2017 action research in teaching ... - english australia

2017

Action Research in

ELICOS Program:

Teaching, learning

and assessing

listening

Sophie O’Keefe

English Australia

Anne Burns

University of New South Wales

Participants in 2017 Action Research in

ELICOS Program

http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/research-notes/

Cambridge Assessment

English Research Notes

Outline

3

• Action Research in ELICOS Program

• What is action research?

• 2017 projects

• Questions

Action Research in ELICOS Program

4

• English Australia initiative (2010)

• Prof. Anne Burns: key reference person

• 75 teachers around Australia to date

• IEAA Excellence Award

Program

English Australia- project management

Anne Burns

- expertise in AR

Cambridge

English- funding

- publishing

Reference Group

5

Action Research in ELICOS Program goals

• to equip teachers with skills to explore and

address teaching challenges in the context of

Australian ELICOS

• to share research outcomes

6

Outcomes for teachers:

• actively involved in classroom research

• national peer networks

• engagement with research and academic

researchers

• formal professional development

7

Action research

• a self-reflective, systematic and critical approach to enquiry

• participants are also researchers

• aim to identify ‘problematic’ situations or issues

• bring about critically informed changes

• underpinned by democratic principles

(Burns, 2010)

Processes of action research

• Plan - develop a plan of critically informed action to

improve what is already happening

• Act - act to implement the plan

• Observe - observe the effects of the critically

informed action in the context in which it occurs

• Reflect - reflect on these effects as the basis for

further planning, subsequent critically informed

action, [etc.] through a succession of stages.

(Kemmis & McTaggart, 1988, p. 10)

Action research cycle

Kemmis & McTaggart 1998

Participants

2017 participants

Program outline

Introductory workshop

Projects

Workshop 2

Projects

Workshop 3

SHARING OUTCOMES

English

Australia

Conference PresentationsPublications

6 – 7

months

Facebook

group

email

Skype

13

Projects

Action Research

Geoff Larsen

Exploring the effects of raising metacognitive and

grammatical awareness on students’ listening of

short bursts of speech.

Introduction

• Problem: Students were having difficulty

grasping meaning in short spoken texts.

• Students were unable to determine where

important information was located in short

spoken imperatives.

Research Focus

• Focus: Improving student’s ability to prepare

for and understand short spoken utterances.

• To do so by:

– Gradual exposure to short spoken utterances.

– Teaching students to identify where meaning is

positioned in a clause.

– Teaching students to listen for important words types that

are foreign to the students’ L1.

Participants

• Kaplan International English, Sydney.

• Two Cycles – Each 15 participants.

• Cycles delivered over 12 weeks.

Context and Participants

Cycle 1 Cycle 2

General Class Size 15 15

Level FCE Intermediate (B1)

Country of Origin Brazil, The Czech

Republic, Italy,

Lithuania, Poland, and

Slovakia.

Chile, China, Colombia,

Italy, Japan, Malaysia,

Spain, Thailand and

Turkey.

Intervention

• Gradual exposure through gap-fill dictations of

short speech.

• Activities to help students identify where

meaning lies in the clause.

• Supplemental listening exercises to help

students identify word classes foreign to their

L1.

Intervention


short speech.

• Example: Declarative Form

[The student, whose name is Rita,]

_______________________________________

___________ will be visiting in the next few

weeks.

Intervention


short speech.

Example: Imperative Form

[Fill the petrol tank]

_______________ until the nozzle stops

pumping.

Intervention

• Class activities and worksheets to help

students identify where meaning lies in the

clause.

In the morning, the dog wandered down the road.

Theme Rheme

Intervention

• Supplemental listening exercises designed to help

students identify word classes foreign to their L1.

E.g. [The] sea has many voices. [The] voice [this]

man is listening [for] is the voice [of his] mother.

Adapted from: Malouf, David. Ransom. 2009. North

Sydney: Knopf. Print.

Result Collection

• Growth was determined by comparing

students’ performance on the diagnostic gap-

fill test with their performance on the final

gap-fill test.

Analysis

• Was there an improvement?

• What element was the most useful for the

teacher?

• What element was reported as the most

useful by the students?

Reflection

• The action research project structure made it

easy to consult with other teachers.

• In turn, these consultations made it easier for

other teachers to perform their own projects.

• The project opened my eyes to factors

affecting students’ ability to perform listening

tasks.

Bibliography

• Burns, A (2010) Doing Action Research in English Language Teaching: A

Guide for Practitioners, Abingdon: Routledge.

