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A
Course for Non-native Speakers of English
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Oral communication courses
consist of several important components with particular areas of focus. One important area
is pronunciation, not just as an isolated drill-and-exercises component, but as part of a
more interactive approach. A second area of focus is the teaching of suprasegmentals and
how they are used in individual sounds. A third type of oral communication program may
include a combination of the above- mentioned approaches with the addition of drills such
as voice quality, and voice setting. The big challenge, however, lies in the task of
providing meaningful and productive speaking experiences where learners can observe and
adjust their speech patterns without modifying the essential meaning of their speech.
What learners need from an oral communication course is sufficient practice. Morley (1991)
suggests three modes of practice: imitation, rehearsal, and extemporaneous speech. Like
playing the piano, imitating requires the concentration of the controlled production of
speech features based on hearing audio- and/or video- taped materials or even based on
speech-analysis systems using computer programs. Rehearsed practice aims to achieve a form
of stabilized yet modified speech patterns so that the learner can have easy access to the
pattern when it is needed. In classrooms short oral presentations, such as skits, are
useful activities for rehearsed practice, defined here as repetition of the same material
or content until speech is fluent. Extemporaneous speech practice, which is more
appropriate for advanced learners, integrates modified speech patterns into natural and
creative speech. A beginner can steadily progress along a continuum from imitative speech
to rehearsed speech and then finally to extemporaneous speech practice. |
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The aim of this article is to describe a speech
course conducted recently with a group of graduate students who have minimal experience
with spoken English. They are engineering graduates from the People's Republic of China
studying for postgraduate degrees at universities in Singapore. Some are research
scholars; others are research students. While they are highly competent in their field of
study, many display low oral English proficiency. Since some of these scholars are
required to use English to supervise undergraduates in their laboratory tests and
experiments, there is a growing concern over their oral production skills. Studies have
shown that listeners' comprehension is adversely affected by poor oral production
characterized by faulty pronunciation, grammar and discourse patterns (Gumperz 1982, and
Green 1989).
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Researchers are now using "pragmatic
means" rather than "linguistic means" to overcome this problem. Programs or
courses may improve communication by teaching strategies in oral presentation, fielding
questions, and understanding non-verbal communication. In addition, the syllabus may aim
to promote understanding of the host countries' cultures and practices (Smith et al,
1992). Learners can also be taught to understand suprasegmentals by using field-specific
materials (Anderson-Hsieh 1990), and to improve oral skills by using field-specific
written text (Myers 1995).
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In this study, repetition is the main mode of
oral practice because it has been shown that repetition has a positive effect on building
fluency (Nation 1989). For example, the rate of speaking increases, the number of
hesitations falls, and hesitation markers such as ah and um are
substantially reduced as is the number of repeats and false starts (Hieke 1981). The
increase of information in the subjects' subsequent talk shows that prior experience in
speaking at least once enabled students to become more efficient speakers (Brown et al,
1984). Traditionally, training using repetition of utterances was frequently associated
with pattern drills. This was usually boring and even meaningless. In 1983, Maurice
developed the 4/3/2 technique, whereby a learner has three opportunities to speak on the
same content to his audience albeit with a shorter and shorter time allowance. Initially
the learner is given four minutes for the first talk, then three minutes, and finally, two
minutes. It was shown that students' speaking rate increased, while their hesitations
decreased with each repeated talk. In addition, various types of grammatical errors were
eliminated, and sentence structures improved with each repetition (Nation 1989).
Repetition as a form of oral practice has the inherent benefit in that the learner becomes
more efficient as s/he focuses specifically on more important points and eliminates
redundant words and phrases in her/his speech. Secondly, repetition creates an effect of
rehearsal. That is, the student overcomes the tendency to rephrase, pause and search, to
correct sentence structures and the misuse of words and phrases (before the final
performance.)
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Attention is also paid to the proper use of
discourse markers, prosodic cues, systematic listing or itemization, and other cohesive
links. Suprasegmental elements can be incorporated along with fluency practice. For
example, learners seeking training in public speaking should be aware of their voice
control, stress, and pitch. To be communicative is to be able to use voice quality to its
fullest to enhance the meaning of the message. Simply put, fluency does not stand alone.
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For sixteen postgraduate students from the
People's Republic of China, the course consisted of six three- hour sessions; in each
session, three components of activities were engaged in: fluency practice, reading aloud,
and dialogue or role-play. A description of each component is given below.
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1. Fluency practice. The main
emphasis of this course was to prepare teaching assistants (TAs) to give a technical talk
to undergraduate students to enable them to conduct their own experiments. Our course
purpose was to prepare the TAs a week in advance to produce a coherent explanation of the
concept and tasks that listeners could understand. Since these TAs taught different topics
each week, they selected their own topics. Students were put into groups of four; one
speaker delivered his talk to three listeners for four minutes. At the end of the talk,
the listeners provided immediate feedback to the speaker on his/her pronunciation,
organization, voice quality, and, in some cases provided, alternative approaches to
explaining certain concepts. In fact, there were occasions when the listeners would tell
the students giving the talk that they could not understand them. Armed with this feedback
of suggestions and comments, students would get back to their seats and mentally rework
their speeches. Another member of the group, likewise, would give his/her four-minute
talk, and then be given immediate feedback. This went on until all participants in the
group had completed their four-minute talks. Then the second round, a three- minute round,
commenced. Once again, each participant took his/her turn to speak followed by feedback.
