I do not even know if that word 'choral' is the appropriate term to refer to the teacher reading a text in short sentences and the students repeating the sentences.
I somewhat associated that to old-fashioned English teaching methods but when practiced I've always found it is the best way to guarantee readind by ALL students in medium-sized or big classes.
What are the current trends in this respect?
(What do they do in Sweeden and Scandinavian countries, Places that I have always admired because they seem to teach English so effectively as to turn most of the population into bilingual speakers???)
Is choral reading effective?
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coffeedecafe
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Choral reading and repetition can give the learners the chance to practise rhythm and pronunciation in a way that isn't intimidating as it doesn't involve anyone having to embarrass themselves in front of the whole class. The downside is that you can't focus on what individual learners are saying - if one student in a class of 20 is saying it wrong, you won't hear it. Furthermore, I prefer repetition to reading anyway as English is not phonetic and reading out loud tends to artificially exaggerate pronunciation problems.
I'd start off with the choral stuff to get them used to speaking English, then start picking on individuals later. However, that might work better for some cultures than others.
As for Scandinavian countries it's worth remembering that Swedes, Finns (and for that matter, many smaller countries) don't expect foreigners to speak their language, and so have no choice but to learn other people's languages. Furthermore, I've noticed that students from countries where foreign TV programmes are subtitled tend to arrive in the UK knowing more English than those who come from countries where programmes are dubbed (e.g. Spain). It may not just be down to what goes on in the classroom.
I'd start off with the choral stuff to get them used to speaking English, then start picking on individuals later. However, that might work better for some cultures than others.
As for Scandinavian countries it's worth remembering that Swedes, Finns (and for that matter, many smaller countries) don't expect foreigners to speak their language, and so have no choice but to learn other people's languages. Furthermore, I've noticed that students from countries where foreign TV programmes are subtitled tend to arrive in the UK knowing more English than those who come from countries where programmes are dubbed (e.g. Spain). It may not just be down to what goes on in the classroom.
The only country where I have seen chorussing take place is China; here, however, teachers say a word at a time and ask their classes to repeat after them; this they do three times.
Oddly, many students mispronounce individual words because they don't hear their neighbours, and nobody notices their mistakes, which thus get permanently lodged in their minds.
Some teachers also say whole sentences that students must repeat after them. Same result: the individual student gets it wrong. Sometimes the teacher has it wrong, with disastrous consequences. A noted example is the CHINESe pronuncation of the English word "divorce" - which most people here uniformly mispronounce as "devoice". Many of us also complain about the weird pronuncation of "usual" - the "S" being pronounced as a kind of "R".
I feel chorussing is counterproductive in more than one way. It's highly robotic, students meekly making noises without paying attention to what they are doing.
I hold that students can only really make progres if individual students repeat a single word or sentence, or read a passage from a book, so that their peers can hear how one of their own pronounces English; they can improve on that by comparing it to tape-recorded texts read aloud by native English speakers.
Oddly, many students mispronounce individual words because they don't hear their neighbours, and nobody notices their mistakes, which thus get permanently lodged in their minds.
Some teachers also say whole sentences that students must repeat after them. Same result: the individual student gets it wrong. Sometimes the teacher has it wrong, with disastrous consequences. A noted example is the CHINESe pronuncation of the English word "divorce" - which most people here uniformly mispronounce as "devoice". Many of us also complain about the weird pronuncation of "usual" - the "S" being pronounced as a kind of "R".
I feel chorussing is counterproductive in more than one way. It's highly robotic, students meekly making noises without paying attention to what they are doing.
I hold that students can only really make progres if individual students repeat a single word or sentence, or read a passage from a book, so that their peers can hear how one of their own pronounces English; they can improve on that by comparing it to tape-recorded texts read aloud by native English speakers.
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cftranslate
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My point is just the opposite:
When one student reads he or she makes lots of pronunciation mistakes. He can't hardly be heard by all students and most of them are not even reading the text while he reads it.
Chorus reading is not so mechanic and is even more meaningful when the text has been heard read by a native speaker or the teacher and they have been working on the meaning of the sentences.
Of course I am talking about the teacher saying a very short sentence with a full idea and the students repeating after him/her.
So The main positive points:
1. All of the students read.
2. The pronounce what they read more correctly since they just heard the model pronunciation.
3. They can associate ideas and full sentences following the teacher's pronunciation.
I was just asking if some or many shared these favorable opinion since as I said it sounded old fashioned practices.