• Butt, D, Fahey, R, Feez, S, Spinks S, and Yallop, C (1994) Using Function

Grammar: An Explorer’s Guide, Sydney: Macquarie University.

• Halliday, M.A.K. (1985) Introduction to Functional Linguistics. Edward Arnold:

London.

• Martin, J R, Matthiessen, C, and Painter, C (2010) Deploying Functional

Grammar. Beijing: Commercial Press.

• Matthiessen, C (1992) Interpreting the Textual Metafunction, in Davies, M &

Ravelli, L (Eds). Advances in Systemic Linguistics: Recent Theory and Practice.

London: Pinter, 37-81.

SIP and Listen: How raising

students’ awareness of Stress and

Intonation, and Pausing (SIP)

affects their listening skills.

How can I improve my listening?

• Watch movies with English subtitles

• TED Talks

• Behind the News

• Breaking News English

• Listen to Goalcast

• Podcasts

• Vodcasts

• Go to the Listening Lab

PRACTISE!

PRACTISE!!

PRACTISE!!!

Research Focus

Students want more control

More strategies

Top down approach

Focus on end result and not process

How can SIP help?

Traditionally we teach

pronunciation for speaking

Teach pronunciation for listening?

SIP and Listen: How raising

students’ awareness of Stress and

Intonation, and Pausing (SIP)

affects their listening skills.

Context & Participants

2 different EAP classes

2 x 6 week cycles

49 students

Mixed Nationalities: Nepal, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, India, Pakistan & Japan.

Intervention: Activities & Data Collection

1. SIP Awareness Questionnaire

2. SIP Awareness raising activities

Intervention: Activities

Dictogloss

Dictations

Jumbled thought Groups

Sound Scripting

Linguistic Mimicry

Other



3. In-class listening activities

4. Post listening questionnaires

5. Comprehension tests (cycle 1 only)

6. Self-assessment checklists

(Vandergrift & Goh)


I noticed stress and

intonation.I noticed pausing.



3. In-class listening activities

4. Post listening questionnaires

5. Comprehension tests (cycle 1 only)

6. Self-assessment checklists (Vandergrift

& Goh)

7. Exit Interviews

8. Spontaneous interviews


Analysis and Outcomes

Interviews and Questionnaires

SIP helps: not at all – a little

SIP helps: quite a lot - a lot

Rank listening ability 1-10: 0-5 - 6-10


Listening Comprehension

Contradicted other data collected

Developed less structured activities, e.g. free

listening (Sheila Thorn)

Reduced pressure

Conclude that results would improve with

more SIP time


‘One sentence can have different meaning. It’s not

just about knowing the vocab. Intonation can help

you with meaning and so we become good

listener.’

‘I can have enough time to thinking and when

speaker is pausing, I know the sentence is finish.’

‘You can understand when someone moves to other

point, key words and details. It’s so useful for

listening.’

‘It has made us more confident (listeners).’


Confidence

strategy

process

control

Understand

thought groups

Focus

guide to meaning

time to think

Reflections

Teaching

Pronunciation and listening are integrated skills.

Teaching v testing

How do we best assess listening?

Personally

A different kind of engagement

Action research a revelation

Future?

Thank you

The University of Sydney Page 57

How can teaching

phonological awareness

impact on students’

listening (& note-taking)

skills?

Keren Stead Bomfim

Centre for English Teaching,

University of Sydney


Background to the Research

‘Maggie’

• Direct Entry Course (DEC)

• Chinese

• 23

• Masters in Commerce


Background to the Research

• Bright, but….......

• Poor Pronunciation

• Difficulty reading aloud

• Poor listening & note-taking skills

Poor decoding

skills


Phonological Awareness (vs Pronunciation)

‘….the purposeful ability to attend to and manipulate the sound structure of spoken words at the syllable, onset-rime, and phoneme levels.’

(Gillon, as cited in Carson, Gillon & Boustead, 2013)

Emphasis on - Syllables (rhythm)

- Consonant clusters

- Rhyming

- Linking phonemes to graphemes


Context & Participants

- Extra Classes: ‘Learning to Listen to Sounds’

- 39 out of 54 DEC36 students volunteered

- Cycle 1: 6 weeks

16 students completed

15 Chinese, 1 Saudi Arabian

Cycle 2: 8 weeks

12 students completed

12 Chinese

Non-research: 15 students

14 Chinese, 1 Saudi Arabian


Action Research Classes

1. Focus on Sounds

- Sounds in isolation

- Syllables

- Rhyming

- Word stress

- Consonant clusters

- Linking sounds between words

- Contractions

- Sentence stress (and weak sounds)

Teaching

Hierarchy


Action Research Classes

2. Letter-sound relationships

- phonics

- Spelling-Sound Rules

e.g.


