Delivery and Assessment of an Academic Listening course:

Transcription

1 Delivery and Assessment of an Academic Listening course: Applying the Four Strands of Effective Learning Tatiana Galetcaia B.A., M.A., M.Ed., Ph.D. (pend.)

2 To talk about balance, it s easier to talk about what s out of balance Ricky Williams

3 Presentation preview Introduction to the concept of the four strands Small group discussion Large group discussion Questions/Closing remarks

4 The two key concepts of the effective course Balance Validity

5 The four strands framework Incoming ideas and messages Conveying ideas and messages Meaningfocused input Meaningfocused output Language features Fluency development Attention to forms Fluent use of language patterns

6 The four strands framework meaning-focused input (listening and reading focus on the incoming messages) meaning-focused output (speaking and writing focus on conveying messages to another person) attention to language forms developing fluent use of language items (Nation & Newton, 2009)

7 Issues and tendencies The framework of the four strands in language learning : A tool to design a more balanced program Two common extremes observed across the board: Communicative and formal language-focused learning An educational dilemma : Building up knowledge or developing language skills?

8 Main premises A common sense rule the more time you spend on doing something the better you are likely to be at doing it The time-on-task principle Those who read a lot are better readers Will those who listen a lot become better listeners? (Yes? No?)

9 Listening models The traditional model of listening : Students are viewed as a mirror that reflects the speaker s ideas and messages This view reflects a belief that listening is a passive process The recent model views listening as a process of active constructing of the meaning (Lynch & Mendelson, 2002).

10 Main principles of use: Meaning focused input Can work only if : most of learners are listening to what is familiar to them the learners are interested in the input and want to understand it only a small proportion of features are unknown ( e.g. up to 95% of vocabulary should be within previous knowledge) (Hu & Nation, 2000) there are large quantities of the input

11 Meaning-focused output The opportunities to produce language in listening class should not be limited to tests (and quizzes based on just catching the correct word or number). The main learning goal is not to mechanistically reproduce what has been said in the lecture but to PRODUCE language by conveying the message based on lecture contents CanTest fallacy should be avoided aptitude and achievement tests should not replace one another Writing and speaking need to be used in listening class as widely as receptive skills

12 Focus on language Requires spaced, conscientious, repeated attention to language features Learners are engaged in deep processing of the language forms pertaining to the content Forms simple, within the acquired level of knowledge and within the subject specific topic of the listening material

13 Fluency Can be achieved only if the language features are familiar There is a demand of producing the language closer to the native speech (faster, clearer, appropriate intonation, etc.) There is a large amount of input and output

14 Balancing and integrating the four strands Roughly given the same amount of time (25% of the course time for each) Despite giving equal time to each strand can slightly change over the course or a program the recommendation is to keep them equally represented

15 The productive skills in the language classes should not center around fluency development and language forms but the meaning-focused input as well The receptive language skills classes should focus not only on input and language forms but also on fluency development

16 Assessment Purposes of testing: Main dilemma: reporting on learner s status ( ranking) vs. the purposes of learning Questions of reliability and validity A washback effect

17 Reliability Reliability is a measure of a degree to which the same assessment procedure is likely to give consistent results (Rost, 1990).(On different days by different people the same score) Error of measurement has to be minimized (test results variation should not represent differences among measurement criteria or the examiners but the differences among the test-takers and their listening proficiency) The various test content and test administration have to be restricted (E.g. test questions are clearly defined to reduce possibilities for multivariance of responses)

18 Face validity Validity How fair is the test from the point of view of the test user Content and cognitive validity Considering whether the content of the test reflects the content of the skill, language or course (Nation & Newton, 2009; Rost, 1990). Construct validity The degree of the test to distinguish effectively those who have gained the targeted skills from those who have not. (Rost, 1990).

19 Sources of listening difficulty: Washback effect A term introduced by Morrow (1985) Refers to formal testing biased towards attributions of listening outcomes to language proficiency rather than building reasonable interpretations (Rost, 1990) I.e. poor test performance is attributed to a lack of linguistic knowledge rather than procedural and pragmatic sources (Brown, 1986) (e.g. poor quality of the tape, low volume of speakers, unclear test instructions, etc.)

20 Learning goals Language items Ideas pronunciation vocabulary grammar content Skills l s, r, w, Text fluency accuracy discourse patterns and rules (Nation & Newton, 2009, p. 15)

21 References Brown, G. (1986). Investigating listening comprehension in context., Applied Linguistics, 3, Gotlieb, M. (2006). Assessing English language learners: Bridges from language proficiency to academic achievement. Thousand Oaks:, CA: Corwin Press. Hu, M., & Nation, I.S.P., (2000). Unknown vocabulary density and reading comprehension. Reading in a Foreign Language13 (1), Lynch, T., & Mendelson, (2002). Listening. In Schmitt (Ed.). An Introduction to applied linguistics (pp ). London: Arnold. Nation, I.S. P., & Newton, J. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL listening and speaking. New York: Rutledge. Richards, J. C. (2012). Curriculum development in language teaching. New York: Cambridge Language Education. Rost, M. (1990). Listening in language learning. New York: Longman.

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