Meaning-Focused Materials for Language Learning 1527511790, 9781527511798

Table of contents :
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
Part I
Introduction to Part I – (Co-)Creating Meaning-Focused Materials
1. What Should Meaning-Focused Mean? • Brian Tomlinson
2. From Rules to Reasons and Other Tweaks: A Principled Approach to Adapting Coursebook Material • Danny Norrington-Davies
3. The Teacher’s Book: An Inviting and Meaningful Reading • Roberta Amendola
4. The Learner Knows Best: Involving Secondary Students in Topic and Materials Selection for Meaningful Classroom Activities • Isabella Seeger
5. Square Peg, Round Hole? Developing Meaning-Focused Materials for Form-Focused Courses in Teacher Education • Marina Bouckaert
Part II
Introduction to Part II – Materials as Meaningful Interventions
6. Producing a Meaning-Focused ESP Course • Tony Waterman
7. Using Linked Skills Tasks to Promote L2 Oral Fluency • Sakae Onoda
8. Interplay between Data-Driven Learning and the Text- Driven Approach in the Development of Meaning-Focused Materials • Majid Elahi Shirvan
9. Teaching in Greenland: An Attempt to Encourage Diversity • Anne-Mette Korczynski
10. Seeding Task-Based Interactive Language Learning through Meaning-Focused Materials among South African Graduate Students • L. Junia Ngoepe
Part III
Introduction to Part III – Creating Meaning through Digital Materials and Multimedia
11. Digitalised Materials for Young Foreign Language Learners on the Interactive Website PALM • Claudia Mewald and Sabine Wallner
12. Creating Meaning-Focused Materials for a TELL Course: An Example from India • Sujata Bhonsale, Jennifer Thomas, Ashwin Nagappa and Ling Hsiao
13. Learners’ Views about Meaning-Focused Reading: A Case Study of the Reading Section “Catching a Glimpse” • Alessandra Belletti Figueira Mülling
14. Transform Your Storytelling! Poetry and Storytelling as an Effective Way of Teaching Culture and Language • Rosa-Maria Cives-Enriquez
15. Reading Picture Books: A Resource for Meaning-Focused Language Learning Materials in Primary School • Julia Reckermann
Part IV
Introduction to Part IV – Critical Perspectives on Meaning-Focused Materials
16. Developing/Adapting Meaning-focused Language Materials: An Emerging Critical-Constructivist Framework • Amir Hossein Sarkeshikian
17. Re-imaging Global Content and Pedagogy for Intermediate Spanish L2 Language Courses • Nausica Marcos Miguel and Robert Hershberger
18. Bringing EAP Material to Life: Context of Application and Pedagogical Relevance – An Experiment and a Case Study • Iffat Subhani
19. Meaning-Focused Activities as Incorporated in Actual Communication: Evaluation of Formal ESL Teaching and Assessment Materials • Asma Aftab
20. Language Diversity and Language Testing • Claudia Saraceni
List of Contributors

Citation preview

Meaning-Focused Materials for Language Learning

Meaning-Focused Materials for Language Learning Edited by

Marina Bouckaert, Monique Konings and Marjon van Winkelhof

Meaning-Focused Materials for Language Learning Edited by Marina Bouckaert, Monique Konings and Marjon van Winkelhof This book was first published 2018 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2018 by Marina Bouckaert, Monique Konings, Marjon van Winkelhof and contributors All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-5275-1179-0 ISBN (13): 978-1-5275-1179-8

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface ........................................................................................................ ix Acknowledgements .................................................................................... xi Part I Introduction to Part I – (Co-)Creating Meaning-Focused Materials ............ 3 Chapter One ................................................................................................. 5 What Should Meaning-Focused Mean? Brian Tomlinson Chapter Two .............................................................................................. 19 From Rules to Reasons and Other Tweaks: A Principled Approach to Adapting Coursebook Material Danny Norrington-Davies Chapter Three ............................................................................................ 37 The Teacher’s Book: An Inviting and Meaningful Reading Roberta Amendola Chapter Four .............................................................................................. 51 The Learner Knows Best: Involving Secondary Students in Topic and Materials Selection for Meaningful Classroom Activities Isabella Seeger Chapter Five .............................................................................................. 71 Square Peg, Round Hole? Developing Meaning-Focused Materials for Form-Focused Courses in Teacher Education Marina Bouckaert

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Part II Introduction to Part II – Materials as Meaningful Interventions ............... 93 Chapter Six ................................................................................................ 95 Producing a Meaning-Focused ESP Course Tony Waterman Chapter Seven.......................................................................................... 117 Using Linked Skills Tasks to Promote L2 Oral Fluency Sakae Onoda Chapter Eight ........................................................................................... 135 Interplay between Data-Driven Learning and the Text- Driven Approach in the Development of Meaning-Focused Materials Majid Elahi Shirvan Chapter Nine............................................................................................ 151 Teaching in Greenland: An Attempt to Encourage Diversity Anne-Mette Korczynski Chapter Ten ............................................................................................. 165 Seeding Task-Based Interactive Language Learning through MeaningFocused Materials among South African Graduate Students L. Junia Ngoepe Part III Introduction to Part III – Creating Meaning through Digital Materials and Multimedia ........................................................................................ 187 Chapter Eleven ........................................................................................ 189 Digitalised Materials for Young Foreign Language Learners on the Interactive Website PALM Claudia Mewald and Sabine Wallner Chapter Twelve ....................................................................................... 205 Creating Meaning-Focused Materials for a TELL Course: An Example from India Sujata Bhonsale, Jennifer Thomas, Ashwin Nagappa and Ling Hsiao

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Chapter Thirteen ...................................................................................... 225 Learners’ Views about Meaning-Focused Reading: A Case Study of the Reading Section “Catching a Glimpse” Alessandra Belletti Figueira Mülling Chapter Fourteen ..................................................................................... 239 Transform Your Storytelling! Poetry and Storytelling as an Effective Way of Teaching Culture and Language Rosa-Maria Cives-Enriquez Chapter Fifteen ........................................................................................ 255 Reading Picture Books: A Resource for Meaning-Focused Language Learning Materials in Primary School Julia Reckermann Part IV Introduction to Part IV – Critical Perspectives on Meaning-Focused Materials .................................................................................................. 271 Chapter Sixteen ....................................................................................... 273 Developing/Adapting Meaning-focused Language Materials: An Emerging Critical-Constructivist Framework Amir Hossein Sarkeshikian Chapter Seventeen ................................................................................... 285 Re-imaging Global Content and Pedagogy for Intermediate Spanish L2 Language Courses Nausica Marcos Miguel and Robert Hershberger Chapter Eighteen ..................................................................................... 311 Bringing EAP Material to Life: Context of Application and Pedagogical Relevance – An Experiment and a Case Study Iffat Subhani Chapter Nineteen ..................................................................................... 335 Meaning-Focused Activities as Incorporated in Actual Communication: Evaluation of Formal ESL Teaching and Assessment Materials Asma Aftab

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Chapter Twenty ....................................................................................... 361 Language Diversity and Language Testing Claudia Saraceni List of Contributors ................................................................................. 381

PREFACE

This book is a development from the MATSDA/Fontys University of Applied Sciences Conference on Meaning-Focused Materials for Language Learning held on June 10th-11th, 2017 at Fontys School of Fine and Performing Arts in Tilburg, the Netherlands. MATSDA (www.matsda.org) is an international materials development association which I founded in 1993 to bring together researchers, teachers, materials developers and publishers in a joint effort to improve the effectiveness of language learning materials. We publish a journal, Folio, we run materials development workshops and we organise international conferences on specific topics related to significant themes and issues in the field of materials development. The 2017 Conference focused on issues related to meaning-focused materials development for language learning and attracted presenters from twenty-five countries stretching from Greenland to Brazil. Some of the papers focused on defining what meaning-focused means and involves, some on the theoretical justifications for developing such materials, some on ways and examples of effective development of meaning-focused materials and many on reports of meaning-focused materials in action. These topics are reflected in the papers in this volume, with each one focusing on a different aspect of meaning-focused materials and many of them introducing the reader to previously unexplored facets of the theory of meaning-focused instruction and its application to materials development. The papers raise many questions, present a lot of convincing data and make many principled suggestions for the development of language learning materials. The chapters in this book have been written so that they are of potential value to post-graduate students, to teachers, to materials developers and to researchers. They are written to be academically rigorous but at the same time to be accessible to newcomers to the field and to experienced experts alike. Brian Tomlinson, President of MATSDA

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The editors wish to thank the authors whose chapters have been included in this volume – it has been an honour and a pleasure working with you all. Many thanks to everyone who attended and presented at the MATSDA/Fontys University Conference in June 2017. Welcoming participants from twenty-five countries across the world to Tilburg was a humbling and memorable experience. The conference itself could not have been made possible without the invaluable help from Kim Smits-Senders and her colleagues Ellen van den Biggelaar and Sandra van Doorn (general organisation), Mike van der Schans (IT services), Peter van der Klundert at Sodexo (catering), our students and alumni Noëmi Claes, Chiara Hautz, Iris Maas and Myrna de Win, and our colleagues at Fontys School of Fine and Performing Arts. A final word of gratitude goes to Ronald van den Burg, who designed the cover of this volume, and to the team at Cambridge Scholars, who helped make this publication a reality. Tilburg, April 2018 Marina Bouckaert Monique Konings Marjon van Winkelhof

PART I

INTRODUCTION TO PART I (CO-)CREATING MEANING-FOCUSED MATERIALS

The chapters in this first part of the volume focus on the creation of materials which support and enhance meaningful language learning as well as teaching. In Chapter One, Brian Tomlinson (University of Liverpool, United Kingdom / Shanghai International Studies University, China / Anaheim University, United States of America) raises and discusses the question what ‘meaning-focused’ really means. He elaborates on definitions grounded in ongoing debates about form-focused and meaning-focused approaches. The chapter compares and contrasts various different types of meaning, and offers a solution in the shape of a meaning-focused pedagogic approach which has been designed to enhance learners’ pragmatic awareness. Several concrete examples are offered to illustrate this approach and help the reader implement it in practice. In Chapter Two, Danny Norrington-Davies (International House London / King’s College London, United Kingdom) explores what teachers could do with existing coursebook materials to make them more engaging. He discusses a few basic requirements coursebooks should meet, and goes on to offer solutions to three common deficiencies in relation to comprehension questions, rule discovery activities, and controlled practice exercises. He argues that, by asking different types of questions, moving from rules to reasons, and setting replication tasks, teachers can make materials more meaning-focused for their learners and themselves. In Chapter Three, Roberta Amendola (Universidade de S઼o Paulo, Brazil) explores how the teacher’s book could be better exploited as a significant educational and social resource for teachers. She writes about an intensive, collaborative project which resulted in a series of three magazines accompanying the three volumes of a new series of coursebooks for Brazilian high school learners of Spanish as a foreign language. The chapter reports that the teachers who were interviewed

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experienced these materials as meaningful, relevant and highly appropriate to the reality of their teaching practice. In Chapter Four, Isabella Seeger (University of Münster, Germany) argues that classroom materials can be made more meaningful when learners are involved in materials development. She draws on Learner Autonomy and Motivation theory to attest that, even in contexts with a prescribed curriculum and when working with teenagers, learners can be involved in syllabus design and curricular decision-making. Three practical examples and various suggestions related to literature, music and film inform the reader about ways in which learner involvement and engagement can be enhanced to good effect. In Chapter Five, Marina Bouckaert (Fontys University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands) faces a dilemma in pre-service English as a Foreign Language teacher education: how to use meaning-focused materials, and ask student teachers to teach meaning-focused lessons, in a form-focused course? She explores this question from several perspectives and describes how modelling, or teaching as you preach, could be a solution. This approach, aimed at the development of students’ pragmatic awareness and communicative competence, is illustrated through three sample lesson plans and examples she and her students have observed over the years.

CHAPTER ONE WHAT SHOULD MEANING-FOCUSED MEAN? BRIAN TOMLINSON

Definitions One definition of a meaning-focused approach is: “An approach which provides exposure to rich input and meaningful use of the L2 in context, which is intended to lead to incidental acquisition of the L2” (Norris & Ortega, 2001, p. 160). This approach is often labelled as a ‘focus-onmeaning approach’. It is often advocated by methodologists and materials development researchers (including me) because of its match with second language acquisition research findings, but it is rarely put into practice in classrooms or coursebooks because of its lack of face validity with administrators, teachers and students who believe in the explicit teaching and learning of languages. One compromise which has been put into practice involves focus on form in focus-on-meaning approaches For example, strong versions of Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) make use of this approach and advocate shifting “students’ attention to linguistic code features during an otherwise meaning oriented lesson” (Long & Norris, 2009, p. 137).

The Problem The problem is that neither the literature on focus-on-meaning approaches nor the literature on focus on form in focus-on-meaning approaches typically answers the question: what does meaning mean? In most of the examples of meaning-focused approaches in the literature as well as most of the published materials which claim to follow a meaning-focused approach, the meaning which is focused on is denotative meaning (i.e. the literal, explicit meaning of a lexical item; the referent it refers to). Though to be fair, Ellis (2005) does distinguish (but does not exemplify) two senses of focus-on-meaning: 1. semantic meaning

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and 2. pragmatic meaning. Obviously, understanding the denotative meaning of lexical items and expressions is important for learners of a second language (L2), but in order for them to understand the target language in use and to achieve communication in it themselves, they also need to be aware of how many other types of meaning need to be achieved. In this chapter I am going to: - distinguish between numerous different types of meaning (many of which are neglected in most teaching materials); - describe and exemplify a meaning-focused pedagogic approach designed (amongst other things) to help learners to develop pragmatic awareness.

Different Types of Meaning Denotative meaning As I have just said, this is the literal, explicit meaning of a lexical item or expression; the referent. Concrete items like nose, watch, anger, quick and slowly can be defined ostensively (i.e. their meaning can be shown or demonstrated). More abstract items like morality, philosophy and humour can be described and exemplified. If you look at almost any coursebook from A1 to B2 level, you will see that any meaning orientated section is almost exclusively focused on denotative meaning. This is despite the fact that the learners in their own first language (L1) have been used all their lives to responding to and communicating other types of meaning, and that most acts of authentic communication feature types of meaning other than denotative. Connotative meaning This is the denotative meaning of an item or expression plus an attitude towards it. For example, slim and skinny could be used to refer to the same referent (e.g. a particular person) but slim usually indicates a positive attitude towards the person and skinny a negative attitude. This is the same for well-built versus fat and for economical versus mean. Obviously, it is very important that learners are aware of the connotative meanings of items so as to realise the attitudes being conveyed and to avoid giving offence to their interlocutors by inappropriate use of such items. Grammatical meaning “This morning, more than half a million primary children will take a test that may ask them to identify the grammatical label for the two-word phrase at the start of this paragraph.” (Mansell, 2017, p. 32).

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Grammatical items often indicate an attitude or opinion, or make a point, as well as having a grammatical function. For example, in the sentence above “This” informs the reader about when the children will take the test but its prominence at the beginning of the sentence also indicates its immediacy and significance. In the same sentence “will” indicates that it is about to happen soon and signals its inevitability, too. The grammar of the sentence is used to indicate the negative attitude of the writer in a way which turns an apparent statement into a criticism. In addition to this sentence communicating grammatical meaning, you could also say that it exhibits sentential meaning as you cannot fully appreciate the writer’s intentions without connecting all the expressions in the sentence to each other. In the following sentence from the same newspaper article, “did” indicates that the writer is making a concession but it also suggests that the writer is going to add a critical ‘but’ clause: “The Department of Education did publish a secondary English curriculum…” (Mansell, 2017, p. 32) Lexical meaning “He admits it was not based on good research evidence…” (Mansell, 2017, p. 32). In the context of the newspaper article referred to above, the lexical item “admits” not only reports the speech act of the person referred to but suggests criticism of it, too. Apparent meaning versus Actual meaning 1. “Give him the keys. Let him drive it.” – Charles Webb, The Graduate (Webb, 1964) In sentence 1 above, the apparent meaning is a directive used to get the car keys to someone so he can drive a particular car. In the context, it is a son telling his father that he has no intention of taking Mr Robinson for a drive in the Alfa Romeo Spider which his father has bought him as a graduation present. He is also indicating that he knows Mr Robinson has been invited to the graduation party in order to offer him a job in his law firm and he does not want to work for him. This meaning can only be appreciated by connecting the utterance to its surrounding co-text and to the context in which it is used.

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2. “You’ll be alright.” – Barry Hines, Looks and Smiles (Hines, 1981) In sentence 2, it seems as though someone is comforting someone else, is reassuring them. In the context, a boy has taken his girlfriend to a football match and is telling her not to keep bothering him by complaining about feeling ill when he is concentrating on the game. It is dismissal rather than reassurance. 3. “I think I’m going to be sick. It must be that hot dog I had outside.” – Barry Hines, Looks and Smiles (Hines, 1981) In sentence 3, the girl seems to be informing her boyfriend about what she thinks is going to happen and suggesting a likely cause. In fact, she is telling him that she is not going to be fobbed off, she is warning him of what will happen if he does not take her out of the stadium and she is blaming him for buying her a greasy hot dog outside the stadium because he was too late to take her for the lunch he had promised her. Another way of referring to this common interactional phenomenon is to distinguish between surface function (i.e. the apparent function) and deep function (i.e. the actual function). See Tomlinson (1994) for a discussion of how these pragmatic functions are commonly used in interaction but are rarely mentioned in language learning materials. Isolated meaning versus Contextual meaning The apparent meaning of words in isolated sentences (as often presented to learners in coursebooks to exemplify meaning) is often very different from the meaning of the same words in a context. When I saw “Go wash up”, my assumption was that it was a directive with somebody in authority (e.g. a parent or boss) telling a reluctant subordinate to wash the dishes. In context, it turned out that it is a quotation from an American novel in which an agent is encouraging a young client to clean himself up in order to take advantage of an opportunity she has found for him to appear in a commercial: “Darling,” she now called me, “I have something for you. An audition. It’s for a commercial or something, but it’s a good one. It could put you on the map quick. Go wash up. Here, take this.” She came out from behind her desk and handed me the address.” – Ottessa Moshfeg, Homesick for Another World (Moshfeg, 2017)

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Semantic meaning versus Pragmatic meaning The semantic meaning of an utterance is the literal message, information, idea, etc. that the utterance communicates. So in isolation, “The grass is getting long.” seems to communicates an opinion about the state of a garden, “It’s going to rain.” seems to be a confident prediction about the weather, “Liverpool are playing Man U tomorrow.” seems to provide information about when a game will take place, “Sunday’s going to be sunny.” seems to be another prediction about the weather and “The Robinsons are coming on Sunday.” seems to provide information about when a family is coming to visit. The pragmatic meaning of an utterance is the intended and the actual effect of that utterance when used to communicate in a context. If we put the utterances in the paragraph above into a context in which a wife and her husband are having a conversation, then their pragmatic meanings could be as follows: Hitomi: “The grass is getting long.” (A criticism of the husband for not cutting the grass and a suggestion that he does it now) Brian: “It’s going to rain.” (An indication that he recognises his wife’s intention and also an excuse for not doing what his wife wants him to do.) Hitomi: “Liverpool are playing Man U tomorrow.” (A refusal to accept her husband’s excuse and a reiteration of her suggestion that he cuts the grass now as he will not be able to do it tomorrow because he will be going to the game.) Brian: “Sunday’s going to be sunny.” (A continuing and apparently reasonable rejection of his wife’s suggestion without a definite commitment.) Hitomi: “The Robinsons are coming on Sunday.” (A rejection of her husband’s rejection plus a strengthening of resolve with a reason why the garden needs to look good on Sunday.) Most real-life conversations are like the one between Hitomi and Brian above, in which the interlocutors need to interpret utterances to work out their intended effect. To do this, they need to make use of their contextual awareness to penetrate surface functions (e.g. prediction) in order to discover deep functions (e.g. rejection).

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Chapter One

Most coursebook conversations are not like the one above and instead consist of conversations in which the strategy of indicating deep functions is not used. Here is an example which I have taken at random from a page of transcripts in The Big Picture Intermediate (Brewster & Lane, 2012, p. 163): A: You know Dorata, I’ve never had Polish food before… B: Oh, it’s delicious. You’ll love it! Typical dishes use lots of cabbage, meat and cream. A: Mmm. Er, I don’t understand anything on the menu though. B: Don’t worry, I’ll explain it. Well, we usually have soup as a starter. There are two here. I’d recommend the barszcz, beetroot soup. It’s really popular in eastern Europe. A: Hmm… What does it taste like? The conversation continues in this same way with all meanings being semantic and all functions overt. This is true of all the other transcripts on this page and in the other five coursebooks I opened at Intermediate and Upper Intermediate level. It also seems to be true of the reading passages in The Big Picture Upper Intermediate and in the other coursebooks that I looked at. If learners’ only experience is of listening to and practising such conversations, then they will struggle to understand what they hear and to communicate what they want to say out in the real world of authentic communication. If learners’ only experience is of reading and writing semantically overt texts, they will struggle to understand what they read out in the real world too.

The Problem for Learners As is implied above, the problem for most learners below the level of Advanced is that they are protected by their teachers and materials from the reality of authentic use of the target language. Either they are subjected to forms-focused approaches in which structural teaching points are selected from a syllabus and then taught one at a time using a PPP (presentation, practice, production) approach. Or they participate in a focus on form in focus-on-meaning approach (such as TBLT or CLIL, Content and Language Integrated Learning) in which the focus is almost

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exclusively on semantic meanings and pragmatic meanings are rarely encountered.

The Answers to the Problem I have found that pragmatic awareness and ultimately pragmatic competence can be fostered by: 1. exposing learners from early levels to extracts from television sitcoms and soap operas (see Jones, 2017; forthcoming); 2. the teacher talking naturally with the learners; 3. other proficient users of the target language being invited to the classroom to talk naturally with the learners; 4. the learners being encouraged to look out for English outside the classroom (see Pinnard, 2016, and Tomlinson, 2013a); 5. setting up a class ‘self-access centre’ consisting of magazines, comics, books and videos which reflect the reality of language use; 6. using an immersion approach in which all educational and social interaction is conducted in the target language. My preferred answer to the problem is to use a text-driven approach in which many of the texts are extracted from contemporary literature and feature interactions in which the interlocutors make use of pragmatic strategies to influence each other and/or the reader (see Tomlinson, forthcoming). In a text-driven approach, the teacher or materials writer builds up a library of potentially engaging written, spoken and audiovisual texts. The texts are stored in categories to effect easy retrieval, with one category being engaging texts featuring pragmatic interactions. When developing a unit of materials, the writer selects one of the texts which is likely to achieve a fit with the levels and lives of the target learners. The writer then makes use of the following flexible framework to develop activities which are driven by the core text: 1. A readiness activity which activates the learners’ minds in relation to the topic, theme or location of the text (e.g. visualising a party they have attended and talking to themselves about why they did or did not enjoy it). 2. An initial response activity which the learners do whilst first experiencing the text (e.g. working out why Benjamin did not want to go to the party as they listen to the teacher performing a dramatic reading of the first two pages of the novel The Graduate).

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3. An intake response activity in which the learners articulate their personal response to the text they have just experienced (e.g. Do you think Benjamin’s parents were right to organise a graduation party for him? Do you think Benjamin was right to refuse to go to the party?). 4. A development activity in which the learners produce a written, spoken or audio-visual text as a development from the core text (e.g. Continue the story so that the father finds Benjamin in the local park and triers to persuade him to come back home and join the party.). 5. An input response activity in which the learners focus on the language of the core text in order to make discoveries about how the target language is used to try to achieve pragmatic effects (e.g. In groups of four, two of you work out the intended functions of the imperative in the text and two of you work out the intended functions of the use of the interrogative. Then share your findings.). 6. A research activity in which the learners look outside the classroom for further examples of the use of the language features investigated in the input response activity (e.g. For homework, find examples of the authentic use of the imperative and the interrogative.). 7. A further development activity in which the learners make use of their discoveries and findings in 5 and 6 above to revise the text they developed in 4 (e.g. Use your discoveries about the use of the imperative and the interrogative to revise your continuation of the story about Benjamin and his father.). For more information about the principles and procedures of textdriven approaches, see Tomlinson (2013b) and Tomlinson and Masuhara (2017), and for advocacy and examples of using literature to foster pragmatic awareness, see Jones (forthcoming) and Tomlinson (1994; forthcoming). Until recently, the development of pragmatic awareness was rarely focused on in the literature on materials development. However, Cohen and Ishihara (2013) stress the importance of speech acts in communication and suggest that this is “a fruitful area for materials development” (p. 114). They review recent literature on pragmatics which regret the continuing neglect of L2 pragmatics in coursebooks and attribute this to the fact that materials tend to be “written for a grammar-based syllabus or driven by content” (p. 120). They also consider coursebook writers’ dependency on intuition to be a factor and recommend the use of “research-informed insights or naturally occurring conversation as a basis for materials development” (p. 120). Their main recommendation (which they exemplify on pages 121-123) is to provide learners with naturally occurring data for

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them to experience and analyse in order to notice how pragmatic meanings are achieved. Ishihara & Leigh Paller (2016) review recent studies which have investigated the pragmatic language use in ELT coursebooks and found that “textbook dialogues and … natural conversations were not in alignment with one another” (p. 90). They focus in particular on the speech act of disagreement and report mismatches which they have found between the research on disagreement in English and the way disagreement is exemplified in ELT materials. However, they also report some matches they have found and are impressed in particular by the way that Workplace Talk in Action (Riddiford & Newton, 2010) makes use of naturally occurring conversation to help learners develop greater awareness of the speech act of disagreement. Another recent publication focusing on the need for more pragmatic awareness materials is which stresses the importance of using “spoken corpora for the development of materials for the teaching of pragmatic routines” (p. 250) and provides detailed recommendations for the use of corpus data in developing noticing and production activities.

Examples of Materials Designed to Promote Pragmatic Awareness Here are some examples of units of material that I have developed to help learners at different levels and ages develop greater pragmatic awareness: Example 1 – Nothing Can Frighten a Bear Target learners: Level – B1 Age – Young learners; young adults; adults A) Think back to when you were a small child. 1. Was there anything which made you frightened or worried? 2. When you were frightened or worried, did people try to help you, to make you feel better? 3. If people tried to make you feel better, what did they say to you? Write the words down. 4. Show your words to other students.

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B) 1. Are you frightened of bears? 2. What do you think bears might be frightened of? 3. Share your suggestions with other students. C) You’re going to listen to a story called Nothing Can Frighten a Bear. 1. As you listen try to see pictures of the story in your mind. 2. If your teacher pauses, shout out the next word or words. D) 1. Was father bear right to say, “nothing can frighten a bear”? 2. Do you think the father bear was right to take his family out looking for monsters? Why? 3. Discuss your answers with other students. E) Form a group with other students write a story about a family in which the parents keep reassuring their children (i.e. stopping them from worrying and helping them to feel better). F) 1. Read the story Nothing Can Frighten a Bear by Elizabeth Dale and, as you read it, note down all the things the mother and father bear do and say to stop their children from worrying and to help them feel better. 2. Show your notes to other students. G) For homework, try and find as many examples as you can of people reassuring other people. Write your examples down and bring them to class next week. H) Show your examples of people reassuring others to the members of your group. Then make use of them in revising your story about the parents reassuring their children. I) Turn your story into a short film for young children and then practise acting it out. If you can, video your acting of the film and then show it to other groups. Example 1 above makes use of children’s L1 literature because it can achieve affective engagement (even with adults) and because typically there is a lot of repetition of a salient language function (in this case reassurance). In this example, A and B consist of readiness activities, C consists of initial response activities, D consists of intake response activities, E is a development activity, F consists of input response activities, G is a research activity and H and I are further development activities. The intention is to achieve the affective and cognitive engagement required for language acquisition, to provide the learners with a meaningful experience of language in use and with an opportunity to use

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language for communication, to promote learner autonomy and to achieve a learning experience which is coherent in that each activity follows from the previous one and leads into the subsequent one. Example 2 – The News Target learners: Level – B2 Age – Young adults; adults. A) You are going to listen to a conversation between someone who works for a television company and somebody who presents a programme for that company. The programme is called Game On and it is about computer gaming. 1. Would you watch such a programme? Why? 2. The presenter has been asked to come to a meeting to hear some important news. What do you think the news is? B) Listen to the conversation and as you listen, try to work out what the two people are thinking. C) 1. Have you ever broken bad news to somebody? If so, how did you do it? If not, how would you do it if you had to? 2. What was the news which was broken to the presenter? 3. Do you think it was broken to the presenter sensitively? 4. How could it have been broken more sensitively? D) Write a group story in which somebody is breaking bad news to somebody else. E) 1. Read the transcript of the conversation from Nicholls (2009, pp. 236-237) and as you read it, focus on the many times that the presenter makes an apparent statement to ask a question (e.g. “But it’s still called Game On?”). 2. Why do you think he does this? What is he trying to convey? 3. Discuss your findings with other students. F) For homework, try and find as many examples as you can of apparent statements being used as questions. Write your examples down and bring them to class next Monday. G) 1. Show your examples to the other members of your group and discuss why you think this strategy is being used.

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2. Make use of your findings to revise your group story in which one person is breaking bad news to another. 3. Act out your story to another group and then to the class if you are asked to do so.

Conclusion My recommendation is to use text-driven meaning-focused approaches to provide your learners with engaged experience of proficient users of the target language exploiting their pragmatic competence in order to try to achieve their intended effect in interactional communication. I would select core texts primarily for their potential to achieve affective and cognitive engagement but also for their potential meaningfulness, for their contextual richness and for the typicality of their use of language features to achieve pragmatic effects. I would aim initially to elicit personal responses to these texts but I would also select pragmatic features of the texts for the learners to investigate and subsequently use which are communicatively salient and contextually dependent. In this way, there is a far greater chance of our learners not only achieving linguistic competence but of eventually becoming pragmatically competent too.

References Bardovi-Harlig, K., & Mossman, S. (2016). Corpus-based materials development for teaching and learning pragmatic routines. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), SLA research and materials development for language learning (pp. 250-267). New York: Routledge. Brewster, S., & Lane, A. (2012). The big picture upper intermediate. Oxford: Richmond. Cohen, A., & Ishihara, N. (2016). Pragmatics. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Applied linguistics and materials development (pp. 113-126). London: Continuum. Dale, E. (2016). Nothing can frighten a bear. London: Nosy Crow. Ellis, R. (2005). Principles of instructed language learning. System 33, 209-224. Ishihara, N., & Leigh Paller, D. (2016). Research-informed materials for teaching pragmatics: The case of agreement and disagreement in English. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), SLA research and materials development for language learning (pp. 87-102). New York: Routledge.

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Jones, C. (2017). Soap operas as models of authentic conversation: Implications for materials design. In A. Maley & B. Tomlinson (Eds.), Authenticity in materials development for language learning (pp. 158175). Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars. Jones, C. (Ed.). (forthcoming). Literature, spoken language and speaking skills in second language learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Long, M., & Norris, J. (2009). Task-based teaching and assessment. In K. Van den Branden, M. Bygate & J. M. Norris (Eds.), Task-based language teaching: A reader (pp. 135-142). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Mansell, W. (2017). Experts on the front line in fight over ‘fronted adverbials’. The Guardian, Tuesday 9 May, p. 32. Moshfeg, F. (2017). Homesick for another world. London: Cape. Nicholls, D. (2009). One day. London: Hodder & Stoughton. Norris, J., & Ortega, L. (2001). Does type of instruction make a difference? Substantive findings from a meta-analytic review. Language Learning, 51, Supplement 1, 157-213. Pinnard, L. (2016). Looking outwards: using learning materials to help learners harness out-of-class learning opportunities. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 10(2), 133-142. Riddiford, N., & Newton, J. (2010). Workplace talk in action: An ESOL resource. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington. Tomlinson, B. (1994). Pragmatic awareness activities. Language Awareness, 3(3&4), 119-130. Tomlinson, B. (2013a). Looking out for English. Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal, 4(4), 253-261. Tomlinson, B. (2013b). Developing principled frameworks for materials development. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Developing materials for language teaching (2nd ed., pp. 95-118). London: Bloomsbury. Tomlinson, B. (forthcoming). Using literature to help L2 learners to develop pragmatic awareness. In Jones, C. (Ed.), Literature, spoken language and speaking skills in second language learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Tomlinson, B., & Masuhara, H. (2017). The complete guide to the theory and practice of materials development for language learning. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.

CHAPTER TWO FROM RULES TO REASONS AND OTHER TWEAKS: A PRINCIPLED APPROACH TO ADAPTING COURSEBOOK MATERIAL DANNY NORRINGTON-DAVIES

Introduction The value of coursebooks has provoked much debate amongst teachers, materials writers and researchers for many years now, and the argument, like coursebooks themselves, does not look like going away any time soon. Those opposed to their use have cited a range of objections, such as the unrealistic nature of the language content (Bell & Gower, 1998), the fact that the topic content does not reflect the lives of learners (Thornbury, 2014), and the belief that the material is generally bland and presents an unrealistic and unrepresentative image of the world (Prentis, 2016). In addition, for schools and other institutions that choose to use commercial coursebooks, it is necessary for teachers to adapt or supplement the material to bridge the gap between what the book offers and the local needs and the interests of the students (Al-Mahrooqi & Al-Busaidi, 2010). When centres then replace their old coursebooks with newer, more attractive versions, another round of supplementing begins. This reduces the time-saving advantages that coursebooks can bring. There is also the danger that a lot of materials adaptation is done in an ad-hoc way, as Mishan and Timmis suggest (2015). More importantly perhaps, Jordan (2016) argues that the design and approach used by coursebooks is based on false assumptions about how second languages are learnt. He also suggests that because they tend to use a synthetic syllabus, whereby pre-chosen language items are presented one

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after another, coursebooks deprive learners and teachers of any agency in the learning process. Tomlinson (2012) agrees with this, arguing that because coursebooks are designed primarily to satisfy teachers and school administrators, they often ignore what language students want and need. Though these arguments are extremely persuasive, it is important to consider the benefits that coursebooks can bring. Chief amongst these are that they can provide a sense of structure, both for teachers and students. They also offer a vital time-saving device for busy and inexperienced teachers. Because the creation of a coursebook involves months or years of research, reviews, editing and feedback, they also provide a source of trustworthy lessons for teachers, especially those who have not received much guidance on how to design their own materials or base their resources or adaptations on sound teaching principles. Because of these factors, and in many ways because a successful global series of books is highly profitable for publishers, it seems that coursebooks are likely to stay with us for a while yet. As this is the case, it would be sensible to move the discussion on from debating the value of coursebooks and instead, ask what we want them to do, as Allwright (1981) suggests with materials in general. Unlike Allwright however, I believe it is a good idea to also explore what teachers can be trained to do with coursebook material beyond simply encouraging them to adapt or supplement. To do this, I will first look at some basic requirements that coursebooks should offer I will then look at some deficiencies in three staple coursebook activities, namely comprehension questions, rule discovery activities and controlled practice exercises, and discuss the impact these deficiencies can have on both teaching and learning. I will then suggest ways of adapting these specific activities so that the coursebook material we use can provide potentially more engaging and durable learning.