Data Collection

Assessments: 1. AR Course assessment

2. DEC36 Diagnostic Listening test

- week 1 & 11

3. DEC Listening & note-taking assessments

- DEC36, week 6

- DEC36, week 11

- DEC25, week 4

Other: questionnaires, focus groups & interviews


Data Analysis

• Student perceptions of their own Listening skills improved.


Data Analysis

• Better results in all 3 Listening Assessments

DEC Listening & Note-Taking Assessments DEC Reading Assessments


Data Analysis

• Student perceptions of their own Pronunciation skills improved.


Data Analysis

� Student perceptions of their own reading and writing skills improved (?)

‘When I see an unknown word, I can sound it now.’

'I gradually know how to spell the words when I listen, even if I didn't memorise the words before.’


Reflections

• Promising results, although multiple factors

• Decoding skills should play a larger part

in Listening programs (Field, 2009)

• Current DEC redevelopment


Reflections

“I have a lot of improvement after the course. I am more sensitive to the sounds of different letters. Furthermore, I know about the letter-

sound relationship. It can help me to spell English words more accurately…….”

“….a good habit of correct pronunciation is a necessary link between speaking and listening.”

Julia Gibbons

Comparing the outcomes of teacher-controlled and student-controlled listening tasks

21 SEPTEMBER 2017

Research focus

‘The nature of listening is personal, internalised and time-

constrained’ and difficult to practice in a whole-class

context.

‘The goal is to introduce an element of recursion into

listening… which is driven by individual needs rather than

the prescriptions of the teacher.’(Field 2008, p. 57)

Julia Gibbons

Research focus

1. In what ways does the medium of listening impact learners in developing their listening skills?

Julia Gibbons

Context

● UTS:INSEARCH - university pathway program in

Sydney

● 5-week terms

● Academic English - Level 4

● 42 students over three classes

● Mostly Chinese, but also Cambodian, Lebanese, South

Korean, Vietnamese

● Aged 18-26

Julia Gibbons

Action research cycles● 3 cycles - 5 weeks each

● 2 x weeks teacher-controlled listening

● 2 x weeks student-controlled listening

Julia Gibbons

Data collection

● Questionnaires (4 to 6)

● Focus groups

● Classroom observation

● Worksheets from four listening activities

● Results from previous term

● Results from end of term

● Diagnostic listening test focusing on decoding skills

Julia Gibbons

Findings

● Student preferences

● Student engagement

● Student perceptions of the development of their listening skills

● Effectiveness based on listening results

Julia Gibbons

Preferences and engagement

Teacher controlled

Student controlled

Activity which students enjoyed more 38% 62%

‘I know where I cannot follow… I replay the place I

need to hear.’

‘If I can use my phone, I feel

relaxed. There’s no stress.

Julia Gibbons

Student perceptions - listening skillsTeacher

controlledStudent

controlledOverall improvement 43% 57%

Understanding the main idea 62% 38%

Listening for specific words 33% 67%Hearing word endings/word forms (e.g. -s or -ed)

52% 48%

Understanding fast speech 50% 50%

Separating the sounds into words 48% 52%Understanding different accents 54% 46%

Understanding vocabulary 31% 69%Understanding grammar 44% 56%Missing the recording while I am writing answers

44% 56%

Findings

● Student preferences

● Student engagement

● Student perceptions of the development of their listening skills

● Effectiveness based on listening results

Julia Gibbons

Reflections

● Continue to include teacher and student-

controlled listening

● Consider purpose of the lesson

● Professional development

● Classroom environment and relationships

Julia Gibbons

Reference and contact details

[email protected]

Field, J (2008) Listening in the language classroom, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

How mobile based technologies influence teaching of listening and student engagement in listening tasks.

Ramesh

Presser

Ashley

big picturelearning and teaching contextClassroom challengesresearch focus

Overview

Intervention

data collection

findings

implications

• digital natives

• La Trobe University partner

• digital transformation

• renewal project ELICOS

big picture

learning and teaching

context

• La Trobe Melbourne

• ELICOS

• Predominantly

• Pathway

• Intermediate to advanced

• Asia, Middle East,

classroom

challenges

learning deficits

• Engagement

• mobile devices

teachingdeficits

• monitoring

• feedback

research

focus

"To what extent does delivering listening lessons via a mobile platform such as Nearpod increase student engagement during lessons?”

