Why is it Vital to Maximize Our students’ Oral Production?

                                                              By Mayra Yaranga

It may seem obvious to say that students should be given the opportunity to speak as much as possible in language class. Although “TTT” has become a sort of monster that we should avoid at all costs, the truth is that it remains high in our lessons. Let’s revisit some of the rationale behind maximizing our learners’ talking time:

For students, there are several clear benefits of speaking repeatedly in class. First of all, the classroom is the safest setting where learners can practise what they have been learning in class. Teachers should correct mistakes which impede communication and provide feedback on the speaking activities so that students can reflect on what they did well or not. Furthermore, practising speaking from very basic levels –-with carefully graded activities and language patterns, of course-- can boost the students’ confidence and prepare them to face greater challenges in the real world. Finally, when activities, interaction patterns and degrees of challenge vary from lesson to lesson and within lessons, students will need to adjust their effort to meet the demands of the language class.

Teachers can also see benefits in having their students talk most of the time. Obviously, this has a very positive impact on classroom dynamics, because the students become the centre of attention; what they say is the most important thing, much unlike the traditional “let-me-tell-you-about-my-life” teacher that we’ve all had at some point. Lessons in which the students are doing most of the talking are less predictable and the teacher will have the chance to try different activities or techniques to cater for their groups. This extra effort, which may seem exhausting in the long run, can be truly appreciated by students in the end. Let’s not forget that the result of a good class will always be identified in students’ production. If we decide to show off our command of the language and not provide chances for experimentation, we are talking to ourselves, not teaching.

All in all, leading a change in class towards helping our students to maximize their oral production sounds logical though very challenging; nonetheless, we should not neglect it.

It’s your turn

What do YOU think?

What do you do to maximize your students’ oral production in class?

Biodata

Mayra Yaranga (1985) has completed Doctorate studies in Education at UNIFÉ; Master’s Degree in Media, Culture and Identity from Roehampton University (London) revalidated by PUCP, a Bachelor’s Degree in Education - UPCH and the Professional Title of Licenciada - IPNM. Currently she is Cambridge Oral Examiner and Member of the Research Area for Universidad del Pacífico Language Centre. She is also ESP coordinator and Pre-University Centre Director at UNIFÉ.

Is Memorizing Analogous to Learning?

By Mayra Yaranga

The role of memory in foreign language learning has always been acknowledged. Hardly anyone would argue that there are elements of language which need some rote learning, However, does memorization guarantee effective learning?

Those of us who grew up in our traditional education are probably familiar with the idea that certain items have to be learnt by heart. This is the case, for example, of lexical set phrases (“Nice to meet you”, “What do you think about…?”) which enable communication and yet require no explanation at the level when they are taught. Another area in which memorization is crucial is grammar; it is hard to ignore how students strive to learn irregular past tenses, the order of adjectives, the correct prepositions, among others, by means of old-fashioned rote. And there is little to support another way of internalizing this type of content: explanations matter little, if at all, and so these bits may, we hope, remain in the learners’ repertoire in the long term. Do they?

At this point, I would argue that not enough is being done to ensure real learning beyond mechanical, detached repetition. Testing the students on verb tenses or words helps little in this respect. In order to ensure that the memorized bits of language are effectively retrieved later and truly help communication, it is absolutely essential to provide learners with the opportunity to turn this input into something meaningful. Here, we may have to push the boundaries set by our educational system and consider carefully how to go further.

Let me provide an example: if students are to learn the irregular past tenses, they also need to know the kind of nouns they collocate with and need to see them in a relevant context. If all of this information is provided, students should be more likely to produce – can we argue that fostering production is a less effective way of guaranteeing learning than memorizing? Another very similar situation occurs when students are being trained to take international tests. They may have thousands of learnt expressions to ‘interact naturally’ during a speaking test. However, factors such as social meaning, register, communicative function or paralinguistic devices are meant to play an important role as well. There is nothing more unnatural than to use expressions for agreement without any accompanying non-verbal language, for instance. Are we working on those elements too?

To some extent, it is true that sometimes teachers and students may forget they are not teaching/learning the language as a system, but as a means to enable communication in said language. Blaming robotic memorization for unreal communication would certainly not solve the mistakes memorizing may bring but working on further real interaction and a realistic use of language could, I am sure, prevent learners from deriving a false sense of achievement from parrot-fashioned learning.

It’s your turn

What do YOU think?

Does memorization guarantee effective learning?

Biodata

Mayra Yaranga (1985) has completed Doctorate studies in Education at UNIFÉ; Master’s Degree in Media, Culture and Identity from Roehampton University (London) revalidated by PUCP, a Bachelor’s Degree in Education - UPCH and the Professional Title of Licenciada - IPNM. Currently she is Cambridge Oral Examiner and Member of the Research Area for Universidad del Pacífico Language Centre. She is also ESP coordinator and Pre-University Centre Director at UNIFÉ.

Is Culture the Fifth Language Skill?

By Mayra Yaranga. 

Nobody can deny the vital importance of the presence of culture in every lesson we teach. However, the question of when to teach it and how to approach it are still aspects which need to be carefully considered.

On one hand, the traditional apportionment of language in four skills makes it hard for teachers to identify the aim of a lesson. Perhaps this is why trying to insert the teaching of culture in class might be misconstrued as teaching it ‘independently’ and, although a chance to teach culture may seem hard to identify, in reality it is always present regardless of the contents given.

This could become evident when working on a reading exercise, for instance. Students read about important street markets in the world, which, apart from generating discussion on whether students know them or like them and the reading micro skills they develop, can also open up the debate on how different or similar these street markets are to Peruvian ones and the reasons why they are organised in a certain way and the way people interact with them in one part of the world or another. A key principle here is that culture should not be understood simply as the “target language culture,” but as a contrast between the diverse lifestyles and views likely to appear in every teaching context.

For our students to succeed in developing communicative competence, they don’t only need grammar or isolated vocabulary but content, and this is what culture provides. When learning a language, students also have the great opportunity to learn about the way in which others think, feel and interact. This is not limited to native English speakers alone, but, since English is spoken all around the world, scenarios emerge in which speakers of other languages might also turn this language into an effective tool for cultural communication. Therefore, fostering the inclusion of culture can greatly enhance the opportunities for meaningful lessons.

Now it’s YOUR turn

Do you teach cultural aspects in you class? How do you approach it?

Biodata

Mayra Yaranga (1985) has completed Doctorate studies in Education at UNIFÉ; she holds a Master’s Degree in Media, Culture and Identity from Roehampton University (London)  revalidated by PUCP, a Bachelor’s Degree in Education from UPCH and the Professional Title of Licenciada from IPNM. Currently she works as Pedagogical Specialist, Cambridge Oral Examiner  and Member of the Research Area for Universidad del Pacífico Language Centre. She is also ESP coordinator and an Associate Professor at UNIFÉ. She has published papers in the fields of English Language Teaching and Cultural Studies.