2016 - Page 4 of 5 - Professor Jack C. Richards

Integrating Word Stress into Lessons

Submitted by David Bohlke, USA

Some languages pronounce each word with equal emphasis. In other languages, such as English, word stress is important for comprehension. A stressed syllable is said longer, louder, and with a higher pitch.

Word stress is important because stressing the wrong syllable can cause misunderstandings. It might be difficult to understand the word, or a wrongly stressed syllable can cause confusion or even annoyance for the listener. In some cases, stressing the wrong syllable word’s meaning changes the meaning or type of word.

The following suggestions may help teachers integrate word stress into lessons.

Raise awareness of the importance of word stress To show how important word stress is, say a familiar word with the wrong stress. For example, say computer as COMputer instead of comPUter. Students will quickly get a feel for why this is wrong.

Show stress patterns when you teach new vocabulary.

How you do this is up to you, but find a system and stick with it. You might draw large and small stress bubbles over words, underline stressed syllables, mark them as a familiar dictionary might, or write capital letters for stressed syllables.

PHOto / PHOtograph / phoTOgraphy

Have students categorize new vocabulary by stress pattern.

They might do this in a vocabulary notebook to show connections between word families:

Equal / eQUAlity / Equalize / equaliZAtion NEUtral / neuTRALity / NEUtralize / neutraliZAtion

You probably would not devote a whole lesson to word stress but there may be times you create an activity to give it extra focus.

Activities

Group by stress pattern

Give each student a piece of paper with a word on it. Have them regroup themselves by finding and sitting with others with the same stress pattern. For example, for a class of 28 students prepare 4 words with each of seven stress patterns.

O o (happy) / o O (enjoy) / O o o (energy) / o O o (computer) / o o O (volunteer) / o O o o (biology) / o o O o (politician)

Word stress bingo

Go over words noun / verb pairs where the stress is on the first syllable for nouns and the second for verbs, e.g. EXport / export. Have students write 16 of the words in a mixed order on a 4×4 Bingo card. To play, say a word as a noun or a verb. Students mark the ones they hear. Possible words include rewrite, invite, insert, misprint, escort, contrast, increase, decrease, discount, permit, conflict, insult, contest, export, import, present, contract, object, reject, record.

Scavenger hunt

Give each group a different color pack of Post-its. Tell them they will have exactly one minute to labels things in the classroom with the O o pattern (jacket, whiteboard, window, etc.). Once an item is labeled it cannot be labeled again. Give one point for each correct word.

Pronunciation, Speaking, Tips

Using Technology to Help Students Pass

Submitted by Jose Lema, Quito, Ecuador

Using technology to help our students pass their standardized exams.

There is a growing trend in using different technological gadgets to support our traditional teaching practice. Here some tips on how to do it.

Firstly, find out the testing skill or a specific part of the exam you think your students need extra practice. Vocabulary items for productive and receptive skills are usually a great way to start.

For example to practice vocabulary for a specific exam:

Go to https://quizlet.com/ or https://cerego.com/browse
Both websites offer searching tabs. You just type ‘vocabulary’ plus the exam name.
Familiarize yourself on how to practice and using the page.
Once you know how to do it, you can either choose one already created vocabulary set or create one yourself.
Practice along with your students first in class using a projector so that everyone knows how to do it.
Tell your students that they may also practice using their cellphones or tabs.
After you and your students are familiar with these software encourage them to create their own vocabulary sets aimed for the exam they are interested in and share them with the rest of the class.

Secondly, listening can also be a very challenging skill to master for exam purposes. We teachers tend to recommend listening different types of texts so our students get familiar with different English language varieties. In fact, many of our students listen to music in English. They also use the Internet to be informed, entertained or communicate with others in English. An excellent tip to help them with listening practice and checking comprehension is the website http://www.esl-lab.com/ that includes a collection of audio/video lectures for all levels of listening comprehension together with self-testing and answer options.

