Tesol france 76 spring 2016 final spreads flipping

TEACHING TIMES F O R E N G L I S H T E AC H I N G P R O F E S S I O N A L S I N F R A N C E @TESOLFrance

www.tesol-france.org

ISSN: 1266-7552

Spring 2016

No 76

Assessing Pronounciation

An in-depth analysis of phonological features affecting intelligibility and suggested criteria for measuring students’ pronunciation

Neuroscience and Language Teaching A look at recent developments in understanding how the brain works and strategies to enhance learning

The Benefits of Teacher Training Betty Carlson examines professional development options and relates how her experience led to greater enthusiasm for her work

MORE STORIES Peter Strutt on how to memorize vocabulary in: 'Yes, I Remember Adlestrop' Sylviane Dubois-Lombard gives pointers in: 'Teaching Vocabulary at Lycée Level' ACTIVITIES : Swapshop Activities, Reviews and Regional Reports PLUS: Voices from TESOL France’s regions: Bordeaux & Strasbourg

TESOL_France_76_Spring_2016_Final.indd 24-1

30/05/2016 16:19

3

CONTENTS “Human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms for bears to dance to, while we long to make music that will melt the stars.”

CONTENTS

Gustave Flaubert

“Using words to talk of words is like using a pencil to draw a picture of itself, on itself. Impossible. Confusing.

Frustrating.

Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages

“I have been a believer in the magic of language since, at a very early age, I discovered that some words got me into trouble and others got me out.”

Katherine Dun

Patrick Rothfuss “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head.

If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”

Nelson Madela

Executive Committee 2016

PEOPLE

Bureau

Editorial – Peter Strutt Postcard from the President – Jane Ryder

President: Vice President: Treasurer: General Secretary: Past President:

Jane Ryder Csilla Jaray-Benn Debra Hardstaff Dianne Chen Segui Debbie West

Membership: Bethany Cagnol Website & Jobs List: Bethany Cagnol

Teaching Times Magazine

“The limits of my language means the limits of my world.”

Editor: Project Manager: Events:

Ludwig Wittgenstein “In Paris they just simply opened their eyes and stared when we spoke to them in French! We never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own language.”

Mark Twain

“From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put.”

Winston Churchill

“No two languages are ever sufficiently similar to be considered as representing the same social reality. The worlds in which different societies live are distinct worlds, not merely the same world with different labels attached.”

Amy Tan

TESOL_France_76_Spring_2016_Final.indd 2-3

Peter Strutt Ros Wright Christina RebuffetBroadus & Wojtek Koszykowski

Managing Expectations – Lesley Curnick & Guy Walker

TESTING & EXAMINING

PSYCHOLINGUISTICS

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

VOCABULARY TRAINING

Swapshops: Telecom Liaison: Website:

Sophie Pietrucci Erik Anspach BLWorks.net

Teaching Times Production Copy Editor: Susan Heyman Graphic Designer: Charlotte Seymour Printer: Domigraphic Web: www.tesol-france.org Editor: editor@tesol-france.org ISSN: 1266-7552

10-11

Neuroscience and Language Learning – Anna Varner

Advisor: Bordeaux: Grenoble: Ile de France: Lille:

TESOL France Collaborators

6-9

A Simplified Phonological Grid for Assessing Learner Pronunciation at the Six CEFR Levels – David Horner

Benefits of Teacher Training – Peter Strutt interviews Betty Carlson

Lyon: Nantes: Strasbourg: Toulouse:

5

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

TESOL France Regions Csilla Jaray-Benn Diane Chen Segui Csilla Jaray-Benn Debbie West Gillian Evans & Jeremy Levin Jessica Etridge Colin McKenzie Yvonne Chappell Rosemary Bénard

4

12-13

14-17

Yes, I Remember Adlestrop – Peter Strutt

Teaching Vocabulary at Lycée Level – Sylviane Dubois-Lombard

TEACHING IDEAS If Two Heads Are Better Than One, Then Many Teachers Are... – Jessica Etridge

18-19

20

REVIEWS IDEA – Peter Strutt #ELTChat Summaries – Angelos Bollas

REPORTS

21-22

TESOL France Bordeaux – Dianne Chen Segui TESOL France Strasbourg – Yvonne Chappell & Jane Ryder TESOL International: Moving and Changing – Debbie West

EVENTS CALENDAR

22

30/05/2016 16:19

3

CONTENTS “Human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms for bears to dance to, while we long to make music that will melt the stars.”

CONTENTS

Gustave Flaubert

“Using words to talk of words is like using a pencil to draw a picture of itself, on itself. Impossible. Confusing.

Frustrating.

Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages

“I have been a believer in the magic of language since, at a very early age, I discovered that some words got me into trouble and others got me out.”

Katherine Dun

Patrick Rothfuss “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head.

If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”

Nelson Madela

Executive Committee 2016

PEOPLE

Bureau

Editorial – Peter Strutt Postcard from the President – Jane Ryder

President: Vice President: Treasurer: General Secretary: Past President:

Jane Ryder Csilla Jaray-Benn Debra Hardstaff Dianne Chen Segui Debbie West

Membership: Bethany Cagnol Website & Jobs List: Bethany Cagnol

Teaching Times Magazine

“The limits of my language means the limits of my world.”

Editor: Project Manager: Events:

Ludwig Wittgenstein “In Paris they just simply opened their eyes and stared when we spoke to them in French! We never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own language.”

Mark Twain

“From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put.”

Winston Churchill

“No two languages are ever sufficiently similar to be considered as representing the same social reality. The worlds in which different societies live are distinct worlds, not merely the same world with different labels attached.”

Amy Tan

TESOL_France_76_Spring_2016_Final.indd 2-3

Peter Strutt Ros Wright Christina RebuffetBroadus & Wojtek Koszykowski

Managing Expectations – Lesley Curnick & Guy Walker

TESTING & EXAMINING

PSYCHOLINGUISTICS

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

VOCABULARY TRAINING

Swapshops: Telecom Liaison: Website:

Sophie Pietrucci Erik Anspach BLWorks.net

Teaching Times Production Copy Editor: Susan Heyman Graphic Designer: Charlotte Seymour Printer: Domigraphic Web: www.tesol-france.org Editor: editor@tesol-france.org ISSN: 1266-7552

10-11

Neuroscience and Language Learning – Anna Varner

Advisor: Bordeaux: Grenoble: Ile de France: Lille:

TESOL France Collaborators

6-9

A Simplified Phonological Grid for Assessing Learner Pronunciation at the Six CEFR Levels – David Horner

Benefits of Teacher Training – Peter Strutt interviews Betty Carlson

Lyon: Nantes: Strasbourg: Toulouse:

5

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

TESOL France Regions Csilla Jaray-Benn Diane Chen Segui Csilla Jaray-Benn Debbie West Gillian Evans & Jeremy Levin Jessica Etridge Colin McKenzie Yvonne Chappell Rosemary Bénard

4

12-13

14-17

Yes, I Remember Adlestrop – Peter Strutt

Teaching Vocabulary at Lycée Level – Sylviane Dubois-Lombard

TEACHING IDEAS If Two Heads Are Better Than One, Then Many Teachers Are... – Jessica Etridge

18-19

20

REVIEWS IDEA – Peter Strutt #ELTChat Summaries – Angelos Bollas

REPORTS

21-22

TESOL France Bordeaux – Dianne Chen Segui TESOL France Strasbourg – Yvonne Chappell & Jane Ryder TESOL International: Moving and Changing – Debbie West

EVENTS CALENDAR

22

30/05/2016 16:19

4 2

PEOPLE

Editorial

This is my first editorial for the Teaching Times and I’m suffering from writer’s block… ... (two days later) TESOL France has been going since 1981 and although I confess to not attending every single event since then, it remains true that, in the words of one of the founder members, it is ‘a home for lost expatriate teachers to share and care for each other professionally’.

Postcard from the President

Photo: Emily Fux

It’s a real pleasure to be able to welcome on board the new Editor for the Teaching Times, Peter Strutt. It’s also a tribute to our association that we’re evolving, that we’re continuing to attract collaborators of Peter’s reputation and, thanks to our endurance and longevity, that we really do have an impact on teachers in France… sometimes more than we realize.

TESOL_France_76_Spring_2016_Final.indd 4-5

5

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT But it is more than that. For a start, most of us are not ‘lost’ but firmly embedded in the culture in which we evolve professionally and can cross social and language barriers with relative ease, thereby ensuring language provision which is relevant to our students and their individual contexts. Secondly, although we no doubt provide lots of tender loving care, we also belong to an association which provides the best in terms of professional development and exchange of ideas at the cuttingedge of language teaching methodology.

Teaching Times has always contributed in no small way to this dynamic and I am proud to be able to contribute to this undertaking in an editorial role.

This issue contains a host of interesting articles. David Horner kicks off with a thorough analysis of the role of intelligibility in assessing oral competence. Many of us are involved in evaluating our students’ spoken English and any help in designing or using reliable and valid benchmarks is invaluable. Other articles deal with

This was brought home to me last week when visiting an excellent language school tucked away, miles from anywhere. Not only were the two words ‘TESOL France’ totally familiar to them, but they spoke about our association as one might talk fondly about an uncle who comes to visit every now and then. What encouraged me particularly was that this school was surviving, in fact doing better than ever before, and looking to take on more teachers.

What was their recipe for success?

Firstly, the CPF (compte personnel de formation). They explained that the CPF had finally released large numbers of employees from the often unfair whims of their HR department to choose the language courses that they wanted.

Secondly, the depressing messages from so many large schools nowadays about halving prices, putting courses online and bringing in any old ‘native speaker’ to chat to learners, are all too present.

Thirdly, they keep teachers on their books for many years, giving them longterm contracts and thereby building continuity into their programmes.

the fascinating area of neuroscience and how vocabulary is stored and accessed in the brain. Sylviane DuboisLombard’s account of how she teaches lexis in a provincial lycée follows up on this theme. As usual, there are other features with practical teaching tips, reports from the regions and reviews.

Managing Expectations

Teaching Times is your magazine and those involved in its production welcome any contributions you wish to make. So, if you have an article you’ve been wanting to write, teaching ideas you wish to share, or any teaching/learning issue you want to air in these columns, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me.

There are probably as many different expectations as there are students in a group. Some have realistic ideas of what a language course involves and what can be achieved but others are less discerning, expecting one course will solve all their language problems.

Peter Strutt Editor editor@tesol-france-org

ADDENDUM

In Jennie Wright's article What’s stopping you? A project for learners (Issue 75, pp 8-9), we omitted to provide the link to Jennie’s TEFLHELPER blog where you can download the Learner Handouts referred to in her article at: http://bit.ly/1Nim7qn

They have also created a wonderful atmosphere for learning: rooms in a town house with comfortable chairs, a myriad of activities on offer to engage learners in meaningful exchanges and an overall feeling that as a student, you’ll be cared for and that you matter.

For me, it was an inspiring experience.

This is the future and it works! The depressing messages from so many large schools nowadays about halving prices, putting learners online and bringing in any old ‘native speaker’ to chat to them are all too present. It really doesn’t have to be like that. It also confirmed a deeply held belief of mine about this particular view of the future; if we want progress, we’re going to have to create it by building language schools such as these ourselves from scratch. TESOL France members know what quality is, it’s our raison d’être.

If we decide to act on this and create working environments that inspire us and take us forward, there’s actually nothing to stop us. Keep up the good fight!

Jane Ryder President president@tesol-france.org

“Every time I walk into a classroom to teach a new course I feel apprehensive. Why is that? Teaching for over 30 years, it’s not lack of experience. Resources are readily available, so it can’t be a lack of ideas, either. And as I teach at a university language centre, my students have chosen to follow this course. No, it is simply because, although I know what I expect from the class, I have absolutely no idea what the class expects from me.”

Expectations in the classroom

Some students see the teacher as the knowledge-giver. Others maintain that our role is to constantly test and measure their progress and even to ‘force’ them to work − and that their lack of motivation and progress is our fault. Finally, many students have been trained to trust and ‘obey’ their teacher blindly, while others have been encouraged to think critically, contest ideas and work things out for themselves.

As teachers, we have our own expectations. We expect students to ‘participate actively’ in class; to be ‘responsible for their own learning’ by keeping their own language records and working on their weaknesses; to produce high quality work and always go that extra mile; in short, to engage in all the tasks we prepare, whatever the theme, focus or level of challenge.

How to avoid disappointment The only way to manage all these expectations is to tell our students clearly what we expect from them, and let them express what they expect from us and from the course.

Create a three-dimensional course outline We can, of course, hand out a course description. But, even the most detailed only provide two-dimensional information: content, assignment deadlines and far-off learning outcomes.

However, this document frequently omits information about our expectations. A course outline should also be qualitative: indicating our ‘standards’, explaining what we understand by ‘active participation’, and finally stating how, as teachers, we are going to help students ‘complete the course successfully’ – in other words, what role can they expect us to play in their learning?

Invite students to pick their own objectives A good starting point for any course is to hand out the ‘can do’ statements from the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) for the level of the class. Students tick the ‘language actions’ they can already do and then select three or four that they wish to achieve during the course. In small groups, they discuss their choices and how to achieve them.

This raises awareness of everybody's different objectives and that it is unrealistic to expect the teacher to focus on them all. Students also share ideas on how to achieve their language goals outside the classroom.

Openly discuss expectations in class In groups of four, students identify the characteristics of a good teacher and of a good learner. They write their ideas on the board prior to a class discussion. Adding my ideas at this point, this gives me another opportunity to communicate my expectations. This exercise ensures that the learners reflect on their role in the learning process and on the teacher’s role.

Keep checking that expectations are being managed As the weeks go by, it is crucial for both teachers and students not to lose sight of the expectations discussed at the beginning of the course. This can be achieved by a short anonymous questionnaire: What do you like about this course? What activities do you want to continue?

What do you want to stop? Is there anything missing from the course? During the next lesson, give the students feedback on their answers, even though the information we receive is often conflicting (e.g. Student A: ‘I want less grammar’ / Student B: ‘more grammar!’). Identifying and discussing our expectations is key to avoiding disappointment in the classroom.

Lesley Curnick & Guy Walker References CEFR checklists available at: http://www.insideout.net/new/ resources/cef-checklists Huhta, M. (2002) Tools for planning language training. Council of Europe, Strasbourg.

Schön, D.A. (1983) The reflective practitioner: how professionals think in action. London: Temple Smith.

Lesley Curnick has taught EFL for over 25 years and worked as a teacher trainer and materials developer (Headway Academic Skills series). She currently teaches English for academic purposes at the University of Lausanne. lesley.curnick@unil.ch Guy Walker has taught EFL for nearly 30 years. He also writes teenage fiction (The White Rooks) and poetry. He works at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, where he teaches business and scientific English.) guy.walker@unil.ch

30/05/2016 16:19

4 2

PEOPLE

Editorial

This is my first editorial for the Teaching Times and I’m suffering from writer’s block… ... (two days later) TESOL France has been going since 1981 and although I confess to not attending every single event since then, it remains true that, in the words of one of the founder members, it is ‘a home for lost expatriate teachers to share and care for each other professionally’.

Postcard from the President

Photo: Emily Fux

It’s a real pleasure to be able to welcome on board the new Editor for the Teaching Times, Peter Strutt. It’s also a tribute to our association that we’re evolving, that we’re continuing to attract collaborators of Peter’s reputation and, thanks to our endurance and longevity, that we really do have an impact on teachers in France… sometimes more than we realize.

TESOL_France_76_Spring_2016_Final.indd 4-5

5

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT But it is more than that. For a start, most of us are not ‘lost’ but firmly embedded in the culture in which we evolve professionally and can cross social and language barriers with relative ease, thereby ensuring language provision which is relevant to our students and their individual contexts. Secondly, although we no doubt provide lots of tender loving care, we also belong to an association which provides the best in terms of professional development and exchange of ideas at the cuttingedge of language teaching methodology.

Teaching Times has always contributed in no small way to this dynamic and I am proud to be able to contribute to this undertaking in an editorial role.

This issue contains a host of interesting articles. David Horner kicks off with a thorough analysis of the role of intelligibility in assessing oral competence. Many of us are involved in evaluating our students’ spoken English and any help in designing or using reliable and valid benchmarks is invaluable. Other articles deal with

This was brought home to me last week when visiting an excellent language school tucked away, miles from anywhere. Not only were the two words ‘TESOL France’ totally familiar to them, but they spoke about our association as one might talk fondly about an uncle who comes to visit every now and then. What encouraged me particularly was that this school was surviving, in fact doing better than ever before, and looking to take on more teachers.

What was their recipe for success?

Firstly, the CPF (compte personnel de formation). They explained that the CPF had finally released large numbers of employees from the often unfair whims of their HR department to choose the language courses that they wanted.