What Do We Want Coursebook Materials to Do? Starting at a basic level, coursebooks need to expose learners not just to comprehensible input, but input that is rich, meaningful and engaging (e.g. Ellis, 2008; Tomlinson, 2011). It is also important that students are exposed to a range of text types and diverse voices, thereby partly countering the argument that coursebooks provide an unrepresentative view of world. This is something that many coursebook writers are keen to address, though even contemporary publications that claim they enable students to learn English as it is used in today’s globalised world are still filled with predominantly Eurocentric content.

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As well as providing students with meaningful and engaging input, learners also need to be given frequent opportunities to use language to achieve genuine communicative purposes (Dörnyei, 2009; Ellis, 2008; Willis, 1996). This is again something that coursebooks seek to do, though it is not uncommon to find speaking activities tacked on at the end of a unit after more extensive work on comprehension practice and language focused exercises. In fact, because many coursebooks broadly follow a synthetic syllabus, as Jordan (2016) claims, speaking activities are often partly controlled in nature and designed more to test students’ understanding and use of a specific language point than providing extended opportunities for genuine communication. When it comes to language instruction in coursebooks, second language learners should be encouraged to notice salient features of the language and given opportunities to discover how these items are used in genuine stretches of discourse (e.g. Ellis, 2008). To make any learning that occurs during noticing or awareness-raising activities more enduring and engaging, students need to pay attention to this language whilst and after being engaged in meaning focused activities (Masuhara, 2017), for example, through comprehension exercises and communicative tasks. This is something that coursebooks do attempt to do, though as we will see later in this chapter, there are flaws in the design of these activities that need to be addressed. The final requirements, and the ones that have been the catalyst for the ideas put forward in this chapter, are that learners need to be cognitively and affectively engaged in materials, as suggested by Tomlinson (2011) and Mishan and Timmis (2015). In addition, coursebooks need to provide teachers with more frequent opportunities to work with emerging language and student interests and needs. This will provide learners with what they need at the point of need and partly counter the deficiencies of synthetic syllabuses by helping learners notice problems and address the causes of misunderstanding or miscommunication. It is hoped also that the ideas outlined below will give the teachers and students greater agency in the learning process.

Problems with Three Coursebook Activities In this section, we will look at three standards of coursebook material that potentially prevent students from being cognitively and affectively engaged in lesson content and limit opportunities for teachers to work with emerging language. These three areas are comprehension questions, rule discovery activities and controlled practice exercises. Before exploring

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how these common lesson elements can potentially limit learner engagement and emerging language opportunities, it is necessary to briefly outline what these are. To make definitions clearer, examples are based on a text and lesson adapted from a best-selling contemporary coursebook for elementary students (Eales & Oakes, 2011). The adapted text is shown below (Figure 2-1).

ACROSS THE WORLD IN 84 DAYS The Megaworld bus is the longest bus journey in the world and the most exciting adventure a backpacker can have. It travels 18,000 kilometres in twelve weeks and visits twenty-one countries in three continents. On the journey, passengers can see some of the most beautiful places on the planet and experience different cultures in Europe, Asia and Australia. It really is the best journey in the world. The bus carries 30 passengers who travel, eat and sightsee together. At night, the passengers camp near the bus and eat together with food bought at local markets. If you want to experience incredible things, see amazing places and make friends along the way, the Megaworld bus is for you.

Fig. 2-1 Adapted coursebook text

Let us start with comprehension questions. Comprehension questions are those that students answer whilst or after processing written or spoken texts for meaning. These can include true or false questions, multiple choice, yes or no questions or ones that require one or two-word answers. These can be subdivided as content questions, which require learners to demonstrate understanding of the content of what they read and listen to, and language questions, which focus learners on specific forms, most commonly lexical items (Freeman, 2014). In relation to the text above, typical content questions might be as follows: 1. How many countries does the Megaworld bus visit? (21) 2. What do the passengers eat? (Food bought in local markets) In her taxonomy, Freeman also includes affect questions, which encourage learners to either respond personally to texts or to make an evaluation of the content. For the purposes of this discussion, I will be using the term comprehension questions to refer to content questions as these present the most significant block on affect, cognitive challenge and emerging

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language. Freeman’s research also found that this type of question was the most frequently used in the coursebook series that she investigated. The second problem feature of coursebooks or ELT (English Language Teaching) material in general is rule discovery activities. These are activities which encourage learners to work out why and how a specific form is used or to demonstrate understanding of how it is structured. An example of a rule discovery task can be seen below (Figure 2-2). Note that the first exercise (exercise 1) focuses on the meaning of the marker sentences. In exercise 2, the focus is on the form. Exercise 1: Look at the two sentences using comparatives and superlatives. Then complete the gaps in the sentences. Italian food is nicer than English food (Comparative) The Megaworld bus is the longest bus journey in the world (superlative) We use a __________________ when we talk about the number one thing in a group. We use a __________________ when we want to compare two things. Exercise 2: Look at the examples of superlatives from the text. Then complete the table below. Superlatives describe the number one thing in a group. For example, The Megaworld Bus is the longest bus journey in the world. The most interesting city was Moscow. The best meal we had was in Turkey. short or one syllable adjectives longer adjectives

long

the longest

the + adjective + ___________

interesting

________________

the + _________ + _________

irregular adjectives

good bad

________________

Fig. 2-2 Rule discovery activities

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The final problem area is controlled, or restricted practice exercises. These are exercises which require students to demonstrate that they can understand or manipulate a specific form or forms rather than use language for communicative purposes, for example, gap-fills, sentence transformation exercises or complete or correct the sentence activities. These exercises are mostly limited to sentence level work with the target structure and there is likely to be only correct response to each question or item. The aim of controlled practice is to help learners gradually gain control over a form, based on the assumption that practice makes perfect. The principle underpinning this type of practice is that it will eventually lead to automaticity. An example of a controlled practiced exercise, in which the focus is on superlatives, can be seen below (Figure 2-3).

Exercise 3: Complete the gaps in the sentences.

1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7)

What was ________________ (interesting) place you visited? Which place had _______________________ (beautiful) buildings? Which country had ______________ (nice) food? What was _________________ (long) you travelled in one day? Where was _____________________ (friendly) place? What was ______________________ (good) thing about the trip? What was __________________ (bad) thing?

Exercise 4: Imagine you went on the Megaworld bus. Interview your partner and ask and answer the questions in exercise 3.

Fig. 2-3 Controlled practice

In the next section, I will discuss the three problem areas one by one.

Issues with Comprehension Questions Comprehension questions are a common feature of ELT materials and coursebooks and a basic part of a language teachers’ repertoire. It is for this reason that teachers-in-training on pre-service courses are likely to be given guidance on how to use them and how to write their own. They also play an important role in giving students a purpose or focus when reading or listening. Comprehension questions are also a common feature of English language examinations, so a great many students need to be given guidance on how to approach them. Indeed, many teachers would not

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regard the use of comprehension questions as in any way controversial. However, there are several issues with this type of question that need to be addressed. Firstly, comprehension questions that test students’ basic understanding of texts or parts of texts are not particularly cognitively demanding and would be placed on the second lowest rung of Bloom’s six-level taxonomy of the cognitive domain (Mishan & Timmis, 2015). Indeed, Bloom’s work on the development of materials promoting higher forms of thinking has not yet appeared to influence English language coursebook design in any systematic way. This is despite the recognised link between memory and the level of cognitive challenge that materials provide (ibid.). In addition to their lack of challenge, comprehension questions can also fail to engage students in the content of texts or to encourage students to explore a writer’s or speaker’s ideas or opinions. This may be because texts found in coursebooks are often not included to enhance the reading or listening experience. In fact, some texts and the accompanying tasks may not even be designed to develop receptive skills or encourage students to read or listen more extensively outside the classroom. Instead, coursebook texts are frequently included because they contain or are flooded with a specific language item that the learners will be encouraged to notice and explore later in the lesson or unit. However, even when the text acts as a vehicle for the language, lack of engagement with the content may well affect how much the learners also engage with the language under investigation. This is an issue, as it is thought that noticing is far more salient when a learner has been engaged in a text affectively and cognitively before they investigate it for language use (Tomlinson, 2011). However, the biggest issue is that pre-prepared comprehension questions only focus on parts of the text chosen by the writer (Roberts, 2014). To paraphrase Whitaker (1983), the task laid upon the learner is reading the materials writer’s mind rather than exploring the message in the text on their own terms. The fact that it is an external authority that initiates the comprehension checking is also an unusual procedure, especially when it comes to global coursebooks designed to be sold and used all over the English language teaching world. As Rinvolucri (2008) asks, how can a coursebook writer know where the interests or linguistic difficulties in a reading passage lie for a 16-year-old in Cairo or a university student in Bangkok? In fact, rather than enabling each student to decide when and how to react to what they read or hear, both in terms of content and skills development, comprehension questions often force all students to respond to the text in the same way.

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The fact that the design of comprehension questions inevitably means that there is a ‘correct’ and an ‘incorrect’ response can also be intimidating or demotivating. Though comprehension questions may well encourage the kind of careful or strategic reading or listening that is required for students to pass certain examinations, they are essentially encouraging a testing procedure rather than developing specific skills. However, even as a testing tool, closed questions have little diagnostic value. As Nunan (2009, as cited in Swan & Walter, 2017) suggests, students’ performance on comprehension questions often tells us little about the reasons for their success or failure. Indeed, in terms of a successful response, it may be that the student has managed to answer the questions even though they have not fully grasped the message that the writer is trying to convey. Subsequently, student performance on comprehension questions gives no firm basis for developing properly focused solutions to the actual problems they may be having with reading or listening. In summary, comprehension questions that focus on content and language do not provide sufficient cognitive challenge, are unlikely to engage students affectively and do not inform teachers or learners of the very real difficulties they may have with reading or listening. The fact that there is often only one answer also limits the potential for genuine responses to the text, thereby cutting opportunities for teachers to work with what might emerge from these discussions.

Issues with Rule Discovery Activities The second potential block on learning is the use of rule discovery activities. Again, it would strike many teachers as controversial to suggest that an inductive approach to language work would be detrimental to the learning process. After all, consciousness-raising tasks that cater for discovery learning and problem solving are underpinned by the principle that what learners can find out for themselves is better remembered than what they are told (Ellis, 2003; Willis, 2008). However, it is not the use of discovery activities themselves that is the problem. Instead, it is what students are usually tasked with discovering, which in most cases is a pedagogic rule of thumb, that is, a simplified description of how a specific item of grammar is or should be used. A consequence of this is that many rule discovery activities included in coursebooks contain a very limited degree of cognitive challenge, as it is not uncommon for learners to have either come across the form or pedagogic rule before or the answers are so obvious as to render the exercise pointless. In effect, rule discovery activities often function in the

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same way as tests. This is because students are being asked to find the right answer rather than discovering something they did not know before. In terms of affect, the lack of challenge in many coursebook discovery activities, and the fact that there is usually only one right answer, means that the outcome is less likely to be as motivating as a truly genuine discovery about language would be. In addition, because learners are frequently being guided to notice simplified rules of thumb or rules in general, they are less likely to develop the kind of sensitivity or personal response to the language which they are studying (Carter, Hughes, & McCarthy, 2011). This is problematic, as this can limit or slow down students’ ability to develop a feel for what speakers and writers are really doing with language, for example, telling stories, exaggerating, complaining or selling things. The students are also not being given any guidance on how to make their own discoveries about language outside the classroom.

Issues with Controlled Practice Exercises The final potential block on affect, cognitive engagement and emerging language opportunities is the use of controlled practice exercises. Before looking at the problems with these kinds of exercises, it is important to consider the fact that they are built on sound teaching beliefs. For example, both Anderson (2016) and Bilbrough (2013) claim that practice or repetition of lexical or grammatical patterns can help students commit those patterns to working memory. They can also be viewed as confidence building or rehearsal stages before students move on to performing more communicative tasks. However, repetition of patterns must be meaningful and relevant to the learners rather than a mere mechanical parroting of structures (Swain & Lapkin, 2008), yet many controlled practice exercises in coursebooks are quite mechanical, so much so that it is necessary to question the validity of some them. For example, transforming active sentences into passives may help students understand how the passive is formed but it does not show them how or why it is used. Similarly, changing examples of direct speech into reported speech by back-shifting the verbs might reinforce the false belief that back-shifting is necessary. Overall, because controlled practice exercises operate at sentence rather than text level, they tend to be used to reinforce understanding of pedagogic grammar rules rather than helping learners consider how they would use the new language themselves.

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The second major issue with controlled practice exercises, and with the design and approach of many coursebooks in general, is that these exercises tend to promote practice of specific grammatical items in isolation or two in combination. This breaking down of language into smaller items rests on the assumption that through exposure and practice of target items one at a time, learners will be able to gain mastery of them. However, it is widely held that this is simply not the case (e.g. Long, 2015; Nunan, 1998; VanPatten, Collopy, Price, Borst, & Qualin, 2013). As Larsen-Freeman (1997) says, “teachers may teach one grammar structure at a time, and students may focus on one at a time, but students do not master one at a time before going on to learn another” (p. 4). The final issue with controlled practice exercises is the fact that the sentences in exercises are often not particularly meaningful for learners. Because of this, students are less likely to be cognitively and affectively engaged in this type of material. This also means that teachers end up spending time rewriting exercises so that the questions contain aspects of the local context or relate more to the lives or interests of the students. This negates the time-saving benefits that coursebooks can bring.

A Further Issue for Teachers and Learners Though we have seen that there is a rationale for using comprehension questions, rule discovery activities and controlled practice exercises, perhaps the biggest issue with lessons that rely on this kind of material is the fact that the materials writer is given ultimate power over what is covered and what can therefore be learnt. When it comes to the text, it is the writer who chooses what questions are asked and what the answers are. They also choose what areas of language are noticed and what the students will learn about that language point, even though learners may well have different levels of knowledge or understanding of the language point. Finally, it is the writer who decides how the students use the language, often to the point of limiting them to single sentences or one-word responses. This level of control within the material therefore reduces the level of agency that the students have in the learning process. By following some coursebook material to the letter, the students’ role is limited to finding pre-conceived answers and creating grammatically acceptable sentences, much as they might be tasked to do in a test. The teacher’s role is similarly limited, with their job at times reduced to merely validating the answers or telling students what they should have found or said. Considering that the

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writer of the material is not present in the classroom, this seems like a significant imbalance of power. Of course, in any defence of coursebooks one would find the argument that the teacher does not need to follow the material step by step (e.g. Lane, 2016; McGrath, 2013). However, it is not uncommon for new teachers to do just that as they learn about their craft. Teachers with busy schedules or those given limited or no planning time will also feel the need to ‘do the book’ when their workload gets too heavy or when they are required to cover classes for absent colleagues. In addition, in situations where the coursebook acts as a default syllabus or the language content forms the basis of end of term tests or exams, teachers will often feel that the best course of action is to work through the material they have been given. In fact, it is not uncommon to hear teachers say that any deviation from the material is questioned by students or other stakeholders. This inevitably leads to situations where the students and the teacher are reduced to working through the book even though they may not particularly like it. These are hardly the ideal conditions for cognitively or affectively engaging lessons or for students to learn from their own language use. As suggested in the introduction to this chapter, it is therefore necessary to ask what teachers can do with coursebook material so that these conditions are more likely to be met.

What can Teachers Do with Coursebook Materials? Having looked at the issues with comprehension questions, rule discovery activities and controlled practice exercises, this section outlines alternatives that can lead to greater engagement with texts, higher cognitive challenge and more frequent opportunities for teachers to work with what the learners themselves notice in texts and language emerging from student interaction. These alternatives are personal response or evaluative questions (Freeman, 2014), the analysis of reasons over rules and the use of replication tasks (Norrington-Davies, 2016). Different types of questions The first suggestion is that teachers try to rely less on comprehension questions and instead, use more personal response questions or evaluative questions. The rationale for each is different. Personal response questions are those that encourage the learner to express a personal view about what they have read or listened to (Freeman, 2014), so in the case of the Megaworld bus text (Figure 2-1 above), an example would be “Would you like to go on this trip?”. As there is no correct answer, only a reaction, this

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type of question encourages students to interact more personally with the content, as the real-life writer of such a text would wish. As well as being a more authentic task, the level of affective engagement with the material is also increased. Finally, the answers to personal response questions can also lead to lively classroom discussions, which increase opportunities for teachers to work with emerging language and needs. Therefore, this question type fulfils two of the important conditions discussed at the beginning of this article. Evaluative questions, on the other hand, require a more considered response to the text. As some judgement or assessment is required, the student needs to draw on ideas from the text to justify their answers or responses (Freeman, 2014). This calls for deeper cognitive processing than closed comprehension questions (or personal response questions, though these fulfil other important criteria as we have seen). In the same way as personal response questions, evaluative questions can also lead to more opportunities for interaction, and thus more chances for teachers to work with what emerges. In terms of the Megabus text, an example of an evaluative question type can be seen below (Figure 2-4). Task: What groups of people do you think would like to go on the Megabus? Who wouldn’t like to go? Give reasons for your choice. x x x x x x

Teenagers Young adults (18-30) Couples Single people Families with children Retired people

Fig. 2-4 Evaluative questions

From rules to reasons For the second suggestion, rather than asking students to look at rules, teachers can instead encourage them to work out the reasons why a writer or speaker is using a specific form or forms in the text. In other words, they look for the communicative purpose behind the form rather than a pedagogic rule or a description of language use in general. Let us look again at the Megaworld bus text to exemplify. After the students have been guided to notice examples of superlatives in the text, they try to work out why the writer is using them. In a lesson with a lower intermediate

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class (Common European Framework of Reference for language level(s) A2/B1), the students came up with the following reasons. Note that these examples have not been corrected so they retain their authenticity: - “He is using superlatives to emphasise the good things and persuade the reader. To convince. It’s advertisement.” - “There are many options. This trip is the best option. It is unique.” - “He is using superlatives to convince the customer.” Unlike the questions in many coursebook discovery activities, as the focus here is on the text type and the writer’s purpose, teachers do not need limit the discovery stage to a single form. The following examples show why the same students thought the writer was using ‘can’ and the present simple in the Megabus text. Note again how they have referred to the communicative purpose of the text: - “Present simple is the itinerary.” - “Can is possibility. It explains to customers the travel.” Before discussing the rationale for encouraging students to look for reasons over rules, there is an interesting element to consider in the student generated reasons above. Because the class contained Italian-, Spanishand Portuguese-speaking students, they were able to draw on their own language to help them describe the meaning. This can be seen in their use of ‘itinerary’, ‘persuade’ and ‘unique’. The use of the first language is something they would have been less able to use to their advantage in a traditional rule discovery activity where the answer is pre-determined. What are the advantages of exploring reasons over rules? Firstly, looking for reasons enables students to uncover why and how a writer or speaker is using language items to achieve a genuine communicative goal. This makes any description of the meaning and use more accurate, useful and useable than a pedagogic rule of thumb. In addition, because the students are creating their own descriptions, they are more likely to make genuine discoveries about language use than they would if they were all being guided to find a pre-chosen answer or rule. The fact that they have created the descriptions themselves is also more motivating and gives students greater ownership of the language. Reasons are also potentially more memorable, as some students have suggested in conversation with me. In summary, exploring reasons has the potential to be more cognitively and affectively engaging than looking at rules, and because learners are being trained to explore language used in texts, it also means that they can use the skill to make their own discoveries in the future.

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Replication tasks The final suggestion for adapting coursebook material is the use of replication tasks. Replication tasks are those in which students produce the same text type as the one that they looked at earlier in the lesson. For example, if students have read a film review, they then write their own. In a replication task, the coursebook text acts as model, and the students get the opportunity to use the various language items in the text in the same way as the writer or speakers do in the original. This means that unlike in controlled practice exercises, the learners are using a greater range of structures to express a genuine message. This presents a higher cognitive challenge than typical controlled practice and because students are being creative and expressing their own meanings and ideas, the level of engagement is likely to be higher. In the Megaworld bus lesson, a replication task would be for students to create their own journey, for example, a cruise, a trip into space or a journey in their own country. Below is an example of part of a replication task produced by two students in the lower-intermediate class (Figure 2-5).

Fig. 2-5 A replication task

There are two interesting things to notice in this text. Firstly, the students have made sure to address the reader and sell their trip, as the writer of the original text does. This shows that they are thinking about how to use the forms to communicate a message rather than to merely produce grammatically accurate sentences. They have also used a range of structures, i.e. a superlative form, ‘can’ and ‘would’. This takes the activity beyond the mechanical parroting of structures that Swain and Lapkin (2008) urge teachers to avoid. Other texts from classes have shown similar results, as well as examples of students using further structures to express their meanings, as can be seen below:

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“This will be an unforgettable experience or your money back” “If you like…, you should go to…”

During feedback to replication tasks, the teacher can extend the learning by encouraging students to reflect on why they have used specific forms in their texts. In other words, they can look again at the reasons behind the use of superlatives, ‘can’ and the ‘present simple’ and compare them with the examples in the original text. By revisiting each language item and the reasons behind it, teachers increase the possibility of the student retaining it or being able to draw on it in the future, though this cannot be taken for granted.

Conclusion By incorporating a greater range of question types and activities into lessons based on coursebook material, teachers can reduce the amount by which the material dictates the outcome of lessons. This is because rather than the writer choosing the answers to questions relating to texts, the students are instead evaluating or responding to what they read and listen to by offering ideas and opinions or speculating and hypothesising about content. In terms of new language, rather than demonstrating an understanding of pre-conceived rules chosen by the writer, students are working out why writers or speakers are using language for communicative purposes. Finally, instead of using a specific form to produce grammatically correct sentences, students are using language to create new meanings and ideas. These changes provide greater cognitive challenge and engagement in the content of lessons, whilst more extensive opportunities for communication and interaction with the language used in texts increases the opportunities for teachers to work with emerging language or answer genuine questions students have about language. This, along with the fact that students are creating their own descriptions of how language is being used by writers and speakers, gives learners greater agency in the learning process and allows them to take more ownership of the language. As this chapter does not set out to suggest what the perfect coursebook should look like or include, I have made no suggestions for the language or topic content nor recommended how coursebooks should be structured or what type of syllabus they should follow. Instead, I have outlined a way for teachers to exploit the materials they use in more effective and principled ways. By doing this, they can counter some of the deficiencies in the material and override the synthetic approach that coursebooks tend

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to use. This is by no means a solution to all the issues within coursebook materials, but it is a good place to start.

References Al-Mahrooqi, R., & Al-Busaidi, S. (2010). Meeting local needs in materials writing. Advances in Language and Literary Studies, 1 (1), 91-115. Allwright, R. (1981). What do we want teaching materials for? English Language Teaching Journal, 36 (1), 5-17. Anderson, J. (2016). Why practice makes perfect sense: The past, present and potential future of the PPP paradigm in language teacher education. ELT Education and Development, 19, 14-22. Bell, J., & Gower, R. (1998). Writing course materials for the world: A great compromise. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Materials development for language learners (pp. 135-150). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Bilbrough, N. (2013). Memory activities for language learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Carter, R., Hughes, R., & McCarthy, M. (2011). Telling tails: Grammar, the spoken language and materials development. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Materials development in language teaching (pp. 78-100). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Dörnyei, Z. (2009). Communicative language teaching in the 21st century: The 'principled communicative approach'. Perspectives, 36 (2), 33-43. Eales, F., & Oakes, S. (2011). Speakout Elementary, 1st edition. Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd. Ellis, R. (2002) Grammar teaching – practice or consciousness-raising. In J. Richards & W. Renandya (Eds.), Methodology in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Ellis, R. (2003). Task-based language learning and teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Ellis, R. (2008). Principles of instructed second language acquisition. CAL Digest. Washington DC. Centre for Applied Linguistics. Freeman, D. (2014). Reading comprehension questions: The distribution of different types in global EFL textbooks. In N. Harwood (Ed.), English language teaching textbooks: Content, consumption, production (pp. 72-110). Basingstoke: Palgrave McMillan. Jordan, G. (2016). The case against coursebooks. Modern English Teacher, 25 (1), 50-52.

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Lane, A. (2016). In defence of the coursebook. Modern English Teacher, 25 (1), 52-53. Larsen-Freeman, D. (1997). Grammar and its teaching: Challenging the myths. Washington, D.C.: ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics. [ERIC Digest.] Long, M. (2015). SLA and Task Based Language Teaching. New York: Routledge. Masuhara, H. (2017). Helping learners pay attention to form in meaning focused activities. Presented at the MATSDA/Fontys University of Applied Sciences conference. Tilburg, the Netherlands. McGrath, I. (2013). Teaching materials and the roles of EFL/ESL teachers: Rractice and theory. London: Bloomsbury International. Mishan, F. (2014). Comprehensibility and cognitive challenge in language learning materials. Presented at the MATSDA/University of Liverpool Conference. Liverpool, United Kingdom. Mishan, F., & Timmis, I. (2015). Materials development for TESOL. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Norrington-Davies, D. (2016). Teaching grammar: From rules to reasons. Hove: Pavilion Publishing Nunan, D. (1998). Teaching grammar in context. English Language Teaching Journal, 5 (2), 101-109. Prentis, N. (2016). Course-books: The case against. Modern English Teacher, 25 (1), 56-58. Rinvolucri, M. (2008). How useful are comprehension questions. IATEFL Voices Newsletter, Issue 204. Roberts, R. (2014). Do something different with your course-book. English Teaching Professional, 90 (1), 30-31. Swain, M., & Lapkin, S. (2008). Lexical learning through a multitask activity: The role of repetition. Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 66, 119-132. Swan, M., & Walter, C. (2017). Misunderstanding comprehension. English Language Teaching Journal, 71 (2), 228-236. Tomlinson, B. (Ed.) (2011). Materials development in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Tomlinson, B. (2012). Materials development for language teaching and learning. Journal of English Language, 45 (2), 143-179. Thompson, G. (2004). Introducing functional grammar. New York: Hodder Arnold VanPatten, B., Collopy, E., Price, J., Borst, S., & Qualin, A. (2013). Explicit information, grammatical sensitivity, and the first-noun

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principle: A cross-linguistic study in processing instruction. The Modern Language Journal, 97 (2), 506-527. Willis, J. (1996). A framework for task-based learning. London: Longman Willis, D. (2000). Grammar – a textual approach. English Teaching Professional, 17, 7-9. Whitaker, S. (1983). Comprehension questions: About face. English Language Teaching Journal, 37 (4), 329-334.

CHAPTER THREE THE TEACHER’S BOOK: AN INVITING AND MEANINGFUL READING ROBERTA AMENDOLA

Introduction The meaning-focused approach has been a matter of debate in the field of foreign language teaching and learning in terms of its capacity to expose students to rich input and meaningful use of the second language in context (Norris & Ortega, 2001). Most of the research is based on materials and activities aimed at providing meaningful learning opportunities for learners. However, the way in which teaching can be made more meaningful for teachers has not been an equally frequent object of study. In this sense, I propose a discussion on teachers’ motivation regarding the use of teaching materials intended for them: the teacher’s book (TB). To that effect, I have based this article on my Master’s research (Amendola, 2017), which discusses the relationship between the use of students’ books (SBs) and TBs. My objective was threefold: (i) to identify the uses and functions of these materials in the context of Spanish as a foreign language teaching in some Brazilian High School contexts; (ii) to verify the extent to which the use of TBs is related to teachers’ training and experience; and (iii) to propose an alternative format to make the TB more effective and more conducive to good teaching results. I also use as reference some studies from the area of the meaningfocused approach, adapting them to the topic of study in question.

Meaning-Focused Materials The notion of meaningful in this study must be taken to be synonymous to relevant. Unlike other studies, my focus is not on the content or the

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activities based on this approach that make up textbooks intended for students, but the materials themselves – especially the TBs – and their role for teachers. In order to understand the importance of these manuals, I start with a review of studies on the uses and functions of educational materials. The issue of relevance of educational materials for teachers (and students) is directly associated with motivation. Although it is clear that teachers’ and students’ motivation may be related to extra-class aspects, such as vocation, obligation, remuneration, qualification, among others, I am dealing here with relevant inputs (Krashen, 1985) to teachers which may contribute to their affective and cognitive engagement and to the efficacy of their work. The term meaningful here is related to teachers’ personal and professional expectations and the extent to which materials may or may not appeal to them. These expectations are context dependent, and materials that may be useful to a teacher in one situation may not be useful to the same teacher in another. On the other hand, teaching can be meaningful without the use of materials. All the importance and relevance of materials for teachers and students depend on the relationship teachers establish with these resources. Given the scarcity of studies on meaningful materials for teachers, the rationale underlying the present study was the set of assumptions which govern meaning-focused materials for students - especially Norris and Ortega (2001), and Krashen (1985). The implications are as follows: coursebooks must be easily adjustable to their various teaching contexts since it would not be sensible to expect that any published material is perfect for all situations; materials should consider teachers’ understanding of teaching principles and their experience, they should be aligned with one’s goals (meaningful use in context), offer proposals for activities and projects that go beyond the classroom (rich input: comprehensible, necessary and relevant) and should promote students’ autonomy in the learning process. More than a manual with explanations and instructions for the use of the coursebook, and which must be followed to the letter by the teacher, the TB should encourage reflection and conscious decisionmaking by the teacher. This is made possible when teachers interact with the TB, lower their affective filter and feel motivated to move from a ‘passive reader’ role to an ‘active user’ role. In order to be meaningful, the TB must be inviting and friendly, and must aid the development of consulting skills, thus breaking the current patterns of non-discretionary use of the TB as a manual or no use of the TB at all.

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Textbooks: Functions and Meanings The uses of coursebooks in general – SBs and TBs – are related to the role attributed to them as an educational and social resource. According to Choppin (2004), their functions are: 1. referential (also called curricular or programmatic, when there is an official curriculum), and the coursebook is considered a support for the contents and skills that a given society considers important to transmit to young people; 2. instrumental, for their role in bringing learning methods to the classroom and proposing activities that favour the acquisition of competences and skills and the appropriation and memorization of knowledge; 3. ideological and cultural, for transmitting not only the language, but also the values and culture of the ruling classes and for being an object of construction of the national identity (often political); and 4. documentary, for gathering textual and iconographic documents that can contribute to the development of students’ critical sense and autonomy. Other theorists reiterate and extend these functions of coursebooks. Richaudeau (1979) states that they give internal coherence to the organization and selection of contents and activities within a certain area, for scientific and pedagogical purposes. For Richards (2002), coursebooks maintain the quality of teaching and facilitate classroom practice by offering teachers’ materials which have been subjected to publishing processes. According to Gérard and Roegiers (1998), coursebooks take into account both the teacher and the learner. To the former, coursebooks offer opportunities for continuous development and informed classroom practice. To the latter, coursebooks offer appropriate learning opportunities and an interface with life in society. The functions of coursebooks are twofold: that of facilitator of educational practices and that of being a reflection of society. Within the first, meaning is associated with the texts chosen and their activities; the second function focuses on the relevance of the textbook itself, and this is what we refer to in this text. For a meaningful use of coursebooks, we should take into account the context of use: the learning objectives established by the teacher, by the school and/or by local education authorities and the approaches chosen in order to make those objective feasible as well as students’ interests and

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ways of promoting effective learning. However, in my research and throughout my editorial experience as a publisher and author of teaching materials, I observed that the motivations for the use of textbooks are often associated with practical factors, sometimes disregarding their real relevance to the teaching and learning process. Almeida Filho (2010) discusses the relationship between foreign language teacher training – especially in Brazil – and the use of teaching materials: “The structure of the textbook is very rigid and often difficult to steer away from, considering the kind of training and linguistic proficiency that newly trained teachers bring to professional practice in our schools. When supplementation is possible, it becomes a time-consuming activity. This is fatal for the survival of books and courses, since Brazilian teachers are almost always too busy to guarantee their livelihood, overloaded with several classes and not necessarily engaged in their professional development and personal preparation for the real and complex act of teaching and educating through languages. In the absence of a critical mass among language teachers, the dependence on textbooks and their recipes is increased and in the almost certain occurrence of misrepresentations of the assumptions, objectives, contents and methodology of the material purchased, the process and the product of teaching will be poor and discouraging. It is imperative to recover teachers’ ability to evaluate commercially available materials in order to prevent these from replacing the unique experience of course planning for each teaching situation”1 (p. 40).

1

The original version: “A estrutura do livro didático é bastante rígida e muitas vezes difícil de se escapar considerando-se o tipo de formação e proficiência linguística que professores recém-formados trazem para a prática profissional nas nossas escolas. Quando a suplementação é possível, ela se torna uma atividade de grande consumo de tempo. Isso é fatal para a sobrevida dos livros e dos cursos, uma vez que os professores brasileiros estão quase sempre demasiado ocupados em garantir sua subsistência, sobrecarregando com isso o seu tempo nas extensas fieiras de aulas e quase nada engajados no seu aperfeiçoamento profissional e preparo pessoal para o verdadeiro e complexo ato de ensinar e educar através das línguas. Na ausência de massa crítica dentre o professorado de línguas, a dependência do livro didático e suas receitas se torna maior e, daí, na eventualidade quase certa de equívocos de pressupostos, objetivos, conteúdos e metodologia do material comprado, o processo e o produto do ensino nas escolas resultarão pobres e desestimuladores. É preciso recuperar a capacidade de avaliar o material que se candidata nas prateleiras a substituir o verdadeiro planejamento de cursos que se fundamenta no processo único de prover para cada situação de ensino.”