When one student reads he or she makes lots of pronunciation mistakes. He can't hardly be heard by all students and most of them are not even reading the text while he reads it.
Chorus reading is not so mechanic and is even more meaningful when the text has been heard read by a native speaker or the teacher and they have been working on the meaning of the sentences.
Of course I am talking about the teacher saying a very short sentence with a full idea and the students repeating after him/her.
So The main positive points:
1. All of the students read.
2. The pronounce what they read more correctly since they just heard the model pronunciation.
3. They can associate ideas and full sentences following the teacher's pronunciation.
I was just asking if some or many shared these favorable opinion since as I said it sounded old fashioned practices.
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woodcutter
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repeat after me
Roger makes some good points concerning class repetition, but the thing which always seems to get lost is that if you have a class of 50, then even if choral activities are 49 times less effective than individual activities, then they are still worth doing.
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coffeedecafe
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another way of viewing choral is from the objective desired.
if improving the understanding of given sentences is the object, then an english translation of a well known story or song in the native language can cause some of those,"oh that is what that means" results.
if the purpose is to expand the vocabulary and grammatical reach of the student, letting them practice something new and short at the end of the session, with the challenge to go home and learn what this means with dictionary and/or lexicon, or thesaurus could bring interest and challenge [as long as you kept it short enough to avoid unneccessary frustration].
if improving the understanding of given sentences is the object, then an english translation of a well known story or song in the native language can cause some of those,"oh that is what that means" results.
if the purpose is to expand the vocabulary and grammatical reach of the student, letting them practice something new and short at the end of the session, with the challenge to go home and learn what this means with dictionary and/or lexicon, or thesaurus could bring interest and challenge [as long as you kept it short enough to avoid unneccessary frustration].
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LarryLatham
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As so much of meaning in spoken language comes from manner of delivery (prosody, along with body language, facial expression, apparent attitude, etc.), a great deal of the value of "choral repitition" depends on the skills of the teacher doing the modeling.
At one of the schools where I worked recently, one of my colleagues was a Shakespearian actor. He could and did deliver text to his students at an exaggerated stage whisper at times, and in ringing elocution at others. He could also do anything in between. He got them up on their feet and moving. It was not TPR (although there were, I suppose, some similarities). He chose his delivery to impart clarity of meaning intent to the text. He demanded that they follow him as best they could with their own deliveries.
When he said, "I love you", women students swooned. It was not a robotic performance. And they professed their deepest passion for him in return (and got an appreciative grin from him in response). (He was old enough to be their father).
Suffice to say, it was of value to his students. They loved it, and it was self evident that they received benefit from the exercises.
Larry Latham
At one of the schools where I worked recently, one of my colleagues was a Shakespearian actor. He could and did deliver text to his students at an exaggerated stage whisper at times, and in ringing elocution at others. He could also do anything in between. He got them up on their feet and moving. It was not TPR (although there were, I suppose, some similarities). He chose his delivery to impart clarity of meaning intent to the text. He demanded that they follow him as best they could with their own deliveries.
When he said, "I love you", women students swooned. It was not a robotic performance. And they professed their deepest passion for him in return (and got an appreciative grin from him in response). (He was old enough to be their father).
Suffice to say, it was of value to his students. They loved it, and it was self evident that they received benefit from the exercises.
Larry Latham
Oh Larry, that was a tgood point! I concur of course with those who do chorussing to a moderate extent, with a clear objective in their minds. If the teacher has actor aspirations these will come handy. I would even suggest students read some drama! How about Harold Pinter?
But my doubts remain as most of the corussing I witness is done with a view of improving pronunciation only. In fact, in China most English learners read aloud in order to hone their pronunciation, which I think is rather daft since they read word after word in such a halting manner that their speech sounds rather robotic, with many a word repeated up to three times: "The sub-sub-subterra-subterranean river..."
This seems to be the established manner for them to acquire mispronunciations. They would ask a foreigner how to pronounce a given word, and repeat it a couple of times; but if they can't find an authority to tell them how to pronounce a word they will adopt one of their own imagination.
Somehow CHinese intonation also interferes with their English intonation, with their voices being unnaturally flat where some emotion ought to show.
