TEC 2014 Hyderabad. Adam Scott. The Interface of Corpus Linguistics and The Lexical Approach for Teaching ESL Beginner Learners Effectively

Transcription

1 TEC 2014 Hyderabad Adam Scott The Interface of Corpus Linguistics and The Lexical Approach for Teaching ESL Beginner Learners

2 A need for change Some beginners making slow progress New students joining existing classes Traditional coursebooks failing to deliver Frustrating for teachers and learners

3 A premise or two Collocation should help learners Corpus data can inform course content Syntax is central to learning English

4 Literature Review Beginners, by Paul Grundy Teaching English to Beginners, by LRH Chapman

5 Literature Review From Corpus to Classroom, O Keeffe, McCarthy & Carter The Lexical Syllabus, by Dave Willis Lexical Priming, by Michael Hoey

6 Post-beginner Dilemmas Problems some higher-level learners still have: some level of illiteracy in English poor basic speaking skills poor basic listening skills poor basic syntax and verb use poor or unnatural basic vocab and collocation struggle badly with pronunciation have taken forever to make progress

7 Why bother?

8 Brain Power Adam Scott McLaughlin s Attention-Processing Model Second language learning is a skill It requires automization of component sub-skills New learning needs our focal and controlled attention Our capacity to manage controlled processes is limited automization makes our language processing skills more efficient Structured practice of linguistic patterns supports integration and automization

9 Welcome to English! Neradova, M. (2013). Summer in the mountains. Retrieved 15/11/13 from:

10 Undirected focus Neradova, M. (2013). Summer in the mountains. Retrieved 15/11/13 from:

11 Too many foci Neradova, M. (2013). Summer in the mountains. Retrieved 15/11/13 from:

12 Typical coursebook Neradova, M. (2013). Summer in the mountains. Retrieved 15/11/13 from:

13 Interface CL and LA Neradova, M. (2013). Summer in the mountains. Retrieved 15/11/13 from:

14 Corpus tools 1 Adam Scott Frequency Lists UCREL Lancaster University

15 Top 30 English Words this not he you that a she and in 's be to with but I have a... she is from... this is a... are you from... from the for it on of is are had I was by his have at they... Data from Lancaster University. Companion website for word frequencies in written and spoken English based on the British National Corpus. (2001). Retrieved 15/09/12 from:

16 Your turn to play! Data from Lancaster University. Companion website for word frequencies in written and spoken English based on the British National Corpus. (2001). Retrieved 15/09/12 from:

17 Practise and personalise

18 Corpus tools 2 Adam Scott Online Concordancer BYU BNC

19 Online concordancer

20 Online concordancer

21 Building collocation go to get a taxi have use see play

22 Lexical grammar /j-uh/ Do you? /d-i-j-uh/ Did you? /j-uh/? (=every day) go to get a taxi have Yes, I do. No, I don t. /d-i-j-uh/ yesterday? use see play Yes, I did. No, I didn t.

23 Key practical features Collocating lexis into grammar Presentation light, production heavy Careful staging one thing at a time Chunking up structural elements A focus on accuracy Achieves real communication

24 Building collocation Top 10 adjectives Top 10 nouns Data from Lancaster University. Companion website for word frequencies in written and spoken English based on the British National Corpus. (2001). Retrieved 15/09/12 from:

25 Building collocations time year people way man day thing government work year

26 Top Verbs

27 Building associations Collocating the highest-frequency words Builds associations across lexis Chunking creates better pronunciation Synthetic phonics to represent sounds Develops understanding of primings Supports receptive skills Increases ability to listen, read and anticipate

28 Pronunciation Adam Scott /w-air d-i-j-uh g-oh/ /h-ue d-i-j-uh g-oh w-i-th/ /w-e-n d-i-j-uh g-oh/ /w-o w-uh-z th-uh w-e-th-uh l-igh-k/ /w-o d-i-j-uh d-ue th-air/ /w-o w-uh-z-i-t l-igh-k/ /w-air d-i-j-uh s-t-ey/ Doff, A. (2010). English unlimited starter coursebook. Cambridge: CUP. p.67

29 Adjacency Pairs Doff, A. (2010). English unlimited starter coursebook. Cambridge: CUP. p.67

30 Pronunciation maps

31 New value in resources fly run n sit t kick play walk sail catch (lie) ly throw swim m feed (ride) rid

32 Associative activities Using memory maps Collocating adjectives with landmarks Matching words with people Matching sounds in different words Teaching new lexis with strong collocates Meaning is built through association

33 Number of weeks per level (averaged) Statistical indicators Beginners reaching pre-int or higher (Beginner and elementary levels counted as one level) Adam Scott Median progress in student weeks [VALUE] weeks [VALUE] weeks Traditional New COURSE TYPE

34 Qualitative Feedback Students fit capably into elementary level Surprising levels of fluency and accuracy Able to say a lot with relatively little Learners are engaged and questioning Good ability to collocate lexis Students are happy and motivated Good study skills

35 Some closing ideas Download slides at: Stage lessons for focal, controlled attention: one thing at a time! Well-staged, integrated lesson content fosters Demand High learning and meaningful production Chunk up cumbersome/discreet discrete grammar points Collocate new lexis to minimise learner confusion Collocation differences are easy to recognise and remember Adam Scott Simple, explicit pronunciation teaches sound-spelling relations Priming learners for listenings and readings practises sub-skills Learning is a skill - strategies are at least as important as content Thank you