LA LENGUA EXTRANJERA ORAL. LA COMPLEJIDAD DE LA COMPRENSION DEL
SENTIDO GLOBAL EN LA INTERACCIN ORAL: DE LA AUDICIN A LA ESCUCHA
ACTIVA Y SELECTIVA. LA TOMA DE PALABRA: DE LA REPRODUCCIN IMITATIVA
A LA PRODUCCIN AUTNOMA. Topic 7
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TABLE OF CONTENTS 0. Introduction 1. Spoken Language 2.
Listening Comprehension: from hearing to active understanding o
General Principles in Teaching/Learning Listening Comprehension o
Intensive and Extensive Listening o Strategies for Developing
Listening Skills o Goals for Teaching Listening o Using Authentic
Materials and Situations o Developing Listening Activities o
Assessing Listening Proficiency 3. Speaking: from imitation to
autonomous production o Goals and Techniques for Teaching Speaking
o Strategies for Developing Speaking Skills o Developing speaking
Activities 4. Conclusion
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Introduction Using a foreign language effectively requires
having a number of different abilities. Linguists have identified
four major abilites, which they call linguistic skills. The major
skills are: listening, reading, speaking and writing. They may be
classified in two ways: in relation to the medium In relation to
the activity of the speaker. SKILLMEDIUMAURAL/SPEECHVISUAL/WRITTEN
RECEPTIVElisteningreading PRODUCTIVEspeakingwriting
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1. Spoken language A general overview of the importance of
speech and the abilities that are required to produce it. Spoken
language is the most obvious aspect of language and can be defined
as the universal material of human language. For many hundreds of
thousands of years human language was transmitted and developed
entirely as spoken means of communication. Spoken language is the
most obvious aspect of language and can be defined as the universal
material of human language. For many hundreds of thousands of years
human language was transmitted and developed entirely as spoken
means of communication.
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At a very basic level, spoken language demands the
physiological abilities to be able to use our speech and auditory
organs properly (speech mechanisms + ear). On top of this
physiological level we have the psychological level, where our
linguistic skills are situated (brain). Psychological skills of
speaking communicative abilities for talk and listen Physiological
abilities required for speech hearing and speaking /speech
production + perception/ /Widdowson/
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From hearing to active listening From imitative speaking to
autonomous talking
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2. Listening comprehension: from hearing to active
understanding In order to analyse the oral skills, we will first
deal with listening skills. Listening is the language modality that
is used most frequently. Adults spend almost half of their
communication time listening. Students may receive as much as 90%
of their in-school time through listening.
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2.1. General principles in teaching listening skills The
following principles must be borne in mind when designing a
listening class: Definite goals, carefully stated. Step by step
planning: from simple hearing-based activities to more complex
understanding based. Active students participation: immediate
feedback on pupils performance. Stress conscious memory work.
Teach, not test. Let us begin by discussing the general principles
to be followed when teaching listening comprehension.
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Extensive Listening The language level is within students
capacity and they listen for pleasure and interest. Can be long or
short. Do not require direct control of the teacher. Intensive
Listening: The most widely used Students listen with the aim of
collecting and organizing the information. Contains more concrete
information and often not so easy to understand. Short passages,
played several times. 2.2. Intensive and Extensive Listening If we
want our pupils to be efficient listeners we must give them enough
practice in both intensive and extensive listening.
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2.3. Strategies for Developing Listening Skills Top-down
strategies oAre listener-based activities oThe listener taps into
background knowledge of the topic. oTop down strategies include:
listening for the main idea, predicting, summarizing, etc.
Bottom-up strategies oAre text based oThe listener relies on the
language of the message oBottom-up strategies include: listening
for details, recognizing cognates, recognizing word-order patterns.
Metacognitive strategies oDeciding which listening strategies will
serve best. oMonitor the selected strategies. oEvaluate if they
have achieved their listening comprehension goals. Let us now
discuss the strategies that must be developed when working on
listening comprehension.
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Let us now concentrate on the goals instructors must have when
teaching listening. 2.4. Goals of Teaching Listening The main goal:
Produce students who can use listening strategies to maximise their
comprehension of aural input, identify relevant and non-relevant
information, and tolerate less than word-by-word comprehension. To
accomplish this goal, instructors focus on the process of listening
rather on its product. 2.4. Goals of Teaching Listening The main
goal: Produce students who can use listening strategies to maximise
their comprehension of aural input, identify relevant and
non-relevant information, and tolerate less than word-by-word
comprehension. To accomplish this goal, instructors focus on the
process of listening rather on its product.
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2.5. Using Authentic Materials and Situations Authentic
Materials and Situations prepare students for the types of
listening they will need to do when using the language outside the
classroom.
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2.6. Developing Listening Activities Complete recall of all the
information in an aural text is an unrealistic. MAKE YOUR LISTENING
TASKS SUCCESS-ORIENTED TO BUILD-UP STUDENTS CONFIDENCE. How to do
it: Construct the listening activity around a contextualised task.
