Classroom Interaction

Been a while since I've posted but my MA has taken over things for a little while. I've been a lot on Interaction Hypothesis (Long, 1996) which has given be cause to really start to think about 'how' my learners interact and communicate in my classrooms.

Some of the major features of the Interaction Hypothesis are:
Negotiation of Meaning
Negative Feedback
Pushed output
Modified output

Basically, these features point towards our learners pushing themselves to provide the next level of output, whilst using feedback (from either other learners or the teacher) to modify that output, and in turn notice gaps in their existing knowledge. Such noticing will enable them to revise their existing hypotheses regarding language use.

A good overview of this, and how it applies to your classes, can be found here:
The Interaction Hypothesis: What it is and How it Naturally Occurs in the ESL Classroom

To work towards providing such an environment I decided to employ some of the "Spot the Difference" style tasks that I'd been reading about in the literature.

If you're not familiar, these work as follows:
1) Learners pair up
2) Each learner gets one picture from the "spot the difference" pair of pictures
3) Learners then have to use oral language to find the differences (WITHOUT SEEING EACH OTHERS' PICTURES!!!!)

I was very surprised at the amount of language this generated. I had otherwise quiet learners engaging in 20 minutes of solid English speaking. Not only that, it required them to engage in deeper-processing of what their partner was saying, as well as seeking clarification from them.

So, where can you find some of these?
A good source is Penny Ur's book Discussions that Work (1989). It's part of the excellent Cambridge Handbooks For Language Teachers series.

Or, you can simply Google "Spot the Difference" and use pictures that come up.

Would love to hear from some other teachers as to how they generate high-quality interaction amongst their learners or from anyone who has tried similar tasks.

Thanks

Nativeness Vs. Intelligibility

Have been reading a bit of Jennifer Jenkins work on "English as Lingua Franca" (ELF) of late. Basically, this focuses on English as an International Language (EIL) - communication between a nonnative speaker (NNS) and another NNS. For this kind of communication the focus needs to be on intelligibility - these speakers don't need to have nativeness as a goal...

In an ESL context, however, it is easy to see how nativeness would be a goal for an English language learner (ELL)... most of their communication will be with native speakers (NS).

Which leads me to my teaching situation... here in Taiwan...

I did a quick class survey with my junior high learners regarding their pronunciation. Nearly all of them said they wanted to sound like NS (except for some of the boys who simply didn't care). Now, living in Taiwan, they are never going to achieve that NS standard as their own pronunciation is going to continuously be influenced by the Chinese-influenced pronunciation they hear around them on a daily basis and in the English classroom. Promoting NS-like pronunciation could in fact lead to disillusionment amongst the learners.

Therefore, what are your ideas on pronunciation?

How do you approach it with your groups of learners?

I'd like to hear from you...

Cheers