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As an example, it was verified in the practices of the teachers interviewed that they used their coursebooks equally in all the classes observed. For those teachers, the SBs fulfilled the referential function, according to Choppin (2004). If the SB, the main tool to support teachers’ work, is not always used based on its relevance and purpose, the TB is even less considered in this sense. The quality of teachers’ education is decisive in their degree of dependence on materials and consequently materials become more or less significant in each context.

The Meaningful Use (or No Use) of the TB The present study is centered on teachers’ motivations to use or not to use the TB and how the TB can be made more meaningful to their classroom practice. Before expanding the discussion on the uses of the TB, the terms ‘teacher’s book’ (TB) and ‘teacher’s guide’ (TG) should be clarified. The TB is defined as a SB with the keys to exercises and some guidelines related to specific activities as well as complementary information or cultural notes related to the content of each page. By offering answers, the TB makes the marking process easier and more agile to be conducted in class. However, those answers often underestimate the capacity of teachers and students and are usually presented as closed, limited responses that do not stimulate subjectivity and reflection. The TG consists of the teacher’s manual, which presents explanations about the theoretical-methodological proposal of the book, and guidelines for the activities. Going back to the discussion about the relationship between functions and meanings of teaching materials, it is worth highlighting that the main roles assigned to the TB according to some documents and academics of the area are: -

-

2

for the Brazilian Book Chamber (1981, as cited in Oliveira, Guimarães & Bomény, 1984), the TB “has a prominent role as a vehicle for recycling teachers’ knowledge”2 (p. 12); according to Gérard and Roegiers (1998), the TB contributes to teacher education in four areas: scientific and general information (that is, the knowledge of an area and general knowledge); pedagogical training linked to the specific subject area (continuous

The original version: “ocupa papel de realce como veículo de reciclagem de conhecimentos dos professores”.

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-

training aimed at improving or refreshing pedagogical practice); help in students’ learning and classroom management; and help in the assessment of students’ language acquisition; according to Richards (2002), the role of the TB is to provide training for less experienced teachers, although it may restrain teachers’ practice.

In short, the educational relevance of TBs is to contribute to the continuous development of teachers and to help them develop their role in the classroom. However, in my academic research and through my editorial experience, I have found that, unlike SBs, TBs are rarely used. If SBs are the basis of classroom practice – sometimes exceeding their role as mere support for teachers – TBs are usually only consulted briefly during the lessons when teachers need to check some answer or contribution to an idea of practical activity that takes some time in between other previously planned activities. The TG, most of the time, is not read from beginning to end but rather, only consulted occasionally. In the research I carried out, when asked about why she did not use the TB, one of the teachers answered: “because it is boring, confusing, horrible, with long texts and does not have images to exemplify anything”. The interviewed teachers were experienced and they considered the TB important, but found it difficult to read, and did not have the habit of consulting it. It might be possible to speculate that this was a reflection of some deficiencies in their academic studies. One of the issues that interfere with the choice and judicious use of a textbook (and its TB) was the familiarity these professionals had with such resources in their initial training courses and the work done with those materials in their professional training. Although materials analysis activities are part of the curriculum of some Brazilian undergraduate courses, in many cases that analysis is limited to identifying their shortcomings and courses rarely explore alternatives to improve and/or adapt the TBs. In addition to this, some teachers consider that continuing education opportunities are limited to educational events and academic institutions, and do not regard teaching materials as a source of learning for themselves. In addition to these factors, teachers also mentioned the lack of time to prepare classes and the exhausting routine working in two or more schools as a means of making reasonable earnings, to justify the lack of motivation for reading the TG. However, with regard to the SB, the interviewees highlighted their concern to follow it thoroughly, and their acceptance of it as a course

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(curriculum) and not as a resource. Such a distorted view of the original function of coursebooks reflects teachers’ unpreparedness for classroom practice, their lack of autonomy (despite their reported experiences of more than ten years as teachers), their limited knowledge of theories such as those mentioned above and of legal documents concerning the importance of teaching materials. I have analyzed these statements taking into account the reality of Brazilian teachers, whose history of social (and consequently financial) lack of appreciation has contributed, among other factors, to the creation and maintenance of higher education courses of questionable quality. Despite the understanding that the use of teaching materials is only one of the areas of a teacher’s education and that a series of measures would be necessary to reverse all the weaknesses of the local educational scenario, I have focused on discussing and making proposals for improvements of this teaching resource – the TG. My suggestion is that materials which are more appropriate to the reality of these teachers could, in fact, facilitate their work in terms of class preparation time and quality and stimulate the development of teachers’ continuing education.

A Meaningful TB The context of Brazilian education, the statements of the teachers interviewed and of other countless teachers with whom I have had contact during years of editorial work, as well as the theoretical references in the area, motivated the present reflections and the proposal for a TB produced in a format that presents an alternative to the conventional model. More than just a pedagogical innovation (Gérard & Roegiers, 1998), the purposes of this project were: 1. to encourage teachers to break stereotypes about TGs and to at least flip through them; 2. to offer teachers information and content that are relevant to their classes and that could optimize their work; 3. to enable class preparation time to be optimized and enriched; 4. to contribute to teachers’ continuing education. In order to achieve these goals, I started with questions about teachers’ motivation to read TGs. If teachers are readers of diverse textual genres, related or not to educational practice, why not encourage them to read resources developed for them? What aspects of reading would interest them?

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The initial discussion was centered on the characteristics of the TG genre. As for the content, they usually offer little information that is new and most of the specific orientations for the activities only paraphrase those activities. The theoretical framework is often presented in an excessively superficial way so as not to show a commitment to one particular theoretical line. With regard to the language register used, in general it is not objective and is modalized in order to signal a lighter or stricter prescriptive attitude towards its use. With respect to visual aspects, in general TBs are laid out in two columns, in small fonts, in a single color (usually gray), with subheadings highlighted in bold and they rarely have images. These features make the material uninviting to read. Aiming to break away from this historical lack of interest in the TB, the study listed different genres that could be adapted to the demands of TGs and which had good acceptance by readers, in spheres not necessarily related to education. From the options listed, I opted for a magazine, since its format usually raises the curiosity of potential readers and because it is traditionally a genre which includes images and texts geared to easy and objective reading. This led to the creation of a TB which was both instructional and informative. In addition to the content-related aspects, we considered factors associated with the materiality of TGs according to Chartier (1990, 1996, 1998, 2001), that is, their social use as a physical object. Offered in a printed format similar to magazines commonly found on newsstands (in terms of size, kind of paper, number of pages, etc.), this TG would be offered in a separate volume from the textbook, making it easier to be handled and like a magazine, more inviting to the reader, even if just for a quick leaf through. Its online version would also favour consultation and use with the inclusion of hyperlinks and dynamic embedded content. In this way, the facilitating characteristics of this genre would be taken advantage of and the relationship between object and readers would be preserved, according to Chartier (1990): “Against the representation ... of the ideal, abstract, stable text because, detached from any materiality, it is necessary to remember vividly that there is no text outside the support that allows it to be read, that there is no understanding of a writing that does not depend on the ways through which it reaches the reader”3 (p. 126). 3

The original version: “Contra a representação ... do texto ideal, abstrato, estável porque desligado de qualquer materialidade, é necessário recordar vigorosamente que não existe nenhum texto fora do suporte que o dá a ler, que não há

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Thus, according to Chartier (1996, 1998, 2002), the reading of every text – in this case, the TG – is a cultural practice influenced by the support on which it is presented, given that the format impacts on the relationship between reader and content, and on the way in which the content circulates in the social context. In the case in question, an adaptation of the information contained in the TG to the format of a magazine was needed, in order to preserve the characteristics of the genre. Alongside the team of editors, authors and teachers, a journalist with experience in publishing printed and digital teaching materials for the teaching of English and Spanish and an experienced designer of magazines and textbooks were involved in the development of this project. The existence of a specialized and exclusively dedicated multidisciplinary team was essential for the expected result. A series of three magazines was developed to accompany the three volumes of a new series of coursebooks for the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language for Brazilian high school students. The internal organization of the magazines followed traditional sections and incorporated the contents intended for teachers into it, with adapted formats and language as follows: -

-

-

-

cover: with photo and calls to the main contents of each volume. The choice of photos of the three covers was intended to form a single image of a large bridge, in parallel with the image on the cover of the SB (called Travesía) and the title of the magazine: Puente (Bridge); editorial: invites to the reading of the magazine and highlights its main topics; articles: topics related to the theoretical and methodological proposal of the SB were presented in this journalistic subgenre. In addition, comments on specific units, suggestions for extra activities and cross-curricular project proposals were also organized in the form of reports; interview: a well-known teacher was interviewed and described his professional experience, the challenges and achievements in working with ‘life projects’ – reflections on career paths for young people, a proposal that constitutes the axis of the series; suggestions of complementary materials: suggestions for films, books and websites that can contribute to the continuing education

compreensão de um escrito, qualquer que ele seja, que não dependa das formas através das quais ele chega ao seu leitor.”

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of teachers who wish to go deeper into the theoretical basis of the series or the themes of different units. The articles dealt with current themes related to Education, such as: life projects; socio-emotional competencies and skills and education for the twenty-first century; personalized education; profile of generation Z students; technology and education; vocational orientation, etc., and were accompanied by bibliographical references. The graphic design respected the current patterns of magazine design, from cover to page composition. Each spread was designed individually according to the theme that would be covered, but maintaining the unity of the visual project. Different boxes were used to organize the contents, as well as different typographic elements, colours and fonts for better signposting and readability. Illustrations, infographics and relevant images were also used in order to produce a clean visual perception and make the reading more pleasant. The result of this effort to innovate in the presentation and contents of the TG was an unprecedented material, both visually attractive and inviting to the reader, that develops teachers’ ownership of the materials. When the magazine was presented to teachers, they were surprised by it and most declared to be motivated to read it. They all felt appreciated by having such rich and carefully designed materials dedicated to them: the TG became significant. This receptivity fulfilled part of the expectations and the magazine reached its first two objectives, which were: (i) to lead teachers to break stereotypes about the TG and at least flip through it, and (ii) to offer information and content that are relevant to their classes and that could help optimize them. There is no data yet on the effectiveness and efficiency of the use of the magazines as a resource for continuing education and preparation of classes because the coursebooks will be used for the first time in 2018 and the development of this study was completed in 2017. Therefore, it is still not possible to verify whether objectives (iii) and (iv) have been reached: to enable an increase in the speed and quality of lesson planning; and to contribute to teachers’ continuing education, respectively. It is worth emphasizing that all academic and editorial efforts will only really be useful if teachers take ownership of the textbooks (both SBs and TBs) and use them for the purposes they were originally intended for: as a classroom resource rather than the course itself. “The objective is to contribute with instruments that allow teachers to better perform their professional role in the teaching-learning process. In this sense, the school manual contributes to the development of

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pedagogical innovations. Far from necessarily encasing the teacher – or the students, for that matter – in a linear approach to learning, the manual can, if its operators do this work, contribute with an immensity of new clues, new instruments and new practices that take into account the evolution of pedagogical knowledge, the sensitivity of each teacher and the specificity of the contexts.”4 (Gérard & Roegiers, 1998, p. 89)

The material will be significant according to the role assigned to it: “It only exists, ultimately, because of the use we make of it!” (Choppin, 2002, p. 23). The suggestions of projects and activities presented in the TGmagazine are intended to contribute to the adaptation and customization of the SB. However, only the teacher can determine which ideas are most meaningful to his/her context and students. According to Maley (2011), factors such as language proficiency, self-confidence, previous experiences of the teacher as a student and as a teacher, his/her personality, teaching style and cultural baggage have an impact on the work of adaptation, overcoming the limited potential of the TG, however innovative it may be. Although the proposal for an innovative, unconventional TG does not solve the shortcomings of the primary, secondary and university education systems in Brazil – nor does it have this intention –, it can contribute to teachers’ better use of this resource.

Conclusions It is well accepted that the use of teaching materials by teachers is influenced by different aspects related to specific teaching contexts, working conditions and others. However, the role of teacher training cannot be overlooked in terms of teachers’ awareness and ability to deal with teaching resources. No single coursebook or teacher’s manual will be able to compensate for inefficient professional education and reflective classroom practice. Based on this assumption, it is possible to affirm that educational materials cannot be expected to solve historical problems of 4

The original version: “O objetivo é o de contribuírem com instrumentos que permitam aos professores um melhor desempenho do seu papel profissional no processo de ensino-aprendizagem. Neste sentido, o manual escolar contribui para desenvolver inovações pedagógicas. Longe de necessariamente encerrar o professor – e também os alunos – numa abordagem linear das aprendizagens, o manual pode, se os seus actores se derem a esse trabalho, contribuir com uma imensidade de pistas novas, de novos instrumentos e de novas práticas que tenham em conta a evolução dos conhecimentos pedagógicos, a sensibilidade de cada professor e a especificidade dos contextos.”

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Education. The first steps in significantly improving teacher performance – and therefore their relationship with textbooks – should be to empower professionals with high levels of reference and applicable knowledge. However, as Güemes Artiles (1994) states, “less time is devoted to the updating and continuing education of the teaching staff, since it is assumed that it is school texts which need updating”5 (p. 33). Teachers need opportunities for regular updating in their professional practice, in order to be able to make autonomous, informed choices regarding the use of teaching materials, their adaptation to suit specific contexts or even the decision not to use available resources. However, if access to current and diversified knowledge is difficult for most teachers for a variety of reasons, the contributions of TGs can be of great value as guidelines. Given geographic size and distances within Brazil, access to initial and continuing education is limited and textbooks are the most far-reaching educational resource, hence their potential for teacher development. This contribution must go beyond a list of books to be read by teachers and which, in most cases, will prove to be inaccessible. Instead, it must provide motivation and be truly meaningful for teachers. Meaningful materials for teachers should address: the role that teachers attribute to them; teachers’ expectations and their personal and educational goals; the possibilities of adaptation; the supply of relevant inputs that do not underestimate student experience and training; and the promotion of book-user interaction. Although no TG could claim to fulfill all the above aims, a format that makes use of visual elements to highlight content could meet this demand, at least in part, if it is significant for teachers. It will become a reference for consultation of cultural, epistemological and didactic information if teachers are attracted to flip through it and recognize its value; only then will it be relevant to teachers’ practices and take on a new role in their teaching and learning process. The potential of teaching materials to become the course itself is widely accepted, and it is necessary to look at other aspects of Education in order to have the real dimension of problems and formulate possible solutions (Fiscarelli, 2008). Finally, beyond any possible contributions that materials can make to the teaching and learning process and irrespective of the quality of teacher education available, it is the constant commitment of individual teachers to their continuing education and to their practice which is essential:

5

The original version: “se dedica menos tiempo a la actualización y formación permanente del profesorado, ya que se supone que los que se actualizan son los textos escolares.”

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“Whilst most people would agree that meeting the needs of the learners should be the primary target, it is obviously important to meet the needs of the teachers, the writers and the ‘sponsors’ too. If teachers are not enthused by materials, their dissatisfaction is always apparent to the learners, the materials lose credibility and the learners’ motivation and investment of energy are reduced” (Tomlinson, 2011, pp. 174-175).

Neither materials nor studies will be useful if teachers do not find meaning in their practices. Personal motivation, intrinsic to every human being, cannot be aroused by any external resource, however good it may be. ‘Being meaningful’ referring to teaching materials means being motivating and relevant. In this context, these adjectives are associated with the adequacy to objectives and perception of needs and interests. Teaching resources cannot, on their own, meet those demands without the initiative of the teacher to do so; the coursebook as an object – either the student’s or the teacher’s – comes to life only when used and signified: let the teacher him/herself be significant (‘meaningful’)!

References Almeida Filho, J. C. P. de. (2010). Dimensões comunicativas no ensino de línguas. Campinas, Brasil: Pontes. Amendola, R. (2017). Livro arbítrio: Um estudo sobre as funções e os usos do livro didático de espanhol no Ensino Médio (Master’s thesis, Universidade de São Paulo, Brasil). Retrieved from http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/48/48138/tde-10052017141228/pt-br.php. Chartier, R. (1990). A história cultural: Entre práticas e representações. Lisboa, Portugal: Difel. Chartier, R. (Org.). (1996). Práticas de leitura. São Paulo, Brasil: Estação Liberdade. Chartier, R. (1998). A aventura do livro: Do leitor ao navegador. São Paulo, Brasil: Editora Unesp/Imprensa Oficial do Estado. Chartier, R. (2001). Cultura escrita, literatura e história: Conversas de Roger Chartier com Carlos Aguirre Anaya, Jesús Anaya Rosique, Daniel Goldin e Antonio Saborit. Porto Alegre, Brasil: Artmed Editora. Chartier, R. (2002). Os desafios da escrita. São Paulo, Brasil: Editora Unesp. Choppin, A. (2002, April). O historiador e o livro escolar. Revista História da Educação, (11), 5-24.

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Choppin, A. (2004, September / December). História dos livros e das edições didáticas: Sobre o estado da arte. Revista Educação e Pesquisa, 30 (3), 549-566. Fiscarelli, R. B. de O. (2008). Material didático: Discursos e saberes. Araraquara, Brasil: Junqueira & Marin. Gérard, F.-M., & Roegiers, X. (1998). Conceber e avaliar manuais escolares. Porto, Portugal: Porto Editora. Güemes Artiles, R. M. (1994). Libros de texto y desarrollo del currículo en el aula. Un estudio de casos. (Doctoral dissertation, Universidad de La Laguna, España). Retrieved from ftp://tesis.bbtk.ull.es/ccssyhum/cs15.pdf. Krashen, S. (1985). The input hypothesis. New York, NY: Longman. Maley, A. (2011). Squaring the circle – reconciling materials as constraint with materials as empowerment. In B. Tomlinson, (Ed.), Materials development in language teaching (2nd ed.) (pp. 379-402). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Norris, J., & Ortega, L. (2001). Does type of instruction make a difference? Substantive findings from a meta-analytic review. Language Learning, 51 (1), 157-213. Oliveira, J. B. A., Guimarães, S. D. P., & Bomény, H. M. B. (1984). A política do livro didático. São Paulo, Brasil: Summus. Richaudeau, F. (1979). Conception et production des manuels scolaires – guide pratique. Paris, France: Unesco. Richards, J. C. (2002, April). The role of textbooks in a language program. New Routes. Tomlinson, B. (Ed.). (2011). Materials development in language teaching (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

CHAPTER FOUR THE LEARNER KNOWS BEST: INVOLVING SECONDARY STUDENTS IN TOPIC AND MATERIALS SELECTION FOR MEANINGFUL CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES ISABELLA SEEGER

Introduction Learner motivation has been regarded as one of the central issues in language teaching for a long time now. However, despite the combined efforts of materials designers and teachers to make language learning motivating, Raffini (1993) deplores learners’ perceived lack of relevance of institutional learning for their lives, as well as a lack of practiceoriented literature in this field: “Large numbers of students are rejecting school as a means for improving their lives. Many start by becoming truants at the age of 13 or 14, and then dropping out at their first opportunity. Others endure their school years with sullen, glassy-eyed looks on their faces as they slouch in their desks without books, pens, or paper. With two or three notable exceptions, few books are written to help teachers understand these students or deal with the problems of student apathy.” (Raffini, 1993, p. xi)

Times have changed since Raffini's observation but, sadly, teachers in secondary education are still too familiar with his description, although there is now a wider range of literature addressing this issue. Research into Learner Autonomy and Motivation theory in the context of language learning point to ways of stimulating and motivating students by making learning more relevant and meaningful to them. One of the strategies suggested by researchers in both fields is learner involvement in syllabus design, which is apt to make classroom content and methods more meaningful

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for the learner and can be implemented at a very early stage. Moreover, language teaching concepts that have been widely adopted by national language curricula, such as the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), offer various classroom strategies for raising and maintaining motivation (Council of Europe, 2001). Many of the CEFR suggestions are related to the relevance and meaningfulness of topics and materials for the learners’ goals and real-life experience. However, deciding what topics and materials are thus relevant and meaningful for their students can be a complex challenge for teachers and materials designers. This is maybe particularly evident in the German education system, which streams learners into different secondary school types, thus raising numerous specific issues with regard to syllabus design. The following three issues, however, may be observed in many other education systems as well. Firstly, educators’ pedagogic aims and their personal and professional experiences very often differ from the students’ interests, real-life experiences and future professional needs. Secondly, curricular demands for conformity to educational standards may conflict with students’ desires to conform to peer group values. Thirdly, adult notions of classroom suitability concerning language and content of authentic materials are often virtually mocked by teenagers’ constant reallife encounters with ‘unsuitable’ materials. I will therefore present some classroom strategies for English Language Teaching (ELT) developed from Learner Autonomy and Motivation theory and postulate that even within a restrictive curriculum learners' influence on the selection of topics and materials and their (semi-)autonomous (i.e. partly guided) exploration can be implemented to some degree. Examples from classroom practice will illustrate ways of involving learners in the selection of materials such as literature, music and film, with the aim of making learning activities more meaningful to them and more gratifying to the teacher.

Autonomy and Motivation: Learner and Teacher Autonomy In the light of a possible discrepancy between what is considered ‘appropriate’ classroom content and language by educationists on the one hand and learners on the other, Macaro’s (2008) dictum that “autonomy resides in being able to say what you want to say rather than producing the language of others” (p. 60) seems highly relevant. Autonomous learning has been defined as “the ability to take charge of one’s own learning” (Holec, 1981, p. 3) and has also been directly connected to learner motivation

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(e.g. Dam, 1994; Lennon, 2008; Little, 2004). As Little (2004) puts it: “If learners are involved in the management of their own learning and are able to shape it according to their developing interests, they are exploiting but also nourishing their intrinsic motivation” (pp. 105-106). In language teaching methodology, the advent of Learner Autonomy marked the transition from traditional approaches to Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and from a teacher-centred classroom to a focus on the learner, starting in the 1980s (Lennon, 2008, p. 39). It has been widely agreed that both learners and teachers, especially those with a traditional learning or teaching experience, need to become gradually accustomed to this approach. Smith (2008) points out that, while there may be an innate ability in all learners to control their own learning, it has been observed that it is necessary to train this ability to avoid overchallenging learners. Dam (1994) and Lennon (2008) therefore suggest involving learners in decision-making concerning small issues from a very early age while still giving ample guidance and then adapting tasks over the years to gradually require more autonomy and responsibility until the learners develop sufficient maturity and proficiency to become entirely self-directed in their learning process. In this context, Dam (1994) warns of frustration in both teachers and learners, especially as teachers need to “make the learners make decisions and take over responsibility for these decisions” (p. 525) and at the same time relinquish control over the classroom (Dam, 2011). In view of these challenges, Holec’s (1981) postulate that “self-direction in learning must remain a possibility offered to and not forced upon the learners” (p. 34) perhaps applies to teachers as well. While learner autonomy has become a recognised strategy in language teaching, it is far from being regularly implemented in secondary classrooms; apart from teachers’ attitudes towards their changing role and the challenge for the learners, this also has to do with a lack of teacher autonomy. In defining teacher autonomy, Shen (2011) distinguishes between self-direction and freedom from control, which mutually require each other: “[I]n order to be self-directed, teachers need to have freedom from control by others; in order to be free from control, teachers need to be self-directed” (p. 28). Within prescriptive curricula featuring high uncertainty avoidance, established procedures and standardised skills, as characterised by Hofstede (1994) and described in more detail in the following section, there is, however, not a lot of room for either. According to Dam (2011), teachers and learners may develop learner autonomy through moving from a “teacher-directed teaching environment” (p. 41) to a “possible learner-directed learning environment” (p. 41) by evaluating

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what was done previously, making plans for the future, putting them into practice and finally evaluating the outcome, as shown in Figure 4-1:

Fig. 4-1 Developing learner autonomy – a simplified model (Dam, 2011, p. 41)

However, a complete move from teacher- to learner-directed classrooms may not be entirely possible within a restrictive education system. To shed some light on the specific issues arising in the context of developing learner autonomy within a prescriptive curriculum, I will describe the status quo at German secondary schools where the various stakeholders may have different goals and perceptions that influence attitudes towards methods, topics and materials and thus learner motivation in general.

Different Stakeholders’ Perspectives Little (2004) ascribes the “learner alienation” (p. 106) previously outlined to a disparity between learners and learning content, which eventually leads to general educational failure and also accounts for many learners’ inability to apply their institutionally acquired knowledge to the real world (Little, 2004). This lack of competence may not even be recognised as such during learners’ school years, as learners may notwithstanding be able to deploy their knowledge in a test. To analyse the reasons for the above disparity, it is necessary to determine the goals and perceptions of the three main parties involved in teaching and learning, namely, curriculum designers, teachers and learners. The goals of the German curriculum for English as a Foreign Language (EFL), as presumably those of many other curricula, are determined by

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several factors, the main of which are: a) educators’ visions, b) political aims, c) conformity with social and educational values and d) the presumed future needs of the students. Unfortunately, the numerous recent reforms of the federal German education system, each following political change at either federal or national level, have provided sad evidence that factors a) and b) may serve educators’ or politicians’ career interests rather than the implementation of sound educational theory in the learners’ interest. This phenomenon is not unique to Germany; it has also been described in international contexts (Alderson & Banerjee, 2001). The goals concerning factors c) and d) are set down in the curricular guidelines of the federal states (e.g. Ministerium für Schule und Weiterbildung des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, 2011). While these goals may seem perfectly justified, since they reflect societal aims as seen from the point of view of adults, these aims may nevertheless not be identical to the aims and needs perceived by teenage learners themselves, as will be explained later. As Lortie (2002) observes, teachers’ behaviours and attitudes may have a powerful impact on the students' learning process and potential success or failure. Teachers’ attitudes are determined by their personal and professional goals, and these are usually influenced by teacher education programmes, at least during their training phase. However, teachers’ behaviours and attitudes may also be fossilised by their own student experience and an unconscious tendency to imitate their own teachers (Lortie, 2002). Denscombe (1982) points out that experienced teachers are in fact inclined to disregard research findings. In the German secondary school system, teachers’ goals—and hence their attitudes—are determined primarily by the restrictive curriculum, which prescribes a graded coursebook series to be chosen from a very limited range of approved materials (Ministerium für Schule und Bildung des Landes NordrheinWestfalen, 2017). Another issue lies in teachers’ perception of the suitability of the content and language to be taught, which may not correspond to their students’ perception. At this point, a brief explanation may be needed about the German education system, which streams students into different secondary school types catering for different levels of cognitive ability and different career goals. Hauptschule and Realschule (and recent hybrid forms) for Years 5-10 prepare students for vocational careers, whereas Gymnasium (Years 5-12/13) prepares students for higher education; Gesamtschule comprises all three. My teaching experience in both secondary and teacher education shows that many student teachers, having themselves attended Gymnasium and often coming from comparatively

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educated families, are completely unfamiliar with the needs and life concepts of students from other school types. Teenage learners’ goals cannot reasonably be expected to conform with the goals of curriculum designers and teachers as outlined above. With regard to topic selection, teenage students, who are unlikely to grasp all of the long-term purposes and merits of language learning, will rather focus on their personal interests and preferences. Another issue is that students’ real-life experiences are completely different from those of previous generations. This is currently obvious with regard to digital literacy, but also true for other aspects of life, such as social, cultural and linguistic environments, encounters with music, literature and film, mobility and changing professional and occupational requirements. Unlike their teachers, students may regard the online availability of information and materials as a central criterion with priority over suitability or reliability. In addition, teenage students’ desire to integrate into a peer group and conform with the values of this group determines their selfimage and very often equals a wish for non-conformity with or protest against adult values. These disparities between learners’ goals and perceptions and the goals of educationists create what Little (2004) calls “the gulf that so often exists between the learner and whatever it is he or she is supposed to be learning” (p. 106). This gulf manifests itself, for instance, in what topics and materials are regarded ‘appropriate’ by whom; the following examples from literature, film, music and digital sources may illustrate this: -

World versus mainstream literature and graphic novels (if students are at all interested in reading) Arthouse versus mainstream film, YouTube videos, TV series and reality TV productions Songwriter versus pop music, hip hop, techno and other music genres (often in the learners’ first language) Informative/educational versus entertaining Web content and social media

The problem with this is that learners who constantly expose themselves to, and interact with, ‘uneducational’ input outside the classroom may perceive the content and language prescribed by the curriculum and presented by the teacher as irrelevant. Students may ask themselves, “Why am I learning something that has no connection with the real world I live in?”.

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Meaningful Stimuli and Motivational Strategies Stimulus Appraisal Theory suggests that any individual’s preferences and aversions stem from this person’s appraisal of the value of a new stimulus, based on their accumulated past experience. The individual will thus assess the stimulus according to the following graded assessment criteria: 1. novelty; 2. intrinsic pleasantness; 3. relevance and/or conduciveness to meeting goals or plans; 4. ability to cope with the perceived event; 5. compatibility with self-concept and social norms (Leventhal & Scherer, 1987). Schumann (1997) emphasises the individuality of appraisal in language learning contexts: “The appraisal mechanism guides SLA. It appraises the teacher, method, and syllabus, as well as the target language, its speakers, and the culture in which it is used. Because each appraisal system is different, each second language learner is on a separate motivational trajectory. Consequently, inconsistency across individuals in the measurement of affective factors and SLA proficiency is to be expected. When consistency is found, it is only because groups of people, for cultural reasons, occasionally make similar appraisals about language learning” (Schumann, 1997, p. 2).

Translated to secondary EFL classrooms, Leventhal and Scherer's (1987) criteria thus might generate the student questions and considerations shown in Figure 4-2 below. The considerations in Figure 4-2, arising from teaching practice, illustrate that a prescriptive curriculum and teacher-directed classroom are unlikely to provide satisfactory answers to these student questions, as neither curriculum designers nor teachers are normally in a position to know (or are at all interested in) individual students' personal preferences, temporary dispositions or goals for the future. However, Dörnyei (2001) suggests three main strategies to stimulate and motivate learners and thus make learning more meaningful to them: -

“Breaking the monotony of learning” (p. 73) by varying teaching methods; “Making the tasks more interesting” (p. 75) by new, challenging and authentic content; “Increasing student involvement” (p. 77).

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Fig. 4-2 Possible student questions regarding new learning stimuli and considerations regarding the curriculum

Strategy 3, my main focus, is apt to increase individualisation of stimuli and also conducive to a gradual introduction of the learners to decision-making and taking responsibility in Lennon’s (2008) sense. However, the curricular restraints and other issues concerning German EFL classrooms call for some adaptation of Dam’s (2011) description of

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the process of developing learner autonomy. In this specific context, developing learner autonomy means maintaining a constant balance by reconciling the conventional teacher-controlled classroom with the evolving learner-directed classroom. In this balance, the process must include constant negotiation with other stakeholders outside the EFL classroom (e.g. school inspectors, head teachers and parents) and thus assumes a cyclical nature, as illustrated in Figure 4-3:

Fig. 4-3 Balancing teacher-controlled and self-directed learning within a restrictive curriculum (adapted from Dam, 2011, p. 41)

According to Lennon (2008), learner involvement should include tasks, materials, methods and outcome, with the overall objective of making learning more meaningful to the learners. Since the content topic and the materials and media used to exploit it have a huge influence on student motivation right from the start of every teaching unit, the following section will look specifically at topics and materials selection by the learners.

Learner Involvement in Syllabus Design: Challenges and Issues Benson (2011) observes that “[i]f the language to be learned is to become the learner’s own, the locus of control over learning content should lie with the learner rather than with the teacher, the textbook or the syllabus” (p. 114). Notwithstanding, while it is easy to ask learners what topics they

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would like to work on in the EFL classroom and through which type of media these should be presented and processed, it is almost impossible to find any that suit all students in class to the same extent. The CEFR suggests using all kinds of authentic texts and media, including texts produced for entertainment (Council of Europe, 2001), which may at first glance open a large range of topics and materials likely to appeal to the learners. However, in a mixed-gender group of learners at the age of puberty, some students will have preferences that cause aversion in others and vice versa; unfortunately, in teenagers these likes and dislikes are often more intense than in either very young or adult learners. While teenagers may have a flaming passion for a certain subject, their tolerance threshold for subjects perceived as uninteresting or hateful is often very low. This means that if one part of the class is fully engaged in a topic, another part may be (or pretend to be) bored to death by it. It has to be said at this point that within my main target groups – students between twelve and sixteen at the school types preparing for vocational careers – topic preferences seem to be largely gender- and media-influenced and the usual stereotypes in these contexts can generally be relied on to cause controversy in class. Involving the learners in selecting a topic to be worked on collectively thus raises the problem of getting all students in class to agree on the same topic in a democratic process. One way of addressing this issue is to have a poll on topics suggested by the students, but before the final vote the teacher and/or the students should suggest possible subtopics for each main topic to raise awareness of the many different aspects related to a ‘boring’ topic. In my experience this works particularly well with literature and film, which almost always offer a wealth of subtopics, sometimes only loosely related to the main topic and apt to address the students' varied tastes, so each student (or small group) will find something of personal relevance and interest to them. Since similar controversial discussions tend to arise about music, and because song lyrics are so much shorter than books or feature films, a more individualised approach suggests itself. For example, if interested students (individual or as a small group) are given an opportunity to present their favourite song, students who are opposed to it are usually more inclined to participate in class if they know the duration of engagement with it will be short and that their own choice will be respected in the same way. Another strategy is to help these students learn how to express their differing viewpoint in a socially acceptable manner, which in itself is a meaningful, real-world activity. The following concrete examples from classroom practice will illustrate in what ways learners can

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be involved in topics and materials selection to motivate them and make activities in the language classroom more relevant and meaningful to them. Since a detailed description of the wide range of activities used in these contexts would exceed the scope of this chapter, I would like to refer the interested reader to a few recommended readings listed below the References.