The following is a tip on how to use it for an easy level listening class:

Go to http://www.esl-lab.com/elem/elemrd1.htm
The activity includes pre, while and post listening activities.
For the pre-listening stage you can ask your students to think about the topic of the lesson and carry out a brief discussion on the topic.
For the while-listening stage use a projector and speakers so that your students can see you using and practicing with this website.
Play the recording. They can use paper to write their answers down.
When they are done ask them to exchange their papers.
Then you click on the different options and click on the final score button so that everybody can see the answers.
*Optional* The activity also includes an extra grammar explanation with slides and audio. Play the explanation and ask your students to take notes.
On the post-listening stage ask your students to answer the questions mentioned on the web-page
Tell them to share their answers in pairs.
Finally you can ask them to investigate more on the topic and share their results for the next class or record their voices and their findings using the following website http://www.englishvoices.org/

Thirdly, reading for exams hinges on your knowledge of vocabulary; reading strategies such as skimming, scanning and reading for details; and your ability to understand what you read in a limited amount of time. Technology can help our students to cope with different reading test types and questions. The following may be a standard procedure to determine the level of reading comprehension and how to develop reading testing strategies.

Use a projector to show the students how to do it.
To test your reading level visit the following https://www.englishclub.com/reading/test.htm or http://cdextras.cambridge.org/Readers/RPT_last.swf
After you verify your reading level you can start selecting appropriate materials aligned with your reading ability along with texts and different question types that challenge your reading comprehension.
Visit http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/courses/elc/studyzone/ and select your language level.
Click the following example for intermediate level reading http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/courses/elc/studyzone/410/reading/
Ask your students to read the text and choose the correct answers taking into account the time limit.
Tell them to write down their answers 8.When they finish ask them to compare their answers.
Finally show the correct answers explaining your own strategies.

Fourthly, one tip for writing in exam preparation is to ascertain the specific text types for the required exam. There are some websites that include example questions, models, and activities for you to get acquainted and improve your writing testing skills.

The following websites can be helpful to practice not only writing but also other skills:

If you are not sure what exam to take, you can test your English here: http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/test-your-english/

Once you have figured it out what writing text types the exam requires go to https://sat.ilexir.co.uk/ to practice and receive feedback.
You and your students can register using a personal email account.
Choose any of the writing tasks to procedure.
After you have sent your writings, you will receive a score depending on your writing performance.

Fifthly, many different speaking and testing examples can be found on the Web and mainly in YouTube. In addition, software programs such as http://www.skype.com/ ; https://www.teamviewer.com ; https://hangouts.google.com/ and the video chat http://www.oovoo.com/ this type of software allows students and teachers to practice for the test, provide instant feedback and reflect on their speaking ability. A tip on how to prepare your students for the KET speaking exam is shown below

Before the video chat:

In class you practice the speaking KET parts 1 and 2 in pairs or groups.
Ask your students to download the video chat http://www.oovoo.com/ to their computers.
Plan a meeting timetable so that you and your students can participate during the video chats after class.
Since the video chat software allows to record the conversations tell the students they will be recorded for further feedback and analysis.

During the video chat:

It is advisable to work in pairs and the teacher as an interlocutor.
Greet them and create a friendly environment.
Start asking questions for the KET speaking part 1 and 2 to each student.
Model some of the questions and answers if students find them difficult.
In the speaking part 2 students work together to complete the task. The first student asking the questions and the other one answering them conversely.
When they finish you can point out some problems you found in their performance.

After the video:

Select good recorded speaking examples.
Show them to the whole class.
You can repeat the same procedure until all the students become familiar with the speaking procedures for the KET exam speaking parts 1 and 2.

Technology, Tips

Teaching Teenagers Grammar

Submitted by Efren Garcia Huerta, Puebla, Mexico

Right before I start presenting new grammar. I usually find a short paragraph where the grammar that I am going to present is being used. Next, I organize the class into pairs and have them play a dictation game. One of the students is going to write the paragraph and the other student is going to dictate. The paragraph is printed in a piece of paper, and I place the text away from the students who are writing and the partner who is going to dictate will have to go to the text and memorize as much as possible, then, go back to his partner and dictate what she/he remembers, if the student does not remember. She/he will have to go back and read the text again.

During the game I use a “switch call” so that the students can change roles until they finish the paragraph. At the same time I try to find music beats that motivate my students. The students who finish first will be congratulated by the class.