Secondly, the depressing messages from so many large schools nowadays about halving prices, putting courses online and bringing in any old ‘native speaker’ to chat to learners, are all too present.

Thirdly, they keep teachers on their books for many years, giving them longterm contracts and thereby building continuity into their programmes.

the fascinating area of neuroscience and how vocabulary is stored and accessed in the brain. Sylviane DuboisLombard’s account of how she teaches lexis in a provincial lycée follows up on this theme. As usual, there are other features with practical teaching tips, reports from the regions and reviews.

Managing Expectations

Teaching Times is your magazine and those involved in its production welcome any contributions you wish to make. So, if you have an article you’ve been wanting to write, teaching ideas you wish to share, or any teaching/learning issue you want to air in these columns, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me.

There are probably as many different expectations as there are students in a group. Some have realistic ideas of what a language course involves and what can be achieved but others are less discerning, expecting one course will solve all their language problems.

Peter Strutt Editor editor@tesol-france-org

ADDENDUM

In Jennie Wright's article What’s stopping you? A project for learners (Issue 75, pp 8-9), we omitted to provide the link to Jennie’s TEFLHELPER blog where you can download the Learner Handouts referred to in her article at: http://bit.ly/1Nim7qn

They have also created a wonderful atmosphere for learning: rooms in a town house with comfortable chairs, a myriad of activities on offer to engage learners in meaningful exchanges and an overall feeling that as a student, you’ll be cared for and that you matter.

For me, it was an inspiring experience.

This is the future and it works! The depressing messages from so many large schools nowadays about halving prices, putting learners online and bringing in any old ‘native speaker’ to chat to them are all too present. It really doesn’t have to be like that. It also confirmed a deeply held belief of mine about this particular view of the future; if we want progress, we’re going to have to create it by building language schools such as these ourselves from scratch. TESOL France members know what quality is, it’s our raison d’être.

If we decide to act on this and create working environments that inspire us and take us forward, there’s actually nothing to stop us. Keep up the good fight!

Jane Ryder President president@tesol-france.org

“Every time I walk into a classroom to teach a new course I feel apprehensive. Why is that? Teaching for over 30 years, it’s not lack of experience. Resources are readily available, so it can’t be a lack of ideas, either. And as I teach at a university language centre, my students have chosen to follow this course. No, it is simply because, although I know what I expect from the class, I have absolutely no idea what the class expects from me.”

Expectations in the classroom

Some students see the teacher as the knowledge-giver. Others maintain that our role is to constantly test and measure their progress and even to ‘force’ them to work − and that their lack of motivation and progress is our fault. Finally, many students have been trained to trust and ‘obey’ their teacher blindly, while others have been encouraged to think critically, contest ideas and work things out for themselves.

As teachers, we have our own expectations. We expect students to ‘participate actively’ in class; to be ‘responsible for their own learning’ by keeping their own language records and working on their weaknesses; to produce high quality work and always go that extra mile; in short, to engage in all the tasks we prepare, whatever the theme, focus or level of challenge.

How to avoid disappointment The only way to manage all these expectations is to tell our students clearly what we expect from them, and let them express what they expect from us and from the course.

Create a three-dimensional course outline We can, of course, hand out a course description. But, even the most detailed only provide two-dimensional information: content, assignment deadlines and far-off learning outcomes.

However, this document frequently omits information about our expectations. A course outline should also be qualitative: indicating our ‘standards’, explaining what we understand by ‘active participation’, and finally stating how, as teachers, we are going to help students ‘complete the course successfully’ – in other words, what role can they expect us to play in their learning?

Invite students to pick their own objectives A good starting point for any course is to hand out the ‘can do’ statements from the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) for the level of the class. Students tick the ‘language actions’ they can already do and then select three or four that they wish to achieve during the course. In small groups, they discuss their choices and how to achieve them.

This raises awareness of everybody's different objectives and that it is unrealistic to expect the teacher to focus on them all. Students also share ideas on how to achieve their language goals outside the classroom.

Openly discuss expectations in class In groups of four, students identify the characteristics of a good teacher and of a good learner. They write their ideas on the board prior to a class discussion. Adding my ideas at this point, this gives me another opportunity to communicate my expectations. This exercise ensures that the learners reflect on their role in the learning process and on the teacher’s role.

Keep checking that expectations are being managed As the weeks go by, it is crucial for both teachers and students not to lose sight of the expectations discussed at the beginning of the course. This can be achieved by a short anonymous questionnaire: What do you like about this course? What activities do you want to continue?

What do you want to stop? Is there anything missing from the course? During the next lesson, give the students feedback on their answers, even though the information we receive is often conflicting (e.g. Student A: ‘I want less grammar’ / Student B: ‘more grammar!’). Identifying and discussing our expectations is key to avoiding disappointment in the classroom.

Lesley Curnick & Guy Walker References CEFR checklists available at: http://www.insideout.net/new/ resources/cef-checklists Huhta, M. (2002) Tools for planning language training. Council of Europe, Strasbourg.

Schön, D.A. (1983) The reflective practitioner: how professionals think in action. London: Temple Smith.

Lesley Curnick has taught EFL for over 25 years and worked as a teacher trainer and materials developer (Headway Academic Skills series). She currently teaches English for academic purposes at the University of Lausanne. lesley.curnick@unil.ch Guy Walker has taught EFL for nearly 30 years. He also writes teenage fiction (The White Rooks) and poetry. He works at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, where he teaches business and scientific English.) guy.walker@unil.ch

30/05/2016 16:19

6

TESTING & EXAMINING

A Simplified Phonological Grid for Assessing Learner Pronunciation at the Six CEFR Levels Any assessment tool whose objective is to place learners at a particular level – and this is the key element in the Common European Framework (CEFR) – must be able to provide a hierarchy of competences such that: (1) learners, teachers and curriculum designers can establish which features can be taught/learned/acquired at each level; (2) realisable objectives can be set for learners at particular levels; and (3) raters can accurately assess learner performance. David Horner investigates to what extent this objective can be achieved.

Moreover, the concept of intelligibility itself requires some form of classification of the key phonological features which impact on it. Drawing on the work of van den Doel (2006), I have previously (2013) identified: word stress, accurate reproduction of phonemes and sentence stress as core features, whereas intonation, rhythm and phonetic reduction are more peripheral.

By joining together these two strands of accentedness and phonological features, I would argue that any phonological grid will need to account for competence in and progression through: articulatory features (sounds), prosody (suprasegmentals: intonation, rhythm, prominence, word stress, speech rate (fluency)), intelligibility and degree of accentedness.

One issue that quickly emerges from this – and is currently a discussion among researchers working on the new phonological grids for the CEFR – is how many grids this implies: one for articulatory features, one for suprasegmentals, one for accent/intelligibility, and/or a more general one including all or some of these features? Because of our different experiences with and tolerance to accents, I would argue strongly that a grid for accentedness is unrealistic; and for the reasons outlined below, I personally favour a more general, comprehensive grid.

Moreover, describing a construct in terms of identifiable components suggests that it is possible to assess pronunciation analytically by measuring a candidate’s relative proficiency in the production of these different components, or at least those identified as relevant at that level. However, although we might be in a position to propose a pronunciation hierarchy based on the existing research into salient features, our knowledge is at best sketchy. In the interim, it may therefore be more useful to identify a holistic variable that could function as a measure of the speaker’s ability to pronounce successfully.

Phonology Oral exam

In previous articles (Horner 2013, 2014), I have criticised the CEFR phonological grid (CEFR 2001: 117) for its failure to address these factors satisfactorily. Its main failures, I have argued, are twofold. On the one hand, it does not provide a useful progression of phonological competence across the six CEFR levels (although it does provide a thorough account of these elements), and on the other hand takes no real account of the impact of accent and intelligibility. These failures affect both level description and level assessment.

In short, it is necessary to establish which pronunciation features impact on intelligibility and have an impact on communicative efficiency, whether this be in terms of aspects of pronunciation that are more or less important, 'irritating' (and for whom), and difficult to acquire (and in what order).

Through her concept of the lingua franca core, Jenkins (2000, 2002) has undoubtedly contributed most to the debate on those aspects of pronunciation which are more or less

TESOL_France_76_Spring_2016_Final.indd 6-7

important. For instance, it is far less communicatively efficient to substitute /b/ for /p/ (bet for pet) than to substitute /t/ for /θ/ (ting for thing) or /z/ for /s/ (zong for song). However, an aspect which she does not take into account is that such substitutions may be felt by an interlocutor to be irritating and create an overall negative perception of the speaker that can have unfortunate results in a work environment or an assessment situation. Indeed, this highlights the importance of the role and attitude of the interlocutor, and of their familiarity with the speaker’s speech community. As I have argued elsewhere, intelligibility is as much in the ears of the listener as in the mouth of the speaker.

...the role and attitude of the interlocutor and of their familiarity with the speaker’s speech community (is important). ...intelligibility is as much in the ears of the listener as in the mouth of the speaker.

7

TESTING & EXAMINING

The most logical holistic variable to use would appear to be the degree of a speaker’s intelligibility: to what extent is it a barrier to communication? However, this still leaves us with the issue of determining whether the barrier comes from the spoken production of the speaker or the listening skill of the hearer, or both.

In each case, of course, the issue of accent will be crucial.

Levis (2005) remarks, for instance, that communication can be successful even when foreign accents are quite strong, and that there is no clear correlation between accent and intelligibility (see also Munro and Derwing, 1995, 1999, Derwing and Munro 2005). These researchers identify three aspects of foreign-accented speech: (a) the extent to which the speaker’s intended utterance is actually understood by a listener (intelligibility), (b) the listener’s perception of the degree of difficulty encountered when trying to understand an utterance (which they label 'comprehensibility' and which appears elsewhere in the literature as 'effort'), and (c) how much an L2 accent differs from the variety of English the listener is familiar with (accentedness).

They claim (2005: 386) that ‘one of the most robust findings in studies examining the relationships among

these dimensions is that they are partially independent.

Although listeners who find specific L2 utterances to be both unintelligible and incomprehensible always perceive such samples as heavily accented, the reverse is not necessarily true.’ It is not unusual, in other words, to assign good comprehensibility ratings to speech samples that are also rated as heavily accented. In addition, studies requiring listeners to transcribe learners’ speech indicate that some heavily accented speech samples are completely intelligible, while others are not (Derwing and Munro 1997; Munro and Derwing 1995). This can in part, but not entirely, be ascribed to the absence or presence of context.

For example, Gass and Varonis (1984: 81) found that a native speaker’s familiarity with ‘the topic of discourse’, with ‘nonnative speech in general’, with ‘a particular nonnative accent’ and with ‘a particular nonnative speaker’ all facilitate ‘the native speaker’s comprehension of nonnative speech’.

This implies that communicative efficiency is reduced if familiarity with any of these four elements is absent, and this effect is likely to be particularly strong if some of these features are combined. Similarly, fluency and other nonphonological elements have also been shown to influence perceptions of accent (Anderson-Hsieh and Koehler 1988, Garcia Lecumberri and Gallardo del Puerto 2003, Munro and Derwing 1995).

In other words, it is much easier to understand an accent you are used to than one that you are not used to. Under the circumstances, however intuitively attractive it might be, using accent as a measure of intelligibility in descriptors, and, above all, relating this to terms like ‘effort’, makes little sense unless the real world interlocutors/examiners are extensively exposed to varieties of accents: intelligibility is as much a question of the hearer’s ability to listen as it is of the speakers ability to pronounce (Horner, 2013).

...using accent as a measure of intelligibility...makes little sense unless the real world interlocutors...are extensively exposed to varieties of accents...

Intelligibility, then, is a much less robust indicator than we would like it to be: however much we may feel intuitively that it should be an essential aspect in assessing a learner’s pronunciation, it has to be admitted that we do not all have equal tolerance to foreign accents. This does not, of course, necessarily mean that intelligibility should not appear as a criterion in assessing pronunciation, but it does underline the necessity of training both learners and oral examiners to become accustomed to other accents and to overcome their personal, social, cultural and professional prejudices. (See Taylor and Galaczi 2011: 209-214) for a review of the effects of rater training.)

In conclusion, accent, if it impacts negatively on intelligibility – i.e., if it is a barrier to comprehension – needs to be taken into account in any assessment of speaking proficiency. However, because intelligibility is as much a case of the listener’s familiarity with other varieties of English, both learners and examiners need to be trained

30/05/2016 16:19

6

TESTING & EXAMINING

A Simplified Phonological Grid for Assessing Learner Pronunciation at the Six CEFR Levels Any assessment tool whose objective is to place learners at a particular level – and this is the key element in the Common European Framework (CEFR) – must be able to provide a hierarchy of competences such that: (1) learners, teachers and curriculum designers can establish which features can be taught/learned/acquired at each level; (2) realisable objectives can be set for learners at particular levels; and (3) raters can accurately assess learner performance. David Horner investigates to what extent this objective can be achieved.

Moreover, the concept of intelligibility itself requires some form of classification of the key phonological features which impact on it. Drawing on the work of van den Doel (2006), I have previously (2013) identified: word stress, accurate reproduction of phonemes and sentence stress as core features, whereas intonation, rhythm and phonetic reduction are more peripheral.

By joining together these two strands of accentedness and phonological features, I would argue that any phonological grid will need to account for competence in and progression through: articulatory features (sounds), prosody (suprasegmentals: intonation, rhythm, prominence, word stress, speech rate (fluency)), intelligibility and degree of accentedness.

One issue that quickly emerges from this – and is currently a discussion among researchers working on the new phonological grids for the CEFR – is how many grids this implies: one for articulatory features, one for suprasegmentals, one for accent/intelligibility, and/or a more general one including all or some of these features? Because of our different experiences with and tolerance to accents, I would argue strongly that a grid for accentedness is unrealistic; and for the reasons outlined below, I personally favour a more general, comprehensive grid.

Moreover, describing a construct in terms of identifiable components suggests that it is possible to assess pronunciation analytically by measuring a candidate’s relative proficiency in the production of these different components, or at least those identified as relevant at that level. However, although we might be in a position to propose a pronunciation hierarchy based on the existing research into salient features, our knowledge is at best sketchy. In the interim, it may therefore be more useful to identify a holistic variable that could function as a measure of the speaker’s ability to pronounce successfully.

Phonology Oral exam

In previous articles (Horner 2013, 2014), I have criticised the CEFR phonological grid (CEFR 2001: 117) for its failure to address these factors satisfactorily. Its main failures, I have argued, are twofold. On the one hand, it does not provide a useful progression of phonological competence across the six CEFR levels (although it does provide a thorough account of these elements), and on the other hand takes no real account of the impact of accent and intelligibility. These failures affect both level description and level assessment.

In short, it is necessary to establish which pronunciation features impact on intelligibility and have an impact on communicative efficiency, whether this be in terms of aspects of pronunciation that are more or less important, 'irritating' (and for whom), and difficult to acquire (and in what order).

Through her concept of the lingua franca core, Jenkins (2000, 2002) has undoubtedly contributed most to the debate on those aspects of pronunciation which are more or less

TESOL_France_76_Spring_2016_Final.indd 6-7

important. For instance, it is far less communicatively efficient to substitute /b/ for /p/ (bet for pet) than to substitute /t/ for /θ/ (ting for thing) or /z/ for /s/ (zong for song). However, an aspect which she does not take into account is that such substitutions may be felt by an interlocutor to be irritating and create an overall negative perception of the speaker that can have unfortunate results in a work environment or an assessment situation. Indeed, this highlights the importance of the role and attitude of the interlocutor, and of their familiarity with the speaker’s speech community. As I have argued elsewhere, intelligibility is as much in the ears of the listener as in the mouth of the speaker.

...the role and attitude of the interlocutor and of their familiarity with the speaker’s speech community (is important). ...intelligibility is as much in the ears of the listener as in the mouth of the speaker.

7

TESTING & EXAMINING

The most logical holistic variable to use would appear to be the degree of a speaker’s intelligibility: to what extent is it a barrier to communication? However, this still leaves us with the issue of determining whether the barrier comes from the spoken production of the speaker or the listening skill of the hearer, or both.

In each case, of course, the issue of accent will be crucial.

Levis (2005) remarks, for instance, that communication can be successful even when foreign accents are quite strong, and that there is no clear correlation between accent and intelligibility (see also Munro and Derwing, 1995, 1999, Derwing and Munro 2005). These researchers identify three aspects of foreign-accented speech: (a) the extent to which the speaker’s intended utterance is actually understood by a listener (intelligibility), (b) the listener’s perception of the degree of difficulty encountered when trying to understand an utterance (which they label 'comprehensibility' and which appears elsewhere in the literature as 'effort'), and (c) how much an L2 accent differs from the variety of English the listener is familiar with (accentedness).

They claim (2005: 386) that ‘one of the most robust findings in studies examining the relationships among

these dimensions is that they are partially independent.

