Job Discussion Forums

[gaijinalways]

I am recently doing some research on pragmatic activities, especially for university students, but any activity ideas are okay. Often a mistake that teachers might make is introducing too much classroom language which may not have much use ouside of the context of the classroom. I know this is often less of a problem with business classes, but sometimes I have to think about my own activities and wonder how useful the language taught is to my students once they step outside my classroom.

I am also wondering about an activity that my co-contributer does. He does a lot of directed discussions with lower level students (I teach some from the same department) on BBC recorded issues. He has them listen/watch a tape 4-5 times, then read the tapescript. They are given the general topic heading the week before so that they can research the topic in their L1 prior to discussion week. He mostly tries to focus on letting students make comments about the video and other comments, without trying to direct too much the direction they take (except when he tries to clarify what was said so that others can comment on it).

I am just wondering, for this level, what I would call a majority of false beginners as in Japan they have 6 years of JHS/HS study of grammar-translation, is this approach very pragmatic? He mentioned one topic for example, urban migration in China. Students can relate the same phenomenon to Japan, but do they really have the linguistic tools to talk about it and will they get much benefit out of doing so?

What little discussing I do with my lower level students is much more limited in scope, and I feel often has to be something much closer to their stated current interests; i.e. fashion, pop culture, etc., not usually political or economic issues. But maybe this is my bias, but I often feel that students who can't give directions are not ready to discuss for example, classical literature except on a more limited basis. I do this now in classes where we take mini topics, but I don't usually run these activities for 45 minutes of a class. for example, we were discussing food, and I showed a 1 minute excerpt of 'Super size me', and we talked briefly about the differences of what vending machines have in Japan versus the US, and how this affects our health.

Anyhow, I hope that I can hear some ideas on some pragmatic activities you have used in the classroom and how you contrast this with other types of activities you may use. I curently do some of both, though I like to highlight grammatical or structural differences through interactive activities rather than doing lectures on them per se.

[Sherri]

Your colleague seems to be doing some interesting things with his class. I am not sure I would use those topics with what sounds like a lower level class. I can't get the purpose of his lesson from what you wrote. I wonder about the videos he uses--like how long they are. If they are longer than say 3 minutes, my guess is that his students can't concentrate long enough to get anything out of it. I suppose he gives them some pre-listening tasks to do, then some activities or exercises to help them focus their listening? I also don't understand the purpose of giving them the transcript--if they need it to understand, then it is too hard for them. Otherwise why not just give them a reading passage? What role does vocab play here?

I think it is a great idea to have students talk about their ideas and learn to communicate on a real-life level but there also has to be time for reflection and feedback on what they said during the discussion. That and the prep for the discussion would probably take the most time. I would (and do) record their discussions so that we can look at what happened. I also like mapping the discussion so that the students can see their interaction on paper and the functions of their utterances.

S

[gaijinalways]

Sorry, I left that off, the video length is about 3-4 minutes. The only pre-listening task is the topic given the week before so that they can research it in their L1.

I wasn't sure about that either, though I have had students listen to see what they could get, and then read, sometimes with a cloze exercise rather than a full tapescript.

As to mapping the discussion, can your students understand that, your map?

[Sherri]

Hi GA

Well I am totally in disagreement with the way your colleague approaches videos in his classes (at least based on what I know). Reading on the topic in the L1 is OK but why not do some reading in the L2--how else are they going to get the vocab they need for the topic? Also the topic can be narrowed by the teacher if he chooses the reading passage--which would make it more accessible to lower levels. Also I would argue that if they need to read up in their L1 with no real L2 input then the topic is beyond their L2 ability.

As for the listening, if it is BBC news, then they nearly always follow the same formula. Talking head intros topic, on-site reporter takes over and presents an issue. They either do a pro-con or a persuasive angle. Usually they get interviews from people to weigh in to support the angle, then conclusion. I would focus listening tasks on understanding the content by using exercises based on this formula. Also the images should be exploited more to help them to understand otherwise--again, why not just read? A cloze is OK, but personally I wouldn't like to only do a cloze or do a cloze for the entire length. But it might be good to highlight words or phrases they may need in the discussion.

Mapping can be very simple. As simple as counting how many times each student spoke or counting how many times a student responded to a question or asked their own question.

Much more to say, but got to get to work!
Sherri

[gaijinalways]

I understand. When you originally said 'mapping', I thought you were referring to a linguistic or structural map for the dialogue, which I think would be well beyond most students ability to do and comprehend. The examples you gave I wouldn't consider as mapping (maybe more like types of listening-labeling) exercises, but to be honest, I'm not sure what ESL/EFL label they should have.

As to other exercises to promote vocabulary understanding, I often give examples for key vocabulary at various times; sometimes pre-, sometimes post-listening. Depends on how difficult you feel the vocabulary is or you may want to see which words they have problems with. I tend to call on a stronger student to give me a defintion/example first, if he or she is unable to do so, then I supply both.

I then also see if students can give me other examples or see if they can give me the usual context for using that vocabulary.

As to being beyond their level, I kind of thought so, but I haven't directly observed how successful he has been in his class, so I must reserve some comments at the moment.