Examples from Classroom Practice The first example will describe the democratic process in which a literary topic may be chosen by the students. In the first step, the students collect a number (limited by the teacher) of topics they are interested in on the board. These topics are narrowed down, for example by one or two subsequent polls, to one that is acceptable to most students. If it is too challenging for lower-level target groups to find suitable topic-related literature, the teacher suggests two or three different books, providing for each a plot summary with an image of the book cover. The students are given sufficient opportunity to look at them and discuss them and elect the one to be used. A real example will illustrate how the learners’ ideas of ‘interesting topics’ may differ from the teacher’s. My Year-7 students at a German Realschule came up with ‘Crime’, ‘Animals’, ‘Sports’, ‘Horror/Fantasy’ and ‘Love’; certainly not all of them topics rated suitable for this age group (12-13) by adults, and probably not all of them considered ‘educational’. In this particular case, the top candidate, determined by majority vote, was ‘Animals’. The students themselves then proposed The 101 Dalmatians (Smith, 1956), as they were all familiar with at least two (dubbed) film adaptations. Taking up this argument, I added The Incredible Journey (Burnford, 1961), and, more as an afterthought, The Call of the Wild (London, 1903). (While all of these were adapted versions, a compromise with curricular prescriptions, it might be better to use excerpts from the original texts, as proposed by Collie & Slater, 1987, and Seeger, forthcoming.) Rather to my surprise and contrary to their previous argument, the students agreed on the last suggestion out of curiosity, as no one knew the book or film adaptation. The students’ subsequent participation in the tasks, which again offered the students options, especially with regard to research, was substantially more active than usual. When asked for the perceived cause, the students ascribed it to increased personal interest, due to greater freedom at all stages. In the following year, this group amazed me by suggesting ‘doing another book’; forgoing the election procedure, they had already agreed on White Fang

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(London, 1906), found out about the year before through research on the author. The second example is about music, a good opportunity to individualise content, since songs do not necessarily require a lot of classroom time and can thus be ‘squeezed in’ more easily than literature or film. One issue about music, apart from the students’ varying tastes, is that even young teachers are often unfamiliar with the fast-changing musical preferences of teenagers, which may include subcultural genres unknown to adults. Of the numerous songs suggested by my students in Years 8-10, I knew only about half, and many of those only as the mother of a teenage son. To find out about these preferences, a ‘wish list’ can be hung on the wall encouraging the students to enter songs to be worked with in class. Since favourites are often shared by several students, the number is usually manageable. The teacher determines a fair order of treatment in class, for instance by linking songs to lesson content. If there is no Internet access in the classroom, the students must provide the music in form of an audio file or CD. The teacher can then listen to the song in advance, provide the lyrics and decide how to exploit the song in the classroom. There should be no teacher veto except for illegal content or music officially rated inappropriate. Linguistically challenging songs may be introduced by using only short extracts—a solution also for lengthy rap texts—and/or by listening or reading for gist only and focusing more on language production. Some songs will be too shallow for discussion and others too difficult to interpret, but in my experience students quickly move on if a song ‘flops’ in class. Other songs may turn out to be treasure troves of pedagogic opportunities; among the music that has enriched not only my students but also myself are genres I would never have listened to without my students. A little anecdote may illustrate the possible effects of student-chosen songs on both the teacher and other students. A student in Year 9 suggested the piece Punk Rock Song by Bad Religion (Graffin, 1996). I was sceptical, knowing the genre was unpopular with this group and because the lyrics are hard to hear over the music. However, the song (also provided in writing) takes a critical view on indifference towards poverty, an issue most students felt strongly about, which stimulated them to investigate Third World facts. Two years later, I ran into one of the students in a supermarket where he was training. He proudly told me that the long-forgotten lesson had converted him from punk rock hater to fan, that he had since read many Bad Religion lyrics and had even attended a live concert.

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The third example of learner involvement deals with choosing a film and film-related subtopics for student research; the election procedure is similar to the one described for literature. The following real examples of films chosen by students in Years 7-10 may illustrate how learners can be motivated by involvement in topic choice. The film Bend It Like Beckham (Chadha, 2002), in Germany rated suitable for age 6+ and recommended for age 10+, is frequently used in advanced learning groups in the context of post-colonialism. Having heard of its entertaining qualities, my Year-9 students proposed viewing it after their coursebook unit on British-Indian relationships and afterwards put forward topics for researching and presenting in class. A comparison between these topics and those suggested by the curriculum in connection with the film (QUA-LiS NRW, 2017; Schaeffer, 2004) illustrates the fundamental difference in the perceptions of educationists and teenage learners. Table 4-1 below presents the curricular topics on the left and those suggested by my target group on the right. While the curriculum proposes general social and cultural aspects on a more abstract level, the Year-9 students preferred rather concrete topics more closely related to their own experiences and personal interests. To open the students’ minds to the educational goals, it would therefore make sense, in my eyes, first to give room to the students’ preferences and from there guide them to the development of more general social and cultural values. In practice, the latter could be done by revisiting the film (or parts of it) during one of the following years. Among other films chosen by my students were some that would probably never have made it onto curriculum designers’ lists, as they might be considered uneducational, unsuitable or outright inappropriate for teenage learners. However, in view of a widely observable decrease in parental responsibility, teaching ethics and values increasingly becomes a focus in institutional education (Vogt, 2010), which necessarily includes thematising ‘difficult’ topics in class. Some examples of student-suggested films are listed below. A number of these were quite old at the time (and mostly known to the students in dubbed versions) – again evidence of how difficult it is for teachers to predict students’ preferences:

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Table 4-1. Topics suggested for teaching with the film Bend It Like Beckham versus student-suggested topics

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Year 7: Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties; feature film / comedy (Hill, 2006) Years 8-10: Jurassic Park; feature film / horror (Spielberg, 1993) Year 9: 8 Mile; feature film / docu-drama (Hanson, 2002) Year 9: Jaws; feature film / horror (Spielberg, 1975) Years 9-10: Saving Grace; feature film / comedy (Cole, 2000) Year 10: American History X; feature film / drama (Kaye, 1998) Year 10: Human Trafficking; TV mini-series / crime (Duguay, 2005)

However, as limited as the educational surface value of some mainstream films may seem, they often cover a range of topics usually very attractive to students of that age range (13-16), for example comedy, horror/fantasy, drugs, sex, crime, violence, racism, etc. The films are therefore apt to raise the students’ interest in content and language, as well as in the research and discussion of subtopics, which may lead to the intellectual, linguistic, social, cultural and ethical development desired by the curriculum. In the context of the above films, my students suggested

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and (semi-)autonomously researched and presented film-related topics from the following domains: -

Technology & biology (film production; fishing technology; electrical engineering; human-animal relationships; extinct species; genetic engineering, etc.) History & politics (radicalism and racism inside and outside Germany; American working-class problems; drugs; prostitution; security, etc.) Culture & travel (history of rap; stereotypes of British and American culture; London; history of transport, etc.) Family relationships, love & responsibility (different forms and concepts of 'family'; early parenthood; moral courage; breaching rules, etc.)

Each of these topics was meaningful to the student(s) who suggested it and at the same time motivated them to engage with language, as the students were constantly exposed to authentic language in the course of their research and presentation projects. Thus they acquired, entirely of their own accord and often unconsciously, a comparatively large general and specialised vocabulary, in some cases directly connected to students’ future career goals. These positive effects of learner involvement in topic and materials selection are clearly in the sense of the Council of Europe (2001). They underline the question why the German EFL curriculum provides so little opportunity for (semi-)autonomous, in-depth exploration of similar materials. This question is particularly pertinent with regard to lower-ability target groups in secondary education, which are most in need of motivation and whose perceptions of ‘meaningfulness’ of content, language and activities may essentially differ from teachers’ and curriculum designers’ perceptions.

Conclusion The student apathy described by Raffini (1993), an issue as old as institutional learning, is certainly due to some extent to educationists’ lack of knowledge about (if not lack of interest in) learners’ preferences, perceptions and goals. Of course it would be rather challenging for materials designers and teachers to constantly put themselves into their students’ shoes, especially if their own careers differ vastly from the future ones of their students. However, it is easily possible to involve learners in materials selection and activities design from a very early age, with

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guidance from the teacher to be gradually reduced until the learners can take full charge of their own learning. As the practical examples illustrate, it is obviously motivating and stimulating for teenage learners to become involved in topic and materials selection. Another advantage is that where pre-designed materials such as coursebooks are bound to become quickly outdated and thus uninteresting to the learners, learner involvement facilitates the integration of fast-changing trends and topics, for example songs, from outside the classroom. Teachers who feel that student-suggested materials might be unsuitable should be aware that materials considered to be educationally appropriate are not always interesting or motivating for students, even if authentic. Moreover, it is not necessarily a responsibility of ELT to address ‘educational’ topics that are also dealt with in other subjects, and the goal of protecting learners from ‘unsuitable’ content is unrealistic, as teenagers nowadays have unlimited access to such content. At the same time, teacher training should point out that many ‘uneducational’ materials may be considered appropriate in terms of language pedagogy, if they provide opportunities for motivating students and raising their interest by encouraging the exploration of language and topics relevant to the students. Such materials may also provide opportunities of thematising ‘difficult’ topics in class, especially in the target groups described above. However, within restrictive and prescriptive curricula it is probably not possible to implement learner involvement without compromises. Teachers and school departments need to develop a balance that gives learner autonomy room to evolve within the standardised materials and procedures used in a conventional language classroom. Since (semi-) autonomy is conducive to learners’ voluntary engagement with content, language and other aspects, it may also open learners' minds to teacher- or peer-suggested topics and materials, which would facilitate a reconciliation of curricular demands and learner preferences. Within the German streaming system, which intrinsically distances teachers’ and curriculum designers’ perspectives from those of a large part of secondary students, it would be interesting to study the influence of learner autonomy on student motivation more systematically. A special focus might be the learners’ perception of meaningfulness with regard to topics, materials and activities, and the extent of teacher guidance required at the different levels. It would also be necessary to investigate in what ways the curriculum, school syllabi and coursebooks might be made more flexible to accommodate varying learners’ suggestions, including assessment forms more suitable to the types of activity related to autonomous learning

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(e.g. task-based assessment, portfolios, presentations via various media, oral assessment, etc.).

References Alderson, J. C., & Banerjee, J. (2001). Language testing and assessment (Part I). Language Teaching, 34, pp. 213-236. Benson, P. (2011). Teaching and Researching: Autonomy in Language Learning (2nd ed.). Abingdon, United Kingdom: Routledge. Burnford, S. (1961). The Incredible Journey. [Adventure novel]. London, United Kingdom: Hodder. Chadha, G. (Producer & Director) (2002). Bend It Like Beckham. [Film]. United Kingdom / Germany: Kintop Pictures et al. Cole, N. (Director) (2000). Saving Grace. [Film]. United Kingdom: Portman Entertainment Group et al. Collie, J. & Slater, S. (1987). Literature in the Language Classroom. A resource book of ideas and activities. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. Council of Europe (2001). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. Dam, L. (1994). How do we recognize an autonomous classroom? Die Neueren Sprachen, 93(5), pp. 503-527. Dam, L. (2011). Developing learner autonomy with school kids: principles, practices, results. In D. Gardner (Ed.) Fostering Autonomy in Language Learning (pp. 40-51). Gaziantep, Turkey: Zirve University. Denscombe, M. (1982). The ‘Hidden Pedagogy’ and its implications for teacher training. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 3(3), pp. 249-265. Dörnyei, Z. (2001). Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. Duguay, C. (Director) (2005). Human Trafficking. [TV mini-series]. Canada/USA: For Sale Productions et al. Graffin, G. (1996). Punk Rock Song. [Single music track]. In R. Ocasek (Producer) & Bad Religion (Band), The Gray Race. [Album]. New York, NY: Electric Lady Studios. Hanson, C. (Director) (2002). 8 Mile. [Film]. USA/Germany: Imagine Entertainment et al. Hill, T. (Director) (2006). Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties. [Film]. United Kingdom / USA: Twentieth Century Fox et al.

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Hofstede, G. (1994). Cultures and Organizations. London, United Kingdom: HarperCollins Holec, H. (1981). Autonomy and Foreign Language Learning. Oxford, United Kingdom: Pergamon Press. Kaye, T. (Director) (1998). American History X. [Film]. USA: New Line Cinema et al. Lennon, P. (2008). Learner autonomy and teaching methodology. In S. Gramley and V. Gramley (Eds.) Bielefeld Introduction to Applied Linguistics (pp. 39-50). Bielefeld, Germany: Aisthesis. Leventhal, H., & Scherer, K. (1987). The relationship of emotion to cognition: A functional approach to a semantic controversy. Cognition & Emotion, 1, pp. 3-28. Little, D. (2004). Democracy, discourse and learner autonomy in the foreign language classroom. Utbildning & Demokrati, 13(3), pp. 105126. London, J. (1903). The Call of the Wild. [Adventure novel]. Oxford, United Kingdom: Macmillan. London, J. (1906). White Fang. [Adventure novel]. Oxford, United Kingdom: Macmillan. Lortie, D. C. (2002). Schoolteacher (2nd ed.). Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press. Macaro, E. (2008). The shifting dimensions of language learner autonomy. In T. Lamb & H. Reinders (Eds.) Learner and Teacher Autonomy: Concepts, Realities and Response (pp. 47-62). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins. Ministerium für Schule und Weiterbildung des Landes NordrheinWestfalen (Ed.) (2011). Kernlehrplan für die Hauptschule in Nordrhein-Westfalen: Englisch (Curricular Guidelines for Hauptschule in North Rhine-Westphalia: English). Frechen, Germany: Ritterbach. Ministerium für Schule und Bildung des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen (Ed.) (2017). Verzeichnis der zugelassenen Lernmittel: Realschule (List of Approved Teaching Materials: Realschule). Retrieved from https://www.schulministerium.nrw.de/docs/Schulsystem /Unterricht/Lernmittel/Realschule/index.html QUA-LiS NRW (Ed.) (2017). Mündliche Prüfung im letzten Jahr der Sekundarstufe I Englisch. (Oral Examination of English in the Final Year of Lower Secondary Education). [Teacher's notes]. Retrieved from https://www.schulentwicklung.nrw.de/cms/upload/muendl_kompetenz en/Bend_It_Like_Beckham.docx

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Raffini, J. P. (1993). Winners without Losers: Structures and Strategies for Increasing Student Motivation to Learn. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Schaeffer, K. T. (2004). Kick it like Beckham (Bend It Like Beckham). [Teacher's notes]. Bonn, Germany: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung. Schumann, J. H. (1997). The Neurobiology of Affect in Language. Oxford, United Kingdom: Blackwell. Seeger, I. (forthcoming). Multimodal, (semi-)autonomous film and literature projects in the lower secondary EFL classroom. In E. Domínguez Romero, J. Bobkina, S. Stefanova (Eds.), Teaching Literature and Language Through Multimodal Texts. Hershey, PA: IGI Global. Shen, J. (2011). Autonomy in EFL education. Canadian Social Science, 7(5), pp. 27-32. Smith, D. (1956). The Hundred and One Dalmatians. [Children's novel]. Portsmouth, United Kingdom: Heinemann. Smith, R. C. (2008). Learner autonomy. ELT Journal, 62(4), pp. 395-397. Spielberg, S. (Director) (1975). Jaws. [Film]. USA: Zanuck/Brown et al. Spielberg, S. (Director) (1993). Jurassic Park. [Film]. USA: Universal Pictures et al. Vogt, M. (2010). Kann man Werte lehren und lernen? (Is it possible to teach and learn values?). In M.-A. Bäuml-Roßnagl (Ed.), Qualitäten des Menschlichen—Facetten einer aktuellen Bildungsethik (Characteristics of being human—Facets of contemporary educational ethics). (Electronic publication). Retrieved from https://epub.ub.uni-muenchen.de/11470/1/Bildungsethik-epub.pdf

Recommended Readings: Literature, Music, Film Bland, J. M. (2013). Children's Literature and Learner Empowerment. London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury. Bland, J. M. (Ed.) (forthcoming). Teaching English with Challenging Texts: Literature in Language Education with 8-18 Year Olds. London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury. Madylus, O. (2009). Film, TV and Music. Multilevel photocopiable activities for teenagers. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. Mishan, F. (2005). Designing Authenticity into Language Learning Materials. Bristol, United Kingdom: Intellect Books.

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Nuttall, C. (2005). Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language (3rd ed.). Oxford, United Kingdom: Macmillan. Shen, C. (2009). Using English songs: an enjoyable and effective approach to ELT. English Language Teaching, 2(1), pp. 88-94. Stempleski, S. and Tomalin, B. (2001). Film. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. Thaler, E. (2014). Teaching English with Films. Paderborn, Germany: Schöningh.

CHAPTER FIVE SQUARE PEG, ROUND HOLE? DEVELOPING MEANING-FOCUSED MATERIALS FOR FORM-FOCUSED COURSES IN TEACHER EDUCATION MARINA BOUCKAERT

Introduction For me, an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher educator, it is self-evident that classroom materials should be meaning-focused. This belief is based on my own experiences as an EFL learner, on my practical teaching experiences in secondary and higher education in the Netherlands, and on theories on language acquisition and learning underpinning principled materials development (see e.g. Guilloteaux, 2013; Tomlinson, 2013): repeated second language (L2) input and opportunities for output should “ensure that learners focus predominantly on meaning” (Ellis, 2005, p. 11). However, a dilemma arises in my specific professional context, which involves pre-service student teachers who are not only educated to become secondary school teachers, obtaining a Bachelor of Education degree after four years, but who are also required to develop their own language skills from a B2 level – or lower, in some cases – to a C2 level, and pass their Cambridge Proficiency Exam. Their subject courses include Linguistics in years 1 and 2, courses which deal with students’ own comprehension of grammatical rule systems, with a strong emphasis on forms. Using merely meaning-focused materials in such subjects feels like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. This chapter will focus on the following question, which has been on my mind since I started teaching Linguistics: in the context of a preservice teacher education course which explicitly focuses on forms, how can I stimulate student teachers’ development of meaning-focused materials

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and meaning-focused lessons? I will start by offering theoretical perspectives on questions such as why meaning-focused materials are desirable, and whether we should focus on forms at all. I will then discuss my professional context in more detail, to be better able to address the questions whether one approach (form-focused) excludes the other (meaning-focused), and whether there may be an ideal combination. Examples from practice will be offered with the aim to assess their feasibility and usefulness. In exploring what approach benefits my students, and what approach will, in turn, benefit their pupils, I will discuss the responsibility I have to ‘model’ various EFL teaching methods. More practical suggestions for educators in similar contexts will be provided at the end of the chapter.

1. Theoretical Perspectives 1.1 Focus on meaning The first question this chapter addresses is why meaning-focused materials – and meaning-focused lessons – are desirable in the first place. In my opinion, using language is all about making meaning. Most teachers of modern foreign languages today, who are all, at least to some extent, aware of and affected by the principles underpinning communicative language teaching, will agree that meaningful and comprehensible input and output, as well as affective and cognitive engagement, are generally seen as essential in language acquisition and development (e.g. Ellis, 2005; Krashen, 1985; Mishan, 2017; Nation, 1993; Tomlinson, 2003; 2017). Models of language learning and teaching which are commonly used in Dutch pre-service teacher education programmes (such as those by Bimmel, Canton, Fasoglio, & Rijlaarsdam, 2008, and by Westhoff, 2008) confirm the importance of meaning in language learning. In the Netherlands, the national objectives for secondary education appeal to a focus on communicative effect as well (CvTE, Governmental College for Testing and Exams, 2016; SLO, Dutch Institute for Curriculum Development, 2016). These objectives are based on, and make explicit reference to, the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR, Council of Europe, 2011). In fact, the core objectives for the lower forms of Dutch secondary education lack any reference to form – either grammatical, syntactic, phonological or otherwise: they mostly focus on the development of communication strategies and general learning strategies (see Figure 5-1 below).

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The pupil learns x to increasingly familiarise himself with the sound of the English language by listening frequently to spoken and sung texts. x to use strategies to expand his English vocabulary. x to use strategies to acquire information from spoken and written English texts. x to find, arrange and assess information in written and digital sources in English, for himself and others. x to give others an impression of his every-day life in colloquial speech. x to conduct standard conversations in order to purchase something, seek information, or ask for help. x to maintain informal contacts in English by email, letter and chat. x about the role of English in different types of international contacts.

Fig. 5-1 Core objectives for the lower forms of Dutch secondary education (SLO, 2008, p. 85)

Given this combination of general acquisition principles and national objectives, I argue that it only makes sense for EFL student teachers who are prepared to teach at these secondary levels to learn to develop, evaluate and work with communicative, meaning-focused materials, and to learn to teach meaning-focused lessons themselves. 1.2 Focus on forms A follow-up question which arises is whether we, as EFL teaching professionals and learners, should focus on forms at all. Before we can address this question, it might be useful to revisit the outcome of Ellis’s (2016) critical review, in which he juxtaposes the notions of focus on form (FonF) and focus on forms (FonFs). Notwithstanding historic changes in interpretation of the terms originally coined by Long (1988, 1991), the former commonly points towards “an approach where learners’ attention is attracted to linguistic forms as they engage in the performance of tasks” (i.e. in meaning making), while the latter denotes “a structure-based approach … where specific linguistic forms are taught directly and explicitly” (Ellis, 2016, p. 405). Although ‘form’ can clearly refer to more than just grammatical form, following Ellis, this chapter will only focus on grammar. Based on extensive literature reviews and meta-analyses, Walter (2016) asserts that there are positive and lasting effects of an explicit focus

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on grammar, as long as it is offered in addition to meaningful input and communicative practice. She refers to studies conducted by Norris and Ortega (2000), Gass and Selinker (2008), Spada and Lightbown (2008), and Spada and Tomita (2010) to argue that it depends on the context of the learners how important explicit grammar teaching is, and to what extent grammar should be taught. She concludes that there is some evidence that it is good to focus on forms, i.e. teach grammar rules, as long as this focus is efficient and reliable, and the teaching follows careful consideration of the scope and frequency of those rules (Walter, 2016). In a footnote to his paper, Ellis (2016) raises the question whether any pedagogic approach can be devoid of a focus on forms; even in immersion programmes, corrective feedback is often provided. Similarly, one may wonder whether any pedagogic approach can be completely devoid of meaning. Either way, in his overview of the three approaches to language teaching (including focus on meaning, or FonM), FonFs is described as the least favourable or desirable (see Table 5-1 below). Ellis cites Long (1988), who, from the very beginning, did not consider “an instructional program built around a series of (or even a sequence) of isolated forms” to be “supportable …, either theoretically, empirically, or logically” (p. 136, italics removed). Instead, Long advocated meaning-focused approaches such as those involving language tasks and the development of communicative competence. Despite this apparent shift in thinking about the importance of meaning and communicative effect, historic developments in EFL teaching and learning in the Netherlands have resulted in a general pedagogy that still seems to be very much focused on forms (Kwakernaak, 2012). Although coursebooks used in secondary education often explicitly refer to communicative competences, the national core objectives, and the ‘can do’ statements in the CEFR, what persists is much drilling practice (e.g. gapfilling exercises), a strong emphasis on vocabulary and grammar tests, and many opportunities to sidestep speaking and writing activities. Arguably, the onus is on teacher education to promote new and developing visions of language learning, and to help (pre-service) teachers incorporate them in their professional practice (Lunenberg, Korthagen, & Swennen, 2007). It is to teacher education that I therefore turn next.

Square Peg, Round Hole? FonFs No needs analysis

FonM Usually no needs analysis

No realistic models of language

Older learners cannot fully acquire an L2 ‘naturally’ and thus FonM cannot succeed in enabling such learners to achieve high levels of L2 proficiency Even prolonged exposure to the L2 does not ensure that learners will acquire non-salient linguistic features Learners need negative evidence because positive evidence is insufficient to guarantee acquisition of some grammatical features FonM is inefficient because it results in only slow progress

Ignores the fact that learning a new word or rule is a slow and gradual process Fails to recognise that the teachability of grammatical forms is constrained by their learnability Tends to result in boring lessons

Results in more false beginners than finishers

Can result in confidence and fluency in the use of the L2 but limited accuracy in use of the target language system

75 FonF A needs analysis of the target tasks learners need to perform provides the basis of a task-based syllabus Attracts attention to forms that otherwise learners might not notice

Allows for the slow and gradual process involved in the learning of L2 linguistic features Respects the learners’ internal syllabus

Is under learner control because it only occurs in response to the learners’ communication problems Assists the development of form-function mapping and so promotes both fluency and accuracy

Table 5-1. Summary of Long’s views about three approaches to language teaching (adapted from Ellis, 2016, p. 407)

1.3 A happy medium? Now that we have compared and contrasted the two extreme ends of the continuum, we can consider whether one approach (form-focused) excludes the other (meaning-focused). Might there be an ideal combination, or happy medium? For me, discovering such a potential solution relates to the question which approach or combination of approaches would benefit my students and, consequently, their pupils. As a teacher educator, I am taking into consideration the obligation I have

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towards these so-called “unseen children”, i.e. the present or future pupils of those I teach (a term coined by to Guilfoyle, Hamilton, & Pinnegar, 1997). Which set of instructed L2 learning principles can I use as well as offer as a guide to student teachers as they compare methods, choose techniques and try out various procedures for themselves (Ellis & Shintani, 2014)? As explained in section 1.1, Dutch pre-service EFL teachers should learn about principles of communicative, meaning-focused language teaching, and how to apply such principles in practice, if they are to help their pupils meet national standards. At the same time, many EFL coursebooks in their future school context (still) involve form-focused instruction and assessment, and literature reviews tell them that explicit grammar instruction can be beneficial. Even though a FonF approach to Linguistics may be the most favourable or desirable in theory, it might not be very realistic in the context of a four-year Bachelor of Education programme in which time is limited, many other courses are taught, and a near-native command of English is targeted. In addition, it could be argued that, within this limited time frame, educators have an obligation to discuss and show a variety of approaches for student teachers to experience, compare and evaluate. The responsibility teacher educators have in terms of telling about, showing, explaining, and justifying desirable approaches is not easy. In fact, according to Berry (2007), one of the tensions faced by educators is “learning how to balance their desire to tell prospective teachers about teaching, and providing opportunities for prospective teachers to learn about teaching for themselves” (p. 120). In the final section of this theoretical framework, I will elaborate on this responsibility, and discuss the concept of ‘modelling’ as a means of taking it. Modelling my own quest for the most appropriate approach may well illustrate, and result in, a sensible balance between extremes. 1.4 Modelling A powerful tool I have in my professional context is to ‘teach what I preach’ and make my pedagogic decisions explicit, because my students are educated to become EFL teachers, too (Swennen, Lunenberg, & Korthagen, 2008). Modelling can be defined as “the act of sharing through explicit demonstration a particular skill, practice, activity, or way of thinking. Modelling teaching involves showcasing teaching practice, as well as the reasoning that informs, and the language that explains, that practice” (Mayer-Smith, 2014).

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Modelling can be implicit, incidental, and explicit (Yuan, 2017). The latter type may include facilitating the translation of what is modelled to the students’ own teaching contexts, and connecting and underpinning exemplary behaviour with theory (Lunenberg et al., 2007). In 2012, Geursen et al. introduced a model to concretise and guide explicit modelling practice. The four stages of this model are: 1. Showcase: set an example, ‘teach as you preach’; 2. Verbalise: stop the behaviour or method for a moment in order to draw students’ attention to it, make explicit what it is you do; 3. Legitimise: explain your teaching decisions, offer a rationale, possibly with the help of theory; 4. Stimulate use in practice: ask students what about this example they might use in their own teaching practice (e.g. the approach itself, or the theory behind it). Modelling as a practice is grounded in the assumption that “teachers teach as they are taught, and not how they are taught to teach” (Blume, 1971, as cited in Lunenberg et al., 2007, p. 588). Notwithstanding the demanding nature of modelling, and the suggestion that it can lead to feelings of vulnerability, cognitive dissonance and tensions on the part of educators (Berry, 2007; Lunenberg et al., 2007; White, 2011), it appears to have many potential benefits. Researchers in teacher education consent that effective modelling enhances the experience pre-service student teachers have of learning to teach, helps them develop as professionals, and can even be a way to change education (Loughran & Berry, 2005; Mayer-Smith, 2014).

2. Professional Context 2.1 Course details At the Education Department of Fontys University of Applied Sciences, a Bachelor of Education programme of 240 European credits is offered to pre-service student teachers. The programme, once completed, results in a qualification to teach in secondary and vocational education. The fulltime students who enrol are typically between 17 and 25 years old, while the part-time students range between 22 and 60 years of age. Their entry level is around B2 of the CEFR (Council of Europe, 2011). The qualification level is C2, which is a near-native speaker level and equivalent to the Cambridge Proficiency level students are required to obtain. At the Department, the student teachers are taught subject courses in language

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skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing), linguistics, translation, sociocultural aspects and the literature of English-speaking countries, in addition to foreign language pedagogy and general didactic skills. The programme includes four school placement modules, during which students spend at least one day a week observing secondary school or vocational lessons, preparing, teaching, and evaluating lessons, and engaging in workplace learning. The course I will focus on in this chapter is Linguistics 2. It runs for 24 weeks from September to April of each academic year, for three hours a week. It has a strong focus on forms: topics include the passive voice, auxiliaries, infinitives, the ing-form, misrelated participles, cleft sentences, conditionals, the subjunctive, and complex sentence analysis. The course objectives can be found in Figure 5-2. Assessment takes the form of: 1. a written exam (this accounts for 75% of the final mark); 2. a) 15 minutes of simulated practice: students teach one of the grammar topics from the course to their peers, who pretend to be secondary pupils, using an inductive approach; b) a 10-minute video: students record a video on the same topic, using a deductive approach (together, they account for 25% of final mark). Students should score a 5.5 or higher for both assessments to earn the five credits for the course. By the end of the course, students will be able to… …demonstrate insight into the English grammar rules which are central to the course, and apply this knowledge in written and spoken English; …demonstrate their critical stance towards style, spelling, and other linguistic aspects of their own texts; …conduct a contrastive analysis of potentially interfering morphological and syntactic aspects of Dutch and English; …transfer their knowledge to a teaching context, making use of simple rules and clear examples; …uncover, correct, and explain mistakes in error analysis assignments.

Fig. 5-2 Course objectives Linguistics 2

2.2 The dilemma With such an emphasis on grammatical and syntactic rules and forms during this pre-service Linguistics course, the question I have is how I can

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still stimulate the development of meaning-focused materials and meaningfocused lessons by student teachers. The dilemma I am facing is that students are required to develop their own knowledge and skills whilst also learning about teaching this knowledge and these skills to their (prospective) pupils. The theoretical perspectives discussed in section 1 may offer a potential way out. In the following section, I will attempt to translate these perspectives into concrete practices, with the help of several didactic sources I regularly use for inspiration.

3. Examples from Practice The following three exemplary classroom activities are aimed at students’ pragmatic awareness of the passive voice as well as their knowledge and correct application of passive structures in written and spoken English. 3.1 Writing a quiz The first activity is based on Seymour and Popova’s assignment Famous People (2003, p. 87). Instructions part 1:

Form a group of three students. Use the words from Table 5-2 to write three quiz items in the following format:

“It was discovered by Marie Curie.” (answer: radioactivity) You are allowed to use other words, as long as your quiz item is written in this format and contains the correct answer. Romeo & Juliet

dynamite

the telephone

psychoanalysis

Swan Lake

Breaking Bad

E = MC2

radioactivity

Facebook

Mona Lisa

gravity

……

Table 5-2. Words to use when Writing a quiz

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Note to the teacher:

You could contextualise this activity by including more topical and appealing words in this table, or by relating them to the coursebook chapter the students have been studying.

Instructions part 2:

Now take turns quizzing the other groups. Each correct answer will give the group that shouts (or writes down) the correct answer one point. The group who scores the highest number of points, wins.

3.2 Describing changes The second activity is an adapted version of Ur’s assignment Describing Changes (2009, p. 192-195). Permission to reprint the two images was granted by Cambridge University Press. Instructions part 1:

Have a close look at the picture on your handout (see Figure 5-3). With a partner, suggest as many changes that should (or need to, or must) be made in order to tidy this room. Write them down.

Example: “The bed needs to be made.”

Fig. 5-3 First hand-out to use when Describing changes

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Instructions part 2:

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Now have a close look at both pictures (see Figures 5-3 and 5-4). Imagine that Picture B is the present situation, and that Picture A was taken in the past. Take turns describing to your partner what changes have been made.

Example: “The waste paper basket has been emptied.”

Fig. 5-4 Second hand-out to use when Describing changes

Note to the teacher:

Any combination of ‘before-and-after’ pictures or video footage could be used for this kind of assignment; particular types of makeovers shown in television programmes may appeal to different groups of learners.

3.3 Exploring how it’s made The final activity is based on Scrivener’s assignment Describing Processes (2010, p. 244). Instructions part 1:

Watch (the first five minutes of) the following video clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=VavXo4mGgZ0. Write down at least two instances of a passive form you hear.

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The video clip is an episode of the Discovery Channel series How It’s Made; in this episode, the manufacturing process of jelly beans is described. This activity may require some preteaching of the passive form, by asking students whether they remember what it consists of, or instructing them that it always contains a form of ‘to be’ and the past participle of the verb. You may want to watch the first minute of the clip together, then pause and write down the first instance as an example:

“No one is sure exactly when the jelly bean was invented, or how.” Instructions part 2:

Exchange your answers in pairs or in a group. Possible answers include:

“It is believed that the jelly centre dates back to biblical times.” “Many centuries later, the outer shell was added.” “Billions are sold at Easter alone.” “It (the starch) will be recycled.” “When the trays flip back, they are re-filled with starch.” Notes to the teacher:

Most sentences in this video clip contain an active voice, as many processes and machinery involved are personified. This approach could be pointed out to, and discussed with, students: it appears to be a way to make the description more vivid. Students could be asked to find other online videos explaining how something is made, to come up with more examples of passive forms.