Finally, the two-minute round was conducted. Throughout the session, the instructor moved
around to listen and provide advice on different matters. Very frequently, common
mistakes, for example, the mispronunciation of technical words, the misuse of sentence
structure or even the absence of eye contact, were discussed with the whole class.
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2. Oral reading. The general
purpose of this section is not to develop reading skills per se but to allow learners to
build a specific skill. For example, students practiced articulating difficult words and
generating greater awareness of how words are pronounced given the sound/spelling
correspondence. They also practiced placing stress in the right place, producing correct
rhythm in sentences, and speaking in meaningful thought-groups. In general, oral reading
helps everyone to become more focused on voice quality and pronunciation. Participants
were grouped into threes with one student reading aloud to the other two, who had no
access to the text. The pair audience gave feedback on their comprehension of the message
and on mispronunciation of words. During each Oral Reading session, the following aspects
were emphasized:
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- Getting the rhythm right: The teacher read to the class a text marked with
stressed words; learners listened and marked those stressed words on their copy. They had
to go through this once again with a partner.
- Marking the thought-group: The class was given a copy of the text. As the teacher
read, the class would mark slashes each time the teacher paused. Then they read the
paragraph to their partners indicating where the slashes were placed.
- Speeding up: The teacher read several paragraphs as quickly as she could to the
class. Each paragraph read was individually timed and written on the blackboard. Using
pair work, students would read to each other. When the first reader had finished, the
second would quickly raise his/her hand to acknowledge completion.
- Stressing: Learners were required to bring to class different words and phrases
with which they have problems. These were reviewed either with a good pronunciation
dictionary or practiced in minimal pairs with other words.
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3.(a) Dialogue practice. Reduced forms:
The speech of fluent speakers is often replete with reduced forms such as contraction,
elision, assimilation, and reduction. These forms lead to the disappearance of word
boundaries, to the omission of end vowels and consonants, and to substitutions of elements
within words. Sentences also appear in elliptical forms, and when the context is obvious,
subjects, articles, verbs, pronouns, etc., are frequently deleted. It has been observed
that "students whose education has been largely couched in slow and deliberate spoken
English are often shocked to find, when they enter a context in which native speakers are
talking to each other, that they have considerable difficulty in understanding what is
being said" (Brown 1990:6). Thus, this course included a half-hour session during
each lesson on understanding reduced forms. Weinstein's (1982) book was used to teach
learners reduced forms. First, students listened to the tape which gave the slow
pronounced version and then the relaxed, fast pronunciation. Students repeated the slow
version followed by the faster version. The tape was then switched off and pairs or trios
practiced "conversing" using the full text.
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Rhythm and stress. Together with
understanding and using the reduced forms, students practiced rhythm and stress (which are
directly related to reduced forms in spoken English) (see Footnote 1 ). To understand the difference between stressed and unstressed
sounds, learners were required to decode these differences in each utterance. At the same
time, they were required to stress the right words so that the meaning of the message
could be transmitted fairly accurately. This component provided practice in interpreting
meanings in both stressed, mildly stressed, and unstressed forms. In this way, students
learned how to avoid stressing every syllable.
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3.(b) Role-play. In fluency
practice, learners delivered prepared talks. Role play was introduced only in the latter
part of the course when students became more confident and self-assured. Role play is
interactive and consists of a dialogue among several persons. In addition, it involves an
interpretation of gestures, movement, gaze, facial and body expressions. Appropriate
register is required, and the degree of formality is signaled by the use of colloquial
expressions, address, humour, and/or other local discourse markers.
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At the end of each session, participants
completed a self-evaluation and feedback form. This particular self-evaluation was of
great importance to the students as they had to reflect on their delivery based on the
feedback of their listeners. It was a process of awareness or consciousness- raising
(Rutherford 1987).
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The self-evaluation form was divided into four
sections: a). fluency development (questions included what they had learned from feedback
given by their listeners, and what they had observed about the way others spoke). b).
dialogue/role-play (questions included a description of their reactions towards playing
certain roles) c). reading aloud (questions focussed on stress and rhythm), d). a section
on suggestions for future sessions and for further improvement. The questions in the form
were changed slightly for each session to prevent students from providing the same answers
they had given earlier.
