Teaching Spoken Language - Literature review Example

Teaching Spoken Language Introduction There is a growing need for good communicative skills in English around the world which has created a lot interest in acquisition of English as a second language discourse. Altbach (2007) says that it is the most broadly studied second language while Crystal (2003) describes it as the most powerful international lingua franca. Since cross-cultural interactions are inevitable, and the fact that English has grown to be the most widely used language in the world, teaching English to Speakers of a Second Language (ESOL) is a discourse that has continued to generate interest. Spoken English, especially casual conversation, is described as the most difficult to learn and the most difficult to teach. Nonetheless, it is important because it is what learners of English as a second language use to establish and maintain social relationships. Teaching and learning English effectively involves many factors which the teachers need to be conversant with, in order to embrace a method of teaching that fully exploits the opportunities while managing the negative factors. This paper appraises what the teacher of ESOL should take into account when teaching spoken language. Specifically it looks at the learners; their reasons for learning, their social cultural as well as economic conditions and other factors. It also looks at the context of acquisition and the role English plays in the society. Furthermore, it will address the role of first language and English inside and outside the classroom and its implication to the teachers. Finally, the paper will discuss the current teaching approaches and what position spoken language occupies in ESOL. Spoken English Spoken language is characterised by the use of direct speech and expression of the relationship of content. Learners of English as a second language go through the processes of false starts, starting over, afterthoughts, self correction, repetition, and hesitations. This is because there is reference to mental processes. De Silva Joyce (2000) described spoken interactions as either pragmatically motivated or interpersonally motivated. Eggins (1990) categorised pragmatically motivated interactions as encounters while the interpersonally motivate interactions as conversations. Further, she classified the conversations into casual and formal and the encounters as factual and transactional. Richards argues that teaching spoken English is not the absence of the grammar and the rules of language use. As opposed to earlier language learning that focused on mastering the grammar of the English language, recent developments have seen the appreciation of other perspectives in language teaching and learning. According to Richards (2006), there are other processes that enhance learning English as a second language. They include the interactions that occur between the learner and other users of the English language, creating meaning collaboratively, negotiating meaning by arriving at understanding between the learner and the interlocutor and learners experimenting in different ways by saying things. Cross-cultural communication where shared meaning is not created leads to misinterpretations and negative reactions. Richards (2006) defined communicative language teaching as “a set of principles about the goals of language teaching, how learners learn a language, the kinds of classroom activities that best facilitates learning and the roles of teachers and learners in the classroom” (p. 2). Teachers of spoken English as well as material designers have a task of engaging the learners in exploring cross-cultural perspectives. The learner Learners of a second language are those students whom their first language is not English and they need help to learn and speak English. Most of these students come from different backgrounds and have myriad diverse life experiences and they need to learn English language to be able to communicate and adapt to their new environments. British Colunbia Ministry of Education (1999) point out that these students may appear uninterested, fatigues and withdrawn due to the effects of leaving their home country. Therefore the teachers should be able to make accurate assessments on the students and adjust in ways that can benefit the students. ESL services should be customed in such a way that respects the culture from which they originate and it should build on the language abilities that already exist. Vygotsky (1989) postulated that psychological functions are formed from social cultural influences. Chappell (2012) points at the importance of interactions between the learner and an expert other, that is, not the teacher. He views imitation as the process where novelty, rather than reproduction is created. “Imitation occurs in situations in which a learner is able to collaborate in social interactions with an expert around specific tasks in which he or she would be incapable of performing alone.” (Chapell 2012, p. 65). Song & Cadman (2012) quote the words of an Asian student who just completed her undergraduate study in Australia; ‘Multiculturalism is a big fat lie’. This implies a dissatisfaction of how he was treated culturally or how he felt he was treated. Most teachers from Anglo-Celtic countries like Australia have been termed as discursive and imperialistic in their approach to teaching. Ballantyne, Sanderman & Levy (2008) say that there are many factors that affect the process of acquiring a second language. They include the willingness to make mistakes, socio-economic background, motivation and personality of the learner. This requires the teachers to be attentive and sensitive to all the factors that can affect the student’s performance in