This activity energizes students, but most importantly students become more interested in grammar activities.

Grammar, Tips

Best Use of Teaching Materials

Question:

Submitted by Jean Marie Vianney, Rwanda

How can the teacher best make use of teaching materials while delivering his/her lesson?

Dr. Richards responds:

If you are referring to textbooks, it’s important to remember that a textbook is intended as a support for teaching and should not dictate the way you teach. You can regard it as a springboard, from which you can add or develop follow up activities of your own that best reflect the needs of your learners. Remember it is the teacher that teaches, not the textbook or materials. You should look for ways of adapting the book, customizing it to fit your teaching context.

In the classroom, Questions & Answers, Teaching

Encouraging Students

Question:

Submitted by Mohammad Javad Zare, Iran

How can I encourage students who have very little spoken, English, to develop their communication skills?

Dr. Richards responds:

In this case I would suggest the use of worksheets with a topic on each sheet and a set of 10- 15 simple questions on the topic (e.g. sport, music, hobbies etc.) First guide them through the questions and suggest possible answers or elicit answers form the class. They can practice in pairs. Encourage them to be creative in their answers. As they develop more confidence you can encourage them to ask follow up questions related to each question. Remember to first model the kind of answers you think they can manage, gradually removing teacher support as they develop their skills. They can also add their own questions to the list of questions you provide.

In the classroom, Questions & Answers

Professor Richards’ schedule for 2016

(as of March 2016)

March 7-10: Plenary address, Teacher Education Conference ( Farhangian university- Teacher Education University), Iran.
March 14-19: Tien Chang Lin Technology Innovation Foundation Lecture Series in Education, Chinese University of Hong Kong.
April 13-16: Presentations at IATEFL Birmingham, United Kingdom
May 1: An evening with Jack Richards. Crown Plaza Hotel, Muscat, Oman, sponsored by Cambridge University Press.
June: Visiting Professor, Santo Tomas University, Manila, Philippines.
July: Visiting Professor, RELC, Singapore.
September 8-10: Plenary address: TEFLIN Surabaya, Indonesia
October 20-22: Plenary address, Teacher Education Conference, Manila, Philippines

News

New website!

Welcome to my newly designed website. I look forward to sharing information about my activities here and hope you enjoy exploring the site.

Jack C. Richards

News

Teaching Tips from Practitioners

There is a new feature on the website – Teaching Tips from Practitioners. This is where Professor Richards invites teachers to share examples of innovative, creative and effective teaching practices.

If you’d like to share a tip, please click here.

News

Enhancing Listening Skills

Submitted by Hamed Nastaran, Bushehr, Iran

First you need to find an audio and its text. It can be a song and its lyrics, a movie with subtitle, or a book’s readings along with the audio track (The kind of reading with the target accent). Now depending on your English level; you may start from your desired step:

Listen to the audio casually, don’t worry about the vague parts. At first it’s enough to just get the idea.
Analyze it, look for details; check if you have any questions about it.
Listen for the second time, and try to write what you hear. You may pause or rewind the audio.
Revise what you wrote.
Continue the cycle till you’re satisfied with the attempts.
Check what you wrote with the original text.
Correct you writing, then check with the audio.

Notes:

If you are a beginner, animations are more suitable for you since the voices are recorded in a studio.
Try not to understand everything in the first attempt. Some times getting some distance is the key to understanding things better.
Concerts are preferred to movies and songs since you can hear different pronunciations of a word in different circumstances.
Try not to get used to using headphones; if you’re a beginner, you may get started with it to boost the process, but do not stick to it.
Avoid using the original text instead of your draft in the last stage.

Listening, Tips

Enhancing Speaking Unconsciously

Submitted by Hamed Nastaran, Bushehr, Iran

Here is a way to enhance accent & fluency; unconscious accuracy through subliminal content and repetition.

First you need to find an audio and its text. It can be a song and its lyrics, a movie with subtitle, or a book’s readings along with the audio track ( The kind of reading with the target accent). Now depending on your English level; you may start from your desired step. (You may repeat each step several times.)