"To what extent does delivering listening lessons via a mobile platform such as Nearpod enhance the perceived quality of feedback and monitoring received by learners during lessons?"

intervent

ion

• Nearpod

• mobile devices

• central classroom computer

data

collection

• teacher forum

• Survey

• case study interviews

• observations

• reflective journals

finding

s

• peer confirmation

• clear survey trends—95/10

• insightful learner reflections

• Engagement• Monitoring and

feedback• competition

enhanced

engagement

enhanced

monitoring

enhanced

feedback

enhanced

learning

Engagem

ent

"This class funny, interesting—the activity was interactive."

"We all feel very positive about this, I think. It is convenient way to listening and it activate our motivations."

Monitoring

and feedback

"I prefer the way of getting feedbackthrough the smart phone. I think it is peer to peer way, so that is good to see the other answers and see advantages and disadvantages of my answer.”

"You see my answer every time. I worry about this, but it is ok for me. We all know we must focus and concentrate."

competit

ion

"Our answer compare with another, so we must concentrate and focus on listening more than other times because we must to show ourselves to other people, so in this game we learn listening better.”

"...and it is like a game, most people don’t like to be loser, so they start to listen better than other time ... I think we all focus, because we think its game, we must be the best one."

implicati

ons

• mobile platform raises engagement

• blended curricula

• competition as a key driver

• risks of mobile device saturation

• bring your own device policy

thank

you

Any

questions ?

Program impact

101

Sectoral• enhanced reputation

• rejuvenation of practice

• program dissemination

Institutional• strengthened practice

• institutional engagement

• enhanced PD & professionalism Individual

• teaching/research skills &

knowledge

• professional development

• longer-term impact

International impact

• Program replicated in UK with English UK

• Teachers and facilitators have presented at

international conferences (e.g. IATEFL, AILA,

CamTESOL, Intensive Reading Conference)

• Articles published by teachers and facilitators

in books and journals

102

For more information please visit

www.englishaustralia.com.au/action-research-program-details

www.professoranneburns.com

Contact: [email protected]

Using Active Listening Skills to

improve listening comprehension in

expository discussion

An Sneyers & Melissa Oldroyd

2

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it,

does it still make a sound?

Monash PD Day 6 October 2017

Image: https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/bare-tree-vector-7556568.jpg Image:https://i.pinimg.com/736x/d9/72/50/d97250974486974ab6e77f120bd41d0c--fallen-jpg.jpg

3

If a person speaks and no one listens, is there really communication?


Image:https://m.veryicon.com/icons/system/ios-7/very-basic-not-listen.html Image:http://www.freeiconspng.com/img/33631

4

RESEARCH FOCUS

How can active listening skills improve listening

comprehension in expository discussion?

Image: https://sankieblogger.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/chinese-character-for-listen.png


5

CONTEXT AND PARTICIPANTS

Monash College, Melbourne

10-week UI program over 2 terms

Mostly Chinese, 1 Vietnamese, 1

South-Korean

17yo – early 20s

Mostly on PG pathways


6

INTERVENTION

Our active listening skills program

1. Introduction to active listening skills

2. Non-verbal signs and back-channeling

3. Echoing - remembering and restating key words

4. Clarifying - paraphrasing to check meaning

5. Reflecting - paraphrasing meaning and emotion to build

rapport / empathy

6. Questioning and commenting to build on the speaker’s

idea and drive conversation.

Wk 1 Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10

ALS #1 ALS #2 ALS#3 Exam Revision #1-3

ALS#5 ALS#6 ALS#7 Exam Revision #1-6


7

DATA COLLECTION

3 Surveys

Video/Audio recordings

Journals: T & St

Assessment scores

Case study


8

ANALYSIS & OUTCOMES

Measure of Listening Comp: relevancy & engagement

Comparison with the UI cohort


9

ANALYSIS & OUTCOMES

Students’ perception of their abilities

50% 7/10 75% 7/10

60% increase in confidence in handling

comprehension breakdowns

Collateral Benefits:

o Class interaction: Real communication!

o Motivation

o Personal development


10

REFLECTIONS – a virtuous circle

Greater actual and/or perceived communicative

ability

Increased confidence

& motivation

More risk

taking

Accelerated learning


11

HERE’S HOW THE STUDENTS DESCRIBED THEIR ALS JOURNEY

“They [speaking and listening] will affect each other, when

listener got a good listening and give a feedback of good

understanding and interests the speaker will perform well

and vice versa.”

“I think the speaking is the area of greatest improvement for

me. Ten weeks ago, I felt nervous when I talked to the

people who I was not familiar with. But now, I can be a

confident person to communicate with other people.”


2017 action research in teaching ... - english australia

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