acquiring English as a second language especially spoke English. Spoken English learners have different accents and ways of pronunciation. This brings in the World Englishes debate initiated by Kachru (1985). Kachru argues that teachers should embrace a poly model approach instead of staying loyal to idealised western approaches. Understanding the learner’s problems is important in the process of teaching spoken English. Adult Migration English Program (AMEP) (2006) says that a good teacher should be a good learner. A teacher becomes a learner through reflection which creates him the opportunity to understand himself better and also his students. This kind of reflection is a cycle in which the teacher reflects, takes action, evaluates and improves action. The teacher can then pass this activity to the students and help them reflect through the learning process. A teacher of ESOL should take in account that the students that he teaches are from another world which has its own pedagogy. The best practice is to embrace inclusive teaching. This is “teaching in ways that do not exclude students, accidentally or intentionally, from opportunities to learn” (Millar (2009) as quoted by Song & Cadman 2012, p. 14). Behaviours that exclude students include disregarding students’ backgrounds or the kind of events they have had in life that can impact their learning process. It also entails lacking confidence in the students, treating them unfairly and conveying direct disrespect to them. In addition, the behaviour of a teacher interacting with only a subset of students is in excluding behaviour. Furthermore, when teachers teach in ways that favour particular backgrounds, they exclude the students from whose backgrounds the teacher does not favour. Context English plays important roles in the lives of people who are non-native English speakers. Competence in English, especially for people who move abroad, is associated with better jobs, feelings of security and better relationships (Tananuraksakul 2009). There are different varieties of world Englishes and this poses a problem of pronunciation especially if the learner is not familiar with the different varieties in English. There are different contexts that learners of English and teachers of English meet. In the cultural context, especially when the learner has moved from his country to an English speaking country is more common. The learner faces the challenge of learning English as a second language, with its cultural connotations while holding to his cultural identity. The learners learn to speak English for academic, professional or social purposes. The different context calls for different approaches and methods. The teacher teaching in a non-English speaking country posed the challenge of devising methods that are culturally relative. For cross cultural learning to take place effectively, it needs to be culturally attuned and accepted. Ellis (1996) asserts that, “In this way the nature of what eventually takes place in the classroom involves the teacher’s ability to filter the method to make it appropriate to the cultural norms and to re-define the teacher-student relationship in keeping with the cultural norms embedded in the method itself” (p. 213). The English language continues to change with the current trends of globalization. The increase in the use of English brings to birth certain pedagogical issues and the many ways that English is used. Researchers continue to grapple with the question of the kinds of English should be accepted and taught as varieties in the international contexts. Kachru (1985) who coined the term World Englishes says that a polymodel approach should be adopted especially for non-native speakers. Since there is an intricate connection between language and culture, teachers should understand that English learners in the globalised world look for the learning contexts as avenues for forming their identities. They should analyse their readiness in dealing with both the learners and teacher identities in the cross-cultural classrooms. Kumaravadivelu offers that teachers should move from using centre-produced methods which are founded on idealised concepts and they drive towards idealised contexts. “Since language learning and teaching needs, wants and situations are unpredictably numerous, no idealised method can visualize all the variables in advance situation-specific suggestions that teachers need” (p. 18). Role of the First and Second Language The ability of a student to use the second language aids in comprehension. Collier (1994) asserts that the skills and concepts that one learns in their first language will be transferred into the second language. Language is embedded in culture; the ways of life, perceptions, interpretation of meanings and symbols used in meaning making. Therefore, being versed with this kind of knowledge, a learner is able to identify differences between the first and second language and make adjustments. In a similar way, Crawford & Krashen, 2007 are of the view that literacy skills in a learner’s first language aid in the literacy in the second language. A leaner knowing the cultural background of the first and second language aids in learning to become fluent in the second language. It is also important for to understand the similarities and differences that brings discomfort and vice versa with both languages. Intercultural knowledge ensures better communication and it determines how well one communicates when using English as a second language. Current teaching approaches Joyce (2000) says that “methodologies and materials for teaching conversation need to take into account the structure and characteristics of spoken language” (p. 12). She cites scripted dialogue as the materials used