3.4 Follow-up, feasibility and usefulness As a follow-up activity to each of the three activities presented above, I would suggest that the sentences produced by students are displayed on the whiteboard or screen. Ensure that the examples contain a range of verb tenses, to make students aware that the passive voice is not limited to one verb tense – and is, in fact, not a tense itself. Next, the students are asked

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to compare and contrast these sentence structures, and to come up with a general grammar rule about form. This rule could be formulated as follows: “In English, the passive voice is expressed with the help of a form of the verb ‘to be’ and the past participle of the main verb”. Students could be made aware that the form of ‘to be’ can consist of multiple verbs, as underlined in Figure 5-5. The teacher could also remind the students at this point that the past participle is either formed with –ed or takes its own, irregular form, as circled in Figure 5-5:

Fig. 5-5 Examples of students’ sentences on display

Finally, the students are asked to reflect on the activity or combination of activities, and to come up with a general grammar rule about usage. This rule could be formulated as follows: “In English, the passive voice is used when what happened is more important than who did it / the passive voice is used when describing changes and processes”. By including this type of grammar rule in the lesson, what students learn is not merely limited to form, but includes the meaning of grammar structures. This is expected to help them develop their pragmatic awareness and communicative competence. Whether the three activities described above will be feasible, relevant and useful in your own practice will certainly depend on your professional context, the needs and characteristics of the learners, and the objectives of your course. It might be helpful to contemplate what the activities have in common, and in what respects they differ. For example, the three activities all invite students to use the passive voice, yet they focus on different productive skills. They allow the teacher to make use of students’ own sentences and creativity while also offering a format. They may be used as starting points for discussions about a specific grammar topic precisely

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because they appeal to meaning-making and particular contexts in which this form is often used.

4. Additional Practical Suggestions In addition to the three activities detailed in section 3, numerous activities could similarly be employed with the aim to first focus on meaning and communicative context, and to then draw language learners’ attention to form. During the Linguistics courses, individual student teachers at Fontys University of Applied Sciences have been required to engage in 15 minutes of simulated practice in class. As discussed in section 2, they teach one grammar topic from the course to their peers, using an inductive approach. They do this with the aim to transfer their knowledge to a teaching context, making use of simple rules and clear examples. Despite the fact that the grammar topics are assigned to them and 15 minutes is rather short, I often find myself surprised and inspired by their inventiveness and creativity. In recent years, I have witnessed and evaluated lessons on the following topics: -

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Adverbs The teacher mimes activities (e.g. drinking a cup of tea, doing the dishes, waiting for the bus) and the pupils guess what the activities are. The pupils then engage in miming themselves, only this time, they choose an adverb from the whiteboard to inform the manner in which they do the activity (e.g. impatiently, sadly, slowly). Their peers guess the activity as well as the adverb (e.g. “He is slowly drinking a cup of tea”). The teacher then uses the full sentence as input to start a class discussion on the communicative function and the place of adverbs in mid-position. Auxiliaries The pupils are asked to form pairs or small groups, and write a list of school or class rules which are then compared to those drawn up by their peers. This activity will not only spark a class discussion on what is and what is not acceptable behaviour (focus on meaning), but can also be the starting point for a comparison between the meaning and form of modal auxiliaries (e.g. those ranging from ‘can’ to ‘should, ‘had better’ and ‘must’, and the possibilities of using ‘to be allowed to’ in different tenses). Conditionals The teacher informs the pupils that they will be going on a journey

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-

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around the world in a hot air balloon. They are asked to imagine what they would want to see or do once they arrive in certain countries. The conditional sentences have been printed on a handout, with increasingly fewer words there as scaffolding. For example, the first few may contain the full conditional clause and the start of the main clause: “If I go to South Africa, I will…” for pupils to complete. The next set of sentences may state the conditional clause, but require a main clause: “If I visit Canada,…”. Ultimately, the only guide is the conjunction ‘if’, which may be presented in mid-position to stimulate pupils’ creativity. Demonstrative pronouns The teacher presents a set of boom whackers: colourful, plastic tubes varying in length. Since boom whackers are an unfamiliar sight to most pupils, they will want to know what they are and what they can do. The teacher demonstrates that they can be used to make sounds, as she picks one from the table and bounces it off her hand. She asks the pupils to compare what they hear, as she picks another one and does the same (e.g. “This one sounds higher than that one”, “This is lower than that”). A similar activity can be used to practise using demonstrative pronouns as well as comparative adjectives. Interrogative pronouns and adverbs Pupils engage in a form of real-life cluedo, as they walk across the classroom to various ‘rooms’ and ask their peers “Who has committed the crime?”, “Where has the murder taken place?”, “What did the murderer use as a weapon?”, and so on, to complete their cards. Once they have, they will know the who, what and where; the teacher can use their questions to explain how question words are used in English. Past tenses The teacher sends two pupils outside the classroom and instructs those remaining that a crime was committed between seven and eight o’clock last night. Two suspects have been identified and they will be interrogated one at a time, to uncover whether their alibis match. The teacher elicits typically useful questions, like “Where were you between seven and eight last night?”, “What was your partner wearing?” etc. The two suspects, who have, in the meantime, decided on an alibi, are then interrogated. If they have done a good job, it will be impossible for the ‘detectives’ to identify the criminal; the point is that the detectives and the suspects will be using past tenses to refer to last night’s events.

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Their questions and answers can be used to discuss the differences between simple and continuous tenses. Reflexive pronouns The teacher hands one of the pupils a mirror, asking him to have a look in it. She asks: “Who do you see?”, and the pupil will most likely reply “I see myself”. She then asks another pupil “Who is he looking at?”, to elicit “He is looking at himself” Next, the teacher hands the mirror to two pupils, asks them to have a look simultaneously, thus eliciting both “We are looking at ourselves” and, from a peer, “They are looking at themselves”. She could tell the class to write down these descriptions, and to analyse why reflexive pronouns are used in them (when the object and the subject of a sentence are identical). A focus on form could also reveal the difference between ‘-self’ and ‘-selves’.

Of course, many more examples could be added. What these suggestions seem to have in common is: 1. a shared initial focus on meaning through communicative contexts which quite naturally elicit the targeted word class, tense or grammar structure; 2. (pushed) written or spoken output; 3. a subsequent discussion of form involving the pupils’ own utterances, which thus retain their meaningful nature, and; 4. the opportunity for pupils to draw their own conclusions about language in use and develop pragmatic awareness. In the teacher education context, I dare claim that a fifth aspect deserves at least as much attention as these four, namely: 5. feedback and reflection on the activity in terms of its outcomes, potential follow-up activities, feasibility and usefulness in the student teachers’ own professional practice.

5. Concluding Thoughts In the introduction to this chapter, I explained that using merely meaningfocused materials in Linguistics can feel like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Because its course objectives involve the student teachers’ own development of linguistic awareness and competence, my colleagues and I cannot refrain from focusing on forms every now and then. This

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chapter has set out to discuss the value of a focus on meaning in EFL learning and teaching, including classroom materials and lessons, and what such a focus could entail. I concluded that one approach does not necessarily exclude another, and that there may indeed be an ideal balance. This balance involves using various techniques and procedures, verbalising and legitimising them, and stimulating student teachers to try them out in practice. To illustrate this balanced approach, examples from practice were evaluated in light of their feasibility and usefulness, and additional practical suggestions were made for educators in similar contexts. In this chapter, I have explored various approaches to teaching grammar and voiced a dilemma arising in pre-service teacher education at Bachelor’s level. Central to my search for a solution or happy medium is the question which approach would most benefit my students – and, consequently, their pupils. It would seem that my responsibility, as a teacher educator, to ‘model’ various EFL teaching methods is something I can deliberately use to not only alleviate my own dilemma, or showcase continuing professional development, but also to enhance future teachers’ awareness of their pedagogic responsibilities. It may even be a vehicle to promote new and developing visions of L2 learning in the future generation of teachers.

References Berry, A. (2007). Reconceptualizing teacher educator knowledge as tensions: Exploring the tension between valuing and reconstructing experience. Studying Teacher Education, 3 (2), 117-134. Bimmel, P., Canton, J., Fasoglio, D., & Rijlaarsdam, G. (Eds.). (2008). Handboek ontwerp talen [Handbook language design]. Amsterdam: Vossiuspers UvA. Blume, R. (1971). Humanizing teacher education. PHI Delta Kappa, 52 (7), 411-415. Council of Europe. (2011). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment. Strasbourg: Council of Europe, Language Policy Unit. CvTE, College voor Toetsen en Examens, Governmental College for Testing and Exams. (2016). Examenprogramma Engels [Exam programme English]. Retrieved from https://www.examenblad.nl/. Ellis, R. (2005). Principles of instructed language learning. Asian TEFL Journal, 7 (3), 9-24.

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Ellis, R., & Shintani, N. (2014). Exploring language pedagogy through second language acquisition research. New York: Routledge. Ellis, R. (2016). Focus on form: A critical review. Language Teaching Research, 20 (3), 405-428. Gass S., & Selinker, L. (2008). Second language acquisition: An introductory course (3rd ed.). Mahwah (NJ): Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Geursen, J., Korthagen, F., Koster, B., Lunenberg, M., & Dengerink, J. (2012). Eindelijk: Een opleiding voor opleiders [Finally, an education for educators]. Tijdschrift voor Lerarenopleiders, 33 (3), 4-9. Guilfoyle, K., Hamilton, M. & Pinnegar, S. (1997). Obligations to unseen children. In J. Loughran and T. Russell (Eds.), Teaching about teaching (pp. 183-210). London: Falmer. Guilloteaux, M. (2013). Language textbook selection: Using materials analysis from the perspective of SLA principles. Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 22 (3), 231-239. Krashen, S. (1985). The input hypothesis. New York: Longman. Kwakernaak, E. (2012). Bewegingen en tegenbewegingen in het taalonderwijs [Movements and counter-movements in language education]. Levende Talen Magazine, 1, 4-9. Long, M. (1988). Instructed interlanguage development. In L. Beebe (Ed.), Issues in second language acquisition: Multiple perspectives (pp. 115141). Rowley (MA): Newbury House. Long, M. (1991). Focus on form: A design feature in language teaching methodology. In K. de Bot, R. Ginsberg and C. Kramsch (Eds.), Foreign language research in cross-cultural perspective (pp. 39-52). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Loughran, J., & Berry, A. (2005). Modelling by teacher educators. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21 (2), 193-203. Lunenberg, M., Korthagen, F., & Swennen, A. (2007). The teacher educator as a role model. Teaching and Teacher Education, 23, 586601. Mayer-Smith, J. (2014). Modeling Teaching. In Encyclopedia of Science Education. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-94-0076165-0_227-4. Mishan, F. (2017). Comprehensibility and cognitive challenge. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), SLA research and materials development for language learning (pp. 166-184). New York: Routledge. Nation, I. (1993). Sixteen principles of language teaching. In L. Bauer & C. Franzen (Eds.), Of pavlova, poetry and paradigms: Essays in

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honour of Harry Orsman (pp. 209-224). Wellington: Victoria University Press. Norris, J., & Ortega, L. (2000). Effectiveness of L2 instruction: A research synthesis and quantitative meta-analysis. Language Learning, 50 (3), 417-528. Scrivener, J. (2010). Teaching English grammar: What to teach and how to teach it. Oxford: Macmillan. Seymour, D., & Popova, M. (2003). 700 Classroom activities: Instant lessons for busy teachers. Oxford: Macmillan. SLO, Stichting LeerplanOntwikkeling, Dutch Institute for Curriculum Development. (2008). Core affairs the Netherlands: Case studies basic education in Europe. Enschede: Nationaal Expertisecentrum Leerplanontwikkeling. SLO, Stichting LeerplanOntwikkeling, Dutch Institute for Curriculum Development. (2016). Karakteristieken en kerndoelen: Onderbouw voortgezet onderwijs [Characteristics and core objectives: Lower forms secondary education]. Enschede: Nationaal Expertisecentrum Leerplanontwikkeling. Spada, N., & Lightbown, P. (2008). Form-focused instruction: Isolated or integrated? TESOL Quarterly, 42, 181-207. Spada, N., & Tomita, Y. (2010). Interactions between type of instruction and type of language feature: A meta-analysis. Language Learning, 60 (2), 263-308. Swennen, A., Lunenberg, M., & Korthagen, F. (2008). Preach what you teach! Teacher educators and congruent teaching. Teachers and Teaching, 14 (5), 531-542. Tomlinson, B. (Ed.) (2003). Developing materials for language teaching. London: Continuum. Tomlinson, B. (Ed.) (2013). Applied linguistics and materials development. London: Bloomsbury. Tomlinson, B. (Ed.) (2017). SLA research and materials development for language learning. New York: Routledge. Ur, P. (2009). Grammar practice activities: A practical guide for teachers. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Walter, C. (2016). Bicycles or boiling water: Changing how learners think about grammar. Retrieved from http://www.ihes.com/bcn/tt/eltconf/16/cwalter_plenary.pdf. Westhoff, G. (2008). Een schijf van vijf voor het vreemdetalen-onderwijs (revisited) [A guide for modern foreign language education]. Enschede: NaB-MVT.

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White, E. (2011). Working towards explicit modelling: Experiences of a new teacher educator. Professional Development in Education, 37 (4), 483-497. Yuan, R. (2017). ‘Practice what I preach’: Exploring an experienced EFL teacher educator’s modeling practice. TESOL Quarterly, 1-12. Advance only publication. doi: 10.1002/tesq.419.

PART II

INTRODUCTION TO PART II MATERIALS AS MEANINGFUL INTERVENTIONS

The chapters in this second part of the volume describe interventions involving meaning-focused materials which aim to enhance learners’ productive language skills, as well as their cognitive and affective engagement. In Chapter Six, Tony Waterman (Royal Air Force of Oman) details the complete materials development process he went through as he produced an English for Security course in the Sultanate of Oman. In this context, exemplary of other profession-based English for Specific Purposes contexts, an explicit focus on meaningful communication was key. The chapter offers descriptions of needs analysis and syllabus design procedures, as well as of the actual writing of students’ and teachers’ materials. The complete development process is illustrated by data, parts of the final syllabus and sample materials. In Chapter Seven, Sakae Onoda (Juntendo University, Japan) reports on a study into effects of two types of integrated skills teaching on Japanese university students’ oral fluency. His students were enrolled in the second year of a Media English course. The chapter lists critical factors for developing L2 oral fluency, amongst which is the use of meaning-focused materials, and details the pedagogical intervention. It concludes that a linked skills approach positively affects oral fluency development, especially in students with upper-intermediate proficiency levels, and has several additional benefits for meaningful language learning. In Chapter Eight, Majid Elahi Shirvan (University of Bojnord, Iran) presents the findings of his experiment involving intermediate-level university students enrolled in a general English course. He describes how the students used electronic corpora as meaning-focused materials via a combination of Data-Driven Learning and a Text-Driven Approach. This approach facilitated a connection with the students’ personal experiences, thus enhancing their cognitive and affective engagement. Additional findings are discussed in relation to concepts such as self-discovery, a

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sense of flow, the activation of background knowledge and consciousnessraising. In Chapter Nine, Anne-Mette Korczynski (University of Greenland, Greenland) proposes an alternative perspective on meaningful materials in the second language classroom. She provides background information on her Greenlandic context and elaborates on her pedagogic approach, which she terms Performance. Through this approach, her student teachers of Danish as a second language shape and give meaning to their own learning experience in a setting of relational co-construction and improvisation. The chapter discusses flow, the relatedness between Self and Other, and affordance as three key concepts underpinning Performance. In Chapter Ten, Junia Ngoepe (University of Limpopo, South Africa) gives an account of how her English language graduate students respond to the use of meaning-focused materials. In her Second Language Acquisition course at the University of Limpopo, she adopts a task-based approach which requires the students to prepare oral and written presentations, and to participate as an active audience. The chapter presents the course outline as well as information regarding the course materials, lecturing approach, presentations, and assessment. The graduate students’ own responses and recommendations for other lecturers are also included.

CHAPTER SIX PRODUCING A MEANING-FOCUSED ESP COURSE TONY WATERMAN

Introduction As a coursebook writer working for the Royal Air Force of Oman (RAFO) in the middle-eastern country of the Sultanate of Oman, I have produced a large number of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses for my employers over the past twenty years. The description which follows focuses on my most recently-completed course, English for Security, and details the complete process from the inception of the project through to a student and teacher’s book being presented to the relevant domain experts for checking and approval (the course is yet to be taught due to insufficient teaching staff currently being available). This description introduces the notion and practicalities of a meaning-focused, as opposed to a formfocused, approach to learning and teaching in respect of course production which is placed within its local context. This production process is detailed from its inception to a needs analysis (NA) and how the resulting NA data informs the design of the syllabus. From an informed syllabus, which is still liable to changes during piloting, the way the syllabus drives the production of course material is detailed with units, tasks, review material and assessment tools included. Such a linear process aims at learners acquiring and using relevant language for enhanced success in their daily work. From this detailed description, I draw conclusions which highlight key strategies and best practices for educationalists when tasked with writing such ESP material. Many of these strategies and practices could be adopted, adapted or used to inspire innovative practices by writers who work worldwide in a wide variety of learning contexts.

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Key Aspects to a Meaning-Focused Approach to Materials Production The term ‘meaning-focused approach’ automatically elicits its perceived opposite, i.e. ‘form-focused approach’ in relation to second language acquisition (SLA). In relation to SLA, Nation (1996) puts forward a four strands approach: “meaning-focused input; focus on form; meaningfocused output; and developing fluent use of known language items using the four skills” (p. 7). Meaning-focused instruction requires rich input and meaningful use of the second language in context leading to incidental acquisition (Norris & Ortega, 2001) based on natural principles of first language learning (Long & Robinson, 1998). Tomlinson (2005) advocates both a focus on form and meaning with meaningful practice of new language seen to promote effective language acquisition (Lightbown, 2000; Tomlinson, 2012) while Spada (2011) provides a detailed definition of form-focused instruction as “any pedagogical effort which is used to draw the learners’ attention to form either implicitly or explicitly … within meaning-based approaches to L2 instruction [and] in which a focus on language is provided in either spontaneous or predetermined ways” (p. 226).

Tomlinson (2016) calls for input to be meaningful so learners can see the connection to their own lives, or in an ESP scenario, to their own working lives. Lightbown and Spada (2006) write that “the challenge is to find the balance between meaning-based and form-focused activities” (p. 177) while Schmitt (2008) emphasizes the importance of the “meaningform link” (p. 353) for vocabulary acquisition. Spada’s (2015) findings support the efficacy of learners having form-focused instruction first to the benefit of subsequent meaning-focused communicative activities. Clearly, if an ESP course requires a focus on meaningful communication, this should not be to the exclusion of a focus on form particularly where it coincides with local pedagogic realities.

Context The ESP course under study was produced in response to the needs of security personnel working for RAFO who guard and also patrol air force bases 24 hours-a-day. They are the first contact visitors have with RAFO personnel and many of these visitors and expatriate air force personnel do not have much, if any, Arabic language skills. Some security personnel have good English language skills, many do not, yet these security guards

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encounter a wide range of situations when English is needed and it is not uncommon for a near total lack of understanding on both sides which can result in small problems developing into serious ones. Producing and delivering an English course to security guards which addresses such situations alluded to above and which will reduce the likelihood of serious problems arising was the driving factor for the new course.

Conducting the Needs Analysis The proposed course represented an example of unmediated materials, that is materials produced in-house without the supervision of publishing house personnel. I needed to produce defining ESP criteria (Benesch, 2001) ensuring learners’ actual needs (Richards, 2001) would be addressed by the resulting syllabus. I also needed to have a clear and detailed idea of the guards’ work requirements in terms of English-use revealed by a present situation analysis (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987) together with a future situation analysis (Basturkmen, 2006) since some of the learners were already working as guards but some were still under training. The NA process required me to follow all military protocols to build good rapport with both senior and middle-ranking officers to ensure I received maximum assistance; built stakeholder trust and confidence in the process; and gained access to whom and what I required to conduct a comprehensive NA. Working in close proximity to the target community which are using the required target discourse (Basturkmen, 2006) enabled me to more accurately collect, select and include not only linguistic and skills outcomes but also content knowledge. As Long (2005) advises, I used “multiple measures, as well as multiple sources, (to) increase the quality of information gathered” (p. 32). These included: visits to security units on bases; interviews with stakeholders; observations of security at work; observations of current English classes; examination of ‘old’ student course books and course assessment tools; and access to security documentation and artefacts. I prepared three general questions for interviews to generate data, as presented in Figure 6-1, although I was always prepared to let interviewees take over and speak at length and was careful not to influence or lead them (Long, 2005).

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A) What are some important areas of vocabulary that Security personnel need to do their job well in English? For example: numbers (1-2-3-4-5) and letters (ABCDEF) ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ B) Name situations you have in your work when you need to use English and what that English might be. For example: Lost ID an expatriate teacher has lost his military ID card Excuse me, can I see you military ID card, please? I’m sorry but I’ve lost it! I understand. Well, … ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ C) What other situations or areas of English language would help Security personnel with their work in RAFO? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________

Fig. 6-1 Needs analysis interview questions

During visits, I got valuable overviews of the work of security from senior offices which were supported and expanded upon by middleranking security officers and, in particular, by experienced noncommissioned officers with many years of on-the-job experience. I also talked with sergeants and corporals actually engaged in guarding gates and bases, as well as personnel working in two military airport terminal buildings. Interviews were usually one-to-one but group interviews with guards in the gate houses also produced a wealth of anecdotal data on past experiences of miscommunication. At all times, I was given permission to take photos of locations and people, which is rare in an Arab, Moslem country where privacy is usually well-guarded. Other stakeholders interviewed included expatriate RAFO employees. These included loan-service and exchange officers from the British forces together with instructors of English, music and technical trades, working full time in RAFO. Another set of stakeholders were British, American and Indian contractors who had worked long-term for RAFO. These non-

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native speakers of Arabic had a wealth of experiential knowledge and anecdotal data of actual scenarios when improved English would help guards with their work. I was also invited to observe current English classes for security guards and hence was able to interview both the English teacher and the learners on two consecutive courses using ‘old’ materials, which I had been tasked to replace. Interviews with learners were conducted in Arabic with the teacher acting as a translator as the learners’ level of English ability varied from near-total beginner to intermediate level. The class observations were essential to give me a more informed appreciation for the mixed ability nature of a typical English for Security course and to identify learners’ necessities, lacks and wants (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987). Furthermore, these observations presented the actual reality of the teaching/learning scenario in keeping with Yalden’s (1987) advocacy for such observations. From these observations, I was betterprepared to produce materials which predict and cater for the classroom’s inherent complexity and situatedness (Gieve & Miller, 2006). I already had a copy of the ‘old’ English for Security course book currently in use but seeing it being utilized in the classroom emphasized the difficulties the material caused the teacher and learners. It gave scant support, was pitched above the level of many in the classes and contained little of direct relevance and use to security guards’ day-to-day work. Both the mid-course and final tests were perfunctory and allowed for very superficial assessment of learners’ progress and actual acquisition of key language needed. Apart from the educational material, I was provided with some posters on security regulations for passengers and fire safety as well as documents relating to alert statuses which were adapted into pedagogically useful material.

Coding, theming and collating NA data I coded the data, themed the codes and constructed the following key reasons for improving security guards’ English as shown in Figure 6-2.

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Provide security for Ministry of Defence personnel and equipment Ensure safety Ask basic security questions Understand questions / explanations Inform about RAFO rules / regulations Explain simple security situations / rules Give information / orders / instructions / directions

Fig. 6-2 Key security guards’ needs emerging

All of these areas were subsequently covered by the new material together with a further need for guards to make a good first impression on visitors to RAFO bases with their level of English. During coding of the NA data, important feedback given by the current learners interviewed in Arabic was collated as listed in Figure 6-3. All of these have been addressed except for ‘radio English’ because I found no use of English on radios during my NA visits. What did the learners view as beneficial input from the old course? ƒ Military ranks / military time ƒ Days of the week ƒ Personal information ƒ Car inspections ƒ Names of places on a military base ƒ Giving directions to places on a base ƒ Radio English What did the learners view as unnecessary input from the old course? ƒ Grammar ƒ Unclear pictures What did the learners want changed from the ‘old’ course to the new one? ƒ More speaking practice Fig. 6-3 Current learner input for improving the old course From my two observations of current classes, I had copious notes

suggesting what could be included in the new course in terms of pedagogy to address ineffective material and teaching/learning practices observed at the chalk face. A condensed list has been included in Figure 6-4. All of these ideas were subsequently included in the student and teacher’s books which were produced.

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For the student book: x Provide clear and user-friendly maps, diagrams, plans and photos of security artefacts x Supply pair / group work to promote interaction and collaboration x Design speaking practice tasks: guided dialogues; role plays; and competitions For the teacher’s book: x Give ideas how to brainstorm and elicit effectively x Scaffold tasks for learner success x Give teachers guidance on post-task correction

Fig. 6-4 Examples of classroom needs emerging from observations

Examining the student book (there was no teacher’s book), I completed a detailed table of notes on its content, approach and deficiencies in general and by unit, with a view to informing what should be included in the new course material. Figure 6-5 shows several key entries from this extensive list: The ‘old’ coursebook consists of 5 units: x No introduction for learners x Unit 1 has no discernible structure or logical progression and allows for VERY LITTLE spoken or written production x There is no teacher’s book to give any guidance, explanation, neededdefinitions, alternative suggestions for exploiting the materials and no answer keys to make learner outcomes clear and reduce teacher workload.

Fig. 6-5 Examples of data collated from examination of the ‘old’ course book

The wealth of data coded, collated and analysed would enhance my ability to select appropriate methodology, produce relevant materials and prepare transparent assessment tools (Nunan, 1988) to address both learners’ and teachers’ needs and wants (Singapore Wala, 2003) whilst focusing on areas of priority (Waters & Vilches, 2001). This necessitated a narrow-angled approach (Johns & Dudley-Evans, 1998) as to how much target language would be included in respect of the needs of this highlyspecific ESP course. To ensure the course covered only language essential to security guards, I had to prioritize stakeholder input to allow only key

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language to influence the design and content of the syllabus (Macalister & Nation, 2011).

Constructing the Syllabus I used both the present situation analysis for selecting the linguistic input language and the future situation analysis for ensuring input would be relevant to future needs. This linguistic input comprised: lexical items; functional language – requests, instructions, explanations and orders; and basic questions. All of these items were to be presented in context and then used to complete classroom tasks, many of which were directly related to security guards work but none of the materials were to have an explicit focus on form. The overarching aim of the course, as stated in the syllabus introduction and teacher’s book introduction, was for the input language to be used in meaningful, communicative scenarios. I compiled the syllabus using a simple framework, examined below, to ensure prioritized needs and wants would be met (Richards, 2001). First, I collated the themes into groupings of similar themes. These groupings in turn suggested unit titles to form provisional units, for example, Table 6-1 shows five of the many themes, 50 in all. Collating them together then became a logical decision to the exclusion of other themes which fitted better into other groupings. Placing these themes in the most learnerfriendly order with a focus on learning-centredness as espoused by Holliday (1994), was achieved by studying the number of lexical items needed for each theme, then studying the target chunks of language, crossreferencing where lexis and chunks were needed in multiple themes and ordering them accordingly. In this way, I constructed each unit with an eye to learnability (White, 1988). With the themes grouped and ordered, a logical unit title usually presented itself, in this case – special incidents as detailed in Table 6-1. Unit 6 SPECIAL INCIDENTS Sub-sections 6.1 Dealing with minor crimes 6.2 Explaining the need to restrict entry 6.3 Giving guidance in an emergency situation 6.4 Dealing with emergencies 6.5 Describing fire procedures Table 6-1. Themes forming a logical unit

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Although this approach to syllabus construction is not in keeping with standard design practices, which start with the general and progress to the particular, I used this approach in reaction to the themes emerging from the NA data for a unique course which demanded careful planning. As RAFO security guards, the learners all enjoy membership in a particular community and consequently have “common purpose and shared use of semiotic resources and joint activities” (Mickan, 2013, p. 43). Therefore, learners should experience agency (Harmer, 2012) and ownership (Holliday, 2005) in respect of most elements in this ESP course. As a result, learners’ level of motivation should also be positively affected in line with Dörnyei and Ushioda’s (2011) learning situation level when they see coursespecific, and therefore materials-related, motivational components including: interest; relevance; expectancy of success; and satisfaction relating to successful outcomes. Repeating the above process of grouping for unit construction resulted in the eight units in Table 6-2. These units acted as frameworks of control (Tudor, 2001) to present a learning environment which is closely controlled. SYLLABUS Unit 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Working on the gate Military language Vehicles Military places Military rules Special incidents Security inspections Alerts and exercises

Table 6-2. Syllabus units

Being a working document, I considered the syllabus open to changes, insertions, exclusions, expansions and reductions. Therefore, the final version of the syllabus covered units 1-8 to be delivered on a four-week course. With the unit order finalized, I could focus attention on producing overarching training objectives (TOs) for each unit as detailed in Table 63:

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6

Unit Special incidents

TRAINING OBJECTIVES The learner will be able to: explain and give instructions / orders in the event of some special incident occurring on a base

Table 6-3. Training objectives for unit 6

By producing this one-page overview of the course, I could present this document to stakeholders as reassurance of progress without the need to overload them with the detail of the 20-page syllabus in full. Returning to Unit 6: Special incidents, as presented above, learner outcomes (LOs) were outlined as detailed in Table 4 following Norquest’s (2007) learnerfriendly formula for outcomes: specific; measurable; attainable; realistic; and timely (SMART).

6.4

UNIT 6 Sub-sections Giving orders in an emergency

SPECIAL INCIDENTS Learner outcome(s) x give orders in an emergency

Table 6-4. Learner outcome for Unit 6, sub-section 6.4

The next column in the construction of the syllabus detailed the key target language needed to enable learners to achieve the learner outcomes to make the connection between LOs and target language transparent as Table 6-5 shows:

6.4

LOs x give orders in an emergency

Target language Please go to the assembly point. Please follow the orders of the fire personnel.

Table 6-5. Examples of target language for Unit 6, sub-section 6.4

With the target language systematically laid out, it becomes clear that the language is basic and repetitive in keeping with the mixed ability and low level of many of the learners as observed during lesson visits. Not only that but the same basic language for being polite while giving instructions, orders, warnings and more in military scenarios requires a limited range of structures. Therefore, the bulk of LOs are covered by interrogatives, and modal verbs such as ‘must’ and ‘cannot’ in conjunction with different lexis. To ensure learners are reading, hearing and producing target language multiple times in each unit, presentation material is either reading- or

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listening-based to include lexis, chunks or both. Learners then move on to produce the language while completing writing and speaking tasks as detailed Table 6-6:

6.4

Target language Please go to the assembly point …

Tasks and skills Task Nine Reading: match the orders with the emergency situations [V/R] Task Ten Listening: match orders with emergencies [L] Task Eleven Writing: giving orders for different emergency situations [W] Task Twelve Speaking: producing security language for emergency situations [Sp]

Table 6-6. Tasks and Skills for Unit 6, sub-section 6.4

In the above sub-section, there are four tasks to cover the LO but this number varies throughout the syllabus and sub-sections can feature more or fewer tasks depending on perceived learner requirements in respect of the complexity of the input language and content. The final column in the syllabus deals with review and assessment. This shows that the language covering the LO for Unit 6, sub-section 6.4 is reviewed in Unit 8 and assessed in the final test after Unit 8 in four of the five test papers, but does not feature in the listening paper. 6.4

Tasks and skills Task Nine Task Ten Task Eleven Task Twelve

Review and assessment Unit 8 review Final test [Sp, V, R, W]

Table 6-7. Review and assessment for Unit 6, sub-section 6.4

Weighting for the five test papers in both the mid-course test, after Unit 4, and the final test, after Unit 8, are outlined below in Table 6-8 with the weighting percentages reflecting the relative importance of each area of language to the security guards’ actual working needs. So, speaking and listening are heavily weighted because face-to-face communication makes up the vast majority of their needs in English combined with key

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vocabulary to enable them to listen, understand the situation and respond appropriately. Security guards do essentially no reading or writing during their daily work routines in English but I was required, by senior education officers, to include these skills tests as these skills had formed part of most sub-sections of the units. Detailed criteria for assessing the speaking tests were also included in the syllabus and test notes.

Marks

Speaking 35%

ASSESSMENT WEIGHTING Vocabulary Listening Reading 20% 20% 15%

Writing 10%

Total 100

Table 6-8. Weighting of the assessment test papers

The complete LO-section of the syllabus is shown in Table 6-9. Such details for each sub-section of each unit together with introductory rationale for the course, assessment details and training objectives for each unit were included in the teacher’s book so educationalists could refer to a transparent plan showing the construction of the course.

LO Learners will be able to give orders in an emergency

UNIT SIX – SPECIAL INCIDENTS Sub-section 6.4 – Dealing with emergencies Target Tasks and skills Review + language Assessment Please go ... T9 Orders [V/R] Unit 8 review T10 Orders [L] Final tests: T11 Write orders [W] Sp; L; V; R; W T12 Give orders [Sp]

Table 6-9. An example sub-section as represented in the syllabus document

Producing Course Materials With a comprehensive syllabus informed and constructed by the extensive NA now provisionally completed, I embarked on producing materials to enable learners and teachers to fulfil course TOs and LOs with success. I produced materials specifically to fulfil the requirements of the syllabus to lend both predictability and stability (van Lier, 1996) by re-creating a range of the same or similar task types repeatedly throughout the course. These materials help learners in defining objectives and outcomes (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987) while also providing face validity (ibid.), that is the learners appreciate the relevance of the content and tasks to their current and future needs thereby exemplifying the discourse and concepts

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for this particular ESP course (Abuklaish, 2014). As Cotterall (2000) contends, including tasks directly-related to learners’ professional needs and goals increases learner motivation. Indeed, on an ESP course, you would expect a majority of tasks to relate to learners’ future discourse village (Wright, 2005). Furthermore, I created all the texts and tasks, including listening tapescripts, myself unless I had security documentation to base adaptations on, as with the reading text in Figure 6-7 below. Figure 6-6 below presents part of the reading tasks page from Unit 6, sub-section 6.4. First learners need to skim a text (see Figure 6-7) to assign titles to the text’s paragraphs. This reading sub-skills task was not included because security needs to do this at work but to include variety of task type. The second intensive reading task, to answer comprehension questions, is used to focus learners’ attention on key content, lexis and/or chunks of language in the text. With prospective classes for this course including near-complete beginners to intermediate level learners, as the course writer, I had to grade texts and tasks thoughtfully (McGrath, 2002). Grading the target language for each LO, I employed two lists of criteria compiled by Wilkins (1976), one for lexis: “frequency, range, availability, familiarity and coverage” (p. 4) whilst for functional language I employed his grammatical content list: “simplicity, regularity, frequency and contrastive difficulty” (ibid., p. 6). While these lists were helpful, I also applied “appropriateness to the classroom context … and teachability” (ibid., p. 7).