Although listeners who find specific L2 utterances to be both unintelligible and incomprehensible always perceive such samples as heavily accented, the reverse is not necessarily true.’ It is not unusual, in other words, to assign good comprehensibility ratings to speech samples that are also rated as heavily accented. In addition, studies requiring listeners to transcribe learners’ speech indicate that some heavily accented speech samples are completely intelligible, while others are not (Derwing and Munro 1997; Munro and Derwing 1995). This can in part, but not entirely, be ascribed to the absence or presence of context.

For example, Gass and Varonis (1984: 81) found that a native speaker’s familiarity with ‘the topic of discourse’, with ‘nonnative speech in general’, with ‘a particular nonnative accent’ and with ‘a particular nonnative speaker’ all facilitate ‘the native speaker’s comprehension of nonnative speech’.

This implies that communicative efficiency is reduced if familiarity with any of these four elements is absent, and this effect is likely to be particularly strong if some of these features are combined. Similarly, fluency and other nonphonological elements have also been shown to influence perceptions of accent (Anderson-Hsieh and Koehler 1988, Garcia Lecumberri and Gallardo del Puerto 2003, Munro and Derwing 1995).

In other words, it is much easier to understand an accent you are used to than one that you are not used to. Under the circumstances, however intuitively attractive it might be, using accent as a measure of intelligibility in descriptors, and, above all, relating this to terms like ‘effort’, makes little sense unless the real world interlocutors/examiners are extensively exposed to varieties of accents: intelligibility is as much a question of the hearer’s ability to listen as it is of the speakers ability to pronounce (Horner, 2013).

...using accent as a measure of intelligibility...makes little sense unless the real world interlocutors...are extensively exposed to varieties of accents...

Intelligibility, then, is a much less robust indicator than we would like it to be: however much we may feel intuitively that it should be an essential aspect in assessing a learner’s pronunciation, it has to be admitted that we do not all have equal tolerance to foreign accents. This does not, of course, necessarily mean that intelligibility should not appear as a criterion in assessing pronunciation, but it does underline the necessity of training both learners and oral examiners to become accustomed to other accents and to overcome their personal, social, cultural and professional prejudices. (See Taylor and Galaczi 2011: 209-214) for a review of the effects of rater training.)

In conclusion, accent, if it impacts negatively on intelligibility – i.e., if it is a barrier to comprehension – needs to be taken into account in any assessment of speaking proficiency. However, because intelligibility is as much a case of the listener’s familiarity with other varieties of English, both learners and examiners need to be trained

30/05/2016 16:19

8

TESTING & EXAMINING

to develop this familiarity. Moreover, given the global context within which English functions, we cannot ignore the experience or the reactions of non-native speakers (NNS) to non-‘standard’ English. Surprisingly, given the research findings, this last factor should induce us to be more rather than less demanding in our expectations of learner proficiency in the speaking skill.

The question that remains, however, is whether there exists a means of gauging the degree of (un)intelligibility so as to be able to use it as a global measure of a learner’s pronunciation. Dating back to the first discussions of intelligibility (Abercombie 1956: 93, who defined it as ‘a pronunciation which can be understood with little or no conscious effort on the part of the listener’), one way of assessing a learner’s speech that has been mentioned is the degree of effort required of the hearer. However, although ‘effort’, as anyone who has worked extensively with oral examiners will know, appeals intuitively because it reflects a perceived reality, defining or quantifying the term is notoriously difficult: a listener’s perception of intelligibility or ‘effort’ are as much a function of their own experience with NNS and unfamiliar accents as they are of the speaker’s actual phonological control (everyone is aware that some native speaker dialects pose serious problems of intelligibility even for other native speakers).

In both cases, moreover, as mentioned above, perceived ‘effort’ often results from the interaction with factors other than those which are purely phonological, including grammatical and lexical control, fluency, familiarity with the topic of discourse, context, co-text, situation of utterance and tiredness. Moreover, listeners can be irritated by productions which may or may not be deviant, but which violate socially accepted norms. That the degree of irritation can lead to more negative assessments of the speaker’s performance than other aspects of their speech is significant

when it comes to assessment. However, research in this area is mostly dated and deals rarely with speech. Further research into speech production would certainly help our understanding of the phenomenon.

The question remains of whether we can devise a holistic phonological control grid based on the notion of intelligibility that is capable of differentiating between the six CEFRL levels.In addition, because several studies (e.g. MacDonald, 2002, Derwing & Munro, 2005) have found that teachers have little or no formal preparation to teach pronunciation and thus lack the confidence, skills and knowledge not only to teach it, but also, in our context, to assess it, any phonological grid would need to be written in a non-technical, readily understandable language and should, hopefully, lead to greater knowledge of phonology in the profession.

Despite the scales I have previously proposed in my articles, I have, as a result of the above and of seeing, for example, children from a variety of L1s and who are clearly overall at A1 or even just A0+ levels produce perfectly intelligible sounds for the words they know – become skeptical as to whether detailed descriptors are valid. (That said, the children rarely produce long enough stretches of language to require word stress, prominence or the supra-segmentals generally).

My own feeling now is that within each level there needs to be extreme simplification. This may reflect more my personal primary concern with assessment scales rather than developing descriptors for levels, but it also reflects my very deep concern – borne out by the literature just cited – that both teachers and assessors (and this despite rater training), because of their lack of phonological knowledge and training, find it exceptionally difficult to tease out the different elements of phonology.

Table 1: My proposed Phonological Grid LEVEL

DESCRIPTION

C2

Is fully intelligible and natural-sounding, although a slight accent may persist.

C1

Is easily intelligible, although an accent may persist.

B2

Is intelligible, despite the presence of a possibly noticeable accent.

B1

Is intelligible with occasional effort, despite a marked accent.

A2

Heavy accent and variable word stress may make it difficult for the interlocutor to understand.

A1

Produces very short utterances (words and short 2-3 word phrases) that may be heavily accented and difficult for the interlocutor to understand. May require help to be understood.

TESOL_France_76_Spring_2016_Final.indd 8-9

9

TESTING & EXAMINING ...teachers have little or no formal preparation to teach pronunciation and thus lack the confidence, skills and knowledge not only to teach it, but also...to assess it..

This can, of course, be criticised for its extreme simplification, and those familiar with the scales used in the Cambridge suites of examinations (now in the public domain) may be surprised to see so little explicit reference made to specific phonological features like phonemes, stress, prominence or intonation. Yet, my experience working with examiners suggests that raters find it extremely difficult in real time, during a test, to identify these individual features.

Equally, as we have seen, the issue with intelligibility persists. Within a national context, this will rarely be an issue, since assessors will tend to be familiar with the local accent(s); in the wider context of global examinations like the Cambridge and ETS suites – and indeed as the CEFR becomes increasingly the global standard – it may be more problematic. Only experience will tell, and I would be grateful for feedback from anyone trying out this scale.

Cambridge: UCLES/Cambridge University Press.

Horner D. (2014) And What about Testing Pronunciation? A Critical Look at the CEFR Pronunciation Grid and a Proposal for Improvement. In L.M. Rupp & R. van den Doel (Eds.), Pronunciation Matters, University of Utrecht.

Jenkins J. (2000) The phonology of English as an international language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Jenkins J. (2002) A sociolinguistically-based, empirically-researched pronunciation syllabus for English as an international language.

Applied Linguistics, 23, 83–103.

Levis J. M. (2005) Changing Contexts and Shifting Paradigms in Pronunciation. In TESOL Quarterly, 39/3: 369-377.

Ludwig J. (1982) Native speaker judgments of second-language learners’ efforts at communication: a review, Modern Language Journal, 66: 274-283.

MacDonald S. (2002). Pronunciation – views and practices of reluctant teachers. Prospect, 17(3), 3-18 Munro M. & Derwing T. (1999) Foreign accent, comprehensibility and intelligibility in the speech of second language learners, Language Learning 49: 285-310.

Taylor L & Galaczi E (2011) Scoring validity, Studies in Language Testing 30: 171-233.

Van den Doel R. (2006) How friendly are the natives? An evaluation of native speaker judgements of foreign-accented British and American English, Utrecht: LOT.

David Horner For a complete bibliography please contact the author.

References Derwing T. & Munro M. (1997) Accent, intelligibility and comprehensibility: evidence from 4 L1s, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 19: 1-16.

Derwing T. & Munro M. (2005) Second language accent and pronunciation teaching: a research-based approach, TESOL Quarterly 39: 379-397.

Gass S. & E. M. Varonis (1984) The effect of familiarity on the comprehensibility of nonnative speech, Language Learning 34: 65-89.

Horner D. (2013) Towards a new phonological control grid. In E. D. Galaczi & C. J. Weir (Eds.), Studies in Language Testing: Vol. 36 Exploring Language Frameworks.

Proceedings of the ALTE Kraków Conference (pp.187-204).

David Horner, twice president of TESOL France, has been working in ESOL for 40 years and specializing in assessment for almost half that time. Most recently he has been working on the CEFR phonological grid. David is a freelance trainer who works closely with Cambridge Assessment. davidhorner51@gmail.com

Become a Member of TESOL France!      

Free entrance to workshops and other high-quality Special Interest Group (SIGs) events Access to the Annual Colloquium Access to the Annual Spring Day event Receive our magazine, Teaching Times, three times a year Endless networking opportunities with fellow ELT professionals Leadership opportunities with our Executive Committee

Membership available at €49/year!

Sign up today at: http://bit.ly/TESOLFrance Membership is open to anyone involved in the English Language Teaching (ELT) industry. Our members include teachers, lecturers, teacher trainers, academic managers, researchers, authors, publishers, testing agencies, company founders, and institutions.

See our website for more information on membership prices: www.tesol-france.org TESOL-France is a non-profit organization registered 46 rue Barrault, 75634 Paris Cedex 13, France. In accordance with French regulation (law no 78-17)

30/05/2016 16:19

8

TESTING & EXAMINING

to develop this familiarity. Moreover, given the global context within which English functions, we cannot ignore the experience or the reactions of non-native speakers (NNS) to non-‘standard’ English. Surprisingly, given the research findings, this last factor should induce us to be more rather than less demanding in our expectations of learner proficiency in the speaking skill.

The question that remains, however, is whether there exists a means of gauging the degree of (un)intelligibility so as to be able to use it as a global measure of a learner’s pronunciation. Dating back to the first discussions of intelligibility (Abercombie 1956: 93, who defined it as ‘a pronunciation which can be understood with little or no conscious effort on the part of the listener’), one way of assessing a learner’s speech that has been mentioned is the degree of effort required of the hearer. However, although ‘effort’, as anyone who has worked extensively with oral examiners will know, appeals intuitively because it reflects a perceived reality, defining or quantifying the term is notoriously difficult: a listener’s perception of intelligibility or ‘effort’ are as much a function of their own experience with NNS and unfamiliar accents as they are of the speaker’s actual phonological control (everyone is aware that some native speaker dialects pose serious problems of intelligibility even for other native speakers).

In both cases, moreover, as mentioned above, perceived ‘effort’ often results from the interaction with factors other than those which are purely phonological, including grammatical and lexical control, fluency, familiarity with the topic of discourse, context, co-text, situation of utterance and tiredness. Moreover, listeners can be irritated by productions which may or may not be deviant, but which violate socially accepted norms. That the degree of irritation can lead to more negative assessments of the speaker’s performance than other aspects of their speech is significant

when it comes to assessment. However, research in this area is mostly dated and deals rarely with speech. Further research into speech production would certainly help our understanding of the phenomenon.

The question remains of whether we can devise a holistic phonological control grid based on the notion of intelligibility that is capable of differentiating between the six CEFRL levels.In addition, because several studies (e.g. MacDonald, 2002, Derwing & Munro, 2005) have found that teachers have little or no formal preparation to teach pronunciation and thus lack the confidence, skills and knowledge not only to teach it, but also, in our context, to assess it, any phonological grid would need to be written in a non-technical, readily understandable language and should, hopefully, lead to greater knowledge of phonology in the profession.

Despite the scales I have previously proposed in my articles, I have, as a result of the above and of seeing, for example, children from a variety of L1s and who are clearly overall at A1 or even just A0+ levels produce perfectly intelligible sounds for the words they know – become skeptical as to whether detailed descriptors are valid. (That said, the children rarely produce long enough stretches of language to require word stress, prominence or the supra-segmentals generally).

My own feeling now is that within each level there needs to be extreme simplification. This may reflect more my personal primary concern with assessment scales rather than developing descriptors for levels, but it also reflects my very deep concern – borne out by the literature just cited – that both teachers and assessors (and this despite rater training), because of their lack of phonological knowledge and training, find it exceptionally difficult to tease out the different elements of phonology.

Table 1: My proposed Phonological Grid LEVEL

DESCRIPTION

C2

Is fully intelligible and natural-sounding, although a slight accent may persist.

C1

Is easily intelligible, although an accent may persist.

B2

Is intelligible, despite the presence of a possibly noticeable accent.

B1

Is intelligible with occasional effort, despite a marked accent.

A2

Heavy accent and variable word stress may make it difficult for the interlocutor to understand.

A1

Produces very short utterances (words and short 2-3 word phrases) that may be heavily accented and difficult for the interlocutor to understand. May require help to be understood.

TESOL_France_76_Spring_2016_Final.indd 8-9

9

TESTING & EXAMINING ...teachers have little or no formal preparation to teach pronunciation and thus lack the confidence, skills and knowledge not only to teach it, but also...to assess it..

This can, of course, be criticised for its extreme simplification, and those familiar with the scales used in the Cambridge suites of examinations (now in the public domain) may be surprised to see so little explicit reference made to specific phonological features like phonemes, stress, prominence or intonation. Yet, my experience working with examiners suggests that raters find it extremely difficult in real time, during a test, to identify these individual features.

Equally, as we have seen, the issue with intelligibility persists. Within a national context, this will rarely be an issue, since assessors will tend to be familiar with the local accent(s); in the wider context of global examinations like the Cambridge and ETS suites – and indeed as the CEFR becomes increasingly the global standard – it may be more problematic. Only experience will tell, and I would be grateful for feedback from anyone trying out this scale.

Cambridge: UCLES/Cambridge University Press.

Horner D. (2014) And What about Testing Pronunciation? A Critical Look at the CEFR Pronunciation Grid and a Proposal for Improvement. In L.M. Rupp & R. van den Doel (Eds.), Pronunciation Matters, University of Utrecht.

Jenkins J. (2000) The phonology of English as an international language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Jenkins J. (2002) A sociolinguistically-based, empirically-researched pronunciation syllabus for English as an international language.

Applied Linguistics, 23, 83–103.

Levis J. M. (2005) Changing Contexts and Shifting Paradigms in Pronunciation. In TESOL Quarterly, 39/3: 369-377.

Ludwig J. (1982) Native speaker judgments of second-language learners’ efforts at communication: a review, Modern Language Journal, 66: 274-283.

MacDonald S. (2002). Pronunciation – views and practices of reluctant teachers. Prospect, 17(3), 3-18 Munro M. & Derwing T. (1999) Foreign accent, comprehensibility and intelligibility in the speech of second language learners, Language Learning 49: 285-310.

Taylor L & Galaczi E (2011) Scoring validity, Studies in Language Testing 30: 171-233.

Van den Doel R. (2006) How friendly are the natives? An evaluation of native speaker judgements of foreign-accented British and American English, Utrecht: LOT.

David Horner For a complete bibliography please contact the author.

References Derwing T. & Munro M. (1997) Accent, intelligibility and comprehensibility: evidence from 4 L1s, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 19: 1-16.

Derwing T. & Munro M. (2005) Second language accent and pronunciation teaching: a research-based approach, TESOL Quarterly 39: 379-397.

Gass S. & E. M. Varonis (1984) The effect of familiarity on the comprehensibility of nonnative speech, Language Learning 34: 65-89.

Horner D. (2013) Towards a new phonological control grid. In E. D. Galaczi & C. J. Weir (Eds.), Studies in Language Testing: Vol. 36 Exploring Language Frameworks.

Proceedings of the ALTE Kraków Conference (pp.187-204).

David Horner, twice president of TESOL France, has been working in ESOL for 40 years and specializing in assessment for almost half that time. Most recently he has been working on the CEFR phonological grid. David is a freelance trainer who works closely with Cambridge Assessment. davidhorner51@gmail.com

Become a Member of TESOL France!      

Free entrance to workshops and other high-quality Special Interest Group (SIGs) events Access to the Annual Colloquium Access to the Annual Spring Day event Receive our magazine, Teaching Times, three times a year Endless networking opportunities with fellow ELT professionals Leadership opportunities with our Executive Committee

Membership available at €49/year!

Sign up today at: http://bit.ly/TESOLFrance Membership is open to anyone involved in the English Language Teaching (ELT) industry. Our members include teachers, lecturers, teacher trainers, academic managers, researchers, authors, publishers, testing agencies, company founders, and institutions.