Listen to the audio while seeing the text, try to follow the text as the audio is being played. Falling behind is OK, just keep calm and do your best.

Try to hum with the audio. You don’t need to read with it or even pronounce it. Just hum with the rhythm and follow the intonation.

Now is the time to whisper along with it. Keep humming, but try to pronounce the words whenever it’s possible.

Read with it. At first, put your focus on synchronizing your pace; then do your best to match the intonations.

Elicit you favorite parts (Phrases, expressions, catch phrases, etc.) and use them in your daily routine.

Notes:

Put your headphones on; do the exercise and record yourself. Next step is doing it with one of your ears free.
Singing along can be really useful since you may repeat the context without getting bored. Concerts can be good sources since they contain miscellaneous pronunciations of words in various circumstances with different difficulties.

Speaking, Tips

Question feature returns to the Website

From time to time Dr. Richards will respond to questions posed to him here.

Only general questions related to important issues in language teaching will be answered. Questions on other issues will not be acknowledged or answered.

In many instances the information you need can be found on the internet so please search there before contacting Dr. Richards with a question.

News

Autonomous Learner

Question:

Submitted by Urip, Indonesia

What is meant by an autonomous learner?

Dr. Richards responds:

Learner autonomy refers to the principle that learners should take an increasing amount of responsibility for what they learn and how they learn it. Autonomous learning is said to make learning more personal and focused and, consequently, is said to achieve better learning outcomes, since learning is based on learners’ needs and preferences. It contrasts with the traditional teacher-led approach in which most decisions are made by the teacher. There are five principles for achieving autonomous learning:

Active involvement in student learning.
Providing options and resources.
Offering choices and decision-making opportunities.
Supporting learners.
Encouraging reflection.

In classes that encourage autonomous learning:

The teacher becomes less of an instructor and more of a facilitator.
Students are discouraged from relying on the teacher as the main source of knowledge.
Students’ capacity to learn for themselves is encouraged.
Students’ awareness of their own learning styles is encouraged.
Students are encouraged to develop their own learning strategies.

An example of the application of the principles of learner autonomy is the Council of Europe’s European Language Portfolio, which is intended to help support autonomous learning on a wide scale. The ELP has three components: a language passport, which summarizes the owner’s linguistic identity; a language biography, which provides for a reflective account of the learner’s experience in learning and using the foreign language; and a dossier, in which the learner collects evidence of his or her developing proficiency in the language. The ELP involves regular goal setting and self- assessment.

For many teachers, learner autonomy is an important facet of their teaching, which they seek to realize in a number of different ways – for example, through careful analysis of their learners’ needs, through introducing and modelling strategies for independent learning, through giving learners techniques they can use to monitor their own learning, through regular consultation with students to help learners plan for their own learning and through the use of a self-access centre where a variety of self-directed learning resources are available.

In the classroom, Language learning, Questions & Answers, Teaching

Conscious Awareness of Language

Question:

Submitted by Tri, Indonesia

Does conscious awareness of language features play a role in language learning?

Dr. Richards responds:

It has been proposed that some aspects of language are learned more easily if the learner is consciously aware of them in the language he or she hears – i.e. the learner ‘notices’ them (Schmidt, 1990). This is known as the noticing hypothesis. Schmidt proposed that for learners to acquire new forms from input (language they hear) it is necessary for them to notice such forms in the input. Consciousness of features of the input can serve as a trigger that activates the first stage in the process of incorporating new linguistic features into one’s language competence. Schmidt further clarifies this point in distinguishing between input (what the learner hears) and intake (that part of the input that the learner notices). Only intake can serve as the basis for language development. In his own study of his acquisition of Portuguese, Schmidt found that there was a close connection between noticing features of the input, and their later emergence in his own speech. The extent to which a learner notices new features of language in the input (for example, the use of the past perfect tense in a narrative) may depend upon how frequently the item is encountered, how salient or ‘noticeable’ it is, whether the teacher has drawn attention to it or the nature of the activity the learner is taking part in. Schmidt found from a detailed longitudinal study of his own acquisition of Portuguese that new forms appeared in his Portuguese only after he had become aware of them in the Portuguese he was exposed to. On the other hand, forms that were frequent in the input he was exposed to, but that he was not consciously aware of (i.e. that he had not noticed) did not appear in his use of Portuguese. The noticing hypothesis emphasizes the role of awareness in language learning and has implications both for the teaching of grammar as well as the teaching of listening.