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The original 4/3/2 technique allows learners
"to perform at a level above their usual level of performance" (Arevart &
Nation 1991: 91). However, adjustments were required. In the first session, when the
original technique was used without any adjustment, each speaker had only one listener,
and s/he spoke to her/his one listener three times consecutively. The net effect was that
listeners started to feel bored and impatient. Since students did not wish to be
"stuck" with just one listener for the whole session, modifications to this
approach were made. Instead of speaking on a one-to-one basis, a speaker addressed at
least three listeners in a group. Each student had a turn in each round. This adjustment
led to increased motivation, attention, and interest in the various talks.
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Student evaluations show that this approach to
fluency training achieved some of the following results:
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a. Pronunciation: Most participants felt
that this was an area which showed greatest improvement as testified by the following
sample responses (errors unedited):
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Most pronunciation problem has been corrected.
Perhaps this refers specifically to the lesson he has in mind.
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I've learnt how to change the way I spoke with
different words, such as "what I mean," "you know," "in other
words."
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I am able to particularly resolve at least two
problems regarding my own fluency. The first is to stress the important words when I
speak. The second is the preparation of a presentation. I have improved my pronunciation,
tone and transition of the sentence. I have improve some pronunciation and tone problem.
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b. Voice quality: Students also claimed
that they were more aware of the importance of appropriate voice quality. Voice
projection, initially a big problem, was to some extent overcome by the participants as
their confidence increased. Stress and intonation became less problematic although much
more practice was required. Unfortunately, the course did not last long enough for
significant change.
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c. Confidence: Many participants felt
that they became less inhibited using English in front of their class. By the third
delivery of their talk, hesitations and faltering speech were greatly reduced. The
"well-formedness" phenomena, (Crystal 1987 and Temple (1985) which occurred in
training allowed these learners to have an immediate mental access to words and phrases.
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d. Kinetic behaviour: By the end of the
course eye contact was successfully maintained by all participants. Originally, many
participants (especially the women) were unable to look at the audience.
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e. Peer feedback: Learners benefited from
feedback given by their classmates. Here is one remark written in the self- evaluation
form:
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"I've try to incorporate my listeners'
recommendations into my talk. From them, I learn how to express my idea, to be confident,
in my speaking style, appearance including eye contact, body posture, focusing."
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The pedagogic implication of this course is that
fluency training is possible. In this part of the world, where most people use English as
a second or a foreign language, fluency in English is still very much a problem. By
encouraging repetition of utterances, focusing on voice quality, and reduced forms in
speech, improvements can be assured. While repetition of utterances has traditionally
tended to be boring and meaningless, repetition to a small audience on field-specific
material may be the best recourse as the topic has added meaning and focus. Given the
constraints of time, such a pragmatic approach rather than a linguistic approach seems to
be better and more effective option. This program should work well in courses developing
sales talk, technical presentations, conference presentations, as well as helping learners
to speak English for everyday use.
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Moh-Kim
Tam has been teaching Professional and Technical Communication and English
Proficiency at the Nanyang Technological University for the past four years. |
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Return
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- Anderson-Hsieh, J. 1990. Teaching suprasegmentals to international teaching assistants
using field-specific materials. English for Specific Purposes, 9, pp. 195-214.
- Arevart, S. and P. Nation. 1991. Fluency improvement in a Second Language. RELC Journal,
22, 2, pp. 84-94.
- Brown, G., A. Anderson, R. Shillcock, and G. Yule. 1984. Teaching talk. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
- Crystal, D. 1987. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
- Fillmore, C. J. 1979. On fluency. In Individual Differences in language ability and
language behavior. eds. Fillmore, C. J., Kempler, D., and Wang, W. S. J. New York:
Academic Press.
- Green, G. 1989. Pragmatics and natural language understanding. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum.
- Gumperz, J. (Ed.) 1982. Language and social identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
- Hieke, A. E. 1981. Audio-lectal practice and fluency acquisition. Foreign Language
Annals, 14, 3, pp. 189- 194.
- Maurice, K. 1983. The fluency workshop. TESOL Newsletter, 17, 4, p. 29.
- Morley, J. 1991. The Pronunciation component in teaching English to speakers of other
languages. TESOL Quarterly, 25, 3, pp. 481-520.
- Myers, S A. 1995. Using written text to teach oral skills: An ITA training class using
field specific materials. English for Specific Purposes 14, 3, pp. 231-240.
- Nation, I. S. P. 1989. Improving speaking fluency. System, 17, 3, pp. 377-384.
- Rutherford, W. 1987. Second language grammar: Learning and teaching. London: Longman.
- Smith, J., C. M. Meyers, C. M., and A. J. Burkhalter. 1992. Communicate: Strategies for
international teaching assistants. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Regents/Prentice Hall.
- Temple, L. 1985. He who hesitates is not lost: Fluency and the language learner. Revue
de Phonetique Appliquee, 73, 74, 75, pp. 293-302
- Weinstein, N. 1982. Whaddaya say? Guided practice in relaxed spoken English. Englewood
Cliffs, NJ: Regents/Prentice Hall.
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Footnote 1
| 1. Our students speak Mandarin, which has a distinct
syllable-timed stress. |
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