See our website for more information on membership prices: www.tesol-france.org TESOL-France is a non-profit organization registered 46 rue Barrault, 75634 Paris Cedex 13, France. In accordance with French regulation (law no 78-17)

30/05/2016 16:19

10

PSYCHOLINGUISTICS

PSYCHOLINGUISTICS

Neuroscience and Language Learning This article provides the background to the talk Anna Varna gave in November 2015 at the TESOL France Annual Colloquium. If you missed or would like to revisit this presentation and would like to check out the visuals she used and find even more resources than the ones mentioned below, try this link: http://prezi.com/5oghd19kuwhf/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

Wernicke's area

Broca's area Hippocamus

Amygdala

Remember how vinyl records work and the grooves that are cut in them? Every time we do something two neurons are connected. If we do something repeatedly a path is created. The more we do something, the deeper this path, this ‘groove’, is engraved. If we don’t do something for a long time we ‘forget’ it. The good news is our brains have a quality called plasticity, meaning that new grooves can be created at any age, even at an advanced age.

The development of the brain is lifelong, and not predetermined at birth or within the first three years.

There are periods of our life that are critical for some kinds of learning, but in general:

.‘ ..throughout life, the brain is plastic and its connectivity, functionality and even structure are influenced by experience, including educational experience...’

(Howard-Jones, 2009)

Fig. 1. Diagram showing the activation of the neural network as the mind hears, learns, and processes language

I am by no means a scientist and very far from being a neuroscientist. But it seems that there are thousands like me who are fascinated by what is going on inside our heads and that is one of the reasons why neuroscience has become so popular. Another reason is that nowadays we have much more sophisticated technology that can actually look into the brains of living people and give us some information. I first became interested in how our brains work a few years ago. I think that the first book I read about the subject was How the mind works

by Stephen Pinker. After that I read more books (see below for references), some easier to understand and others more complicated. I also followed a Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) with the University of Berkeley in Autumn 2014 (The Science of Happiness) which gave me a host of new ideas about how the results of what neuroscience was telling us could be applied in teaching. So here I am going to share with you what I have learned lately.

What does neuroscience teach us?

Neuroscience examines how our brains work, how messages are transmitted from one neuron to the next and what exactly this means in terms of behaviour.

When we learn, electrical messages travel repeatedly from one neuron to another. Then the brain starts to create connections between the neurons or pathways so that declarative knowledge (e.g. knowledge about the language) can be accessed more rapidly and procedural knowledge (e.g. pronouncing words correctly, articulating chunks etc.) become more automatic.

TESOL_France_76_Spring_2016_Final.indd 10-11

This is good news for teachers of older students – the pervasive view that ‘younger is better’ is not necessarily true (for a full discussion see Dörnyei (2009): 233-269).

Consequently, learning changes the physical structure of the brain through the process of continuous interactions between the learner and the external environment.

However, it is not enough to have meaningful experiences that will be ‘engraved’ in the grooves of our brains – we also have to organise them in a way that will be meaningful to each one of us. And each one of us has a personalized way of storing information and each bit of information we store influences the bits that are next to it. Or as a Greek poet and psychiatrist has written:

.‘ ..our memory is not stable as a structure.

It is a house in which every time you put in your key and enter you find yourself in a space with a different layout: here they have taken down a wall, there they have built a door.

The furnishings are different every time we visit our memory, and the decoration as well: a new picture that we don’t remember, an old armchair that needs to be refurbished, a wicker chair with a hole on the seat…’

(Sotiris Pastakas, 2015)

The AGES model The AGES model (Attention, Generation, Emotion & Spacing), introduced by Lila Tabachi, David Rock and Tobias Kiefer, is helpful for teachers to be aware of. Here's a brief summary.

Attention: For the brain’s hippocampus to be activated sufficiently for learning to occur, the student needs to pay full attention to the topic being presented. This highlights the importance of ‘noticing’ and setting up tasks that have a clear focus.

Focusing on multiple streams of information and multitasking results in a weakening in the strength of neuronal firing and thus to a significant decrease in learning. Hence, one of the basic ideas for effective learning is ensuring we have ‘undivided attention’ – that teachers do not introduce too many concepts simultaneously and that students are focused on the learning task at hand and not distracted.

Generation: This refers to the creation of long-term memory. After enough attention has been paid to a learning task and the target language is being held in working memory, the question is, how do we maximize the creation of long-term memories? According to David Rock, ‘Both psychological and neuroscientific research show that the key to optimizing learning and building long-term memory is to create ‘ownership’ of learning content’. This generation of one’s own learning takes place when a student is motivated to understand, contextualize, remember, and apply knowledge in their own way. This argues for a high degree of personalization so that the content is meaningful for each individual, creating a set of associations and activating the hippocampus.

Emotion: Part of making an event memorable is by associating it with a feeling. Emotion leads to the activation of a part of the brain called the amygdala and signals to the hippocampus that the event is significant. Classrooms, therefore, need to be places where the teaching is stimulating and the memories created there are vivid enough to be transferred from episodic to long-term memory.

Spacing: Learning requires maintenance, hence the need for reviewing and consolidation. The brain needs time to ‘digest’ information and the repetition of new information, in a spaced manner over time and recycled in different contexts, helps build up long-term memory.

The SCARF model The SCARF model (Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, Fairness) is also useful. The work of Eisenberger and her colleagues shows that a reduction in status resulting from being left out of an activity lights up the same regions of the brain as physical pain (Eisenberger et al., 2003). This highlights the importance of positive feedback; people experience a status increase when they feel they are learning and improving and when attention is paid to this improvement. One study showed that activation of brain circuitry in children is as strong as money when told ‘that’s correct’ by a repetitive computer voice. Autonomy is also to be fostered by devolving power

11

in the classroom. Allowing students to choose activities and organize their workflow can have beneficial effects. (For a more complete account refer to http://www.scarf360.com/ files/SCARF-NeuroleadershipArticle.pdf)

Summary In terms of language learning, it is therefore crucial to create positive classroom experiences because human beings become much more perceptive when they feel accepted, happy and in control. This means setting up activities that stimulate our students’ curiosity and involvement, create an emotional investment and are relevant to their own experience. We cannot directly increase the amounts of neurochemicals like dopamine and norepinephrine that are involved in learning (although some futurologists claim that this will soon be possible with brain enhancing drugs) but we can certainly create the classroom conditions that stimulate their production in our students’ brains.

Anna Varna References: Dörnyei, Z. (2009) The Psychology of Second Language Acquisition. OUP. Eisenberger N. et al. (2003) Does Rejection Hurt? An fMRI Study of Social Exclusion. http://science.sciencemag.org/ content/302/5643/290 Fredrickson B. (2013) Love 2.0 Howard-Jones P. (2010) Technology and the Brain (retrieved from: https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/ search?q=cache:ecN9oTQcC9MJ:https://www.nfer.ac.uk/ publications/FUTL19/FUTL19.pdf+&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us) Lieberman M. (2013) The social brain and its superpowers. https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNhk3owF7RQ Moskowitz G. (1978) Caring and Sharing in the Foreign Language Classroom.

Pastakas S. (2015) Ο δόκτωρ Ψ και οι ασθενείς του (Dr Psy & his patients).

Pinker, S. (1997) How the Mind Works. New York.

Rock D. (2001) SCARF: a brain-based model for collaborating with and influencing others. http://www.your-brain-at-work.com/files/ NLJ_SCARFUS.pdf Roose K. (2015) Brain Enhancing Drugs http://fusion.net/ story/58131/i-tried-silicon-valleys-favorite-brain-enhancing-drugs/ Schumann J. et al. (2004) The Neurobiology of Learning: Perspectives From Second Language Acquisition.

Sousa D. (Ed.) (2010) Mind, Brain, and Education: Neuroscience Implications for the Classroom.

Anna Varna is essentially an English language teacher who is currently working as a pedagogical advisor in the European Commission. She has an M.Ed in Educational Technology and is particularly interested in how people learn. She writes a (not so) regular blog at: http://inyourhands. edublogs.org

30/05/2016 16:19

10

PSYCHOLINGUISTICS

PSYCHOLINGUISTICS

Neuroscience and Language Learning This article provides the background to the talk Anna Varna gave in November 2015 at the TESOL France Annual Colloquium. If you missed or would like to revisit this presentation and would like to check out the visuals she used and find even more resources than the ones mentioned below, try this link: http://prezi.com/5oghd19kuwhf/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

Wernicke's area

Broca's area Hippocamus

Amygdala

Remember how vinyl records work and the grooves that are cut in them? Every time we do something two neurons are connected. If we do something repeatedly a path is created. The more we do something, the deeper this path, this ‘groove’, is engraved. If we don’t do something for a long time we ‘forget’ it. The good news is our brains have a quality called plasticity, meaning that new grooves can be created at any age, even at an advanced age.

The development of the brain is lifelong, and not predetermined at birth or within the first three years.

There are periods of our life that are critical for some kinds of learning, but in general:

.‘ ..throughout life, the brain is plastic and its connectivity, functionality and even structure are influenced by experience, including educational experience...’

(Howard-Jones, 2009)

Fig. 1. Diagram showing the activation of the neural network as the mind hears, learns, and processes language

I am by no means a scientist and very far from being a neuroscientist. But it seems that there are thousands like me who are fascinated by what is going on inside our heads and that is one of the reasons why neuroscience has become so popular. Another reason is that nowadays we have much more sophisticated technology that can actually look into the brains of living people and give us some information. I first became interested in how our brains work a few years ago. I think that the first book I read about the subject was How the mind works

by Stephen Pinker. After that I read more books (see below for references), some easier to understand and others more complicated. I also followed a Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) with the University of Berkeley in Autumn 2014 (The Science of Happiness) which gave me a host of new ideas about how the results of what neuroscience was telling us could be applied in teaching. So here I am going to share with you what I have learned lately.

What does neuroscience teach us?

Neuroscience examines how our brains work, how messages are transmitted from one neuron to the next and what exactly this means in terms of behaviour.

When we learn, electrical messages travel repeatedly from one neuron to another. Then the brain starts to create connections between the neurons or pathways so that declarative knowledge (e.g. knowledge about the language) can be accessed more rapidly and procedural knowledge (e.g. pronouncing words correctly, articulating chunks etc.) become more automatic.

TESOL_France_76_Spring_2016_Final.indd 10-11

This is good news for teachers of older students – the pervasive view that ‘younger is better’ is not necessarily true (for a full discussion see Dörnyei (2009): 233-269).

Consequently, learning changes the physical structure of the brain through the process of continuous interactions between the learner and the external environment.

However, it is not enough to have meaningful experiences that will be ‘engraved’ in the grooves of our brains – we also have to organise them in a way that will be meaningful to each one of us. And each one of us has a personalized way of storing information and each bit of information we store influences the bits that are next to it. Or as a Greek poet and psychiatrist has written:

.‘ ..our memory is not stable as a structure.

It is a house in which every time you put in your key and enter you find yourself in a space with a different layout: here they have taken down a wall, there they have built a door.

The furnishings are different every time we visit our memory, and the decoration as well: a new picture that we don’t remember, an old armchair that needs to be refurbished, a wicker chair with a hole on the seat…’

(Sotiris Pastakas, 2015)

The AGES model The AGES model (Attention, Generation, Emotion & Spacing), introduced by Lila Tabachi, David Rock and Tobias Kiefer, is helpful for teachers to be aware of. Here's a brief summary.

Attention: For the brain’s hippocampus to be activated sufficiently for learning to occur, the student needs to pay full attention to the topic being presented. This highlights the importance of ‘noticing’ and setting up tasks that have a clear focus.

Focusing on multiple streams of information and multitasking results in a weakening in the strength of neuronal firing and thus to a significant decrease in learning. Hence, one of the basic ideas for effective learning is ensuring we have ‘undivided attention’ – that teachers do not introduce too many concepts simultaneously and that students are focused on the learning task at hand and not distracted.

Generation: This refers to the creation of long-term memory. After enough attention has been paid to a learning task and the target language is being held in working memory, the question is, how do we maximize the creation of long-term memories? According to David Rock, ‘Both psychological and neuroscientific research show that the key to optimizing learning and building long-term memory is to create ‘ownership’ of learning content’. This generation of one’s own learning takes place when a student is motivated to understand, contextualize, remember, and apply knowledge in their own way. This argues for a high degree of personalization so that the content is meaningful for each individual, creating a set of associations and activating the hippocampus.

Emotion: Part of making an event memorable is by associating it with a feeling. Emotion leads to the activation of a part of the brain called the amygdala and signals to the hippocampus that the event is significant. Classrooms, therefore, need to be places where the teaching is stimulating and the memories created there are vivid enough to be transferred from episodic to long-term memory.

Spacing: Learning requires maintenance, hence the need for reviewing and consolidation. The brain needs time to ‘digest’ information and the repetition of new information, in a spaced manner over time and recycled in different contexts, helps build up long-term memory.

The SCARF model The SCARF model (Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, Fairness) is also useful. The work of Eisenberger and her colleagues shows that a reduction in status resulting from being left out of an activity lights up the same regions of the brain as physical pain (Eisenberger et al., 2003). This highlights the importance of positive feedback; people experience a status increase when they feel they are learning and improving and when attention is paid to this improvement. One study showed that activation of brain circuitry in children is as strong as money when told ‘that’s correct’ by a repetitive computer voice. Autonomy is also to be fostered by devolving power

11

in the classroom. Allowing students to choose activities and organize their workflow can have beneficial effects. (For a more complete account refer to http://www.scarf360.com/ files/SCARF-NeuroleadershipArticle.pdf)

Summary In terms of language learning, it is therefore crucial to create positive classroom experiences because human beings become much more perceptive when they feel accepted, happy and in control. This means setting up activities that stimulate our students’ curiosity and involvement, create an emotional investment and are relevant to their own experience. We cannot directly increase the amounts of neurochemicals like dopamine and norepinephrine that are involved in learning (although some futurologists claim that this will soon be possible with brain enhancing drugs) but we can certainly create the classroom conditions that stimulate their production in our students’ brains.

Anna Varna References: Dörnyei, Z. (2009) The Psychology of Second Language Acquisition. OUP. Eisenberger N. et al. (2003) Does Rejection Hurt? An fMRI Study of Social Exclusion. http://science.sciencemag.org/ content/302/5643/290 Fredrickson B. (2013) Love 2.0 Howard-Jones P. (2010) Technology and the Brain (retrieved from: https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/ search?q=cache:ecN9oTQcC9MJ:https://www.nfer.ac.uk/ publications/FUTL19/FUTL19.pdf+&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us) Lieberman M. (2013) The social brain and its superpowers. https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNhk3owF7RQ Moskowitz G. (1978) Caring and Sharing in the Foreign Language Classroom.

Pastakas S. (2015) Ο δόκτωρ Ψ και οι ασθενείς του (Dr Psy & his patients).

Pinker, S. (1997) How the Mind Works. New York.

Rock D. (2001) SCARF: a brain-based model for collaborating with and influencing others. http://www.your-brain-at-work.com/files/ NLJ_SCARFUS.pdf Roose K. (2015) Brain Enhancing Drugs http://fusion.net/ story/58131/i-tried-silicon-valleys-favorite-brain-enhancing-drugs/ Schumann J. et al. (2004) The Neurobiology of Learning: Perspectives From Second Language Acquisition.

Sousa D. (Ed.) (2010) Mind, Brain, and Education: Neuroscience Implications for the Classroom.

Anna Varna is essentially an English language teacher who is currently working as a pedagogical advisor in the European Commission. She has an M.Ed in Educational Technology and is particularly interested in how people learn. She writes a (not so) regular blog at: http://inyourhands. edublogs.org

30/05/2016 16:19

12

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Benefits of Teacher Training At the 2016 IATEFL conference there was a light-hearted but spirited debate on the motion: This house believes that teacher training is a waste of time. The Teaching Times Editor, Peter Strutt, asked Betty Carlson, who recently completed the three components of a DELTA course, for her point of view.

Each course involves input sessions, practical teaching and written assignments. Assessment is based on your overall teaching performance and four written assignments (each 750–1,000 words).

Q: Is that enough to be a good teacher?

A: How long is a piece of string? These initial qualifications are an excellent starting point but, in terms of continuing professional development, they’re just an introduction.

Teaching is a complex skill which is perfected over a lifetime and in an ever-changing world new skills and strategies have to be acquired.

Q: So what next?

A: Of course, I would say the best thing is to do a DELTA, also run by Cambridge English Language Assessment.

A DELTA course is a far more comprehensive qualification.

It covers similar ground to the CELTA, but is much more in-depth. It also includes a major research paper in a specialized field of language teaching.

Q: What about an MA in TESOL or an MA in Applied Linguistics?