Define the activitys instructional goal and type of response. Check
the level of difficulty of the listening text. Use pre-listening
activities. Match while-listening activities to the instructional
goal, the listening purpose, and students proficiency level. Let us
now examine steps to be followed when preparing listening
activities.
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3. Speaking: from imitation to autonomous production According
to Stovall (1988), many language learners regard speaking ability
as the measure of knowing the language. They regard speaking as the
most important skills. Speaking involves THREE AREAS OF KNOWLEDGE:
Mechanics The use of the right words in the right order Functions
when clarity off message is essential and when precise
understanding is not required Social and cultural rules and norms
Who is speaking to whom, in what circumstances, about what, and for
what reason.
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3. 1. Goals and Techniques for Teaching Speaking Use of a
BALANCED ACTIVITIES APPROACH that combines language input,
structures output, and communicative output (Hadley, 2001).
LANGUAGE INPUT In form of teacher talk, listening activities,
reading texts, language heard and read outside the class, etc. May
be content oriented or form oriented. STRUCTURED OUTPUT Focuses on
the correct form. Students may have options, but all of them
require the use of specific language items. COMMUNICATIVE OUTPUT
The learners main purpose is to complete a communicative task. The
criterion of success is whether the learner gets the message
across. Accuracy is not a consideration unless the lack of it
interferes with the message. Let us now examine the techniques and
goals for teaching speaking.
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3.2. STRATEGIES for Developing Speaking Skills USING MINIMAL
RESPONSES Minimal responses: predictable, often idiomatic phrases
that conversation participants use to indicate understanding,
agreement, doubt, etc. Help students to focus on what the other
participant is saying. RECOGNIZING SCRIPTS Some communication
situations are associated with a predictable set of spoken
exchanges / SCRIPTS. Students can predict what they will hear and
what they will need to say in response. USING LANGUAGE TO TALK
ABOUT LANGUAGE Encouraging students to use clarification phrases in
class when misunderstanding can help them to gain confidence. Let
us now examine the most important strategies instructors can use to
help their students develop listening skills.
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3.3. Developing Speaking Abilities Structured Output Activities
+ Communicative Output Activities Error correction and increase of
accuracy Opportunity to practice language use more freely
INFORMATION GAP JIGSAW ACTIVITIES ROLE PLAYS DISCUSSIONS Finally we
will examine the procedures to be followed when preparing
activities devoted to practising speaking Instructors need to
combine structures output activities with communicative output
activities.
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Structured Output Activities: Information gap An information
gap activity is an activity where learners are missing the
information they need to complete a task and need to talk to each
other to find it. Example Learner A has a biography of a famous
person with all the place names missing, whilst Learner B has the
same text with all the dates missing. Together they can complete
the text by asking each other questions. Information gap activities
are useful for various reasons. They provide an opportunity for
extended speaking practice, they represent real communication,
motivation can be high, and they require sub-skills such as
clarifying meaning and re-phrasing. Typical types of information
gap activities you might find include; describe and draw, spot the
difference, etc.
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Famous Artists: This information gap covers some famous artists
and the passive voice.
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Shapes: This information gap covers 10 basic shapes plus
prepositions.
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Newspaper Headlines: Students ask each other if they've heard
the news and then relay the headlines to their partners. Newspaper
Headlines: Students ask each other if they've heard the news and
then relay the headlines to their partners.
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Structured Output Activities: Jigsaw activities In a jigsaw,
the class is divided into several teams, with each team preparing
separate but related assignments. When all team members are
prepared, the class is re- divided into mixed groups, with one
member from each team in each group. Each person in the group
teaches the rest of the group what he/she knows, and the group then
tackles an assignment together that pulls all of the pieces
together to form the full picture, hence the name jigsaw.
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Communicative Output Activities Allow students to practise
using all of the language they know in situations that resemble
real settings. In these activities, students must work together to
develop a plan, resolve a problem, or complete a task. The most
common types are: role-plays and discussions.
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Role plays In role-plays students are assigned roles and put
into situations that they may eventually encounter outside the
classroom. Student A You are booking into a hotel. Elements Book in
to the hotel - you have a reservation. Complications You are on
your own. You want a shower. You want breakfast in the morning. You
have an early meeting and must not be late. Student A You are
booking into a hotel. Elements Book in to the hotel - you have a
reservation. Complications You are on your own. You want a shower.
You want breakfast in the morning. You have an early meeting and
must not be late. Student B You are a hotel receptionist. Elements
Welcome the guest. Find them a room. Complications You can't find
their reservation. You only have a double room with bath available.
Student B You are a hotel receptionist. Elements Welcome the guest.
Find them a room. Complications You can't find their reservation.
You only have a double room with bath available.
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Discussions To succeed with discussions: Prepare the students:
give them input Offer choices: let students suggest the topic for
discussion. Set a goal or outcome: a group product (a letter to the
editor) or individual reports. Use small groups instead of
whole/class discussions. Keep in short: give students a defined
period of time (not more than 8-10 minutes) Allow students to
participate in their own way. Do topical follow-up: have students
report to the class on the results of their discussion. Do
linguistic follow up: give feedback on linguistic aspects.