to teach casual conversation. This materials cause problems since they are based on written English and they do not consider the key features of spoken English. In addition they are a mere means to that illustrate language functions or grammar structures. In order to effectively teach spoken English, teachers need to come up with materials that provide students not only with authentic dialogues but also the dialogue should be comprehensible to them. The methodology should incorporate activities that allow the students to interact with context in as a realistic way as possible. Butterworth (2000) explains the process coming up with Listening to Australia books and tapes for teaching English. He says that in collecting casual conversations, he used two approaches; topic of discussion and semi scripting texts. The semi scripted texts have been found to be wanting in terms of authenticity. Teachers find casual conversation spontaneous to teach. According to Banks (2000), “they feel that the most a teacher can do is to teach discrete language functions, structures and gambits, and to correct obvious errors.” (p. 17). This goes with the assumption that with practice the student gradually acquires the ability to develop a conversation. Follow up questions is one method that has been used over the years for prompting the student to talk. However, recent developments have been skewing towards finding alternative methods to follow up questions. The teacher initiates the student talk when they provide alternatives to follow up question. Allowing the students to talk also helps them to develop communicative competence. Dashwood (2005) states that alternatives to questioning increase students’ collaborative talk. Gibbons (2006) advocates for participatory between the teacher and the students talk in the classroom context. However he notes that the teacher sets the overall agenda and not the student. In a realistic sense, it is hard to expect a truly participatory discourse in the classroom especially if there are many students. Thus teachers prefer to use small groups for participatory discussions. The teaching guided reporting is supported by Vygotsky (1978) who asserts that learning occurs when there is support from the experts. Nevertheless, the role of the teacher in the classroom has changed. Instead of being a model for correct speech, the teacher now has become a facilitator and a monitor. This also has changed the role of the learner. Instead of listening only to the teacher, now students are expected to participate in classroom activities that have changed the context of learning from being individualistic to more cooperative. Students also exchange with their peers during class discussions and learn from each other (Richards, 2006). Pronunciation is a prominent factor in spoken English learning. According to Glakjani (2012), gaining full communicative competence is reliant on the prominence of pronunciation. Pronunciation is the habit of producing the sounds acquired by way of repetition. “Learning to pronounce a second language means building up new pronunciation habits and overcoming the bias of first language” Glakjani 2012, p. 96). The accents of the learner interfere with how fast the learner can be able to pronounce English word in standard pronunciation. This requires the teacher to know some of the pronunciation problems for different learners and develop ways of addressing them. In addition, the way the teacher pronounces words will affect the way the learner pronounces them. Assessment of spoken language is usually hard for the teachers. This is because there is a tendency to view the ESL learners negatively. Joyce (2000) opines that “errors in accuracy seem to dominate and their lack of fluency impedes an objective assessment’ (p. 16). Most of the assessment is done on audio and videotape and it takes a load of time to determine the specific features of language that inhibits the students from effective communication. Taking this process objectively helps a teacher to determine the skills particular students need to apply in order to be successful in ESL acquisition. Banks (2000) advocated for students reviewing their performances to enable them to identify their errors and determine their weaknesses as well as their strengths. This way the students will learn to not only correct themselves, but they also to identify errors when they occur. Conclusion Although teaching and learning spoken English is not easy, understanding the dimensions involved in the process makes it easier. Apart from the training the TESOL teacher has, he or she needs to understand other factors that contribute to the effectiveness of teaching spoken English. They include the knowledge of the learner, his different contexts, the roles of his first language and the different curriculum context that the teacher can exploit. This will guide the teacher in deciding on the approach to use to derive maximum effectiveness. References Altbach, P. G. 2007, The imperial tongue: English as the dominating academic language International Higher Education, Vol. 49, Viewed on 19 March, 2013 AMEP, 2007,Teaching Strategies - 7: Professional Development Through Reflective Practice, Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) Research Centre. British Columbia Ministry of Education 1999, English as a second language learners: a guide for classroom teachers, British Columbia Ministry of Education Special Programs Branch. Viewed on 18 March, 2013. Burns, A. Joyce, H. & Gollin S. 1996, ‘I see what you mean’: Using spoken discourse in the classroom. Sydney: Macquarie University. Butterworth. A. 2000, Casual conversation texts in listening to Australia, in Joyce, H. S. 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