A: I would never discourage anyone from enrolling in one of these programmes. In fact, I learnt about the DELTA while looking for an MA! But they tend to be more theoretical and place less emphasis on the practical necessities of being a classroom teacher. Plus, they are costly.

A confident language teacher training with a class

Q: Would you support this motion?

A: Definitely not! An accident of birth that makes a person a native speaker of English is not a teaching qualification.

It doesn’t make this person cognitively aware of the grammar, phonology and lexical system of the language or equip them with the necessary pedagogy to teach listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. In fact, a person who has learnt English as an L2 is probably better equipped.

For example, when I came to France, I was hired to teach EFL on the basis of being a native speaker who had a university degree. But I had no idea how to explain, let alone teach, notions like the present perfect or the past continuous. I found myself diving into Pratique de l’anglais de A à Z on plenty of occasions!

Q: So what are the benefits of being trained?

A: Basically, when you are hired to do a job, it’s nice to actually know what you are doing! More seriously, it is increasingly difficult to find a job as a language teacher without a minimum of training and any career development is difficult. Also, as in the performance of any practical skill, a teacher has to be able to set in motion a series of activities that will work in the classroom and enhance learning. Finally, it’s important to understand the theoretical underpinnings of any activity, especially one as complex as language learning and teaching.

TESOL_France_76_Spring_2016_Final.indd 12-13

Q: What are the options?

A: The Trinity Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, awarded by Trinity College London, is recognized by the British Council and by many language schools as a suitable initial qualification.

But I think the vast majority of beginner teachers opt for the CELTA (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). Worldwide, there are over 300 approved centres where you can take a CELTA course, in more than 70 countries, and more than 1,500 CELTA courses are available every year, so there’s no lack of choice. In France, you can do a CELTA course in Paris, Strasbourg, Lyon and Brest.

Q: How long does a course last?

A: Typically four to five weeks on an intensive course, but there are part-time and blended learning options. The whole course lasts 120 hours.

Q: What does the course include?

A: There are five strands: • Learners and teachers, and the teaching/learning context • Language analysis and awareness • Language skills: reading, listening, speaking and writing • Planning and resources for different teaching contexts • Developing teaching skills and professionalism.

13

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Q: What does the Delta consist of?

A: There are three separate modules. Module One, entitled The Background to Teaching and Learning, involves an in-depth look at teaching and testing the language systems (grammar, lexis, discourse and phonology,) and skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking). Candidates are assessed by a written examination consisting of two 90-minute papers.

For many people, Module Two is the hardest part, but for me, it was the most rewarding. There is a hands-on, classroom based component. You have to complete five assessed assignments, two on Language Systems and two on Skills, each of which are in four parts – a background essay, a lesson plan with commentary, the actual lesson and a personal post-lesson evaluation. There’s also a Professional Development Assignment which lasts the length of the course during which the trainees set their own action research plans and monitor their progress.

In addition, there’s an assignment on Experimental Practice when the trainee researches and teaches a lesson on a type of pedagogy they have never tried out.

Q: How is it assessed?

A: By a mix of continuous assessment internally at the instruction centre and an externally-assessed assignment and taught lesson which is not seen or marked by the instructors.

Q: It sounds a lot of work!!

A: Yes, if you take an intensive course you have a vast amount of work to fit into a short period. If you follow a longer course, as I did in Strasbourg, you have the same amount of work to fit in around your teaching workload, family and other commitments. But I feel an extensive course is better in terms of professional development – you can’t see any long-term benefits in just a couple of months.

Q: What did you personally get out of the course?

A: Professional development is crucial for beginners but also very important for experienced teachers. I had been teaching English in France for over 20 years when I took the DELTA course. Obviously, I had learned a few things on my own since my days of pondering the difference between the present perfect and the simple past! But Module One caught me up on language teaching theory and taught me a lot about aspects of language such as lexis, discourse, and phonology. I also learned how to better use ready-made teaching materials, which was very practical.

I got so much out of Module Two that I can’t even begin to explain it in a short interview!

First, I had my entire teaching style dissected by my expert trainers. It’s an eye-opening and somewhat intimidating experience to get a minute-by-minute report of everything you do or say during a one-hour lesson. I think the points I improved on the most were my lesson timing and deciding which skills or systems to focus on in a single lesson, and how to do so effectively. There were five trainees in my course, all of different nationalities, ages and teaching backgrounds, which was also extremely enriching.

For my Module Three paper on Blended Learning, I created a 20hour vocabulary development course for A2-level students. It was great because I actually taught the course I created. However, the paper took a huge amount of time. It was the most difficult part to do because I was on my own, except for help from my tutor.

Finally, the DELTA was a key factor in my getting a promotion. Of course I’m happy about that, but the biggest takeaway has been a renewed enthusiasm for my profession.

Interview by Peter Strutt

Betty Carlson is the head English teacher for the EGC Rodez business school.

She also manages the foreign internship and study abroad programmes, as well as the Erasmus Grant programme for the EGC business school network. bcinfrance@gmail.com

30/05/2016 16:19

12

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Benefits of Teacher Training At the 2016 IATEFL conference there was a light-hearted but spirited debate on the motion: This house believes that teacher training is a waste of time. The Teaching Times Editor, Peter Strutt, asked Betty Carlson, who recently completed the three components of a DELTA course, for her point of view.

Each course involves input sessions, practical teaching and written assignments. Assessment is based on your overall teaching performance and four written assignments (each 750–1,000 words).

Q: Is that enough to be a good teacher?

A: How long is a piece of string? These initial qualifications are an excellent starting point but, in terms of continuing professional development, they’re just an introduction.

Teaching is a complex skill which is perfected over a lifetime and in an ever-changing world new skills and strategies have to be acquired.

Q: So what next?

A: Of course, I would say the best thing is to do a DELTA, also run by Cambridge English Language Assessment.

A DELTA course is a far more comprehensive qualification.

It covers similar ground to the CELTA, but is much more in-depth. It also includes a major research paper in a specialized field of language teaching.

Q: What about an MA in TESOL or an MA in Applied Linguistics?

A: I would never discourage anyone from enrolling in one of these programmes. In fact, I learnt about the DELTA while looking for an MA! But they tend to be more theoretical and place less emphasis on the practical necessities of being a classroom teacher. Plus, they are costly.

A confident language teacher training with a class

Q: Would you support this motion?

A: Definitely not! An accident of birth that makes a person a native speaker of English is not a teaching qualification.

It doesn’t make this person cognitively aware of the grammar, phonology and lexical system of the language or equip them with the necessary pedagogy to teach listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. In fact, a person who has learnt English as an L2 is probably better equipped.

For example, when I came to France, I was hired to teach EFL on the basis of being a native speaker who had a university degree. But I had no idea how to explain, let alone teach, notions like the present perfect or the past continuous. I found myself diving into Pratique de l’anglais de A à Z on plenty of occasions!

Q: So what are the benefits of being trained?

A: Basically, when you are hired to do a job, it’s nice to actually know what you are doing! More seriously, it is increasingly difficult to find a job as a language teacher without a minimum of training and any career development is difficult. Also, as in the performance of any practical skill, a teacher has to be able to set in motion a series of activities that will work in the classroom and enhance learning. Finally, it’s important to understand the theoretical underpinnings of any activity, especially one as complex as language learning and teaching.

TESOL_France_76_Spring_2016_Final.indd 12-13

Q: What are the options?

A: The Trinity Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, awarded by Trinity College London, is recognized by the British Council and by many language schools as a suitable initial qualification.

But I think the vast majority of beginner teachers opt for the CELTA (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). Worldwide, there are over 300 approved centres where you can take a CELTA course, in more than 70 countries, and more than 1,500 CELTA courses are available every year, so there’s no lack of choice. In France, you can do a CELTA course in Paris, Strasbourg, Lyon and Brest.

Q: How long does a course last?

A: Typically four to five weeks on an intensive course, but there are part-time and blended learning options. The whole course lasts 120 hours.

Q: What does the course include?

A: There are five strands: • Learners and teachers, and the teaching/learning context • Language analysis and awareness • Language skills: reading, listening, speaking and writing • Planning and resources for different teaching contexts • Developing teaching skills and professionalism.

13

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Q: What does the Delta consist of?

A: There are three separate modules. Module One, entitled The Background to Teaching and Learning, involves an in-depth look at teaching and testing the language systems (grammar, lexis, discourse and phonology,) and skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking). Candidates are assessed by a written examination consisting of two 90-minute papers.

For many people, Module Two is the hardest part, but for me, it was the most rewarding. There is a hands-on, classroom based component. You have to complete five assessed assignments, two on Language Systems and two on Skills, each of which are in four parts – a background essay, a lesson plan with commentary, the actual lesson and a personal post-lesson evaluation. There’s also a Professional Development Assignment which lasts the length of the course during which the trainees set their own action research plans and monitor their progress.

In addition, there’s an assignment on Experimental Practice when the trainee researches and teaches a lesson on a type of pedagogy they have never tried out.

Q: How is it assessed?

A: By a mix of continuous assessment internally at the instruction centre and an externally-assessed assignment and taught lesson which is not seen or marked by the instructors.

Q: It sounds a lot of work!!

A: Yes, if you take an intensive course you have a vast amount of work to fit into a short period. If you follow a longer course, as I did in Strasbourg, you have the same amount of work to fit in around your teaching workload, family and other commitments. But I feel an extensive course is better in terms of professional development – you can’t see any long-term benefits in just a couple of months.

Q: What did you personally get out of the course?

A: Professional development is crucial for beginners but also very important for experienced teachers. I had been teaching English in France for over 20 years when I took the DELTA course. Obviously, I had learned a few things on my own since my days of pondering the difference between the present perfect and the simple past! But Module One caught me up on language teaching theory and taught me a lot about aspects of language such as lexis, discourse, and phonology. I also learned how to better use ready-made teaching materials, which was very practical.

I got so much out of Module Two that I can’t even begin to explain it in a short interview!

First, I had my entire teaching style dissected by my expert trainers. It’s an eye-opening and somewhat intimidating experience to get a minute-by-minute report of everything you do or say during a one-hour lesson. I think the points I improved on the most were my lesson timing and deciding which skills or systems to focus on in a single lesson, and how to do so effectively. There were five trainees in my course, all of different nationalities, ages and teaching backgrounds, which was also extremely enriching.

For my Module Three paper on Blended Learning, I created a 20hour vocabulary development course for A2-level students. It was great because I actually taught the course I created. However, the paper took a huge amount of time. It was the most difficult part to do because I was on my own, except for help from my tutor.

Finally, the DELTA was a key factor in my getting a promotion. Of course I’m happy about that, but the biggest takeaway has been a renewed enthusiasm for my profession.

Interview by Peter Strutt

Betty Carlson is the head English teacher for the EGC Rodez business school.

She also manages the foreign internship and study abroad programmes, as well as the Erasmus Grant programme for the EGC business school network. bcinfrance@gmail.com

30/05/2016 16:19

14

VOCABULARY TRAINING

VOCABULARY TRAINING

Yes, I remember Adlestrop

Table 1 WHAT

HOW?

EXAMPLE:

Meaning

a) translation b) definition / explanation c) synonmyn or antonym d) image e) sample sentence

remember = se souvenir de ; se rappeler wedding - the marriage ceremony in a church or registery office awful (= very unpleasant); ugly ((ǂ beautiful) image of a snake My hands were cold so I put on some gloves.

If students are to become effective users of English, they need to be able to understand, store and rapidly retrieve many thousands of words. This article will focus on some of the ways in which words are thought to be organized in the brain and outline some means to help students to learn and remember vocabulary in a systematic way.

Pronounciation

phonemic symbols

headache /ˈhedeɪk/

Part of speech

noun (n); verb (v); adjective (adj)

wedding (n); remember (v); ugly (adj)

Grammar

notes + examples

*remember to do sth (= not forget) *remember doing sth (have a memory of a past event)

But in order to do that we first need to understand a little bit about the way in which we actually recognize and understand words when we encounter them in print or speech and how we are able to recall words when we want to say something or write something down. How can we explain what is happening when we recognize a word or need to retrieve it for production?

What we need is some sort of model to explain human memory.

Combinations

phrase or sentence

heavy traffic; It would set a precedent

Style

make a note

find out (informal) = ascertain (formal)

Since the Collins Birmingham University International Language Database (COBUILD) project in the 1980s and the development of the lexical approach described by Michael Lewis in the early 1990s, there has been a shift away from an exclusively grammatical approach to syllabus design with more emphasis placed on vocabulary.

The poet, Edward Thomas. https://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Edward_Thomas_(poet)#/media/ File:Thomasportrait.jpg

Firstly, a word on the title: the quote is taken from a poem by British poet, Edward Thomas: Yes, I remember Adlestrop – The name, because one afternoon Of heat the express-train drew up there Unwontedly. It was late June.

I've quoted it because it seems a good account of how one particular word has stuck in memory − in this case, episodic memory. A particular event and its associations, the heat, the time of year, the train slowing down by the platform, conjure up the word Adlestrop, which in itself is not particularly memorable.

And yet this word has been transferred from short-term working memory (noticing the word and retaining it for a limited period of time) into longterm memory. Certainly, when teaching vocabulary, we should be concerned not just to present, define and exemplify the meanings of words in a ‘classroom episode’, but also to make them stick permanently in the minds of our students.

TESOL_France_76_Spring_2016_Final.indd 14-15

Metaphors for the mind Very often the mind is conceived of as a place where memories are stored.

Plato compared the mind to a birdcage stocked with all kinds of birds, some in flocks, some in small groups, some flying around by themselves. When we are born, the birdcage is empty and each new bit of knowledge acquired is symbolized by a bird. But this isn’t a very ordered place and it might be difficult to capture any of the birds.

At the end of the 18th Century, the German philosopher Emmanuel Kant suggested that the mind was more like a library and that memories were stored on various shelves under general headings. This is quite a powerful metaphor. For language we could hypothesize that there are labels of semantic primitives such as MOVE, GRASP, INGEST; words such as ‘eat, drink, breathe, swallow, sniff, inhale’ would all be stored under INGEST. And we use this principle in classroom teaching when we ask students to arrange hyponyms such as ‘table, chair, desk’, etc. under the super-ordinate term furniture. We could also hypothesize a central catalogue, specific catalogues for more detailed areas, specific locations for the storage of certain words, copies of each word stored under different categories for easy access and crossreferencing, more frequently used books and periodicals arranged closer to the entrance, and so on.

15

So we could say that a student who writes ‘walk’ for ‘work’ or ‘a good think’ instead of a ‘good thing’ has gone to the wrong reference section based on a mistaken selection of the phonological access code in the same way as misreading of 430.1 as 480.1 in a library might take you to ‘archaeology’ rather than ‘anthropology’.

Metaphors tend to develop according to the latest advances in technology, so in the 19th Century a human brain might have been described as a ‘thought engine’. In the 21st Century, the dominant metaphor is that of the ‘computer’ so any explanation of how the mind stores vocabulary is bound to refer to parallel processing, back-up stores, files, arrays, access, input, output, circuits, and so on.

But the brain is not a computer.

Research with positron emission tomography¹ has shown that many different brain regions are involved in recollection. Memories are not stored in any single neural group, but in an intricate and ever-shifting net of firing neurons and crackling synapses distributed throughout the brain.

Similarly, our ability to recognize, recall and use vocabulary must involve convergence zones, neurobiological crossroads where all the features of knowing a word coincide.

Knowing a word So how does this translate into language teaching? Knowing a word involves many factors: the meaning, the pronunciation, the collocations, connotations, colligations², and level of formality. This means ensuring that, when students encounter new vocabulary, they are given as much information as necessary. This begins with some learner training about noting down new words.

The idea is to ensure that students are not content to merely note a word and its (often approximate) translation, but to make an effort to include other aspects of the word’s meaning and use.

Perhaps the most important of these is pronunciation. There is good evidence that words are stored phonologically in the brain (for example, the tip of the tongue phenomenon). Native speakers are able to detect non-words like ‘grinch’ or ‘swollite’ in less than half a second, evidence of a fast and efficient word-searching ability. It stands to reason, therefore, that students need to be actively encouraged to say the word or expression and given ample opportunity to use it in memorable contexts, along with related words.

Ideas for teaching Most teachers are familiar with mind maps, corresponding to the idea of ‘convergence zones’ mentioned earlier. They are an excellent way of helping students create mental lattices as in the diagram below.

a) List things found in an office but not in a home. b) Besides the sex differences, how can you tell your father and mother apart?

List the most important physical and emotional differences. Do the work alone, then explain your list to a partner. c) List the differences between your car/bicycle and your partner’s.

freezing cold

It's bucketing it down

It's pissing it down

hot outburst

chilly

It's raining cats & dogs

mild

drizzle

scorching warm

downpour

d) Using the list of common verbs below, think of three typical doers of each action. Compare your lists with those of other pairs: clean listen taste push open e) Work in fours: one person thinks of a place, building, or room, and tells the others three things that would be found there. The others should then try and guess the place. For example: Student A: (thinking of a library): shelf, catalogue, magazines Student B: A supermarket?

