APPROACHES TO A LANGUAGE COURSE

DESIGN

Parts and Goals of a Listening and Speaking Course.

Nation, I.S.P., & Newton (2009)

Marham Jupri Hadi & Adam Vose

School of EducationFaculty of Social Sciences

Wednesday, 9 April 2014

IN THIS CHAPTER…

A Language course is set to meet the ultimate learner aims in L2 learning:to achieve fluent control of the sounds, spelling, vocabulary, grammar and discourse

features of the language, so that they can be used to communicate effectively

Balancing & Integrating

STRANDS“LANGUAGE LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES”

Meaning-focused INPUT

…..through listening & reading

(Receptive)

Meaning-focused OUTPUT…..through speaking & Writing (Productive)

Language-focused Learning

….. deliberate learning of language features such as

pronunciation, spelling, vocabulary, grammar, and

discourse.

Fluency Development…. the learners are helped to make the best use of what

they already know (in relation to the listening, speaking,

reading and writing)

…CONDITIONS to meet by each strand (INPUT)

1. Most of what the learners are listening to or reading is already familiar to them.

2. The learners are interested in the input and want to understand it.

3. Only a small proportion of the language features are unknown to the learners. In terms of vocabulary, 95 percent to 98 percent of the running words should be within the learners’ previous knowledge, and so only five or preferably only one or two words per hundred should be unknown to them (Hu and Nation, 2000).

4. The learners can gain some knowledge of the unknown language items through context clues and background knowledge.

5. There are large quantities of input.

…CONDITIONS to meet by each strand (OUTPUT)

1. The learners write and talk about things that are largely familiar to them. The learners’ main goal is to convey their message to someone else.

2. Only a small proportion of the language they need to use is not familiar to them.

3. The learners can use communication strategies, dictionaries, or previous input to make up for gaps in their productive knowledge.

4. There are plenty of opportunities to produce.

…CONDITIONS to meet by each strand (LANGUAGE

LEARNING)1. The learners give deliberate attention to language features.2. The learners should process the language features in deep

and thoughtful ways.3. There should be opportunities to give spaced, repeated

attention to the same features.4. The features which are focused on should be simple and not

dependent on developmental knowledge that the learners do not have.

5. Features which are studied in the language-focused learning strand should also occur often in the other three strands of the course.

…CONDITIONS to meet by each strand (FLUENCY)

1. All of what the learners are listening to, reading, speaking or writing is largely familiar to them. That is, there are no unfamiliar language features, or largely unfamiliar content or discourse features.

2. The learners’ focus is on receiving or conveying meaning. 3. There is some pressure or encouragement to perform at a

faster than usual speed.4. There is a large amount of input or output.

ACTIVITIES IN EACH STRAND

Meaning-focused input:Extensive reading, shared reading, listening to stories, watching TV or films, and being a listener in a conversation

Meaning-focused output:Talking in conversations, giving a speech or lecture, writing a letter writing a note to someone, keeping a diary, telling a story, and telling someone how to do something.

Language-focused learning:Pronunciation practice, using substitution tables and drills, learning vocabulary from word cards, intensive reading, translation, memorizing dialogues, and getting feedback about writing and guessing from context or dictionary.

Fluency development:Speed reading, skimming and scanning, repeated reading, 4/3/2, repeated retelling, ten-minute writing, and listening to easy stories. Memorizing words, word groups, phrases and sentences.

Nation and Newton (2009)…

an EFL/ ESL language instructor should design a well balanced course enabling the learners to be competent at the four language skills (listening,

speaking, reading and writing) and to be as fluent and accurate as possible in using them

Allocate 25 % time of the course length for each strand

How would you balance or integrate the four strands?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRQIDMCjS9c

CRITICAL QUESTIONS

•In the context of the video, do you think that there is enough opportunity for each of the four stands?

•Do you agree or disagree that the four strands should be balanced in terms of time allotment? How do teachers provide enough time if there is an arbitrary time allocation?

CRITICAL QUESTIONS

•How would you balance the four strands if you have limited time? (If you need more time for one of the four strands, what are you going to do?)

•How would you balance between giving input through listening and reading? How would you balance output through speaking and writing?

CRITICAL QUESTIONS

•How would you provide an interesting discourse that is familiar to all learners in the course? Was Rolf’s story interesting to the class?

•Learning through output provides opportunities for gaps in learner knowledge, how does a teacher support this opportunity?

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/knowledge-database/dictoglosshttp://eslcarissa.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/5-fun-ways-to-use-dictagloss-in-efl.html?m=1http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictoglosshttp://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3585481?uid=3737496&uid=2460338655&uid=2460338415&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=83&uid=63&sid=21103864663743http://www.do2learn.com/picturecards/howtouse/story.htmhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OzLgT8CnsIhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRQIDMCjS9c

Useful links

Nation, I.S.P., & Newton, J. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL Speaking and Listening. Routledge, New York.

www.google.com.au/images

References and images