 111, 204; questions about 38 tourist attractions 64 transition markers 113, 131–3, 198 transitions, signposting 11, 83–4, 138 TSC (Teaching Speaking Cycle) 178, 182, 183–4, 185, 186, 214; lesson planning with 187, 188–97; materials for 198–9; planning your own 199, 200 twenty-first century competencies 16 understand and retell 67–8 understanding, confirming 17, 32, 62, 76, 136 useful expressions 50, 62, 74, 95–6; for checking comprehension 171; lists of 51, 53, 74, 76, 98 utterances 19; clear 157; short 8, 138; streams of 3–4; structures of 12

vegetables 56–7, 59, 70–1 verb tenses 39, 110, 117, 129–30 video recordings 125–6, 150, 212 viewpoints: developing others’ 92–4; language for expressing 131; offering alternative 94–5 vocabulary: accessing 4; relevant x, 153, 156 vocabulary lists 44, 54, 57–8, 70 whole-class activities: for language knowledge 131–2, 140–1; for learning to discuss 80, 90, 93, 96, 101; for metacognitive knowledge and strategy use 145, 148, 150, 155, 171; in speaking fluency 40–1, 45, 57, 69–71; for strategy knowledge and use 162, 165 whole-class discussion 91, 95, 145, 169 written language, differences from spoken 10, 23, 29, 106–7, 139–40, 216