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Task Nine - Giving orders in an emergency Write the correct titles for the sections of the Security document. Security personnel must know how to give orders during an emergency. Security personnel must ensure all non-essential personnel leave the area of an emergency.

Security personnel must follow SOPs when securing an area and giving orders to leave that area. Security personnel must secure any area around an emergency.

Read the questions and note down answers from the text 1) Why must security give people orders in an emergency? ____________________________________________________________ 2) Who must leave a secured area? ____________________________________________________________ 3) What two pieces of information must security’s orders give people? a) ______________________ b) _______________________

Fig. 6-6 Example reading tasks from Unit 6, sub-section 6.4

A part of the reading text itself is presented in Figure 6-7 below. The text is an adaptation of an actual military document which I assessed as being too challenging and therefore simplified exemplifying Bell and Gower’s (2011) admission for the need to make principled compromises when preparing materials according to local realities. The target language presented here is simple but the content is both relevant and matches learners’ level of ability (Wong-Fillmore, 1985) once the lexical input has been covered and is a good example of learners receiving abundant input matching. Additionally, I have adhered to Nunan’s (1988) recommendation that writers have a pedagogic requirement to grade tasks and balance input difficulty against task complexity (Samuda & Bygate, 2008). For the purposes of guided discovery, the skimming and comprehension tasks are easy whereas the input language contains a considerable number of new lexical items. All the while, I am aware of Allwright’s (1981) call for materials which promote learning rather than teaching.

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RAFO 3/237/87 1

15/09/2016 GIVING ORDERS IN AN EMERGENCY ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________

2

1.1 Security must stop people entering the area. 1.2 Security must give people orders to keep them safe. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 2.1 Security must give clear orders for people to leave the area. 2.2 Security must give people orders for where to go in an emergency.

Fig. 6-7 Fragment of the reading text from Unit 6, sub-section 6.4

I designed the listening task (Figures 6-8 and 6-9 below) and indeed all the listening tasks, in accordance with Brown’s (1990) notion of the active listener who focuses on needed information, together with elements of active listening as identified by Goh (2005), and Vandergrift and Goh (2012) as follows. Listeners should: have relevant knowledge to support cognitive processes; and use listening skills to support understanding and interaction. Figure 6-10 below is an example of the numerous writing tasks designed to consolidate learner outcomes in written form and were therefore pedagogic tasks (Bygate, Skehan & Swain, 2001) rather than real-world ones. Language for production was always concise and focused on target language as security guards do not produce any English writing in their work. Speaking tasks (Figure 6-11 below shows an example) usually followed other skills work which includes Willis and Willis’ (2007) notion of “golden moments” (p. 9) when learners invest personal effort in their learning which increases feelings of confidence and linguistic progress. Requiring learners to produce the target language in both spoken and written form concurs with de Bot’s (1996) findings that “output plays a direct role in enhancing fluency” (p. 553).

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Task Ten - Giving orders in an emergency Match what security says with the orders below. Conversation:

Security orders in an emergency: I’m sorry but the gates are closed because of an emergency. Please wait. Please follow security directions when driving.

1

Please follow the orders of the fire personnel. Please follow the orders of the security personnel.

Fig. 6-8 Fragment of the listening task from Unit 6, sub-section 6.4 Listening One Sec: You can hear the fire bell and some of you were shouting FIRE! FIRE! Which is excellent. Now, this is only a fire practice but it is very important that you do the right thing so I need you all to… Fig. 6-9 Task Ten, Conversation One tapescript

Task Eleven - Giving orders in an emergency Now write in what security says using the language from Task Ten. There is a security emergency. Please leave the building. [There is an emergency and people must leave their offices and go outside.] 1) ____________________________________________________________ [There is an emergency and people must drive out of this part of the base.] Fig. 6-10 Fragment of the writing task from Unit 6, sub-section 6.4

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Task Twelve - Giving orders in an emergency Produce the correct security language with your partner using the cards your teacher gives you. [Cards from the Teacher’s book] There is an emergency and people There is a fire emergency and people must leave their offices and go must listen to security carefully! outside.

Fig. 6-11 Fragment of the speaking task from Unit 6, sub-section 6.4

Compiling the Student Book Influenced by previous course books I have produced for the Omani military and by my class observation notes during the NA, I decided to include various support content. I inserted an introduction page outlining, in simple terms, how the course was developed; how learners’ progress was to be assessed; advice about studying; and encouragement to study hard towards their future careers in RAFO. I also included ‘Contents and checklist’ pages for learners to have quick access to particular pages as well as to tick off each task they completed. Learners had pages on common, useful classroom language to which they could add further items as they occurred on the course. The back of their books contained ‘B’ worksheets for information-gap speaking tasks together with a comprehensive list of key language by unit and finally, tapescripts of the numerous listenings.

Compiling the Teacher’s Book Similarly, I prepared a two-and-a-half-page introduction for teachers detailing the focus of the course on speaking, listening and vocabulary with the assessment tools reflecting this. I outlined the rationale for and process of course design linking the material to the real world of security personnel’s duties with linguistic priorities and related pedagogy clearly described. These included the lack of any formal, form-focused input material. The complete syllabus, supported by a suggested scheme of work was included, as was a learner profile (Huhta, Vogt, Johnson & Tulkki, 2013) to aid teachers’ understanding of security’s duties. Teacher notes for

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every task included answer keys which go some way to providing teachersupport in terms of subject knowledge which is often found wanting (Nicol & Crespo, 2006). I also included suggested procedures, particular language needing a focus on form or on pronunciation, and potential alternative ways to exploit the materials (Bell & Gower, 2011). Ideally, teachers will receive induction sessions to support their teaching of this new and sometimes innovative material.

Review and Assessment Materials Review materials for each of the five areas of focus mirrored tasks already studied. I included review material to provide learners with further opportunities to re-cycle language from previous units in line with van Lier’s (1996) notion of multiple affordances for language use to secure acquisition. Assessment tests mirrored these review materials to provide a linear, transparent progression from study to review to tests.

Conclusion Unlike general English courses, ESP materials often focus on key language essential for the completion of workplace tasks. Such language will often be lexical and/or functional/notional in nature to support the skills work and study of domain-specific content whilst an explicit focus on grammar exponents and the necessary presentation, practice and production these exponents require will not feature. ESP courses usually include language for real-world communication needs where the focus is on meaning rather than form. Such course material will present key language in context highlighting the meaning and how to use the language in meaningful communicative scenarios with a focus on fluency rather than accuracy with priority given to effective communication in situations where a lack of communication can be problematic. ESP materials also reflect the make-up of skills needed in the workplace with a resulting preponderance of some skills work over others. All such ESP course material should be produced to lead learners to attain success at using the key language in authentic ways as preparation for their future discourse villages. Being both the course designer and academic commentator on English for Security, I have attempted to convey the developmental nature of such an ESP project including some of the decisions writers have to make to arrive at the best possible course to support learners’ learning. I hope that this study adds to other writers’ knowledge of course design and inspires

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them to tackle writing projects in their own contexts wherever these may be required by teachers and learners.

References Abuklaish, A. (2014). Investigating the language needs of undergraduate science students in Libya. (Doctoral dissertation, University of Southampton). Allwright, R. L. (1981). What do we want teaching materials for? ELT Journal, 36 (1), 5-17. Basturkmen, H. (2006). Ideas and options in English for specific purposes. Abingdon: Routledge. Bell, J., & Gower, R. (2011). Writing course materials for the world: a great compromise. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Materials development in language teaching (pp.135-159). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Benesch, S. (2001). Critical English for academic purposes. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Brown, G. (1990). Listening to spoken English. London: Longman. Bygate, M., Skehan, P., & M. Swain. (2001). Researching pedagogic tasks: Second language learning, teaching, and testing. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. Cotterall, S. (2000). Promoting learner autonomy through the curriculum: Principles for designing language courses. ELT journal, 54(2), 109117. de Bot, K. (1996). The psycholinguistics of the output hypothesis. Language learning, 46(3), 529-555. Dudley-Evans, T., & St John, M. J. (1998). Developments in English for specific purposes: A multi-disciplinary approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Dörnyei, Z., & Ushioda, E. (2011). Teaching and researching motivation. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. Gieve, S., & Miller, I. (Eds.). (2006). Understanding the language classroom. Basingstoke: Palgrave. Goh, C. C. M. (2005). Second language listening expertise. In K. Johnson (Ed.), Expertise in Second language learning and teaching (pp. 64-84). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan UK. Harmer, J. (2012). Essential teacher knowledge. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. Holliday, A. (1994). Appropriate methodology and social context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Holliday, A. (2005). The struggle to teach English as an international language. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Huhta, M., Vogt, K., Johnson, E., & Tulkki, H. (2013). Needs analysis for language course design: A holistic approach to ESP. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Hutchinson, T., & Waters, A. (1987). English for specific purposes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Long, M. (Ed.). (2005). Second language needs analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Long, M. H. (2015). Second language acquisition and task-based language teaching. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. Lightbown, P. M. (2000). Anniversary article. Classroom SLA research and second language teaching. Applied Linguistics, 21 (4), 431-462. Lightbown, P.M., & Spada, N. (2006). How languages are learned. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Long, M., & Robinson, P. (1998). Focus on form: theory, research, and practice. In C. Macalister, J., & Nation, I. S. P. (Eds.). (2011). Case studies in language curriculum design. Abingdon: Routledge. McGrath, I. (2002). Materials evaluation and design for language teaching. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Mickan, P. (2013). Language curriculum design and socialisation. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. Nation, P. (1996). The four strands of a language course. TESOL in Context, 6 (1), 7. Nicol, C. C. & Crespo, S.M. (2006). Learning to teach with mathematics textbooks: how preservice teachers interpret and use curriculum materials. Educational studies in mathematics, 62, 331-355. Norquest. (2007). Nine quick learning strategies for success: Strategy 10: smart goal setting. Retrieved from http:student.norquest.ca/online/ ninequick/strategies/goals.htm#strategy/ Norris, J., & Ortega, L. (2001). Does type of instruction make a difference? Substantive findings from a meta-analytic review. Language Learning, 51, Supplement 1, 157-213. Nunan, D. (1988). The learner-centred curriculum. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Richards, J. C. (2001). Curriculum development in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Samuda, V., & M. Bygate. (2008). Tasks in second language learning. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.

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Schmitt, N. (2008). Instructed second language vocabulary learning. Language teaching research, 12 (3), 329-363. Singapore Wala, D. A. (2003). Publishing a coursebook: Completing the materials development circle. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Developing materials for language teaching (pp. 141-161). London: Continuum. Spada, N. (2011). Beyond form-focused instruction: Reflections on past, present and future research. Language teaching, 44 (2), 225-236. Spada, N. (2015). SLA research and L2 pedagogy: Misapplications and questions of relevance. Language teaching, 48 (1), 69-81. Tomlinson, B. (2005). The future for ELT materials in Asia. Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, 2 (2), 5-13. Tomlinson, B. (Ed.). (2011). Materials development in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Tomlinson, B. (2012). Materials development. Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Tomlinson, B. (Ed.). (2016). SLA research and materials development for language learning. Abingdon: Routledge. Tudor, I. (2001). The dynamics of the language classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Vandergrift, L., & Goh, C. C. M. (2012). Teaching and learning second language listening: metacognition in action. New York: Routledge. van Lier, L. (1996). Interaction in the language curriculum: awareness, autonomy, authenticity. Harlow: Longman. Waters, A., & Vilches, M. L. C. (2001). Implementing ELT innovations: a needs analysis framework. ELT journal 55 (2), 133-141. Wright, T. (2005). Classroom management in language education. Basingstoke: Palgrave. White, R. (1988). The ELT curriculum. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Limited. Willis, D., & J. Willis. (2007). Doing task-based teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Wong-Fillmore, L. (1985). When does teacher talk work as input. Input in Second Language Acquisition. 17-50. Yalden, J. (1987). Principles of course design for language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

CHAPTER SEVEN USING LINKED SKILLS TASKS TO PROMOTE L2 ORAL FLUENCY SAKAE ONODA

Introduction This chapter will show how linked skills tasks can improve fluency in second language (henceforth, L2) speech production. Linked skills, which need not be limited to speaking skills, can be used for L2 oral fluency development. In linked skills tasks, a single piece of subject matter is focused upon for an extended period and engages the learners in a sequence of tasks using different skills. For example, students watch an easy TV news clip and answer comprehension questions and then read the script or an easy newspaper article about the same topic. After their comprehension is confirmed, they summarize the story and write up their own opinion about the topic. Finally, they talk about the story and their opinions in different pairs a number of times. L2 literature indicates that this procedure is effective because it includes such fluency-enhancing elements as the recycling and deep processing of vocabulary (i.e., using words in different contexts), formulaic language units, and automatization. In particular, Onoda (2012) shows that the procedure leads to improvements in fluency and self-efficacy in the speech production of university English majors.

1. Pedagogical Values of Developing Meaning-Focused Materials for L2 Learning L2 literature indicates that, in order to develop language skills effectively in English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) pedagogy, teaching materials need to meet a number of guidelines. For example, Tomlinson (2013) suggests that, among a number

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of guidelines, materials should: (a) be attractive, novel, and appealing; (b) make learners feel comfortable working with them; (c) be felt to be relevant and valuable; (d) improve confidence in language use; and (e) encourage learners to use authentic language use. This suggests that teachers should maximize the use of a variety of meaning-focused materials because they offer comprehensible input and generate comprehensible output for learners, both of which assist L2 acquisition. In the same vein, Nation (2013) argues that teachers should make well-balanced use of the “four strands of teaching” (p. 15), which consist of meaning-focused input, meaning-focused output, language-focused learning, and fluency development, in order to develop communication skills effectively. There are two critical features to this approach. One is that the three strands other than language-focused learning use materials that are cognitively and affectively accessible for learners, i.e., easy and interesting, with 95% to 98% of all the words used in the text already familiar to them. Thus meaning-focused materials are one of the critical components for effective L2 teaching. The other important feature is that each of the four strands should include materials learners are allowed to choose based on their interests and English proficiency, which enhances their autonomy. The use of meaning-focused materials is especially important and valuable for upper secondary learners in Japan, as they are often required to intensively process materials that exceed their proficiency level. One of the reasons for this situation is the ambitious English language proficiency goals set by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (2009), namely B2 to C1 in terms of the Common European Frame of Reference (CEFR; Little, 2006) on graduation from university. Equally importantly, this has been caused by the particular educational environment in Japan: with the limited numbers of class hours inherent to the EFL teaching context, upper secondary English language teaching has focused primarily on preparation for university entrance exams and standardized English proficiency test preparations such as the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) or International English Language Testing System (IELTS) at university level. As a result, difficult materials designed for intensive and academic reading and listening have been used in a large number of institutions, with meaningfocused materials within the comprehension potential of learners remaining on the periphery of mainstream English language teaching in Japan. The dominant use of such difficult teaching materials hinders both teachers and learners when focusing on meaningful communication by

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promoting language-focused teaching and learning, emphasizing the analysis of sentence structure, words parts, and phonetic features. Thus, instruction is likely to have detrimental effects on learners, predominantly discouraging them from engaging in meaningful communication and developing a sense of ownership of the language. While L2 reading and listening skills might improve under this approach, it is unlikely that speaking skills, especially oral fluency and interactional skills, will develop to the extent that meaningful messages will be conveyed intelligibly and effectively. This view is congruent with Ellis (2012), who postulates that communicative output that pushes learners to generate output in accordance with L2 norms and receiving input as a result assists them in acquiring implicit L2 knowledge. This being the case, it seems odd that the systematic teaching of oral fluency has rarely been considered by material writers or practising teachers in Japan (Murphey, Onoda, Sato, & Takaki, 2012) as well as in other countries, as reported by Rossiter, Derwing, and Manimtim (2010), who conducted research on the components and structure of ESL textbooks used in Canada. Their findings revealed that while uncontrolled communication activities predominate, tasks that include oral fluency-enhancing elements promoting automatization of language items through repetition are not found. This seems to be also the case in a number of ESL/EFL teaching contexts in many countries (Nation, 2013). The fact is that meaning-focused materials and approaches lacking elements promoting oral fluency do not lead to cognitively and affectively ideal language learning environments, nor do they enable learners to develop proactive learning behaviours or good L2 communication skills.

2. Review of the Literature 2.1 Significance of developing oral fluency in Japanese English teaching It is generally believed that an L2 is taught and learned with the goal of acquiring communicative competence that includes the fluent and accurate control of the language in the four language skills (i.e., listening, speaking, reading, and writing) (Canale & Swain, 1980; Nation, 2013). Therefore, fluency and accuracy are regarded as critical components of speaking skills, to be achieved for effective communication and evaluated in a number of standardized tests such as Cambridge English exams and IELTS. In more practical terms, irrespective of the definition of L2 used, oral fluency (discussed later in this chapter) is generally believed to be

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identical to oral proficiency (Lennon, 1990; Segalowitz, 2010), and few doubts have been cast on the importance of oral fluency in effective reallife communication: when a message is not conveyed fluently, the speaker’s intention and even personality might be misunderstood or interpreted negatively by the interlocutor, especially one from a different cultural background (Derwing, Munro, & Thompson, 2007; Hymes, 1972). Finally, the affective dimension of language learning and in particular of oral fluency deserves consideration. The acquisition of oral fluency has been discussed as an intrinsic orientation in a number of studies conducted with Japanese high school and university students. When asked what they want to achieve in English language learning, many reported their desire to speak as fluently and naturally as native speakers of English (e.g., Murphey et al., 2012; Onoda, 2008). Unrealistic as it may sound, in a country where learners generally perceive little intrinsic motivation or need for learning English, these results indicate that pedagogical efforts to improve oral fluency should be made largely as impetus to intrinsic motivation. As discussed earlier, it appears that many students study English based on their extrinsic motivational resources, such as entrance examination or TOEFL or TOEIC preparation in order to secure a good job, as reflected in the L2 literature (e.g., Hayashi, 2005; Onoda, 2008; Sawyer, 2006). Given research findings showing that intrinsic motivation is one of the most robust predictors of self-regulated learning, which is in turn purported to lead to effective English learning, systematic approaches based on the L2 literature accompanied by pedagogical endeavors to develop L2 oral fluency should be implemented in Japanese secondary and university English language teaching. 2.2 Definition of L2 oral fluency As discussed earlier, L2 oral fluency tends to be regarded as identical to oral proficiency or speaking skills. However, this is open to interpretations and not in itself considered an accurate conceptualization of L2 oral fluency in the L2 research community. In the L2 literature in general, it is characterized as spontaneous oral production (Lennon, 1990; Segalowitz, 2010). However, oral fluency is not clearly defined, as definitions differ from researcher to researcher based on the key construct each deems critical. In practice, a number of definitions are generated and used, making it difficult to compare research results – a major problem in the L2 oral fluency field.

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Based on their meta-analysis of L2 oral fluency studies, Tavakoli and Skehan (2005) broadly classified these definitions and measures into three categories: (a) speed fluency (total number of words uttered in a given time); (b) breakdowns in fluency (total pause time and frequency); and (c) repair fluency (number of hesitations, repetitions, and false starts). Their categorization is congruent with those of Lennon (1990), Kormos (2006), and Segalowitz (2010), all of which identified: (1) speech rate (words per minute, with self-corrections included or excluded, and syllables per minute); (2) pauses (filled and unfilled pauses as a function of total speaking time); and (3) interruptions (repetitions, hesitations, and selfcorrections). Among these definitions, the most frequently adopted and reliable measure adopted in L2 research is speed fluency or speech rate (Lennon, 1990; Schoonjans, et al., 2010; Segalowitz, 2010). This is supported by an investigation of spoken fluency conducted by Wood (2001), which indicates that speech rate (or number of words spoken per minute) correlates strongly with measures of oral fluency as well as overall perceptions made by raters. In addition, research on oral fluency development conducted by Iwashita, Brown, McNamara, and O’Hagan (2008) indicates that speech rate, unfilled pause rate, and total pause time are significantly related to proficiency levels, with speech rate being the most reliable measure of the three. 2.3 Critical factors for developing L2 oral fluency Relevant L2 literature (Chambers, 1998; Nation, 2013, 2015; Nation & Newton, 2009; Wood, 2001) shows that factors or conditions contributing to the development of oral fluency are: (a) automatization; (b) practice and repetition; (c) the use of formulaic language units; (d) the use of meaningfocused, easy and interesting materials; (e) time pressure or “pushed output”, and (f) deep processing of words and phrases. These factors will be discussed in more detail below. 2.3.1 Automatization To develop L2 oral fluency, it is critical to enable learners to process and encode language subconsciously and automatically. One key factor is the use of repeated practice (DeKeyser, 2007). Automatization is facilitated by multiple encounters and retrievals of language items (Nation, 2013; Schmitt, & Carter, 2004), which then actualizes enhanced L2 fluency (Nation & Newton, 2009). It is postulated that automatic language processing, which is usually subconscious, does not consume much working memory capacity when a particular language unit is retrieved as

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one meaningful unit. This helps speakers use attentional resources to process other linguistic information and enables them to process larger pieces of information efficiently. A host of studies on L2 speaking and writing fluency improvement (e.g., Favreau & Segalowitz, 1983; Onoda, 2012) indicate that this mechanism operates in the developmental process of oral fluency. Onoda (2014) investigated the effects of a course designed to enhance the oral fluency of university English majors and found that automatization enhanced by a number of tasks that included repeated practice of language and the use of formulaic sequences is effective in L2 oral fluency development. Thus, the automatic retrieval of linguistic knowledge stored in the mental lexicon through the repeated practice of formulaic units is a promising approach to L2 fluency development. 2.3.2 Repetition and practice The importance of retention and practice for skill development has been well-documented in educational literature. One of the proponents of repetition and practice is Anderson (1983), who advocated the Adapted Control of Thought (ACT) theory of skill development. The theory postulates that repeated practice gradually improves performance from a conscious, laborious level to a subconscious, spontaneous, automatic level, with performance finally reaching the most effective behaviour. Drawing on this theory, DeKeyser (2007) points out practice as a potential factor for L2 skill development and emphasizes the value of using practice to promote L2 acquisition. His argument is substantiated by a number of theories and studies. For example, connectionist theories (e.g., Ellis, 2002) posit that repeated access strengthens neural connections to specific mental lexicon, ultimately automatizing access, while those that are not repeatedly accessed become weaker and less efficient and may eventually disappear. This mechanism is supported by L2 literature. For example, Nation (1989) investigated the effects on speaking fluency development of repeated storytelling tasks in pairs with increasing time pressure, and demonstrated that repeated practice significantly improved speaking fluency as well as accuracy. 2.3.3 Formulaic language units Another candidate for promoting automatization and thereby oral fluency is the use of formulaic language units. L2 literature (e.g., Chambers, 1998) shows that the use of formulaic language units helps develop L2 oral fluency. According to Schmitt and Underwood (2004), formulaic language units can be lexically and functional diverse: For example, they include

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functional multiword units (I was wondering if you could….), collocations (give a presentation), idioms (figure out), and sentence builders (Nothing is more important than….). The effects of formulaic language units can be found in Wray’s (2002) analysis. These include forming meaningful chunks to be stored in their entirety and retrieved automatically and unconsciously from memory, requiring little cognitive operation on the speaker’s part at the time of use and thus making the use of formulaic expressions effective for oral fluency development. A host of L2 studies show that the use of formulaic language units has profound effects on the development of oral fluency. For example, Boers, Eyckmans, Kappel, Strengers, and Demecheleer (2006) show that the automatization of formulaic language units assists learners in becoming fluent and accurate L2 speakers who are also confident about speaking in the L2. Onoda (2012) investigated the effects of pedagogical tasks on enhancing university English majors’ oral fluency and found that automatization promoted by repeated practice of formulaic language units was one of the critical factors for oral fluency improvement. 2.3.4 Meaning-focused materials Meaning-focused materials are generally within learners’ comprehension and do not provoke anxiety in language learning. If they are carefully selected, they have the potential to stimulate learners’ curiosity and motivation, invoke their intellectual and emotional involvement, and develop their confidence, the basic principles of L2 teaching material development suggested by Tomlinson (2013). L2 researchers and practising teachers generally agree that fine-tuned input and output are conducive to language acquisition. Following Krashen’s (1985) Input Hypothesis, some researchers believe that comprehensible input facilitates language acquisition. However, while admitting the necessity of comprehensible input, other researchers and teachers argue that output also plays an important role in L2 acquisition, especially speaking and writing fluency development. Drawing on studies showing that good language learners learn to develop fluent and automatic control of language in both speaking and writing, they conclude that such learners seem to have automatized linguistic knowledge (i.e., procedural knowledge) for generating meaningful language through which to express themselves. Nation (2013, 2014) defines materials used for meaning-focused input and output as satisfying the following criteria: a) Learners should be familiar with 95% to 98% of all the words used in the text;

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b) They should be interested in and familiar with the materials and tasks and like to read or listen to then or speak or write about them; c) There should be a large amount of input and output with which to facilitate learning. While fluency development tasks should meet similar conditions, learners also need encouragement or even pressure to speak faster. 2.3.5 Deep processing of language items It is well documented (e.g., Nation, 2015) that repeated practice of the same language items in different language modes (i.e., listening, speaking, reading, and writing) promotes deep processing, especially in a context that encourages creative use. This is particularly evident in the acquisition of vocabulary, including multiword units. To develop productive vocabulary for speaking and writing, learners need to know multiple aspects of a particular vocabulary item, including its form, meaning, part of speech, and grammatical function but also its associations, collocations, connotations, and constraints. Nation (2013) discusses two types of repetition that promote deep processing: one affects the same words and phrases in such activities as repeated storytelling or repeated reading. The other is “varied repetition” (p. 38), which encourages learners to repeat the same language features in different contexts. Both types promote deep processing of language, which in turn facilitates automatization. 2.3.6 Linked skills As discussed above, one of the most effective language teaching approaches for developing communication skills was proposed by Nation (2013) as a well-balanced combination of four equal strands: meaningfocused input, meaning-focused output, language-focused learning, and fluency development. He suggests that linked skills – among other tasks – be employed for developing fluency. A linked skills activity consists of a single piece of subject matter focused upon for an extended period and engaging the learners in a sequence of tasks utilizing different language skills (Nation, 2013). Nation (2014) presents the following example (on the topic of food storage) to illustrate such a task (see Table 7-1 below). It is important to note that the series of linked activities are described horizontally and that the third activity in each series functions as the one that is expected to improve fluency in the major skill in question. In addition, a fourth activity using a

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different skill could be integrated into each sequence to promote deep processing of the same language units.

1

2

3

4

5

First activity Read the questions without seeing the text and try to guess the answers (Reading) Read the text (Reading)

Write guidelines for storing food safely using your own experience and background knowledge (Writing) Listen to the text being read to you by the teacher, taking notes if you wish (Listening) Talk to a partner about what you know about good food storage procedures (Speaking)

Second activity Listen to the text and check and correct your answers (Listening) Listen to the questions and write answers to them (Listening/Writing) Talk about your guidelines with another student (Speaking)

Third activity Talk about the differences between your guesses and the right answers (Speaking) Write guidelines for storing food safely (Writing)

Write what you can remember about the text (Writing)

Do a 4/3/2 activity1 on the content of the passage (Speaking)

Read the text and answer the questions (Reading)

Prepare and deliver a talk to your partner about (1) good food storage procedures OR (2) the danger of not handling food carefully (Speaking)

Read the text and answer the questions (Reading)

Table 7-1. Five sets of linked skills activities (Nation, 2014, p. 17)

Thus linked skills activities, which draw on meaning-focused materials selected for being easy and interesting, are purported to instigate active engagement in the activities, generate interactions among learners, provide opportunities to repeat the same language items, and promote deep processing of language items, hence strengthening automatization for fluency development.

1

A 4/3/2 activity is a repeated storytelling task done with three different pairs. Learners form pairs and tell a story they are interested in to the first partner for four minutes, the second partner for three minutes, and the third partner for two minutes.

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3. Pedagogical Intervention I conducted an investigation to find out the effects of two types of linked skills teaching on improvements in the oral fluency of Japanese university English majors over an entire academic year (Onoda, 2013). Since I had been using a teaching approach that integrated the four skills for a number of years, I had a personal pedagogical interest in finding out what types of linked skills were more effective. In the following section, I present the findings of this study to show how effective the linked skills teaching approach is in promoting oral fluency. 3.1 Participants Two second-year required English classes (Media English course) participated in the intervention. The course ran from April 2009 through January 2010. Each class consisted of 21 students with upper-intermediate proficiency (M = 451.3 and 453.5, respectively, on the TOEFL ITP). Participants were mostly in the 19-21 age group, with 29 females and 13 males). The class met twice a week for 90 minutes each, and TV news clips and online newspaper articles were used as teaching materials. There were 60 class meetings during the academic year. Given that the two classes did not exhibit any statistically significant differences in their L2 oral fluency as measured by a storytelling task and TOEFL at the start, they were judged equivalent and designated as the control and experimental groups, respectively. 3.2 Treatments Two different types of treatments were administered to each group: a) Control group: A less closely linked skills teaching approach integrating three skills with two tasks that were less focused on the text, i.e., discussion and opinion-sharing session with the class; b) Experimental group: A more closely integrated linked skills teaching style featuring all four skills, including summary writing and a repeated pair storytelling task, both of which were based on the text. Table 7-2 below shows the teaching procedures employed in both groups.

Using Linked Skills Tasks to Promote L2 Oral Fluency

Review (Common) Review (Common) Review (Common) Review (Common) Linked skills (Common) Linked Skills (Common) Linked skills (Common) Linked skills (Different) Linked skills (Different)

Control Group TV news clip viewing (Listening) Story retelling in pairs (Listening & Speaking) Teacher-led interactive story retelling (Listening & Speaking) Shadowing task of formulaic language units (Listening & Speaking) TV news story viewing with comprehension questions (Listening) TV news story-viewing with gap filling exercises (Listening & Reading) Article reading (Reading) Small group discussion (Speaking & Listening) Opinion-sharing with the class (Speaking)

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Experimental Group TV news clip viewing (Listening) Story retelling in pairs (Listening & Speaking) Teacher-led interactive story retelling (Listening & Speaking) Shadowing task of formulaic language units (Listening & Speaking) TV news story viewing with comprehension questions (Listening) TV news story viewing with gap filling exercises (Listening & Reading) Article reading (Reading) Summary writing (Writing) Repeated storytelling task in three different pairs (Speaking)

Table 7-2. Teaching components

3.3 Measurements of oral fluency The teaching procedures described above lasted for the entire academic year. Two types of measurements of oral fluency were used at the beginning and end in order to investigate the effects of each teaching approach: 1. Story retelling task A news story retelling task was employed. The participants were given an easy news story and asked to read and explain it to the examiner and give their opinion about it within three minutes. Their renderings were recorded, and the speech rate (total words spoken per minute after deletion of reformulations, replacements, false starts, and pauses) was calculated. 2. Kanda English Proficiency Test (KEPT) – Speaking Component (2005) (Į = .98 for all four sections aggregated, and Į = .99 for the fluency section)

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This is a group test in which three students are given a topic. Two examiners, both native speakers of English, encourage the test takers to talk freely on the topic with one another after one of the examiners initiates the discussion. The examiners observe the interaction and evaluate individual performances using a 0-4 scale (0-0.5 = Unacceptable; 1.0-1.5 = Poor; 2.0-2.5 = Fair; 3.0-3.5 = Good; 4 = Excellent) and four assessment criteria: (a) pronunciation, (b) fluency, (c) grammar and vocabulary, and (d) communicative effectiveness. In addition, interviews were conducted at the beginning and end of the research period with five focal students randomly selected from each group to help interpret the results by probing the participants’ own perceptions. 3.4 Results The data collected at the beginning and end of the academic year were statistically analysed. First, a t-test was conducted to investigate whether the experimental group significantly improved its oral fluency, as measured by words per minute using a storytelling task, compared with the control group. The results indicated that the mean of the experimental group (M = 83.21, SD = 8.41) was significantly greater than the mean of the control group (M = 75.31, SD = 7.54, t(40) = 5.31, p < .05). Second, the results of another t-test using the fluency section of the KEPT speaking test revealed that the mean of the experimental group (M = 3.23, SD = .48) was significantly greater than the mean of the control group (M = 2.71, SD = 0.51, t(40) = 6.81, p < .05). Thus, the results indicate that oral fluency improved over the year due to the use of a closely integrated form of the linked skills teaching approach. In other words, the linked skills approach using summary writing and repeated storytelling showed greater oral fluency-enhancing effects than the approach using small group discussions and opinion-sharing sessions. 3.5 Discussion As discussed above, the results were insightful and pedagogically meaningful for researchers as well as practising teachers. In the control group, which was engaged in the loosely linked approach consisting of small group discussions and opinion-sharing sessions, the learners did not all necessarily use the same vocabulary and multiword units. The contribution to automatization thus did not appear to be as profound as the summary writing and the repeated pair storytelling tasks, bearing in mind that the group deployed three language skills.