Student C: A dental surgery?

Student A: Here’s an extra word: ‘book’…

Space precludes listing other activities but the article by Sylviane DuboisLombard (cf. pp 14-15 of this issue) discusses a number of other similar activities she uses with her lycée classes, so read on.

Peter Strutt References Aitchison J. (2012) Words in the Mind: An Introduction to the Mental Lexicon.

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Field J. (2003) Psycholinguistics. Routledge.

Harley T. (2014) The Psychology of Language. Psychology Press.

Warren P. (2012) Introducing Psycholinguistics.

Cambridge University Press. ¹ A functional imaging technique used in nuclear medicine to observe metabolic processes in the body. ² Where a lexical item is primed to occur in or with a particular grammatical function.

shower

rainy cloudy

tropical

sunny

foggy

temperate

At the beginning of a course, using the template top right, I present possible ways you can do this.

Grouping words in this way should help to make them more memorable by creating a word web or mini neural network. However, it might be argued that lexical sets such as these are too yawningly obvious and therefore have little mnemonic value. Another option is to ask our students to take part in more challenging activities which will build up more gripping word categories because it is the student who has built up the word family in each case. For example, here are five activities, working in pairs:

humid Fig. 1. Noting down vocabulary

frosty

Peter Strutt has taught on the MA programme at the University of London Institute in Paris. He is currently one of the DELTA tutors at the ELT Hub in Strasbourg … and Editor of the Teaching Times. editor@tesol-france.org

30/05/2016 16:19

14

VOCABULARY TRAINING

VOCABULARY TRAINING

Yes, I remember Adlestrop

Table 1 WHAT

HOW?

EXAMPLE:

Meaning

a) translation b) definition / explanation c) synonmyn or antonym d) image e) sample sentence

remember = se souvenir de ; se rappeler wedding - the marriage ceremony in a church or registery office awful (= very unpleasant); ugly ((ǂ beautiful) image of a snake My hands were cold so I put on some gloves.

If students are to become effective users of English, they need to be able to understand, store and rapidly retrieve many thousands of words. This article will focus on some of the ways in which words are thought to be organized in the brain and outline some means to help students to learn and remember vocabulary in a systematic way.

Pronounciation

phonemic symbols

headache /ˈhedeɪk/

Part of speech

noun (n); verb (v); adjective (adj)

wedding (n); remember (v); ugly (adj)

Grammar

notes + examples

*remember to do sth (= not forget) *remember doing sth (have a memory of a past event)

But in order to do that we first need to understand a little bit about the way in which we actually recognize and understand words when we encounter them in print or speech and how we are able to recall words when we want to say something or write something down. How can we explain what is happening when we recognize a word or need to retrieve it for production?

What we need is some sort of model to explain human memory.

Combinations

phrase or sentence

heavy traffic; It would set a precedent

Style

make a note

find out (informal) = ascertain (formal)

Since the Collins Birmingham University International Language Database (COBUILD) project in the 1980s and the development of the lexical approach described by Michael Lewis in the early 1990s, there has been a shift away from an exclusively grammatical approach to syllabus design with more emphasis placed on vocabulary.

The poet, Edward Thomas. https://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Edward_Thomas_(poet)#/media/ File:Thomasportrait.jpg

Firstly, a word on the title: the quote is taken from a poem by British poet, Edward Thomas: Yes, I remember Adlestrop – The name, because one afternoon Of heat the express-train drew up there Unwontedly. It was late June.

I've quoted it because it seems a good account of how one particular word has stuck in memory − in this case, episodic memory. A particular event and its associations, the heat, the time of year, the train slowing down by the platform, conjure up the word Adlestrop, which in itself is not particularly memorable.

And yet this word has been transferred from short-term working memory (noticing the word and retaining it for a limited period of time) into longterm memory. Certainly, when teaching vocabulary, we should be concerned not just to present, define and exemplify the meanings of words in a ‘classroom episode’, but also to make them stick permanently in the minds of our students.

TESOL_France_76_Spring_2016_Final.indd 14-15

Metaphors for the mind Very often the mind is conceived of as a place where memories are stored.

Plato compared the mind to a birdcage stocked with all kinds of birds, some in flocks, some in small groups, some flying around by themselves. When we are born, the birdcage is empty and each new bit of knowledge acquired is symbolized by a bird. But this isn’t a very ordered place and it might be difficult to capture any of the birds.

At the end of the 18th Century, the German philosopher Emmanuel Kant suggested that the mind was more like a library and that memories were stored on various shelves under general headings. This is quite a powerful metaphor. For language we could hypothesize that there are labels of semantic primitives such as MOVE, GRASP, INGEST; words such as ‘eat, drink, breathe, swallow, sniff, inhale’ would all be stored under INGEST. And we use this principle in classroom teaching when we ask students to arrange hyponyms such as ‘table, chair, desk’, etc. under the super-ordinate term furniture. We could also hypothesize a central catalogue, specific catalogues for more detailed areas, specific locations for the storage of certain words, copies of each word stored under different categories for easy access and crossreferencing, more frequently used books and periodicals arranged closer to the entrance, and so on.

15

So we could say that a student who writes ‘walk’ for ‘work’ or ‘a good think’ instead of a ‘good thing’ has gone to the wrong reference section based on a mistaken selection of the phonological access code in the same way as misreading of 430.1 as 480.1 in a library might take you to ‘archaeology’ rather than ‘anthropology’.

Metaphors tend to develop according to the latest advances in technology, so in the 19th Century a human brain might have been described as a ‘thought engine’. In the 21st Century, the dominant metaphor is that of the ‘computer’ so any explanation of how the mind stores vocabulary is bound to refer to parallel processing, back-up stores, files, arrays, access, input, output, circuits, and so on.

But the brain is not a computer.

Research with positron emission tomography¹ has shown that many different brain regions are involved in recollection. Memories are not stored in any single neural group, but in an intricate and ever-shifting net of firing neurons and crackling synapses distributed throughout the brain.

Similarly, our ability to recognize, recall and use vocabulary must involve convergence zones, neurobiological crossroads where all the features of knowing a word coincide.

Knowing a word So how does this translate into language teaching? Knowing a word involves many factors: the meaning, the pronunciation, the collocations, connotations, colligations², and level of formality. This means ensuring that, when students encounter new vocabulary, they are given as much information as necessary. This begins with some learner training about noting down new words.

The idea is to ensure that students are not content to merely note a word and its (often approximate) translation, but to make an effort to include other aspects of the word’s meaning and use.

Perhaps the most important of these is pronunciation. There is good evidence that words are stored phonologically in the brain (for example, the tip of the tongue phenomenon). Native speakers are able to detect non-words like ‘grinch’ or ‘swollite’ in less than half a second, evidence of a fast and efficient word-searching ability. It stands to reason, therefore, that students need to be actively encouraged to say the word or expression and given ample opportunity to use it in memorable contexts, along with related words.

Ideas for teaching Most teachers are familiar with mind maps, corresponding to the idea of ‘convergence zones’ mentioned earlier. They are an excellent way of helping students create mental lattices as in the diagram below.

a) List things found in an office but not in a home. b) Besides the sex differences, how can you tell your father and mother apart?

List the most important physical and emotional differences. Do the work alone, then explain your list to a partner. c) List the differences between your car/bicycle and your partner’s.

freezing cold

It's bucketing it down

It's pissing it down

hot outburst

chilly

It's raining cats & dogs

mild

drizzle

scorching warm

downpour

d) Using the list of common verbs below, think of three typical doers of each action. Compare your lists with those of other pairs: clean listen taste push open e) Work in fours: one person thinks of a place, building, or room, and tells the others three things that would be found there. The others should then try and guess the place. For example: Student A: (thinking of a library): shelf, catalogue, magazines Student B: A supermarket?

Student C: A dental surgery?

Student A: Here’s an extra word: ‘book’…

Space precludes listing other activities but the article by Sylviane DuboisLombard (cf. pp 14-15 of this issue) discusses a number of other similar activities she uses with her lycée classes, so read on.

Peter Strutt References Aitchison J. (2012) Words in the Mind: An Introduction to the Mental Lexicon.

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Field J. (2003) Psycholinguistics. Routledge.

Harley T. (2014) The Psychology of Language. Psychology Press.

Warren P. (2012) Introducing Psycholinguistics.

Cambridge University Press. ¹ A functional imaging technique used in nuclear medicine to observe metabolic processes in the body. ² Where a lexical item is primed to occur in or with a particular grammatical function.

shower

rainy cloudy

tropical

sunny

foggy

temperate

At the beginning of a course, using the template top right, I present possible ways you can do this.

Grouping words in this way should help to make them more memorable by creating a word web or mini neural network. However, it might be argued that lexical sets such as these are too yawningly obvious and therefore have little mnemonic value. Another option is to ask our students to take part in more challenging activities which will build up more gripping word categories because it is the student who has built up the word family in each case. For example, here are five activities, working in pairs:

humid Fig. 1. Noting down vocabulary

frosty

Peter Strutt has taught on the MA programme at the University of London Institute in Paris. He is currently one of the DELTA tutors at the ELT Hub in Strasbourg … and Editor of the Teaching Times. editor@tesol-france.org

30/05/2016 16:19

16

VOCABULARY TRAINING

Teaching Vocabulary at Lycée Level

Adapting the game Taboo

Here are a few of the activities I regularly use in class: 1. Creating a relaxed atmosphere In a French Lycée, students often sit in a classroom for eight hours a day with lessons lasting 55 minutes and their brains need oxygen, a little peace and relaxation. My class starts with the windows open for a few minutes and occasionally, I invite the students to close their eyes and concentrate on the class about to start. They then reactivate what they remember about the previous class, individually or interactively. If only one or two students are being assessed, the whole class is divided into four groups which will win five points each for use of appropriate vocabulary, grammar structures, phonology and lesson content. This is a way of involving the whole group and keeps everyone active.

2. Using mind maps Teaching lexis can be done in anticipation of new documents about to be studied. A photo or drawing can be projected, which will trigger a certain number of words and phrases related to the theme.

Lycée students studying vocabulary during language class.

Tell me and I forget Show me and I may remember Involve me and I learn¹.

The role of memory Recent developments in neurolinguistics have shown that language is acquired through interaction, neural networks and synaptic interconnections. Memory is not about ‘storing’ information, but more about ‘associations’ and ‘choices’. We need to activate sensorial perceptions (seeing, hearing, touching, smelling), draw attention to contrast, morphology and metaphor in order to structure lexis acquisition². Memory is not static. It builds up through action coupled with perception.

Therefore, training our students to memorize consists of re-connecting and re-activating. In class, we may use Tony Buzan’s toolbox, presented in Use Your Head, to help learners develop lexis through reading, drawing and exhibiting, attending exhibitions, listening, debates, role-plays, drama (acting and watching plays, improvisations), and exchanging emails, for example.

However learners must be aware that memorizing requires personal involvement and their commitment to organize lexis on a long-term personal basis.

Teachers often organize these in mind maps. However, why not write out a simple list as the words come and then ask the students to create their own mind maps? The first two students to finish are then invited to write their mind maps on the board. This is always rewarding and maximum attention is centered on the board. Students interact: ‘Why did you…?’ ‘You shouldn’t have…’ ‘I didn’t do it like that’.

The words may be organized according to types of actions, or various semantic categories, etc.

This encourages pupils to classify words quickly, and because words are classified differently, they are associated with a larger number of situations.

3. Blanks on the board I often delete some of the words on the board. Another pupil is asked to complete the map again. They then copy the new vocabulary while listening to classical music to relax and concentrate on the new words.

4. Reading a new text with no anticipatory phase This is also a good exercise. Once the gist of the text has been identified, learners are invited to pick out all the words connected with the main theme, even if they do not know their exact meaning. These words can then be organized semantically into (partial) synonyms and antonyms.

Activity 4: Words from the text can also be grouped in a table as below leaving blank spaces for students to add their own Noun

Adverb

Verb

Phrase

activity

active / inactive actively / inactively

activate

take an active part in

intensity

intensely

recognition

TESOL_France_76_Spring_2016_Final.indd 16-17

Adjective

recognizable

17

VOCABULARY TRAINING

a look of intense dislike recognize

Ask the students to write their own game cards: let’s say five cards per pupil. On each card, they write the word to find, draw a line, and then write five related words in red that the other team must not use. These can be collocations, synonyms or antonyms. Finally, they all play the game according to the traditional Taboo rules.

In this self-study book aimed at P.E.T. and F.C.E. candidates, there are some 60 lexical activities that actively involve the learners.

Below is an example of classification, of word organization related to the environment.

2. Organize these words into three categories: source peak summit

meadow downstream earth

face current field

soil bank

flat ridge

tributary foothills

It is also useful to leave time for learners to recap these new words at their own pace and with their eyes closed, using their visual and aural memories to recite the new vocabulary. This pause structurante, or two-minute structuring silence, helps students recollect what they have just learnt.

and a grading exercise:

Drawing with pastels

3. Arrange these words in descending order of strength:

This comes after studying some of the online collections of public art galleries. Watch a YouTube video of an artist at work. I use that of a printmaker as I do not wish the students to ‘copy’ a style or a technique. My favourite is Willie Rodger and his linocuts https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=VhG0yA_CIGk. This aural and visual activity induces artistic creativity. It also shows how to draw simple shapes. Chunks can also be selected from the full CD-ROM which has twelve videos³.

In the next period, I display fruit and some objects on five or six tables. I briefly explain how to use dry pastels, ask the students to sit in groups of four in front of the setting that best appeals to them and give them 30 minutes to draw a still life. After they leave, I spray their pastels and hang them in class.

For homework, provide a worksheet and ask them to watch a YouTube video on the composition of oil and soft pastels and their uses: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=ROPbUTN7miU. This is to develop their scientific knowledge and learn new words with their pronunciation.

So-called ‘transparent’ words are not easily recognizable by non-native speakers. The following lesson consists of de-briefing the video on pastel-making and viewing the exhibition; this is a perfect time to re-activate explanations and vocabulary on art, prior to writing a review. I have noticed that a greater number remember the key vocabulary and usually write more complex sentences in their art reviews. Followup work is always necessary to consolidate memory.

Word association This is not necessarily done with all the already known words visible. A little difficulty makes it more challenging, especially when done in class. Learning is embedding the new in the familiar, as Trocmé-Fabre points out. Here is a sample activity called ‘Flavours and Tastes’ from a book I co-authored4: 1. Which of these adjectives would you associate with the following foods? There may be more than one answer. sweet beer

bitter

hot/spicy

cheese

anchovies

salty treacle

sickly curry

mild syrup

A: Words connected with the land ...........................................................

B: Words connected with rivers ................................................................

C: Words connected with mountains ........................................................

breeze

gale

hurricane

gust

chilly

cool

freezing

mild

ugly

unattractive

hideous

plain

Organizing words on a scale is particularly useful when teaching gradable and ungradable adjectives. Students learn that ungradable adjectives are preceded by ‘absolutely’ and not ‘very’, ‘extremely’ or ‘a bit’.

These are just some activities I use which my students find motivating, especially once they understand their rationale.

Sylviane Dubois-Lombard References Luria, A. R. (1987) The Man with the Shattered World : The History of a Brain Wound. Harvard U.P., translated into French, L’Homme dont le monde volait en éclats (Seuil, 1995) Buzan, T. (1974) Use Your Head. BBC Books, trans. Une tête bien faite, Les éditions d’Organisation, réédition 2004.

Dubois-Lombard, S. & Strutt, P. (2008) Réussir les Examens de Cambridge : Niveaux B1 et B2 du CECRL – Le P.E.T. et le F.C.E. Paris: Ellipses.

Gairns, R. & Redman, S. (1986) Working with Words. Cambridge: CUP. ¹ This quote, attributed to Benjamin Franklin, may have originated with Xun Kuang, a Chinese philosopher (312-230 B.C.) ² Hélène Trocmé-Fabre http://www.cahiers-pedagogiques.com/Vous-avezdit-vous-avez-pense-memoriser ³ In the Hands of Willie Rodger, Mediamatters, DVD and CD-ROM. (2006) http://www.mediamatters.co.uk/WillieRodger/Website/intro.htm 4 Dubois-Lombard, S. (2008) Réussir les Examens de Cambridge : Niveaux B1 et B2 du CECRL – Le P.E.T. et le F.C.E. Paris: Ellipses, p. 251.

Sylviane Dubois-Lombard teaches at Lycée La Providence, Amiens.