Something nobody has considered yet: reading aloud should only happen when one is familiar with all the pronunciation traps hidden in the text. How to raise one's voice to indicate a question, how to drop one's voice to show the end of a sentence - these things need good understanding of what the sentences mean; this you cannot achieve by reading aloud. You must read SILENTLY as only silent reading enables your mind to process the meaning. Reading aloud diverts away your attention from the underlying intention of a text to the surfaces of single words and their pronunciation.
I find that if I read aloud I don't really know what I am reading, and I have to re-read it.
But my doubts remain as most of the corussing I witness is done with a view of improving pronunciation only. In fact, in China most English learners read aloud in order to hone their pronunciation, which I think is rather daft since they read word after word in such a halting manner that their speech sounds rather robotic, with many a word repeated up to three times: "The sub-sub-subterra-subterranean river..."
This seems to be the established manner for them to acquire mispronunciations. They would ask a foreigner how to pronounce a given word, and repeat it a couple of times; but if they can't find an authority to tell them how to pronounce a word they will adopt one of their own imagination.
Somehow CHinese intonation also interferes with their English intonation, with their voices being unnaturally flat where some emotion ought to show.
Something nobody has considered yet: reading aloud should only happen when one is familiar with all the pronunciation traps hidden in the text. How to raise one's voice to indicate a question, how to drop one's voice to show the end of a sentence - these things need good understanding of what the sentences mean; this you cannot achieve by reading aloud. You must read SILENTLY as only silent reading enables your mind to process the meaning. Reading aloud diverts away your attention from the underlying intention of a text to the surfaces of single words and their pronunciation.
I find that if I read aloud I don't really know what I am reading, and I have to re-read it.
At the risk of teaching Grandma to suck eggs, Roger has quite rightly highlighted the classic example of how not to tackle repetition and reading out loud. If this is what they do in China, it's no wonder that when Chinese students come to the UK they can't speak the language to save their lives even when they've been doing it for years at school.
When I get students to repeat chorally, it will typically involve one sentence, not a whole paragraph (when was the last time you said the equivalent of a whole paragraph in a conversation? How did the other person stay awake?), with back-chaining, and emphasis on natural intonation and rhythm:
Me: "weekend?" (rising)
Students: "weekend?"
Me "nice weekend?"
Ss: "nice weekend?"
etc until you get to:
Me "Did you have a nice weekend?" (natural speed, words linked, rising intonation)
Ss: "Did you have a nice weekend?" (hopefully, the same)
It works and the students enjoy it. It's also one of the first tricks they teach you on the RSA CELTA course.
When I get students to repeat chorally, it will typically involve one sentence, not a whole paragraph (when was the last time you said the equivalent of a whole paragraph in a conversation? How did the other person stay awake?), with back-chaining, and emphasis on natural intonation and rhythm:
Me: "weekend?" (rising)
Students: "weekend?"
Me "nice weekend?"
Ss: "nice weekend?"
etc until you get to:
Me "Did you have a nice weekend?" (natural speed, words linked, rising intonation)
Ss: "Did you have a nice weekend?" (hopefully, the same)
It works and the students enjoy it. It's also one of the first tricks they teach you on the RSA CELTA course.
Forgot to add, if it's any comfort to the students, primary schoolchildren in English-speaking countries have very similar problems as Roger's Chinese students when they have to read out loud for their teachers, particularly when they come across new words. This, of course, begs the question "If native speakers find it hard, why ask non-native speakers to do it?"
I use backchaining quite a bit, and always find it interesting that students can approximate the rhythm and linkings better that way than "front chaining"lolwhites wrote:
When I get students to repeat chorally, it will typically involve one sentence, not a whole paragraph (when was the last time you said the equivalent of a whole paragraph in a conversation? How did the other person stay awake?), with back-chaining, and emphasis on natural intonation and rhythm:
Me: "weekend?" (rising)
Students: "weekend?"
Me "nice weekend?"
Ss: "nice weekend?"
etc until you get to:
Me "Did you have a nice weekend?" (natural speed, words linked, rising intonation)
Ss: "Did you have a nice weekend?" (hopefully, the same)
. I use natural speed and words linked and the rising intonation for the whole chain.-
woodcutter
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- Location: London
chant on brothers
Back-chaining and thespian delivery seem like icing on the cake to me. If the fundamental methodology is unsound then why should that help? It is wrong to suggest that students chanting with a reasonable teacher derive no benefit, or are actually harmed by the process. The question is whether it is an effective use of time.