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In contrast, the experimental group was engaged in the closely integrated linked skills approach with summary writing and the repeated storytelling task, which consisted of the same information and the same words and expressions, including formulaic language units, being focused upon and repeated. Students were thus engaged in deep, deliberate processing of the vocabulary and multiword units, including formulaic sequences as well as discourse, thus further promoting automatization of both language and information. 3.6 Support from the survey and interview results A questionnaire was administered to all participants to help interpret the results reported in the previous section. The results show the following. Rating the tasks on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = Very ineffective to 5 = Highly effective), both groups rated the linked skills task very high (M = 4.8, SD = .55), but the experimental group rated the repeated storytelling task in three different pairs very high as well (M = 4.9, SD = .51). A total of 11 experimental group students (out of 21) monitored and reflected on their word use and the structure of the story while and after narrating the story. In subsequent attempts, these students tried to improve their storytelling, and the summary writing closely linked to it encouraged them to think about structure, vocabulary, and multiword use and functioned as rehearsal for the narration. In addition, 17 of these students felt they were speaking faster while engaged in the repeated storytelling task in three different pairs. The interview with focal students clarified benefits of the closely linked skills in which the experimental group were engaged. The focal students selected from the experimental group reported that the summary writing and the repeated storytelling task in three different pairs encouraged them to focus on and process the same information and the same language units several times. In other words, they were engaged in deep, deliberate processing of the information and language units, thus enhancing further automatization of these items and ultimately improving their oral fluency to a greater extent than was the case for the control group. They also espoused the critical combination of writing for repeated storytelling in three different pairs. Given the powerful outlining, rehearsing, and encoding effects of writing, automatization was strengthened by the subsequent repeated storytelling, with each attempt improving the quality of delivery in terms of both fluency and accuracy. These perceptions in turn appear to have led to improved motivation and confidence in language learning.

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In contrast, the focal students selected from the control group reported that although they enjoyed the small group discussion and opinion-sharing with the class, they tended to resort to the language resources they had control over, they did not attempt to use those in the text, and they did not formulate their statements or narrations at deeper levels. Thus no particular benefits of more closely linked skills emerged from these focal students’ interviews. 3.7 Conclusion Based on the overall data obtained from a number of sources, it can be said that the improved performance of the experimental group appears to validate the effects of the use of automatization through the repeated practice of vocabulary and multiword units embedded in a closely integrated linked skills course incorporating summary writing and repeated pair story retelling tasks. To conclude, the linked skills teaching approach itself seems to be effective for oral fluency development. However, the closely linked skills approach appears to be more effective with Japanese university English majors with upper-intermediate English proficiency. Most likely, the more closely linked skills approach encourages the deep processing of words, multiunit words, and formulaic language units through repetition, potentially strengthening automatization. Of equal importance, this study appears to confirm some of the critical factors for oral fluency development documented in the L2 literature, including: (a) automatization; (b) the use of meaning-focused materials; (c) repeated practice and repetition of vocabulary; (d) the use of formulaic sequences; and (e) deep processing, as Nation (2013) and Nation and Newton (2009) indicate. Based on the present study, the linked skills teaching appears to offer similar benefits to those provided by content-based teaching in which the content is processed in a number of language modes (i.e., listening, speaking, reading, and writing) (Nation, 2014). Given the students’ comments and my own observations of the implementation of the linked skills approach, the following benefits can be reported, as suggested by Tomlinson (2013): a) b) c) d) e) f)

Greater learner confidence; Relevance and usefulness of tasks and materials; Encouragement to notice linguistic features in the input; Provision of opportunities to use English for authentic communication; Encouragement of intellectual and emotional engagement; and Value of cooperative interaction.

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Although the linked skills teaching approach has other benefits that could be investigated, future research conducted with different types of participants may reveal additional pedagogical effects of the approach. If so, the linked skills approach will become more widely used in secondary and university-level teaching contexts.

References Anderson, J. R. (1983). The architecture of cognition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Boers, F., Eyckmans, J., Kappel, J., Strengers, H., & Demecheleer, M. (2006). Formulaic sequences and lexical oral proficiency: Putting the Lexical Approach to the test. Language Teaching Research, 10 (3), 245-261. Canale, M., & Swain. M. (1980). Theoretical bases of communicative approaches in second language teaching and testing, Applied Linguistics, 1, 1-47. Chambers, F. (1998). What do you mean by fluency? System, 25 (4), 535544. DeKeyser, R. (2007). Practice in a second language: Perspectives from applied linguistics and cognitive psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Derwing, T. M., Munro, M. J., & Thomson, R. I. (2007). A longitudinal study of ESL learners' fluency and comprehensibility development. Applied Linguistics, 29 (3), 359-380. Ellis. N. C. (2002). Frequency effects in language processing. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 24 (2), 143-188. Ellis, R. (2012). The study of second language acquisition (2nd edition). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Favreau, M., & Segalowitz, N. (1983). Automatic and controlled processes in the first and second language reading of fluent bilinguals. Memory and cognition, 11, 565-574. Hayashi, H. (2005). Identifying different motivational transitions of Japanese ESL learners using cluster analysis: Self-determination perspectives. JACET Bulletin, 41, 1-17. Hymes, D. (1972). On communicative competence. In J. B. Pride & J. Holmes (Eds.), Sociolinguistics (pp. 269-293). Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. Iwashita, N., Brown, A., McNamara, T., & O’Hagan, S. (2008). Assessed levels of second language speaking proficiency: How distinct? Applied Linguistics, 29, 24-29.

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Kanda English Proficiency Test (KEPT). (2005). Kanda KEPT Committee. Chiba: Kanda University of International Studies. Kormos, J. (2006). Speech production and second language acquisition. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Krashen, S. (1985). The Input Hypothesis: Issues and implications. New York: Longman. Lennon, P. (1990). Investigating fluency in EFL: A quantitative approach. Language Learning, 40 (3), 387-417. Little, D. (2006). The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Content, purpose, origin, reception, and impact. Language Teaching, 39 (3), 167-190. Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology. (2009). The Course of Study for Upper Secondary Schools. Retrieved May 21, 2017 from: http://www.mext.go.jp/english/shotou/030301.htm Murphy, T., Onoda, T., Sato, K., & Takaki, M. (2012). The language of interaction in Japanese EFL JHSs and SHSs. Paper presented at the JALT Conference, Shizuoka (November). Nation, I. S. P. (1989). Improving speaking fluency. System, 17 (3), 377384. Nation, I. S. P. (2013) What should every EFL teacher know? Tokyo: Compass Publishing. Nation, I. S. P. (2014). Developing fluency. In T. Muller, J. Adamson, P. S. Brown, & S. Herder (Eds.), Exploring EFL fluency in Asia (pp. 1125). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Nation, I. S. P. (2015). Learning vocabulary in another language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Nation, I. S. P., & Newton, J. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL listening and speaking. New York: Routledge. Onoda, S. (2008). An investigation of effects of a study-abroad program on fluency development. Journal of Kanda University of International Studies, 45, 21-39. Onoda, S. (2011). Design and teaching techniques for enhancing student learning in Media English courses. Media, English, and Communication, 1, 1-18. Onoda, S. (2012). Effects of repetition of selected news stories on oral fluency in Media English learning. Media, English, and Communication, 2, 89-113. Onoda, S. (2013). Investigating effects of a closely linked four skills approach on English speaking fluency development. Global Science and Technology Forum Journal on Education 1, 62–70.

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Onoda, S. (2014). An exploration of effective teaching approaches for enhancing the oral fluency of EFL students. In T. Muller & S. Herder (Eds.), Fluency in EFL (pp. 71-85). Tokyo: Nash. Rossiter, M., Derwing, T., & Manimtim, L. (2010). Oral fluency: The neglected component in the communicative language classroom. Canadian Modern Language Review, 66 (4), 583-606. Sawyer, M. (2006). Motivation and identity in flux: Eight years of EFL. Presented at the annual JALT conference, Kyoto (November). Schmitt, N., & Carter, R. (2004). Formulaic sequences in action: An introduction. In N. Schmitt (Ed.), Formulaic sequences acquisition, processing, and use (pp. 1-22). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Schmitt, N., & Underwood, G. (2004). Exploring the processing of formulaic sequences through a self-paced reading task. In N. Schmitt (Ed.), Formulaic sequences: Acquisition, processing, and use (pp. 153172). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Schoonjans, E., Welcomme, A., Housen, A., Pierrard, M., Schoonhere, E., & Jassens, S. (2010). The effect of learning context on the complexity, accuracy, and fluency of L2 performance and L2 proficiency. Paper presented at the American Association for Applied Linguistics, Atlanta, GA (March). Segalowitz, N. (2010). The cognitive bases of second language fluency. New York: Routledge. Tavakoli, P., & Skehan, P. (2005). Strategic planning, task structure, and performance testing. In R. Ellis (Ed.), Planning and task performance in a second language (pp. 239-276). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Tomlinson, B. (2013). Introduction: Principles and procedure of material development. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Materials development in language teaching (2nd edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Wood, D. (2001). In search of fluency: What is it and how can we teach it? Canadian Modern Language Review, 57 (4), 573-589. Wray, A. (2002). Formulaic language and the lexicon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Appendix Sample narrative elicited by a news storytelling task at two data collection points (boldfaced parts are formulaic expressions students learned in class): I would like to tell you about… interesting trend… of young people… in the world. I think… this is true… in Japan. As you can imagine, it is marriage. According to… article, people who …marry… in recent years… is… lowest… in last… 30 years, What do you think of reasons? I was surprised to find… some reasons. First one… Young people do not like responsibilities. As you can imagine, if you live together …uh… a lot of responsibilities for each other…

CHAPTER EIGHT INTERPLAY BETWEEN DATA-DRIVEN LEARNING AND THE TEXT- DRIVEN APPROACH IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF MEANING-FOCUSED MATERIALS MAJID ELAHI SHIRVAN

Research has indicated the gap between theories of applied linguistics and practice in materials development. Despite the large number of research findings addressing the importance of learners’ exposure to rich and meaningful input, materials, especially the commercial ones, have not provided rich meaning-focused activities yet. To bridge this gap, I conducted an experiment with intermediate-level university students practising the potential applications of electronic corpora as meaningfocused materials via data-driven learning (DDL) using a Text-Driven Approach (TDA), prioritizing learners’ apprehension over their comprehension. First, the participants of the study, taking a course of general English, were engaged in the different aspects of utterance meaning by doing readiness, experiential, and intake response activities as well as an introduction to corpora. These aspects were locutionary (its reference), illocutionary (its intention), and perlocutionary (its effect) forces of some selected Key Word in Context (KWIC) concordances of Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA). Second, confronting the language data in COCA, they discovered these aspects carrying out input-response activities and discussed the questions, thought deeply about them, and achieved awareness regarding the intended meaning of the utterances while doing interpretation and awareness tasks. Finally, in group discussions, they practised producing context for each concordance line. Significant improvement in the participants’ understanding of the different aspects of meaning based on their performance in the preand post-tests and the interviews conducted after the experiment highlight

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the success of the meaning-focused activities in an integrated framework of DDL and TDA.

Introduction The field of applied linguistics has been growing into a very broad domain in terms of the variety of aspects it encompasses. One of the main aspects in which many studies have been conducted is the realm of meaningversus form-focused learning (e.g. Ellis, 2001; Laufer & Girsai, 2008; Loewen, 2004; Ortega-Maldonado & Salanova, 2017; Spada & Lightbown, 2008). The literature of this realm of study is occupied with controversies in terms of the definitions of each of these trends. However, despite the numerous studies carried out on the theoretical aspects of meaningfocused learning and teaching, little is done on the practical side in terms of the development of appropriate materials to improve learners’ meaningfocused or meaning awareness competence. Since being exposed to rich and meaningful materials is one of the major findings of studies in the field of second language acquisition (SLA), further attempts should be made to bridge the gap of this main finding in the realm of materials development. To achieve a match between SLA theory and materials development (Tomlinson, 2016), the purpose of this study is to set the stage for the development of meaning-focused materials in an intertwined framework of a TDA and DDL.

Where Is Meaning? Before developing any frameworks for the development of meaningfocused activities, we should first see where meaning stands. Many years ago, Ausubel (1960) hypothesized that learning and retention of unfamiliar but meaningful verbal material can be facilitated by the introduction of relevant subsuming concepts or organizers. Since then, several findings based on numerous studies have, to some extent, explained where meaning comes from. To clarify this initial question, we can start with an outline of some of the main SLA findings (mainly derived from Tomlinson, 2013) and discuss the nature of meaning in these studies. 1.

Meaningful exposure to language The input for the acquisition of a second language should be necessarily comprehensible (Krashen, 1981, 1994; Ellis, 2008; Ortega, 2010). One question raised by these findings might be the criteria for the comprehensibility of this input. This set of criteria

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might be pivoted on Piaget’s theory of equilibration (Cohen & Kim, 1999). The moment learners are not able to decipher the meaning of a text as input, they are in a state of disequilibrium. They will go through a state of equilibrium, gaining meaning, when the text provides them with some links to their background knowledge so that they can make assimilations between the input and their primary information, or apperceptive mass. 2.

Rich exposure to language The language input which learners are exposed to should be rich in the sense that it is supposed to include implicit information and cues on how language is applied to communicate meaning (Tomlinson, 2013). In other words, the implicit information in the input should provide the adequate contextual and co-textual cues so that learners can understand the meaning by going beyond the locutionary force of the input to its illocutionary one.

3.

Noticing how the second language (L2) is used For the input to be turned into intake, it should be noticed. In other words, the comprehensibility of input takes place when we can draw the attention of learners to the salient features of the language (see Long, 1991; Ellis, 2002; Fotos & Nassaji, 2007). This way, learners can explore the form-function links in the input. Like the explanations mentioned for the meaningfulness of rich exposure to language, via noticing the salient linguistic features in the input, learners can pay meticulous attention to the contextual cues contributing to the emergence of meaning.

4.

Affective and cognitive engagement The field of applied linguistics has been mainly occupied with research on negative psychology (see Horwitz, 2010; Gkonou, Daubney, & Dewaele, 2017) indicating that negative emotions such as anxiety might act as an affective filter debilitating learners in their acquisition of the second language. On the other hand, with the growth of positive psychology, SLA research has shifted to investigating the role of positive emotions in this acquisition (e.g. Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2016; Dewaele, MacIntyre, Boudreau, & Dewaele, 2016; Elahi Shirvan & Talebzadeh, 2018) indicating that positive emotions, enjoyment in particular, can stimulate deep processing in learners and make learners both affectively and cognitively ready for the acquisition of the language. Regarding the

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cognitive side, recent studies on flow theory have also highlighted the fact that, when faced with a challenging input, a sense of flow in learners takes place if they are provided with an appropriate level of support. Closely related to the criteria mentioned for the comprehensibility of the input, the nature of this support level is occupied with a mental and affective capacity to generate links with the learners’ background personal experiences to overcome the challenge. Thus, by achieving meaning, they can acquire a sense of flow. 5.

Taking advantage of first language (L1) mental resources in communication In the process of comprehending input or producing a message in the L2, we benefit from visual imaging and inner speech (see Archer, 2003; de Guerro, 2005; Tomlinson & Avila, 2007; Tomlinson, 2011) to design “a mental representation of our intended message” or “what we are going to say and write” (Tomlinson, 2013, p. 13). In other words, similar to the explanations for the comprehensibility of input, both visual imaging and inner voice are a part of our primary apperceptive mass, mainly shaped in our L1, which lay the foundations for meaning-making in the L2.

Thus, as discussed, the need for the element of meaning is at the root of many theories and findings in the field of SLA. However, their practice in the field of materials development is still scarce. Based on these findings, meaning-focused materials should trigger learners’ background knowledge or apperceptive mass so that they can understand the illocutionary force of the intended messages of the input and build their intake. Besides, this providence of links with the learners’ personal experiences in the development of materials can pave the way for their cognitive and affective engagement. Furthermore, meaning-focused materials are supposed to provide learners with implicit contextual cues as well as activities to raise their consciousness regarding these cues so that they can notice the necessary lexico-grammatical patterns required for meaning inference. These points in the development of meaning-focused activities can be applied within a framework of DDL and TDA.

Data-Driven Learning Some explanations concerning the dynamic usage based (DUB) approach might provide clear images of data-driven learning. What the two approaches have in common is that no innate faculty is considered for the acquisition of grammar determining the linguistic developmental path.

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Thus, each individual learner is supposed to discover the regularities and patterns of an L2 through exposure and experience with the language (Langacker, 2008, Robinson & Ellis, 2008, Verspoor & Behrens, 2011). Verspoor, Schmid and Xu (2012) asserted that “As far as L2 development is concerned, the DUB approach assumes that there is much more to learn in an L2 than its morphology and syntax. In fact, there is no real division between morphology, lexicon, collocations, formulaic phrases, and constructions. They are all seen as constructions in a linguistic continuum with no clear division between them” (p. 241).

Quite similar to this tenet of DUB, DDL considers no difference between lexis and grammar but regards them as one unit called a lexicogrammatical item (Johns, 1990; Sinclair, 1991). This is where meaning emerges in this approach in that, on the one hand, grammar is meaningfully dependent on the type of lexical items and, on the other hand, lexical items emerge within the specific arrangements of grammatical items. In DDL, foreign language learners work with spoken or written corpus data. They explore the relative frequencies of lexicogrammatical patterns in terms of lexical bundles and preferred sequences in concordance data (see Figure 8-1).

Fig. 8-1 Concordance lines of the ‘give him the keys’ patterns

Next, they verify their discovered lexico-grammatical patterns in a different set of corpus data and also check them with the entries for the given words in several dictionaries (Johns, 2002). Some of the major features of DDL are as follows (see Boulton & Cobb, 2017): 

DDL represents current linguistic theory. Language is mainly viewed “as dynamic, complex, probabilistic, interactive, and patterned rather than rule governed” (Boulton & Cobb, 2017, p. 3),as supported by

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usage-based theories of language (e.g. Tomasello, 2003). Considering this perspective, knowledge of language can be regarded as a mental corpus (Taylor, 2012) of complex experiences of language application. Corpus linguistics has paved the way for numerous insights into this patterning such as lexical priming (Hoey, 2005), the idiom principle (Sinclair, 1991), as well as norms and expectations (Hanks, 2013). In addition, DDL contributes to learners’ recognition of “the fuzzy nature of authentic language use in context” (Boulton & Cobb, 2017, p. 3). 

DDL maintains that rules are hard because they represent “an artificial intellectual abstraction” (Boulton & Cobb, 2017, p. 3) but patterns are easy as we are naturally assigned to detecting patterns in our surroundings (e.g., Barrett, Dunbar & Lycett, 2002) as well as acquiring and applying language. As a result of the acquisition of this pattern-detection skill via DDL, learners can carry this skill from the here-and-now context of the classroom to the there-and-then outside the classroom by transferring, achieving a high level of autonomy.



DDL provides learners with access to the large corpus of authentic language but organizes this corpus in a way to make patterns salient and noticeable for learners to support noticing (Schmidt, 1990). Besides, this organized chunking-providing structure in DDL supports the psycholinguistic evidence for the significant role of chunking in learning (Millar, 2011).



DDL can be regarded as a match between theories of applied linguistics and the practice of materials development because it is a representation of major SLA findings mentioned earlier. It is a bridge between top-down processes with a focus on meaning and bottom-up processes with a focus on form (Boulton & Cobb, 2017).

The practice of DDL involves several stages (Tomlinson, 2011): 1. Assemblage At this stage, learners determine lines including the key words, with the key words located in a central position. 2. Analysis At this stage, first, learners detect the boundaries of the phrases encompassing the given key word. Secondly, they classify the phrases in

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accordance with their meaning, application, pattern or linguistics classes. Finally, they think of known examples similar to those they have already identified and classified. 3. Extension and consolidation At this stage, learners first take advantage of dictionaries to consolidate given areas or how to use the key words. Next, they record and take note of useful examples and phrases. Finally, they look at other features taking place in the concordance lines, discover more examples in the original text, and make a record of any examples of any useful items.

Text-Driven Approach TDA was created by Tomlinson to “answer the question about how a language can best be learnt and acquired in the classroom” (Tomlinson, 2003, p. 107). The main underlying principle in this approach is that apprehension comes before comprehension (Kolb, 1984, as cited in Tomlinson, 2003). In other words, it is based on the previously mentioned major findings of applied linguistics indicating the significance of learners’ background experiences and primary information as a basis for meaning-focused learning. Thus, learners are encouraged to respond holistically, affectively, and multi-dimensionally to a text before being helped to think more deeply about it, in order to learn something from it (Tomlinson, 2003). Based on this premise, materials should consist of activities to facilitate an effective, durable, and enjoyable learning experience which is consistent with the shift from negative psychology to positive psychology in the field of applied linguistics (see Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2016). TDA encompasses the following phases: Engage learners Following the primary principle of apprehension, learners are to experience the text via their senses, feelings, views and intuition while doing readiness activities. In these activities, they make connections between their prior experiences and those they are to encounter in the text. Readiness activities can be of the following two types: 1. Experiential activities: helping learners represent the text in their minds (personal engagement activities);

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2. Intake response activities: helping learners develop and articulate their initial personal responses, both cognitive and affective, to the text. Activities to get students to think Following the comprehension principle, after building an adequate level of affective and cognitive engagement, learners are involved in activities to improve their level of comprehension and meaning making. This phase can take place through the following activities: 1. Input-response activities: taking learners back to the text to make discoveries about it; 2. Interpretation tasks: involving the learners to think more deeply about the text; 3. Awareness tasks: providing opportunities for the learners to gain awareness from a focused study of the text. Activities to get students to communicate Main SLA findings have highlighted the importance of providing learners with opportunities to practice contextualised output (e.g. Batstone, 2002; Leeser, 2008; Russell, 2014). Following these findings, developmental activities can cater to this learners’ need by making them able to practise communication: 1. Development activities: providing opportunities for meaningful language production based on the learners’ representation of the text, including role plays and group discussions (see Darici & Tomlinson, 2016, a report on the effects of one unit of TDA materials developed for a lesson at a Fatih school in Istanbul).

This Study: An Integration of DLL and TDA as Meaning-Focused Activities A closer look at the procedures of the two approaches can justify that an integrated framework encompassing the two approaches might seem adequate to bridge the gap of meaning-focused materials. First of all, DDL provides the learners with an input whose level of comprehensibility and richness depends on how well and to what extent learners are encouraged to continue their discoveries. TDA can set the supportive stage for the learners’ discovery attempts in DDL to, having built the necessary background personal and experiential foundations with the input, generate their own meaningful output.

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In this study, 23 intermediate level university students practised their English with meaning-focused materials via an integrated framework of DDL and TDA. They all took English as a general course at the University of Bojnord, Iran. The target words they were assumed to learn in this course were 20 random words form the New General Service List (Brown, 2014) and 20 random words from the Academic Word List (Coxhead, 2000).The whole period of the experiment took about 10 sessions and each session was 90 minutes. The phases of the experiment were as follows: 1. Getting familiar with the different aspects of the meaning such as locutionary (its reference), illocutionary (its intention), and perlocutionary (its effect) forces of some selected KWIC concordances of the COCA as well as an introduction to the COCA before the beginning of the experiment. 2. Confronting the language data in the COCA, extracting the KWIC concordance of the target words while doing readiness activities including experiential and intake response ones. In this phase, having extracted the KWIC concordance lines of the target words, the participants individually read the concordance lines and checked which of them could best trigger their memory, visual imaging, and their inner voice. They wrote down their initial links with these concordance lines and articulated how they were cognitively and affectively engaged. 3. Discovering the different aspects of meaning via carrying out inputresponse activities, discussing the questions, thinking deeply about them, and achieving awareness regarding the intended meaning of the utterances while doing interpretation and awareness tasks. At this stage, the participants tried to find the frequent lexicogrammatical patterns like collocations and lexical bundles of the target words whose concordance lines were cognitively and affectively engaging for them. They checked these discovered patterns with each other and compared them by looking them up in different dictionaries. 4. Group discussion, practising to produce context for each concordance line. At this stage, the participants tried to produce texts using their discovered lexico-grammatical patterns of the target words in their concordance lines. Before going through these stages, the students were given a developed test to assess the different aspects of meaning in the target

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words, especially their illocutionary meaning. After the experiment, they were given the same test to see to what extent they could succeed in gaining the meaning of the target words. Besides, focus group interviews as well as individual semi-structured interviews were conducted after each session to gain further insights into the experiences the participants went through in the process of the experiment. The interview guide was developed based on the hints for the acquisition of meaning in the previously mentioned major SLA findings. Furthermore, session observation was also used to gain further information about the participants’ points in their interviews. A paired sample T-test was applied to statistically check the progress of the participants from pre-test to post test. In addition, grounded theory including open coding, axial coding, and selective coding, was used to qualitatively content analyze the transcribed interviews of the participants and explore the themes emerging from them.

Findings Significant improvement in the participants’ understanding of the different aspects of meaning, based on their performance in the pre-and post-tests and the interviews conducted after the experiment, was observed. This highlights the success of the meaning-focused activities in an integrated framework of DDL and TDA. The emerging themes from the interviews with the participants were as follows: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Ability of self-discovery of target words linguistic patterns Enjoyment in being engaged in the corpus data Experiencing a sense of flow Activation of background knowledge Raised consciousness regarding the target word patterns

Discussion As seen in the findings of the study, an integrated framework of TDA and DDL in the development of meaning-focused materials could contribute to the learners’ conscious development in the process of meaning making. The themes emerging from the participants’ interviews and my observation corroborate the main SLA research findings. First of all, the associations between the participants’ background personal experiences and the KWIC concordance lines paved the way for their engagement in a primary phase of apprehension leading to the construction of comprehensible input via the readiness and experiential activities. In other

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words, in Piaget’s terms (Cohen & Kim, 1999), the experiential links and mental associations with the concordance lines as well as the discovered lexico-grammatical patterns shifted the participants from seeing the concordance lines as a source of disequilibrium to regarding it as a potential source of equilibrium in terms of meaning making. This is also in alignment with Ausubel (1960), who claimed the comprehension of unfamiliar materials, for instance comprehending the concordance lines at first sight, is facilitated via the advance introduction of relevant subsuming concepts provided in the apprehension phase by the experiential and intake response activities. This meaning-making process can also be supported by the main principles of meditative learning experience (Feuerstein & Tannenbaum, 1991) and sense of flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). The concordance lines per se might seem rather challenging for the learners, but the readiness activities could lay the adequate supportive foundation to render learners both affectively and cognitively involved to meet the challenge, and, as a result, going through a state of flow. In fact, as one of the central tenets of any meditative experience like readiness activities, the experience of going beyond the here-and-now might play a pivotal role in the learners’ meaning-making capacity. The moment they read the concordance lines, taking advantage of their inner voices and images as their mental resources, in fact, they might have transferred from the here-and-now boundary of their content to a personalized one. Similarly, referring to Vygotskian sociocultural theory (Lantolf & Poehner, 2014), the readiness activities while meeting the concordance lines might shape the difference between learners’ actual learning, where concordance lines do not make sense, and their potential learning, in which they could infer the meaning. To put it in another way, consistent with Taylor (2012), the readiness activities, by triggering learners’ apperceptive mass, and the production activities might help learners to see linguistic knowledge in the concordance lines as a mental corpus of combined experiences in language use. Interestingly, this capacity of meaning making increased as the learners practised and extended their assimilation with more concordance lines. This, in line with Barrett et al. (2002), means that instead of learning the target words in packages of decontextualised, abstract, and meaningless rules, learners discover the contextualised, tangible, and meaningful patterns in concordance lines. This, in turn, might be transferrable to the context of the new concordance lines, promoting learners’ autonomy in both understanding the meaning in the comprehension phase and generating meaning in the production phase.

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Another contribution to the increase in the meaning-focused capacity of learners is, in accordance with Schmidt (1990) and Millar (2011), that DDL in this integrated framework organizes the authentic patterns of language in noticeable and salient chunks raising their awareness about their contextual use as well. Moreover, in agreement with Boulton and Cobb (2017), in this meaning-making processing, within the integrated framework, learners take advantage of both top-down and bottom-up processes. The apprehension phase through the readiness activities sets the stage for the top-down meaning processing and the chunking structure of concordance lines paves the way for the bottom-up meaning processing. Finally, as a result of the integration of both processes, top-down and bottom-up, learners went through high states of enjoyment, which can be supported by the recent trend of research in positive psychology in the field of applied linguistics. Recently, Elahi Shirvan and Talebzadeh (2018) have reported that topics can play different roles in the construction of enjoyment in learners. That is, in response to the same conversational topics, learners react differently because their background experiences are different; thus, the topics which for one student are not enjoyment building might be enjoyment building for other students. The same might seem true for the students’ sense of cognitive and affective engagement in their first encounter with the KWIC concordance lines. The organization of the corpus data and large number of concordance lines appearing on the page provide learners with a flexible framework so that they can enter an engagement phase with any concordance lines on which they can build mental and affective links doing readiness activities.

Conclusion The significance of developing meaning-focused materials is felt as many research studies have addressed meaning acquisition and production in the SLA domain. In this study, considering the findings of previous research, I aimed to evaluate to what extent an integrated framework of DDL and TDA could contribute to the improvement of learners’ meaning-making capacity. Implementing the framework as meaning-focused activities indicated that the priority of apprehension to comprehension latent in the nature of TDA accompanied with the flexible format and discoveryenhancing nature of DDL could raise the participants’ competence in meaning understanding and meaning generation. This integrated framework can be put into practice by teachers, using different levels of creativity. Teachers can assemble the concordance lines themselves before bringing them to the class or they can ask the students to do the

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assemblage themselves. In addition, further studies can provide further insights into the dynamics of the meaning acquisition capacity of learners by developing materials based on, and implementing, this framework with students of different proficiency levels. Furthermore, with the shift from negative psychology to positive psychology in the field of applied linguistics, further studies can examine the enjoyment building capacity of both DDL and TDA, or a combination of both, in an integrated framework like the one used in this study.

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CHAPTER NINE TEACHING IN GREENLAND: AN ATTEMPT TO ENCOURAGE DIVERSITY ANNE-METTE KORCZYNSKI

Second language teachers bring extra materials into the classroom not only as a supplement to textbooks but as a means to provide students with even more valuable resources with which to undertake the task of learning a new language. Be it copies from other textbooks, newspapers, videos, films or homemade materials for the specific lesson in mind, teachers have a purpose in supplying their students with extra materials, that is to provide the subject with more purposeful meaningfulness. In this chapter, I take another perspective, namely instead of bringing meaningful materials to the second language classroom, students and learners get to experience second language acquisition via Performance in relational construction and improvisation in the production of what, to them, are meaning-focused materials. Performance is to dare to position yourself in relational processes where social realities and learning are jointly constructed. In practice, Performance can be carried out worldwide in or outside the second language classroom; in our specific Performance, the geographical scene is Greenland.

Setting the Scene Grasping, captivating and occupying the students’ time and mind with something meaningful during second language classroom lessons and making this new knowledge active in the students’ life is the profound goal of every educational institution’s work. The number of possibilities for engaging students in leaning new languages will depend on many parameters, like: geography, linguistics, human rights, gender, age, climate, beliefs. Which part of the world are we talking about? What are the positions on minority languages versus majority languages among the

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population and their politicians? How about gender equality? Lifelong education for all individuals regardless of age – child and adult? And what are the cultural and religious beliefs the community has as guidelines? When we are in our community we take speaking our mother tongue for granted. It is in the meeting with others who speak other languages we are challenged in many ways. Prejudices arise too easily and the challenge for second language teachers is to grasp moments of curiosity and motivation and consider new theoretical views of both language and language learning. Now for some clarification on the use of ‘student’, ‘colleague’ and ‘learner’. In the following, ‘student’ is defined as a student at University studying to become a second language teacher in public schools; ‘colleague’ is a student colleague at the University, and ‘learner’ describes pupils in public schools learning a second language.

Greenland Greenland – or Kalaallit Nunaat, the land of the Greenlanders – is the biggest island in the world. About 80% of the island is covered by an icecap and of the 56,000 inhabitants, 8,000 are Danes. All inhabitants live by the coast spread out in towns and settlements. Most of the Greenlanders live on the West Coast, where the Capital Nuuk is situated. In Nuuk, there are around 16,000 people and the Self-Government and the Administrations are located here. Due to extreme environments and capricious climate conditions, only around 4,000 people live on the East Coast. All in all, from Thule at the far North-West Coast close to the North Pole and down to Cape Farewell in the South of Greenland, there are 16 towns and about 50 settlements. From the South of Greenland and up the Eastern Coast, there are two towns and nine settlements. Overcoming travelling along the coast one needs to sail or fly by helicopter and to travel cross country over the icecap one must fly by airplane. It is essential that every child attends public school in the local community with which they identify themselves, close to home, family and friends. To achieve this goal, Greenland has 83 public schools scattered along the coast. The biggest public schools are in the towns and smaller public schools with as few as 10 pupils are in the minor settlements. There are 10 years of compulsory school attendance and pupils living in small settlements often leave their families and move to attend public schools in towns from the 8th grade. The Greenlandic language belongs to the Inuit-Aleut family of languages and is a polysynthetic language. Being such a huge country, which means that

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many inhabitants have lacked connections to people in other parts of the country for centuries, Greenlandic today has three interconnected but distinct dialects. The official language, the Western Greenlandic dialect, is both the political and administrative language and is largely spoken in Nuuk. It is also the Western Greenlandic dialect that pupils are to be taught all over Greenland. Schoolbooks are written in that dialect and in order to make a future outside a remote settlement, one must be fluent in the Western Greenlandic dialect. Up North on the North-West Coast we have the Thule dialect and on the East Coast, the Eastern dialect. Even though the Western dialect dominates and is the language most of the population speaks, it is still vulnerable, and as the two other dialects have no written tradition, they are definitely endangered. For centuries, Greenland has been part of the Danish Kingdom, and the Danish language plays a vivacious role in the everyday life of every Greenlandic person. It was only in 2009, with the formation of SelfGovernment authorities, that Greenlandic de jure became the official principal language. The Greenlandic dialects have a rich vocabulary regarding domains where the language users have had a need for words regarding social relations and prey, whereas words needed for administration and science are borrowed from Danish words and for the past few decades, borrowed from English as well. Due to centuries of Danish hegemony, Danish still plays a crucial role in Greenlandic society. Since the resolution was passed in 2009 that Greenlandic is the official principal language, and Danish de jure is no longer an official language in Greenland, Danish is encompassed in the syllabus as a second language. Subsequently, diglossia flourishes since Greenlandic is in use for the political and cultural domains, and Danish is still the de facto domain for the academic and intellectual world. The historical and political bonds between Greenland and Denmark imply that young people can leave for Denmark to be educated, and for that purpose the Danish language is still needed. Consequently, the Greenlandic society has many bi- and multilingual inhabitants speaking one or two dialects of Greenlandic and Danish; some speak more Greenlandic than Danish or vice versa; some speak only Greenlandic and only very few Danes living and working in Greenland speak Greenlandic. Depending on the geography, the varieties of dialects and languages can in some places vary from negative feelings towards a particular dialect or language where in other places positive feeling towards the same dialects and languages can be found. Skutnabb-Kangas and Phillipson (1995) define the political incentive from just tolerating a

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dialect or language in some areas to make improvement for other dialects and languages in other areas to have an impact on peoples’ identities. To cover all public schools with qualified teachers speaking the local dialect and being able to teach in the official Western Greenlandic dialect and Danish is a gigantic challenge for a country with a demography of 56,000 inhabitants living in towns and settlements scattered by the coast in a country with over 216,086 square kilometers, and with transportation either by air, sea or dog-sleigh as the only possibilities to get around. If, for instance, you were born and have lived your childhood and youth on the West Coast, your mother tongue is the Western Dialect, let us say that you are a newly educated teacher or already have a job – why would you leave all this behind for a career on the East Coast where the dialect is different, and you know nobody in a settlement with maybe 20 pupils in the school? The most obvious decision would be to settle where one feels one’s identity belongs. The Greenlandic Self-Government has immense difficulties in employing qualified teachers and for decades a mixing of educated Greenlandic teachers, teachers from Denmark and uneducated Greenlandic substitutes have taken on the responsibilities of educating the Greenlandic children and youth. It is most problematic for remote settlements to attract qualified teachers and often locals with no formal teacher training whatsoever are employed. Indubitably, over the years, young people’s migration from settlements to the capital of Nuuk or abroad to get educated has had an impact on lack of qualified teachers in settlements as only very few return.