One of her research interests is the representation of Glasgow in painting collections. She has co-authored several class textbooks, vocabulary booklets and written entries for various dictionaries 'What’s What', 'Whozzat'. sduboislombard@gmail.com

30/05/2016 16:19

16

VOCABULARY TRAINING

Teaching Vocabulary at Lycée Level

Adapting the game Taboo

Here are a few of the activities I regularly use in class: 1. Creating a relaxed atmosphere In a French Lycée, students often sit in a classroom for eight hours a day with lessons lasting 55 minutes and their brains need oxygen, a little peace and relaxation. My class starts with the windows open for a few minutes and occasionally, I invite the students to close their eyes and concentrate on the class about to start. They then reactivate what they remember about the previous class, individually or interactively. If only one or two students are being assessed, the whole class is divided into four groups which will win five points each for use of appropriate vocabulary, grammar structures, phonology and lesson content. This is a way of involving the whole group and keeps everyone active.

2. Using mind maps Teaching lexis can be done in anticipation of new documents about to be studied. A photo or drawing can be projected, which will trigger a certain number of words and phrases related to the theme.

Lycée students studying vocabulary during language class.

Tell me and I forget Show me and I may remember Involve me and I learn¹.

The role of memory Recent developments in neurolinguistics have shown that language is acquired through interaction, neural networks and synaptic interconnections. Memory is not about ‘storing’ information, but more about ‘associations’ and ‘choices’. We need to activate sensorial perceptions (seeing, hearing, touching, smelling), draw attention to contrast, morphology and metaphor in order to structure lexis acquisition². Memory is not static. It builds up through action coupled with perception.

Therefore, training our students to memorize consists of re-connecting and re-activating. In class, we may use Tony Buzan’s toolbox, presented in Use Your Head, to help learners develop lexis through reading, drawing and exhibiting, attending exhibitions, listening, debates, role-plays, drama (acting and watching plays, improvisations), and exchanging emails, for example.

However learners must be aware that memorizing requires personal involvement and their commitment to organize lexis on a long-term personal basis.

Teachers often organize these in mind maps. However, why not write out a simple list as the words come and then ask the students to create their own mind maps? The first two students to finish are then invited to write their mind maps on the board. This is always rewarding and maximum attention is centered on the board. Students interact: ‘Why did you…?’ ‘You shouldn’t have…’ ‘I didn’t do it like that’.

The words may be organized according to types of actions, or various semantic categories, etc.

This encourages pupils to classify words quickly, and because words are classified differently, they are associated with a larger number of situations.

3. Blanks on the board I often delete some of the words on the board. Another pupil is asked to complete the map again. They then copy the new vocabulary while listening to classical music to relax and concentrate on the new words.

4. Reading a new text with no anticipatory phase This is also a good exercise. Once the gist of the text has been identified, learners are invited to pick out all the words connected with the main theme, even if they do not know their exact meaning. These words can then be organized semantically into (partial) synonyms and antonyms.

Activity 4: Words from the text can also be grouped in a table as below leaving blank spaces for students to add their own Noun

Adverb

Verb

Phrase

activity

active / inactive actively / inactively

activate

take an active part in

intensity

intensely

recognition

TESOL_France_76_Spring_2016_Final.indd 16-17

Adjective

recognizable

17

VOCABULARY TRAINING

a look of intense dislike recognize

Ask the students to write their own game cards: let’s say five cards per pupil. On each card, they write the word to find, draw a line, and then write five related words in red that the other team must not use. These can be collocations, synonyms or antonyms. Finally, they all play the game according to the traditional Taboo rules.

In this self-study book aimed at P.E.T. and F.C.E. candidates, there are some 60 lexical activities that actively involve the learners.

Below is an example of classification, of word organization related to the environment.

2. Organize these words into three categories: source peak summit

meadow downstream earth

face current field

soil bank

flat ridge

tributary foothills

It is also useful to leave time for learners to recap these new words at their own pace and with their eyes closed, using their visual and aural memories to recite the new vocabulary. This pause structurante, or two-minute structuring silence, helps students recollect what they have just learnt.

and a grading exercise:

Drawing with pastels

3. Arrange these words in descending order of strength:

This comes after studying some of the online collections of public art galleries. Watch a YouTube video of an artist at work. I use that of a printmaker as I do not wish the students to ‘copy’ a style or a technique. My favourite is Willie Rodger and his linocuts https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=VhG0yA_CIGk. This aural and visual activity induces artistic creativity. It also shows how to draw simple shapes. Chunks can also be selected from the full CD-ROM which has twelve videos³.

In the next period, I display fruit and some objects on five or six tables. I briefly explain how to use dry pastels, ask the students to sit in groups of four in front of the setting that best appeals to them and give them 30 minutes to draw a still life. After they leave, I spray their pastels and hang them in class.

For homework, provide a worksheet and ask them to watch a YouTube video on the composition of oil and soft pastels and their uses: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=ROPbUTN7miU. This is to develop their scientific knowledge and learn new words with their pronunciation.

So-called ‘transparent’ words are not easily recognizable by non-native speakers. The following lesson consists of de-briefing the video on pastel-making and viewing the exhibition; this is a perfect time to re-activate explanations and vocabulary on art, prior to writing a review. I have noticed that a greater number remember the key vocabulary and usually write more complex sentences in their art reviews. Followup work is always necessary to consolidate memory.

Word association This is not necessarily done with all the already known words visible. A little difficulty makes it more challenging, especially when done in class. Learning is embedding the new in the familiar, as Trocmé-Fabre points out. Here is a sample activity called ‘Flavours and Tastes’ from a book I co-authored4: 1. Which of these adjectives would you associate with the following foods? There may be more than one answer. sweet beer

bitter

hot/spicy

cheese

anchovies

salty treacle

sickly curry

mild syrup

A: Words connected with the land ...........................................................

B: Words connected with rivers ................................................................

C: Words connected with mountains ........................................................

breeze

gale

hurricane

gust

chilly

cool

freezing

mild

ugly

unattractive

hideous

plain

Organizing words on a scale is particularly useful when teaching gradable and ungradable adjectives. Students learn that ungradable adjectives are preceded by ‘absolutely’ and not ‘very’, ‘extremely’ or ‘a bit’.

These are just some activities I use which my students find motivating, especially once they understand their rationale.

Sylviane Dubois-Lombard References Luria, A. R. (1987) The Man with the Shattered World : The History of a Brain Wound. Harvard U.P., translated into French, L’Homme dont le monde volait en éclats (Seuil, 1995) Buzan, T. (1974) Use Your Head. BBC Books, trans. Une tête bien faite, Les éditions d’Organisation, réédition 2004.

Dubois-Lombard, S. & Strutt, P. (2008) Réussir les Examens de Cambridge : Niveaux B1 et B2 du CECRL – Le P.E.T. et le F.C.E. Paris: Ellipses.

Gairns, R. & Redman, S. (1986) Working with Words. Cambridge: CUP. ¹ This quote, attributed to Benjamin Franklin, may have originated with Xun Kuang, a Chinese philosopher (312-230 B.C.) ² Hélène Trocmé-Fabre http://www.cahiers-pedagogiques.com/Vous-avezdit-vous-avez-pense-memoriser ³ In the Hands of Willie Rodger, Mediamatters, DVD and CD-ROM. (2006) http://www.mediamatters.co.uk/WillieRodger/Website/intro.htm 4 Dubois-Lombard, S. (2008) Réussir les Examens de Cambridge : Niveaux B1 et B2 du CECRL – Le P.E.T. et le F.C.E. Paris: Ellipses, p. 251.

Sylviane Dubois-Lombard teaches at Lycée La Providence, Amiens.

One of her research interests is the representation of Glasgow in painting collections. She has co-authored several class textbooks, vocabulary booklets and written entries for various dictionaries 'What’s What', 'Whozzat'. sduboislombard@gmail.com

30/05/2016 16:19

18

TEACHING IDEAS

19

TEACHING IDEAS

If two heads are better than one, then many teachers are...

Connect 4 Activity (Puissance 4)

Jessica Etridge, Co-ordinator TESOL France Lyon reviews the Spring Swapshop on writing and speaking activities.

• Semi-structured speaking activity based on the game ‘Connect 4’.

Contributed by Emma Jones

• Suitable for use with a whole class, small groups or just in pairs.

• Adaptable to any level, any age, but particularly suitable for lower levels.

Instructions: 1. Draw a grid on the whiteboard (7 columns x 6 rows – but this can be adapted) or pre-prepare a grid on a PowerPoint slide.

2. Underneath the seven columns write a different item that you want students to practise e.g. opinion phrases (1 per column). You could specify a particular topic/theme for students to give their opinion on or keep it general.

I'd say that...

If you ask me...

As far as I'm concerned...

In my view...

In my opinion...

Personally, I think...

I believe that...

'Ideas to Get our Students Speaking & Writing' Swapshop workshop in Lyon, Spring 2016

3. Divide class into two teams – red and blue (or whatever colour pens you have!).

Here in Lyon, we have such a wealth of teachers working in a variety of ELT fields that we thought it would be a good idea to try and group some of that experience together.

The idea of a swapshop, for those who are not familiar, is that each participant brings along an activity related to the theme and then shares this with the other participants.

Pretty simple but incredibly effective. It’s a chance for teachers to present their tried and tested activities and in exchange get feedback and also come away with a range of new ideas to implement in their classrooms.

4. Volunteers from each team take it in turns to form a sentence using one of the phrases.

If they can correctly form a sentence, their team ‘win’ the circle above the phrase.

On 5th March 2016 we held a swap shop with the theme ‘Ideas to Get our Students Speaking and Writing’. We had lots of enthusiasm for the event, with 20 participants mostly from Lyon and Saint-Étienne. The main fields of teaching represented were Business English, university and adult private classes.

With such a large number of participants, it can quickly become chaotic, so a little organization was required.

We gave each participant a number and then divided the numbers over three big groups/tables. At each table people took it in turns to share their ideas and get feedback

TESOL_France_76_Spring_2016_Final.indd 18-19

from the others. After 20 minutes, the seating plans changed and members could present their activity to a fresh group of faces and hear even more new ideas. We did this a total of four times, taking a much deserved coffee break in the middle! This method had the advantage of giving the participants access to a maximum amount of ideas whilst still keeping the workshop interactive and informal.

Variations: • This game can be adapted to any vocabulary, function or grammar point (e.g. past simple, verbs with prepositions, modals etc.)

Everyone came away from the swap shop armed with a wide variety of new ideas and refueled with enthusiasm.

Each participant sent their activities by email and all the ideas were compiled and shared via Dropbox. The success and energy that came out of the swapshop just goes to show the power that teachers can have when they come together and share; we really are each other’s best resource!

• Once it has been modelled as a group activity, the game can be played in pairs.

We had so many great ideas at the event and here is one to share amongst the Teaching Times readership (see opposite page).

Jessica Etridge Co-ordinator TESOL France Lyon lyon@tesol-france.org

I'd say that...

If you ask me...

As far as I'm concerned...

In my view...

In my opinion...

Personally, I think...

I believe that...

5. Play until one team builds four circles in a row: vertically, horizontally or diagonally.

• Students draw their own grid, or the teacher can hand out a photocopied grid.

• The teacher can decide the level of accuracy needed.

30/05/2016 16:19

18

TEACHING IDEAS

19

TEACHING IDEAS

If two heads are better than one, then many teachers are...

Connect 4 Activity (Puissance 4)

Jessica Etridge, Co-ordinator TESOL France Lyon reviews the Spring Swapshop on writing and speaking activities.

• Semi-structured speaking activity based on the game ‘Connect 4’.

Contributed by Emma Jones

• Suitable for use with a whole class, small groups or just in pairs.

• Adaptable to any level, any age, but particularly suitable for lower levels.

Instructions: 1. Draw a grid on the whiteboard (7 columns x 6 rows – but this can be adapted) or pre-prepare a grid on a PowerPoint slide.

2. Underneath the seven columns write a different item that you want students to practise e.g. opinion phrases (1 per column). You could specify a particular topic/theme for students to give their opinion on or keep it general.

I'd say that...

If you ask me...

As far as I'm concerned...

In my view...

In my opinion...

Personally, I think...

I believe that...

'Ideas to Get our Students Speaking & Writing' Swapshop workshop in Lyon, Spring 2016

3. Divide class into two teams – red and blue (or whatever colour pens you have!).

Here in Lyon, we have such a wealth of teachers working in a variety of ELT fields that we thought it would be a good idea to try and group some of that experience together.

The idea of a swapshop, for those who are not familiar, is that each participant brings along an activity related to the theme and then shares this with the other participants.

Pretty simple but incredibly effective. It’s a chance for teachers to present their tried and tested activities and in exchange get feedback and also come away with a range of new ideas to implement in their classrooms.

4. Volunteers from each team take it in turns to form a sentence using one of the phrases.

If they can correctly form a sentence, their team ‘win’ the circle above the phrase.

On 5th March 2016 we held a swap shop with the theme ‘Ideas to Get our Students Speaking and Writing’. We had lots of enthusiasm for the event, with 20 participants mostly from Lyon and Saint-Étienne. The main fields of teaching represented were Business English, university and adult private classes.

With such a large number of participants, it can quickly become chaotic, so a little organization was required.

We gave each participant a number and then divided the numbers over three big groups/tables. At each table people took it in turns to share their ideas and get feedback

TESOL_France_76_Spring_2016_Final.indd 18-19

from the others. After 20 minutes, the seating plans changed and members could present their activity to a fresh group of faces and hear even more new ideas. We did this a total of four times, taking a much deserved coffee break in the middle! This method had the advantage of giving the participants access to a maximum amount of ideas whilst still keeping the workshop interactive and informal.

Variations: • This game can be adapted to any vocabulary, function or grammar point (e.g. past simple, verbs with prepositions, modals etc.)

Everyone came away from the swap shop armed with a wide variety of new ideas and refueled with enthusiasm.

Each participant sent their activities by email and all the ideas were compiled and shared via Dropbox. The success and energy that came out of the swapshop just goes to show the power that teachers can have when they come together and share; we really are each other’s best resource!

• Once it has been modelled as a group activity, the game can be played in pairs.

We had so many great ideas at the event and here is one to share amongst the Teaching Times readership (see opposite page).

Jessica Etridge Co-ordinator TESOL France Lyon lyon@tesol-france.org

I'd say that...

If you ask me...

As far as I'm concerned...

In my view...

In my opinion...

Personally, I think...

I believe that...

5. Play until one team builds four circles in a row: vertically, horizontally or diagonally.

• Students draw their own grid, or the teacher can hand out a photocopied grid.

• The teacher can decide the level of accuracy needed.

30/05/2016 16:19

20

REVIEWS

REPORTS

An Excellent IDEA IDEA (the International Dialects of English Database) is an online archive of recordings of English-language dialects and accents as spoken around the world. The archive currently houses more than 1,000 recordings by both native and non-native speakers of English from nearly 100 different countries with new samples being added regularly.

The site allows you to select one of nine regions which are then subdivided into countries. For example, if you choose ‘Central America’ you then have the option of listening to speakers from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama. The Europe section has speakers from about 35 different countries while the USA menu gives access to speakers with different regional accents.

Having chosen a speaker you can then read information about the person’s background, place of birth, occupation, influences on their speech, and listen to them reading aloud one of two passages specially written to examine a reader’s pronunciation across a wide range of phonemic contexts. There follows a short unscripted monologue during which the speaker talks about his/her life. The speech is written out verbatim, with some also transcribed into phonemic script.

Here are just four of the possible practical classroom applications of this excellent resource: 1. The ‘Test your Comprehension’ menu provides exercises based on content, with the transcription as an extra resource to compare the spoken word with its written form.

2. A dictogloss activity whereby students listen to an extract, note down

TESOL France: Bordeaux key words and then collaboratively attempt to reconstruct the passage, listening to the extract as many times as is necessary.

working on making connections with teacher assistants as well as MA and PhD candidates who concurrently teach within the community.

3. Acclimatizing students to a particular accent. For example, a French executive who has to travel regularly on business to Beijing might wish to become familiar with English spoken in a Chinese accent.

The themes of our workshops vary and we try to appeal to as many teachers as possible with a diversity of subject matter. Our events normally planned for a Saturday morning and our workshops have an intimate feel to them. This year we plan to invite speakers to talk about the conversation-centered classroom, technology and video-making and using music in the classroom. We also hope to hold a panel session on specialist teachers and Content Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). Another idea is to make use of technology (webcasts) to host talks. There is so much that can be done to develop and expand our community and we are always looking to connect, meet and share our experiences and resources.

4. Analyzing problems in reading aloud.

Students are often unable to ‘chunk’ a passage correctly when reading aloud, fail to pause at the correct phrase or clause boundaries and use inappropriate stress and intonation. These extracts can be used effectively to work on reading fluency, pronunciation and prosody.

Check out this fantastic site at: http:// www.dialectsarchive.com Peter Strutt Editor, Teaching Times editor@tesol-france-org

#ELT Chat Summaries has also given birth to other local hashtagged discussions on Twitter.

