Developing Communicative

Dr. Michael Rost

Language Teaching

> Find a partner near you, talk for 1 minute –

then when you hear the word “Change”, change partners:

• What is something really important that

happened in your life this year?

• Why is it important to you?

Warm up: Mixer

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• Engaged? (have to use strategies)

• Personal? (have to reveal something)

• Communication Gap? (need to listen)

• Task? (outcome that is verifiable)

What is an effective communicative activity?

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…what is successful communication

(in L1 and L2)

One key : articulating standards for

…how students can achieve

this success step by step

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Holistic Checklist Scale

3 types of communicative assessment:

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• How did you like this activity?

Example of holistic evaluation

[1] ………[2] ……… [3] ………[4] ………[5]Boring Interesting Not Worthwhile Valuable

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• If we do this activity again, what might we do differently?

• natural and spontaneous

•  open to interpretation by everyone

• gives personal insights

The advantages of holistic evaluation

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Let’s retry an activity…

with communicative

goals in mind …

This time, let’s focus on…

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• Speaker “readiness”, knowledge of topic

• Personalization – opportunity, willingness, and desire to show one’s personal side

• Supportive listener – an interested partner who wants to learn something

What adds value to this activity?

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Activity: Pair Exchange

What makes

this person the best teacher for you?

Who has been the best teacher in your

life so far?

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Conditions

• Think for one minute before you start. • Take turns. 2 minutes for each person only. Face each other.

Speaker: Describe the person carefully. Tell about one time that he or she was a good teacher.

Listener: Listen quietly for one minute. Then ask at least 3 questions to learn more about the person’s teacher.

Listener: Try to summarize what makes this person a great teacher.

Speakers & Listeners: Aim to use English 90% of the time!

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Did you …

__ speak for 1 minute in English only?

__ make your ideas clear to your partner?

__ ask at least 3 questions?

__ learn any new vocabulary in this activity?

Example of check list evaluation

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Notice: We focus on a few performance variables.

If our students meet these performance criteria, they have done the task well.

This type of assessment is a “checklist” type.

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• We need to help them focus on the criteria.

And• …give more support

• … let them try again!

If our students have troubles with any of the criteria,

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• clear and fair to everyone

•  provides more specific feedback

• easy to adjust & expand

The advantages of checklists:

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• They measure whether our

students have achieved the

specific objectives of the unit.

Assessment checklists are used for “achievement tests”:

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Communicative Scales are based on:

• dynamic, interactive criteria

• possibility of corrective feedback

3rd kind of assessment:Scale-based

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•  good intention

•  sensitive

•  performed the task well

•  clear and logical

Examples of feedback:

• used effective connectors (especially _________ )

• used appropriate vocabulary (especially _______ )

•  used appropriate grammar (especially ________ )

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•  clear pronunciation

•  animated intonation

• correct grammatical structures

•  range of structures

•  precise vocabulary choice

•  formulaic language

Examples of feedback, TYPE 1

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•  smoothness

• richness of content

• confidence

• “communicative image”

• interactivity – listening to partner

•  intention to communicate

Examples of feedback, TYPE 2

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Listeners’ Task:• Listen quietly for 1 minute

• Then ask for specific examples

• At the end, give feedback on speaker’s main point.

Activity: Speaking Circle

Speaker’s Topic:

• Talk for 1 minute:

• Who influenced you more – your father or

your mother? How did he or she influence you?

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Give positive feedback at the end.

Activity: Spotlight

Speaker’s Topic: List 5 important dates. Why are they important? Answer your partner’s questions.

Listener’s Task: Choose a date. Ask why it’s important. Ask 3 “follow on” questions.

Monitor’s Task: Pay attention to the accuracy and fluency of both S & L.

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• role of mistakes and recasts in SLA

• role of “attitude about mistakes” in development

A note about “mistakes”

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Most widely used scales: • TSE (TOEFL, Test of Spoken English)• ILR • FSI • ELIUM• ORDINATE• COE (Council of Europe)

Converting feedback to a communicative scale assessment

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•  “Base Line” or “Native speaker” norms

• “Rule-space” analysis of skills

• Continuum of performance variables: not skills, but interactive processes

Key concepts:

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• Effectiveness of communication: The degree to which an intended message is communicated successfully and efficiently conveyed to a listener.

• Task Completion: The performance of an appropriate language function in a specified context.

• Communication strategies: Communication techniques such as paraphrase, examples, redundancy, or demonstration to make one’s communication more effective or to compensate for language deficiencies.

• Coherence: The clear and logical organization of the speaker’s utterances.

• Response to partner: The sensitivity of the speaker to the listener and the social situation.

• Accuracy: The degree to which pronunciation, grammar, fluency, and vocabulary approach that of a native speaker.

• Fluency: Smoothly flowing speech.

• Vocabulary: Words and expressions that are appropriate for the intended message.

COMMON TERMS USED IN COMMUNICATIVE RATING SCALES

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• volunteers information freely •  goes beyond the minimum task• repairs own mistakes• gives strong ideas•  maintains strong contact with audience• has a clear purpose• smooth delivery • range of vocabulary •  range of grammar structures

Some Important Scale Descriptors (= Values!)

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A band scale for holistic assessment

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Fluency Accuracy Complexity Interactivity

5

4

3

2

1

Framework for a communication assessment scale

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Fluency Accuracy Complexity Interactivity

5

4

3

2

1

A framework for holistic assessment

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1. You can make your own assessment tools:

Holistic Checklist Scale

Conclusion:

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2. You can use assessment tools:

•  to promote awareness

•  to allow students to learn from feedback

•  to describe each student’s progress

toward communicative goals

Conclusion:

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• Assessment is vital for student progress in communication.

• Assessment can be flexible – it can and should take many forms.

• Evaluation should always include self-assessment.

• Communicative goals must be described to students.

• Effective communication should be modeled for students.

• Feedback is the key to progress – give every student feedback in every class

Summary:

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Thank you for your participation!

You can download this presentation (Developing Communicative Language Teaching)

from my blog:latcomm.com/seminars/downloads

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