Language learning, Questions & Answers

Role of Schema

Question:

Submitted by Satoshi, Japan

What role do schema play in language learning?

Dr. Richards responds:

The notion of schemas refers to cognitive aspects of learning. Schemas are mental models, or frameworks, which organize information in the mind and represent generalized knowledge about events, situations, objects, actions and feelings. They are part of prior knowledge that learners bring to new experience. For example, the schema of ‘the evening meal’, for some people, will consist of information about the time of the meal, where it takes place, the sequence of activities involved, the food items eaten and utensils used, and the participants and their roles and actions. Such a schema may differ considerably from one culture to another and may need to be revised as new experience is encountered.

Schema theory has had a significant influence on our understanding of the nature of listening comprehension and reading in a second language, and on approaches to teaching both of these skills. It has emphasized the role of prior knowledge in comprehension, and the importance of pre-listening and pre-reading activities in preparing students to understand spoken and written texts. Teaching schemas involves helping students develop the interconnected meanings and relationships that make up schemas, and an understanding of the hierarchies of meanings and connections that underlie many concepts. The role of prior knowledge in learning is a core feature of constructivist theories of learning – one kind of cognitive approach to learning. Constructivist theory emphasizes that new learning is built upon existing knowledge and understanding. In second language learning, the process that results when new learning builds on existing knowledge is known as restructuring.

Language learning, Questions & Answers

Contrastive Analysis

Question:

Submitted by Syvia, Brazil

Is contrastive analysis still relevant in language teaching?

Dr. Richards responds:

The contrastive analysis hypothesis (CA), states that where the first language and the target language are similar, learners will generally acquire structures with ease, and where they are different, learners will have difficulty. CA was based on the related theory of language transfer: difficulty in second language learning results from transfer of features of the first language to the second language. Transfer (also known as interference) was considered the main explanation for learners’ errors. Teachers were encouraged to spend time on features of English that were most likely to be affected by first-language transfer. Today, transfer is considered only one of many possible causes of learners’ errors. However, in the 1960s the contrastive analysis hypothesis was criticized, as research began to reveal that second language learners use simple structures ‘that are very similar across learners from a variety of backgrounds, even if their respective first languages are different from each other and different from the target languages’ (Lightbown and Spada, 2006.) My early work on error analysis supported this view (Richards, 1974). Behaviourism as an explanation for language learning was subsequently rejected by advocates of more cognitive theories of language and of language learning that appeared in the 1960s and 1970s. One of the first people to develop a cognitive perspective on language was the prominent American linguist Noam Chomsky. His critique of Skinner’s views (Chomsky, 1959) was extremely influential and introduced the view that language learning should be seen not simply as something that comes from outside but is determined by internal processes of the mind, i.e. by cognitive processes.

Questions & Answers, Teaching

Iran March 2016

Photos from Dr. Richards seminars in Bushehr, Iran, March 2016

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Iran, News, Tours

50 on 50!

The International TESOL organization as part of their 50th anniversary have honored Jack Richards as one of the 50 TESOL specialists worldwide to have made a significant impact on language teaching in the last 50 years.

News

Glowing review in ELT Journal

A book edited by David Nunan and Jack Richards, Language Learning Beyond the Classroom, has received an excellent write-up in ELT Journal. Reviewer Phil Benson concluded:

Nunan and Richards end their preface to the book by outlining several themes that emerge from it. Out-of-class activities, they argue, address some of the limitations of classroom-based learning, especially through opportunities for authentic language use and real communication. Benefits include, in addition to the development of language and communication skills, enhanced confidence and motivation, personal growth, and intercultural awareness. They also conclude that there is a need to integrate out-of-class and classroom learning, by setting clear goals for out-of-class activities, preparing students, and providing follow-up activities. These are sound conclusions to a book that deserves to be widely read and discussed.

The full review is available at the ELT Journal website.

News, Reviews