Do you have an ELT-related question?

Don’t google it; #ELTchat it! #ELTchat, a weekly hash-tagged discussion on Twitter has been around for almost six years. Over these years, we’ve had the pleasure of chatting to educators from every corner of the world, discussing with many leading ELT figures, and being part of a very welcoming and supportive community of teachers. #ELTchat has been shortlisted for a British Council ELTons Award and

TESOL_France_76_Spring_2016_Final.indd 20-21

How does it work?

For those who might not be familiar with #ELTchat, every Wednesday at 19.00 (UK time), English language teachers from all over the world log onto their Twitter accounts (either directly through Twitter or through a third-party platform such as Tweetdeck or Nurph), follow the #ELTchat hashtag and chat for an hour on a topic of their choice.

At the end of the discussion, moderators publish the transcript of the chat while one of the contributors writes a summary of the discussion, which is then published on the #ELTchat blog.

Much more than just a chat At this moment, the #ELTchat Summaries page includes more than 300 summaries full of questions and answers, useful links, tips and suggestions on every ELTbased topic you could imagine. Even if

21

TESOL France Bordeaux is a relatively new region, founded in 2012. For the moment, we have run four to five events per year ranging from swapshops and talks to informal meet-ups. The network of teachers in the Bordeaux region is diverse, with the majority teaching in the university sector. There are also many teachers who teach privately either to business sector professionals or students. Ideally, we would like to outreach to other teacher communities and are currently

TESOL France Bordeaux always welcomes volunteers. No effort is too small. If you would like to help, please contact us at tesol.france. bordeaux@gmail.com. Volunteering is a great opportunity to learn a new skill be it familiarizing yourself with that software you have always wanted to learn or event planning. If you have any suggestions or ideas for future events, please let us know.

Dianne Chen Coordinator TESOL France Bordeaux bordeaux@tesol-france.org

TESOL France: Strasbourg

We have held two events in Strasbourg so far this year.

other words the position of the tongue, jaw and lips when we speak. Through a video clip of two speakers – one Chinese and the other American – she demonstrated the difference in the position of their tongues as they spoke, suggesting that if you try to speak a foreign language using the articulatory settings of another then you may not be successful. She also showed us how respiration can help achieve the rhythm of the language.

The workshop was illuminating and Roslyn provided us with many practical exercises and tips.

In February, we invited Roslyn Young to give a workshop about pronunciation – a subject that we as language teachers often shy away from.

When we do try to teach pronunciation we assume that if we repeat a word often enough the learner will eventually get it. Roslyn challenged all this. She explained that each language has a unique articulatory setting, in

In March, we invited Johanna Panthier from the Council of Europe’s Language Policy Department to a meeting jointly hosted by the École Supérieur du Professorat et de l’Education (ESPE).

She began by explaining the origins of the Common European Framework of Languages or CEFR as it is more commonly known. A lively debate followed on the problems of using

you are not on Twitter or a fan of Twitter discussions, you can visit the #ELTchat blog, click on the ‘Summaries’ page and browse its extensive list of topics.

Technology makes it even easier: instead of browsing, you can press Ctrl + F (or cmd + F for Mac users) while on the ‘Summaries’ page, type keywords (e.g. flipped classroom) and find summaries of the chats that have taken place on this particular topic. #ELTchat is a personal learning network, or PLN, in its own right; that said, all content is created by teachers for teachers. You will find practical, ready-touse tips and suggestions made by active, practicing teachers. Our heavy workloads, hectic schedules, and general lack of access to resources make the #ELTchat Summaries page a must-read for all teachers.#ELTchat blog: www.eltchat.org Angelos Bollas ELT Professional angelos.bollas@gmail.com

the CEFR descriptors for low level learners. Joanna talked about their ongoing research into this issue and the problems the Council is having in getting Member States to align their language teaching policies with the positive constructs underlying the can-do descriptors. She highlighted the important work carried out by the Council both in supporting multilingualism in general and in fighting simplistic notions that learning a foreign language is synonymous with learning English. Joanna's presentation was very thought-provoking and those of us who arrived wearing our Eurosceptic hats came away both informed and abashed.

Yvonne Chapell Coordinator, TESOL France Strasbourg strasbourg@tesol-france.org Jane Ryder President president@tesol-france.org

30/05/2016 16:19

20

REVIEWS

REPORTS

An Excellent IDEA IDEA (the International Dialects of English Database) is an online archive of recordings of English-language dialects and accents as spoken around the world. The archive currently houses more than 1,000 recordings by both native and non-native speakers of English from nearly 100 different countries with new samples being added regularly.

The site allows you to select one of nine regions which are then subdivided into countries. For example, if you choose ‘Central America’ you then have the option of listening to speakers from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama. The Europe section has speakers from about 35 different countries while the USA menu gives access to speakers with different regional accents.

Having chosen a speaker you can then read information about the person’s background, place of birth, occupation, influences on their speech, and listen to them reading aloud one of two passages specially written to examine a reader’s pronunciation across a wide range of phonemic contexts. There follows a short unscripted monologue during which the speaker talks about his/her life. The speech is written out verbatim, with some also transcribed into phonemic script.

Here are just four of the possible practical classroom applications of this excellent resource: 1. The ‘Test your Comprehension’ menu provides exercises based on content, with the transcription as an extra resource to compare the spoken word with its written form.

2. A dictogloss activity whereby students listen to an extract, note down

TESOL France: Bordeaux key words and then collaboratively attempt to reconstruct the passage, listening to the extract as many times as is necessary.

working on making connections with teacher assistants as well as MA and PhD candidates who concurrently teach within the community.

3. Acclimatizing students to a particular accent. For example, a French executive who has to travel regularly on business to Beijing might wish to become familiar with English spoken in a Chinese accent.

The themes of our workshops vary and we try to appeal to as many teachers as possible with a diversity of subject matter. Our events normally planned for a Saturday morning and our workshops have an intimate feel to them. This year we plan to invite speakers to talk about the conversation-centered classroom, technology and video-making and using music in the classroom. We also hope to hold a panel session on specialist teachers and Content Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). Another idea is to make use of technology (webcasts) to host talks. There is so much that can be done to develop and expand our community and we are always looking to connect, meet and share our experiences and resources.

4. Analyzing problems in reading aloud.

Students are often unable to ‘chunk’ a passage correctly when reading aloud, fail to pause at the correct phrase or clause boundaries and use inappropriate stress and intonation. These extracts can be used effectively to work on reading fluency, pronunciation and prosody.

Check out this fantastic site at: http:// www.dialectsarchive.com Peter Strutt Editor, Teaching Times editor@tesol-france-org

#ELT Chat Summaries has also given birth to other local hashtagged discussions on Twitter.

Do you have an ELT-related question?

Don’t google it; #ELTchat it! #ELTchat, a weekly hash-tagged discussion on Twitter has been around for almost six years. Over these years, we’ve had the pleasure of chatting to educators from every corner of the world, discussing with many leading ELT figures, and being part of a very welcoming and supportive community of teachers. #ELTchat has been shortlisted for a British Council ELTons Award and

TESOL_France_76_Spring_2016_Final.indd 20-21

How does it work?

For those who might not be familiar with #ELTchat, every Wednesday at 19.00 (UK time), English language teachers from all over the world log onto their Twitter accounts (either directly through Twitter or through a third-party platform such as Tweetdeck or Nurph), follow the #ELTchat hashtag and chat for an hour on a topic of their choice.

At the end of the discussion, moderators publish the transcript of the chat while one of the contributors writes a summary of the discussion, which is then published on the #ELTchat blog.

Much more than just a chat At this moment, the #ELTchat Summaries page includes more than 300 summaries full of questions and answers, useful links, tips and suggestions on every ELTbased topic you could imagine. Even if

21

TESOL France Bordeaux is a relatively new region, founded in 2012. For the moment, we have run four to five events per year ranging from swapshops and talks to informal meet-ups. The network of teachers in the Bordeaux region is diverse, with the majority teaching in the university sector. There are also many teachers who teach privately either to business sector professionals or students. Ideally, we would like to outreach to other teacher communities and are currently

TESOL France Bordeaux always welcomes volunteers. No effort is too small. If you would like to help, please contact us at tesol.france. bordeaux@gmail.com. Volunteering is a great opportunity to learn a new skill be it familiarizing yourself with that software you have always wanted to learn or event planning. If you have any suggestions or ideas for future events, please let us know.

Dianne Chen Coordinator TESOL France Bordeaux bordeaux@tesol-france.org

TESOL France: Strasbourg

We have held two events in Strasbourg so far this year.

other words the position of the tongue, jaw and lips when we speak. Through a video clip of two speakers – one Chinese and the other American – she demonstrated the difference in the position of their tongues as they spoke, suggesting that if you try to speak a foreign language using the articulatory settings of another then you may not be successful. She also showed us how respiration can help achieve the rhythm of the language.

The workshop was illuminating and Roslyn provided us with many practical exercises and tips.

In February, we invited Roslyn Young to give a workshop about pronunciation – a subject that we as language teachers often shy away from.

When we do try to teach pronunciation we assume that if we repeat a word often enough the learner will eventually get it. Roslyn challenged all this. She explained that each language has a unique articulatory setting, in

In March, we invited Johanna Panthier from the Council of Europe’s Language Policy Department to a meeting jointly hosted by the École Supérieur du Professorat et de l’Education (ESPE).

She began by explaining the origins of the Common European Framework of Languages or CEFR as it is more commonly known. A lively debate followed on the problems of using

you are not on Twitter or a fan of Twitter discussions, you can visit the #ELTchat blog, click on the ‘Summaries’ page and browse its extensive list of topics.

Technology makes it even easier: instead of browsing, you can press Ctrl + F (or cmd + F for Mac users) while on the ‘Summaries’ page, type keywords (e.g. flipped classroom) and find summaries of the chats that have taken place on this particular topic. #ELTchat is a personal learning network, or PLN, in its own right; that said, all content is created by teachers for teachers. You will find practical, ready-touse tips and suggestions made by active, practicing teachers. Our heavy workloads, hectic schedules, and general lack of access to resources make the #ELTchat Summaries page a must-read for all teachers.#ELTchat blog: www.eltchat.org Angelos Bollas ELT Professional angelos.bollas@gmail.com

the CEFR descriptors for low level learners. Joanna talked about their ongoing research into this issue and the problems the Council is having in getting Member States to align their language teaching policies with the positive constructs underlying the can-do descriptors. She highlighted the important work carried out by the Council both in supporting multilingualism in general and in fighting simplistic notions that learning a foreign language is synonymous with learning English. Joanna's presentation was very thought-provoking and those of us who arrived wearing our Eurosceptic hats came away both informed and abashed.

Yvonne Chapell Coordinator, TESOL France Strasbourg strasbourg@tesol-france.org Jane Ryder President president@tesol-france.org

30/05/2016 16:19

22

REPORTS & EVENTS

TESOL International: Moving & Changing I have had the honour of attending the TESOL International Annual Conference over the past few years as a member and as a part of our Executive Committee (EXCOM). I have even been a part of a major change directly affecting affiliate representatives and their attendance at the annual conference. So it is now interesting to see this from the perspective of being on the Affiliate Leadership Council.

In many associations, there are times when you must look to see if you are being effective and true towards your members and your mission statement. In March 2016, the Task Force, which has been investigating different issues in the association, reflected upon the issue of membership.

Briefly, the part that I am excited about is the development of leadership and the development of more lateral relationships between associations. It seems to me that the larger associations that we are a part of, TESOL International and IATEFL, encounter the same problems. One of them is membership. Some ideas that came out of the Affiliate Leadership Workshop to

improve lateral relationships between associations were: • joining webinars • board member committed to recruit and maintain members • giving grants to presenters and affiliate board members.

• creating a strong sense of volunteering • strong leaders to unite the affiliate • building connections • co-hosting at other conference.

Finally, the last part of TESOL’s new governance paper states that 'it needs to consider the context in which TESOL International Association carries out its mission – the interconnected global environment of language education and TESOL’s culture and values. In addition, the Task Force recommends that the Board develops an implementation and communications strategy.'

We, too at TESOL France are committed to progress: moving towards the needs of our members, and reaching out to others. http://www.tesol.org/about-tesol/association-governance/ strategic-plan or http://www.tesol.org/about-tesol/ association-governance/governance-review Debbie West Past President westlanguagefr@yahoo.fr

Dates for the Diary...

Bordeaux

7 or 8 October 2016 (TBC) Technology and Video Making Christina Rebuffet-Broadus Association Bordeaux-USA

Grenoble

18 June 2016 9.00 – 12.00 How to Make Your Voice Live Peter Dyer IUT2 Grenoble

Lyon

18 June 2016 10.00 – 13.00 Graded Readers and Videos in the Classroom Katie Cospito, Black Cat Publishings ILTC

TESOL_France_76_Spring_2016_Final.indd 22-23

Paris

15 October 2016 11.00 – 19.00 Propell Workshop for the TOEFL iBT Test (earn your certification to teach the TOEFL iBT) ETS Global Telecom Paris-Tech 18-20 November 2016 35th Annual TESOL France Colloquium Telecom Paris-Tech (Non-members 49€) Unless stated otherwise, entry to all events is FREE for members of TESOL France, 8€ for non-members.

For more information, visit our website: www.tesol-france.org

30/05/2016 16:19

22

REPORTS & EVENTS

TESOL International: Moving & Changing I have had the honour of attending the TESOL International Annual Conference over the past few years as a member and as a part of our Executive Committee (EXCOM). I have even been a part of a major change directly affecting affiliate representatives and their attendance at the annual conference. So it is now interesting to see this from the perspective of being on the Affiliate Leadership Council.

In many associations, there are times when you must look to see if you are being effective and true towards your members and your mission statement. In March 2016, the Task Force, which has been investigating different issues in the association, reflected upon the issue of membership.

Briefly, the part that I am excited about is the development of leadership and the development of more lateral relationships between associations. It seems to me that the larger associations that we are a part of, TESOL International and IATEFL, encounter the same problems. One of them is membership. Some ideas that came out of the Affiliate Leadership Workshop to

improve lateral relationships between associations were: • joining webinars • board member committed to recruit and maintain members • giving grants to presenters and affiliate board members.

• creating a strong sense of volunteering • strong leaders to unite the affiliate • building connections • co-hosting at other conference.

Finally, the last part of TESOL’s new governance paper states that 'it needs to consider the context in which TESOL International Association carries out its mission – the interconnected global environment of language education and TESOL’s culture and values. In addition, the Task Force recommends that the Board develops an implementation and communications strategy.'

We, too at TESOL France are committed to progress: moving towards the needs of our members, and reaching out to others. http://www.tesol.org/about-tesol/association-governance/ strategic-plan or http://www.tesol.org/about-tesol/ association-governance/governance-review Debbie West Past President westlanguagefr@yahoo.fr

Dates for the Diary...

Bordeaux

7 or 8 October 2016 (TBC) Technology and Video Making Christina Rebuffet-Broadus Association Bordeaux-USA

Grenoble

18 June 2016 9.00 – 12.00 How to Make Your Voice Live Peter Dyer IUT2 Grenoble

Lyon

18 June 2016 10.00 – 13.00 Graded Readers and Videos in the Classroom Katie Cospito, Black Cat Publishings ILTC

TESOL_France_76_Spring_2016_Final.indd 22-23

Paris

15 October 2016 11.00 – 19.00 Propell Workshop for the TOEFL iBT Test (earn your certification to teach the TOEFL iBT) ETS Global Telecom Paris-Tech 18-20 November 2016 35th Annual TESOL France Colloquium Telecom Paris-Tech (Non-members 49€) Unless stated otherwise, entry to all events is FREE for members of TESOL France, 8€ for non-members.

For more information, visit our website: www.tesol-france.org

30/05/2016 16:19

TEACHING TIMES F O R E N G L I S H T E AC H I N G P R O F E S S I O N A L S I N F R A N C E @TESOLFrance

www.tesol-france.org

ISSN: 1266-7552

Spring 2016

No 76

Assessing Pronounciation

An in-depth analysis of phonological features affecting intelligibility and suggested criteria for measuring students’ pronunciation

Neuroscience and Language Teaching A look at recent developments in understanding how the brain works and strategies to enhance learning

The Benefits of Teacher Training Betty Carlson examines professional development options and relates how her experience led to greater enthusiasm for her work

MORE STORIES Peter Strutt on how to memorize vocabulary in: 'Yes, I Remember Adlestrop' Sylviane Dubois-Lombard gives pointers in: 'Teaching Vocabulary at Lycée Level' ACTIVITIES : Swapshop Activities, Reviews and Regional Reports PLUS: Voices from TESOL France’s regions: Bordeaux & Strasbourg

TESOL_France_76_Spring_2016_Final.indd 24-1

30/05/2016 16:19