Towards the Profession as a Second Language Teacher Entering the unknown and nascent realm with the decision to study at the University of Greenland in Nuuk to become a teacher in Danish as a second language, with the aim of being prepared to navigate in the Greenlandic plethora of three diverse dialects, along with the demographic challenge of towns and settlements distributed about the coast and inhabited by strong individuals with locally bound identities, is staggering. New generations of strong individuals want to change the level of education in the Greenlandic public schools. They want to change oldfashioned methodologies and implement the ones belonging to the 21st century. They acknowledge the value of teaching schoolchildren to take responsibility through empowerment and emancipation. Generally, the challenges for new teachers in Danish as a second language in public schools are two-fold; both the theory of language learning and the teaching methods used are outdated. The approach to second language teaching is

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often the same as to mother tongue teaching, and there is a lack of appropriate teaching materials combined with poor access to the Internet. Prejudices from parents, pupils and parts of the community against Danish can impede teaching. Consequently, during their studies, students must place themselves in a position where they are willing to set aside their own schooling experiences and embrace leaning differently to fulfil their ambitions.

Performance Teaching Danish as a second language in Greenlandic public schools and utilizing modern teaching methods to guide public schools into the 21st century assumes that fresh views and up-to-date theories of language are a prerequisite; one way of accommodating this is what Korczynski (2012) calls Performance. Korczynski defines the theoretical position of Performance as based upon a social constructionist understanding. Namely, a caution to be suspicious of conventions on how the world appears to be. Korczynski here draws on Burr (2008), who also concludes that concepts and categories are historically and culturally specific and that the idea that knowledge is sustained by social processes. For Korczynski, being suspicious implies that a critical stance is adopted toward everything that we take for granted. Depending on where and how we live and grow up, our understanding of the world is formed by the historical and cultural time and place we inhabit; the artefacts we are familiar with and the environments shape us. During social life and in daily interaction between people, the world as we know it is constructed. Each different social construction invites distinctive action from its participants and an abundance of possible social constructions emerge as diverse descriptions and constructions of the world endure some patterns of social actions while others are expelled. Language is how we extend our enquiries beyond the individual position and into the social realm and in Performance attention is on microstructures of language in interaction; viz. a consideration of how phenomena and knowledge are achieved. Knowledge is what people do together and the meaning we make of it. Generally, for Performance to transpire and turn into learning, three disparate issues must be present. Firstly, students and learners must be aware of when and how they are in flow; secondly, a certain amount of willingness to establish relatedness in the social interaction between Self and Other for meaning and understanding to unfold; and lastly, affordance with the real world as well as the imagined one will be part of every lesson. For the students at the University studying Danish as a second

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language to become teachers themselves, it means that to understand and use methodologies everything done during their study must have a bifocal perspective. Nearsighted means that what happens during university lessons is a prerequisite to be analyzed as science during lesson time, and for the longsighted perspective, students must relate in discourses and try out how methodologies actually can develop into methods and designs for their own second language activities. I will discuss the concept of Flow first. Flow, as a state of mind in the progress of learning a second language, is a powerful instrument and flow energy transformed into useful strategies in the second language classroom is an important tool for learners to focus upon to set up targets and handle their learning improvements. Csikszentmihalyi (2007) states that the experience of flow is a state of mind where the consciousness sharply concentrates on and is filled with the experience; everything is in harmony: feelings, thoughts and intensions flow together effortlessly in a stream of absorption. In the learning process, flow activities are activities that: - put the learner in activities where she/he can concentrate on the target; - give well-defined targets; - give immediately relevant feedback when required - take the learner’s skills into considerations; - give the learner possibilities to act; - challenge the learner only in the flow zone; - give opportunities to take responsibility. The creation of a flow environment where Performance can seize power means to create the right challenges in the right situations and retain momentum. Flow is a subjective feeling where challenges and skills are combined in the most fruitful way and during flow activities, learners increase their effort to learn more and will challenge their own involvement and do better. If the challenges are too high it can cause fear, stress and anxiety; on the other hand, if the challenges are too low, learners will not pay attention, be bored or slumbering. The relevance of flow for second language classroom activities is paramount. When our attention is not on Self, but we are concentrating on Other, we can experience the world from more and new perspectives. To dwell in the activities with Other and enjoy the activity for its own sake is to gain control over one’s own consciousness. The state of flow is constructed via the interaction with Other and in that precise moment the

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conversation and the relatedness, construe a common authenticity in both Self and Other. Secondly, in the willingness to stage oneself to establish relatedness between Self and Other our actions become deeply embedded in our relationships. Gergen (2009), Hosking (2000) and McNamee (2008) describe that to act intelligibly at all is to participate in relationships and relational processes from the starting point, these being viewed as the medium within which social realities and learning are socially constructed. Therefore, the social reality we construct is coming about via language by engaging socially, and in Bateson’s (2009) ecology, there is a constancy in the relationship that slowly evolves, which for Braidotti (2013) should not be in a dialectic form, but in a reciprocal holistic form. It all starts with us coming together and as different groups coordinating in differently ways, diverse values emerge; it is not a portrait of individual internal processes but constructed values on local grounds. It is a state of conscious experience of ‘being with’ and allowing the relatedness to speak through us. During our lifetime our relational positions are numerous, and we inhabit many voices, positions, opinions from our various relationships; we contain multitudes. To step out of Self and embrace Other, Cixous (2010) describes that a new language is desired, where altering the relations with Other makes it likely for the language system to change. Words we use in dialogues do not belong to us; words are immersed in the dependability in the relationships and we likewise integrate the multitudes of words in collaborative actions. In the relational learning process, relation between Self and Other is created in generative joint creativeness that emphasizes mutual leverage in the learning process. It is an act of being prepared to stage oneself and via engaging with Other being willing to take the risk of being shaken up as values, beliefs and habits might be disrupted. It can be overwhelming to not come from the same community and suddenly find oneself in a position in an unknown location, not sharing the same living culture sine qua non due to sociological traditions. Language is the way we do our lives in relating, and when Self and Other are intertwined a multiplicity of ways open and multiple visions of constructing learning can emerge. We contain many kinds of knowledge; multitudes we can dip in and out of as we please. In that perspective, Self inhabits a variety of Selfcontained knowledge and when fused with Other the heat and energy between things and people become embedded and generate resources for future actions. Above, flow and the relatedness between Self and Other have been discussed, lastly it is time to look at affordance. The second language

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classroom is locally grounded and by using artifacts, symbols and gestures already known to the learners the local cultural realities are constructed in new and transformed ways in the classroom by the participants. According to van Lier (2004), the learner can pertain to her/his own physical world and is able to draw from personal locally grounded knowledge. The whole ecology of the space contributes to a certain form of activities; i.e. a learning Performance. The moving away from giving, exchanging and controlling information and instead being in motion in a relational learning ecology where meaning is created in coordination and relation, in the local stream of the moment, is out of control in the sense that none of the learners have power over other learners, and every learner has power together with other learners. When relational learning theories have been tried out, it is irreversible; and ontologically the real phenomena, our perceptions and experiences, are brought into existence and take the form they do because of the language we share. Every learner has new experiences and knowledge, new relational possibilities are already in the melting pot in front of you; change is a given. Once the second language teacher has established a learning environment where learners bring locally grounded affordance into production, more abstracts symbols and ideas can be presented by the second language teacher. The learners co-create their learning of the second language by sharing space and willingness to engage Self and Other. Flow as a state of mind in the group and learners’ commitments enhance and this creates space for curiosity. Being prepared as a second language teacher to loosen up classroom control and empower learners in Performance, a starting point is Bursting Bubbles.

Bursting Bubbles Here, Bursting Bubbles as a perceptible Performance practice will be demonstrated. For a new teacher, the introduction of Busting Bubbles is an easy icebreaker and once the ground procedures have been established in everyday design, it is possible to co-create with the learners and composite multitude of variabilities. Busting Bubbles is also a virtuous tool to illustrate the bifocal perspective of both the nearsighted activities that give reason for scientific analysis in the students’ own study and the longsighted perspective for their design in their professional carriers. To be a teacher in the multilingual Greenland, where many people live isolated in settlements and for generations have formed local norms and values, a theoretical understanding of what identity is and how people

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identify themselves through their actions is necessary to prevent prejudices. Texts in Danish about the subject, Identity, have been read, and it is time to stage one’s knowledge about the issue, put newly learned words and different theories into Performance. What happens depends on how the students undertake the first activity; one must be prepared to improvise and change the course of directions during lessons, as a profound part of doing Performance is that it is never known what comes next and it is significant to grasp these moments and integrate the knowledge thus generated in the Performance. The explicit affordance in use is the common knowledge about a subject, what kind of specific knowledge to emerge depends on how the students go about their knowledge and improvise. On the smartboard I draw a bubble and within write: Identity. The students now start a conversation with the person next to them, and the commission is to find words they associate with the bubble word. There are absolutely no wrong associations! In pairs of two each student takes turns in the second language and expresses a word the student feels is an association to the bubble word, whereupon the student writes the uttered word on the shared paper. When time is up it is my turn to act as the secretary for the all students; each pair now choose a word they agree upon to have a significant meaning for both. As the pairs in turn say their word to me, I write them around the bubble word on the smartboard. A word association can only be mentioned once, some pairs have the same words, and not all words will be shared on the smartboard, but we will end up with words which connote a range of disparate associations. If, for instance, scientific words and terminology dominate, the next activity will take one direction. If, on the other hand, the words on the smartboard have more abstract nature, the following will be quite different. Choosing terminology is a hint that some clarification and discourses are needed about theories and hypotheses about the subject in question and the students in pairs will be given the assignment to choose 8 to 10 words from the smartboard they struggle with. In their texts and notes the various writers’ definitions and descriptions must be found, and the students now have to transform the academic language in the texts into their own knowledge by using words and explanations that demonstrate learning takes place. This is easier said than done as many students in the Greenlandic school system have been taught to copy texts and learn these texts by heart rather than to understand and reflect. Code shifting is an imperative part of Performance in second language acquisition and for the students to choose either language they want, generates confidence and initiative. Greenlandic lacks terminology in many scientific fields and to

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understand and use Danish and English terminology the students need to be able to know the meaning of foreign terminology in their own mother tongue, Greenlandic. The students write their words and their explanations on posters and I copy the poster so both students have the same poster. Now everybody meets in the hall, or another place where space is sufficient. New pairs are formed, and posters are taped on the walls; the new pairs read aloud from their posters and a discourse is instigated. This is a time-consuming procedure as, generally, the students make an effort to bring their poster about and perform with all colleagues. The students decide for themselves when it is time to change colleague and perform again, now in a slightly different way due to the knowledge acquired from earlier discourses. Owing to the students’ different knowledge and values about the subject the collective knowledge of the whole group is enhanced. The IdentityBubble is on its way to be burst and knowledge heightened. If the Bursting Bubble activity turns out to have a more abstract nature, students will individually write or in pairs co-write a text; it is up to the students together to decide which words to choose from the smartboard and what kind of text they want to write. The procedure is the same: if the text is co-written I make a copy, and students mingle and read aloud. To train pronunciation, students decide for themselves how many times they want to read their text aloud for a colleague; all in all, students often end up reading their texts more than a dozen time to different colleagues. When the Performance has a more narrative character, and to initiate a conversation about values and ethics the colleague who is listening to the reading is responsible for a dialogue that points to the future. The job of the assistant professor is to blend in and listen, never interrupting, never correcting. When a reading is done I can individually ask questions about grammar, choice of words, pronunciation etc., but mostly colleagues call attention to discrepancy using their own knowledge and new discourses emerge.

Reflection on Bursting Bubbles as a Nearsighted Academic Activity The Self/Other boundaries get blurred when one is turning one’s face and attention to a colleague, Self and Other fuse in an intense moment coming up with personal associations, identity is created in relation to Other and the element of surprise in verbalizing associations is immense. Sharing personal associations in pairs within the group positions everybody as an integral part of the group and nobody as a the one with all the right

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answers. As Performance evolves, the members of the group evolve in relation to one another in recognition and commonalities emerge: - Look at the colleague who is speaking - Never interrupt when a colleague speaks - Likewise, colleagues listen to you without interruption - Questions are asked for understanding not checking knowledge - Everyone has the right to pass - Speak for yourself/your group, not others nor other groups Breaking up the sitting-around-a-table-convenience and instigating the walking-and-finding-a-colleague-to-talk-to activity draws on the advantages of immediacy and constructs the actionable now. Bringing words around and experience how meaning changes in different contexts is a risk-factor of relocating and finding new settings. Taking a step forward to interact with another person to do Performance is a risk; you care and involve yourself in the activity even though you do not know or care about the outcome. Adult experiences in maneuvering help the students reframe words and sentences in every new inquiry and generate voices of alternatives in many forms of meaningfulness and the students’ texts develop multimeanings in their Performance. Anxiety regarding pronunciation of unfamiliar sounds is alleviated by open-mindedness of Other and facilitate that wrong pronunciation will not be a hindrance in the ongoing discourse. In discourse processing, students display strong passions in holding on to their own stance and integrity and in that space open to Other and in this relatedness, being curious. The writing down of texts is a time for reflection and leaves space to create your story. Sharing a personal written story with a colleague can be tense, but when the focus is on the learning process, the relational connection triggers coherence by using the language of Other in local context production and understanding.

Examples of Imaginary Longsighted Activities Pedagogically, the bifocal perspective must be triggered as a logical outcome from the nearsighted activities the students just performed to consider design in the longsighted view. A double-acting way of thinking didactically is essential for the students to connect their own experiences at the University to their future professional work as teachers. How is it possible to introduce Performance like the one just tried out at the academic level with the teaching of Danish as second language in public schools? It is crucial that students learn to rely on their own creativity and

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dare come up with imaginative longsighted activities; to couple the three subject areas: theory of languages, theories of learning and pedagogy to the longsighted view for their own design in their professional careers. Reflections over Bursting Bubbles can be done within the same pairs, new pairs, smaller groups for more discourse, etc., depending on the course of events so far. In this particular Bursting Bubble activity, the students came up with a variety of proposals covering both the 10 years of compulsory school attendance, and the geographical challenge in Greenland. Some will be introduced here: -

-

-

Many families north of the Polar Circle have a dog sleigh, a vital form of transportation and hunting. To young learners, conversations about dogs is an affordance easily grasped and to introduce learners to Performance and the significance of producing one’s own meaningful materials, a dog Bursting Bubble is a good place to start. After sharing Danish words with classmates, all learners should write a text in Danish. To improve writing skills the students proposed individual writing, as the learners can look at the smartboard and check spelling, and the teacher can also supply more words as needed on the smartboard for everybody to benefit from, if they want to. To draw the learner’s attention to how text and illustration can supplement each other, drawings should follow the texts. Groups of learners in public schools in settlements are most often heterogeneous and texts will vary in length and quality, and the teacher must have an excellent knowledge on each pupil for flow to blossom and to be successful. In heterogeneous groups with older learners it could be an advantage to choose abstract words. If the smartboard is too small for different bubbles, posters on the walls can be an option. For older learners, knowledge, personal experience and conversation about different kinds of love is a serious conversation, consequently the students suggested a love Bursting Bubble. To cover this subject text, newspapers, film, health visitor, etc. must be part of the didactic design for bursting the love bubble. Mythologies and fairytales are significant in the Greenlandic narrative. This narrative style and the knowledge learners have already from reading and analyzing texts in Greenlandic is an excellent basis for the second language classroom to perform in a variety of ways with for instance, H. C. Andersen’s and modern fairytales. Bursting Bubbles, enter the stage, making the props and

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accomplish drama, all done in a relational atmosphere where learners become absorbed in flow activities, embrace Other in sharing and learning, grasping, improvising and putting new knowledge into use in the act of producing meaning focused materials via Performance – the underlining objective being that the learners get every possibility to acquire the second language to communicate. The above examples demonstrate the students desires to change traditional classroom administration; outdated teaching methods are unable to promote change and the idea of learners in turn, reading aloud in Danish, answering questions addressed by the second language teacher are still realities in the Greenlandic public school system. Venturing designs for innovative practices for longsighted activities based firstly on profound knowledge of theories of language, learning theories and pedagogy, and secondly the students’ own involvements in nearsighted activities, are productive and point to a greater future for the Greenlandic public school system. To summarize: the classroom is split into atoms and the invisible boundaries separating the world outside from the classroom are torn down as outside space likewise is being occupied; pairs of students move around and occupy various spaces, students split up and amalgamate with new interlocutors, and some have taken a seat alone to do writing. It may seem that somewhere in this well-organized teaching methodology, the assistant professor has faded away. To me, that is what it is all about: education is being part of something bigger than oneself, the flourishing of putting values and habits into disturbance in a relational environment and in togetherness create a meaningful space for life to thrive in different ways. Performing one’s emotions and experiences without revealing who you are, putting yourself forward where reflection is possible based on your own life, generate recognition for your passion in Self and Other. The coherence to understand – not approve, not accept – but exactly to recognize Other creates opportunities for diversity.

Never Ending Challenges for the second language teacher in the Greenlandic context are huge. Issues over languages and dialects combined with geographical distances and remote settlements hit the Greenlandic educational system hard. To this the lack of appropriate and updated materials can be added.

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In this chapter, I have offered another perspective on the second language classroom, namely a place where meaningful materials are cocreated and shared via Performance. In Performance learners define and dominate their own learning and material making become meaningful. Being in flow during learning and entering the stage where it is possible to share knowledge between Self and Other is powerful, and using the affordance already known to the students and learners motivates for jointly creating materials and learning. The significant objective for any learner and student is to do and experience activities and feel the gaining of something one feels is important. And facilitating an environment where the making of meaningful materials is the never ending norm, Performance is a powerful tool.

References Bateson, G. (2000). Steps to an Ecology of Mind. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. Braidotti, R. (2013). The Posthuman. Cambridge: Polity Press. Burr, V. (2008). Social constructionism. London and New York: Routledge. Cixous, H. (2010). Le rire de Méduse. Galilée. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2005). Flow og engagement i hverdagen. Dansk psykologisk forlag. Gergen, K. J. (2009). Relational Being, beyond Self and Community. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hosking, D. M. (2000). Ecology in mind, mindful practices. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 9 (2), 147-158. Korczynski, A. (2012). Performance: A social constructionist way in the second language classroom. Lambert Academic Publishing. McNamee, S. (2008). Transformative dialogue: Coordinating conflicting moralities. The Lindberg Lecture. Skutnabb-Kangas, T., & Phillipson, R. (1995). Linguistic human right, past and present. In T. Skutnabb-Kangas and R. Phillipson (Eds.), Linguistic human rights, overcoming linguistic discrimination (pp. 71110). Mouton de Gruyter. Van Lier, L. (2004). The ecology and semiotics of language learning: A sociocultural perspective. Kluwer Academic Publisher.

CHAPTER TEN SEEDING TASK-BASED INTERACTIVE LANGUAGE LEARNING THROUGH MEANING-FOCUSED MATERIALS AMONG SOUTH AFRICAN GRADUATE STUDENTS L. JUNIA NGOEPE

Introduction In a bid to create meaning from recommended as well as self-sought materials used to prepare for presentations, students strive for clarity. Fellow students constitute an audience, which is essential for presentations. As they adapt the materials for presentations on given themes, they also attach meaning to them. This is apparent in their interrogations, debate and input to augment their oral presentations’ content. Their contribution in this regard puts them in good stead to pass the course, which is anchored in tasks, interactions and language learning materials. The aim of this chapter is to discuss how the South African (SA) University of Limpopo (UL) English language graduate students respond to the planned use of meaning-focused second language (L2) materials in a Second Language Acquisition (SLA) course.

Meaning-Focused Materials Materials development implies materials research (Tomlinson, 1998). The activities students engage in emanate from selected themes as stipulated in their course outline. These practical sequences of meaning-focused activities can, however, lead to a focus on form. Lectures should arguably begin with a focus on meaning and not on form. In an attempt to respond to English second language needs of SA UL cohorts of graduate students,

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the lecturer seeds task-based interactive learning through meaning-focused materials. Furthermore, meaning negotiation refers to the side sequences of the conversational interaction in order to deal with communication problems and to make input more comprehensible. This is usually achieved through various interactional strategies, such as asking for clarification or reformulating the learner error in the course of meaningful interaction to deal with comprehension difficulties (Nassaji, 2007). UL graduates may interact, converse with one another and ask for clarification when grappling with pertinent course content comprehension challenges. Since lecturers understand their students better, they implicitly understand their needs as well as their preferred learning styles. The more lecturers become sensitive and responsive to students’ needs, the more they become involved in researching what goes on in their own classroom (Tomlinson, 1998), hence this research on graduate students’ learning English language through meaning-focused materials. Adaptation of materials depends on factors such as the dynamics of the classroom, personalities involved, constraints imposed by the syllabus, availability of resources, and expectations as well as motivations of the learners (Cunningworth, 1995). English Second Language Acquisition (ESLA) oral presentations are not prescriptive. As a consequence, students use their preferred learning styles. Thus, the researcher is cognisant of these variables in adapting the course materials.

Tasks Task-based learning (TBL) is by its nature an approach which relies on learner interaction. The rationale for using TBL is that students have more opportunities to interact with one another. Thus, interaction and output are essential components in facilitating language acquisition (Tasseron, 2015). Affective factors such as motivation may, however, be positively influenced by such learner modes (McDonough, Shaw, & Masuhara, 2013). The success of the graduate course depends on students’ opportunities to interact with each other, the course lecturer and the materials. According to Ellis (2011), tasks could be likened to pedagogical materials. Therefore, tasks are the operationalization of such materials. The efficacy of the materials can be attributed to their TBL theoretical underpinnings, and the suitability of the learning context in which they are used (Tasseron, 2015). Students operationalise L2 materials as they perform their pre-assigned tasks (see Appendix 1).

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Tasks may be categorized and grouped based on almost any prominent feature of tasks. The most common and most frequently used way of categorizing tasks is according to the four basic language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. Teachers and curriculum designers ought to always keep the development of the four skills in mind when they plan for and select tasks (Christison & Murray, 2014). ESLA graduates students explicitly focus on speaking and writing; reading and listening are dealt with implicitly. The students are assigned speaking and writing tasks as per their course schedule while reading and listening skills are employed when the students prepare for and listen to the presentations, respectively. In line with the above, ESLA graduate sessions attempt to develop the following language skills: listening (mainly for non-presenting students who constitute an audience), reading (for all students as they prepare for oral and written presentations), speaking (for all students; those scheduled to present as well as those to engage the presenter) and writing (for all when they prepare oral presentations on PowerPoint slides and written assignments). Therefore, Pica (2005) argues that in this way, it would dawn on language practitioners that L2 classrooms could provide an opportunity for purposeful communication and meaningful interactions. Of primary concern in TBL is how lecturers select tasks and how they decide to implement them. There must also be a system for task implementation that allows for a focus on language and that ensures that communicative needs are met (Christison & Murray, 2014). A full description of the task also requires consideration of the objectives of the task (Tomlinson, 1998). The researcher selects different tasks emanating from SLA pertinent themes (see Appendix 1). Furthermore, Nunan (1989) differentiates between real-world and pedagogic tasks. A real-world task is one which requires students to approximate in class the kinds of tasks required of them in the real world. The teaching objective and the student’s target are the same, in such cases. However, a pedagogic task is one that requires students to perform some language activity which is not found in the real-world but is believed to facilitate language acquisition. In this case, the teaching objective and the student’s target are not the same. Tomlinson (1998) corroborates that tasks function as devices for creating the conditions required for language acquisition. Thus, the ESLA course integrates real-world and pedagogic tasks. If lecturers can harness students’ interests and apply them pedagogically, the extent to which students are interested in a certain topic or task can be

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improved. This is, therefore, linked to intrinsic motivation (Abu-Rabia, 2003).

Interaction Interaction may be between students, or between a student and the material (Ur, 1991). However, during full-class interaction the lecturer may intervene occasionally, to stimulate participation or to monitor progress (Ur, 1991). Thus, the ESLA course is premised on some triangular interaction: that of students and the lecturer together with the meaning-focused materials they use. Arguments for the role of negotiation also come from Vygotskian sociocultural theories of L2 learning. These theories place particular emphasis on the role of student-teacher interaction and collaboration when solving linguistic problems (Nassaji, 2007) such as those solutions to problems pertaining to graduate students’ tackling ESLA through meaning-focused materials. Moreover, from a sociocultural view, learning is a shared process which is essentially a socially mediated process. This shared process is also highly dependent on face-to-face interaction (Nassaji, 2007). The course lecturer relies on and sustains student agency, which is meant to trigger interaction in L2. The course outline helps keep the schedule in check. Thus, ESLA is also a process shared by graduate students and their lecturer. Within the interactional perspectives on L2 learning, negotiation is defined as the back and forth interactional strategies used to reach a solution to a problem in the course of communication (Nassaji, 2007). The shared process alluded to above is manifested in the back and forth interactional strategies employed by students in the course of communication (see Appendix 1).

Presentations One of the responsibilities of the students is to mediate material they use so that it appears in a form that is most accessible for learning. This kind of mediation may be called presentation. This refers to some encounter with comprehensible input in the form of spoken or written texts, as well as various kinds of explanations, instructions and discussion of tasks (Ur, 1991). ESLA graduate students’ presentations can be twofold: oral or written presentations, in which all students are scheduled to participate equally, per annum.

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Students are exposed to language phenomena without instructional intervention. Effective presentation of new material in formal courses can help to activate and harness students’ attention, effort, intelligence and conscious learning strategies in order to enhance learning (Ur, 1991). Similarly, the ESLA students present without prior instructional intervention. In addition, students constitute an active group; they sometimes feature as presenters and would occasionally form an audience, depending on the task at hand. Their roles vary; it could be about sending or receiving messages in their collaborative meaning negotiation process, or it could either be making presentations or listening to them. This is how the students can constitute an active audience and readership in an ESLA course context. Furthermore, meaning-focused materials engage readers in texts and encourage readers to reflect on and think about what they had read as preparation for the presentations. Thus, reader activities lend themselves well to incorporation into meaning-focused teaching materials. This envisaged engagement, reflecting and thinking about what the students will have read is manifested in their prepared oral and written presentations. In line with the above, many language teaching professionals have, in recent years, supported the principle of giving language learners choices in their learning decision-making (Islam & Mares, 2003). This choice comes into play, for example, when students select augmentative materials and when they structure content for their presentations to address topics emanating from given themes as per course outline (see Appendix 1). Students eventually learn to take control of their own performance from their own perspective. If a task can create this condition, it will succeed in reflecting much real-life communication. This is why materials should return control to the student; his or her personal decisions should be respected (Tomlinson, 2003). The students eventually take control of their own performance from their own perspective as they choose L2 materials and prepare for their oral and written presentations.

ESLA Learning Context ESLA students are L2 speakers of English in an English-medium university. The majority of them hold a bilingual degree that they obtained in a multilingual university setting. These students have the potential to succeed but need dedicated support. The learning context of the ESLA year course is mainly anchored in the interplay of shared scheduled tasks

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as reflected in the course outline, materials, teaching approach, presentations and assessment. Course outline The ESLA lecturer annually prepares a course outline which contains dates, themes, outcomes, assessment tasks and “presenters” who are allocated presentation slots alphabetically in class. For example, the course was introduced to students on 9 February in Week 1 of the course schedule while the theme for Week 3 was “Interlanguage”. Further, “The role of form-focused instruction in SLA” was scheduled for Week 7 and its aim was “to discuss the significance of form-focused instruction in SLA” (see Appendix 1). There are about 13 contact sessions per annum for the course and each session is scheduled to last for two hours, fortnightly. Materials Materials used in the course could be grouped into three; a course pack of relevant course materials prepared by the lecturer, a list of recommended reading materials for the students which is included in the course outline, and more relevant sources to be used for different themes as captured in a given course outline which students are advised as well as urged to search for (see Appendix 1). Lecturing approach The lecturer employs a seminar approach. Students prepare presentations on given themes, in line with unit outcomes as per their course outline. Students present on given themes which are assessed during contact sessions. The lecturer facilitates and ensures the sustenance of class interaction. Presentations Students play different roles depending on their allocated responsibilities. For example, they can either be presenters or form part of the class audience. Non-presenting students constitute the audience for presentations. These presentations are meant to trigger some enriching class discussion and interaction. Students are expected to attend regularly and are not allowed to present out of turn. Written assignments constitute another form of presenting read and perhaps even discussed information, depending on a given student’s approach to preparation for a presentation. All in all, presentations come to an average of three oral presentations and two written ones per annum.

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Assessment Assessment of the course is made up of formative and summative assessment. Presentations are assessed during contact sessions. Formative assessment consists of at least two presentations and two written assignments per annum. Each of these are marked out of 25. Students sit for a written examination at the end of the academic year, which is validated by other institutions of higher learning in SA. Students need to attain the average of a year mark and an examination mark above 50% as their final mark. As discussed above, the year mark is made up of at least two oral presentations and two written assignments. This implies that an average of the student’s examination mark allocated by their lecturer as first examiner and that of an external examiner from another institution of higher learning, constitute the final mark. The average of the year mark and the examination mark equals the student’s final mark.

Data Collection Methodology The researcher seeded interactive English language learning through L2 materials over a number of years. This chapter reports on students’ responses to their course experiences as elicited through a questionnaire developed by the researcher. The course under review is the ESLA course for graduate Honours in English students. Nine students who were enrolled for the course in different years, spanning 2014 to 2016, completed the questionnaire anonymously. Section A focused on students’ biographical details while Section B was about statements on meaning-focused materials with which students either agreed or disagreed. Students were first asked to respond to given statements and then explain their options (see Appendix 2). The summarised questionnaire instrument could be presented in a table as follows: Themes Meaning-/form-focused materials Use Tasks Reading Interaction Fostering of independence Comments Table 10-1. Sub-themes in the questionnaire

Sub-theme No. 2.1 & 2.2 2.1 & 2.2 3.1 & 3.4 4.1 & 4.2 5.1 - 5.5 6.1 & 6.2 7

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In a nutshell, the questionnaire contained six main statements about meaning-focused materials to which students responded. They further covered the following 17 sub-themes: meaning- or form-focused materials (2.1 and 2.2), use (2.1 and 2.2) tasks (3.1 and 3.4), reading (4.1 and 4.2) interaction (5.1 to 5.5), fostering of independence (6.1 and 6.2) and comments (7) (see Appendix 2).

Results Although students could choose to study either a language or literature stream, 8 out of 9 respondents who participated are language students who were currently enrolled for a Master of Arts degree in English. Responses are grouped into students’ biographical details as well as their responses to questionnaire statements as follows: Students (N = 9) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Year Enrolled for ESLA 2014 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2016 2016 2016

Pass %

Chosen Stream in 2016

70 53 64 66 69 70 66 69 68

Language Language Language Language Language Language Language Literature Language

Table 10-2. Biographical details of the participants

All the respondents had passed the Honours course, with only one student hardly passing (53%) the summative assessment; the rest scored above 60%. The average pass percentage of the respondents is 66. A summary of responses to the 6 main statements in the questionnaire, in percentages, is presented in Table 10-3: Statement No. 1.1 1.2 2.2 & 3.1 2.1’ 3.2 – 6.2

Yes Responses % 44 33 78 100

No Responses % 56 67 22 0

Table 10-3. Responses to questionnaire statements in percentages

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Four of the respondents concurred that their learning materials focused more on meaning in 1.1, while a higher percentage, which is 6 indicated that materials focused on meaning in 1.2. An even higher number (7) stated that the use of meaning-focused materials was encouraged and that tasks were geared towards their needs. Students were unanimous (9) that: -

the use of meaning-focused materials was encouraged when doing tasks; they were given instructions on how to perform tasks; tasks were geared towards the needs of students; the tasks were engaging and motivating; the materials encouraged students to reflect on and think about what they had read; the task-based approach triggered interaction during oral presentations; they had opportunities to interact with one another during oral presentations; they were active participants in the negotiation of meaning; output during interaction facilitated SLA; they eventually learnt to take control of their own performance; and the approach helped them learn independently at post-graduation level.

Graduate students’ responses Presentation of the anonymous students’ responses could be subsumed under course outline and learning materials (see Appendix 2). Course outline “During their time students had a course outline which showed the relevant topics and the relevant or important people in the area they were studying; that assisted a lot. What some of them liked most was that students fed each other with information. Week after week a fellow student presented on a different topic and their lecturer only assisted here and there. It was beneficial as it prepared them for future seminars and conferences. They had a course outline that helped them to focus on the relevant topics. The main thing some students liked about the course was that they shared ideas during preparations and presentations. The course outline was, most importantly, user-friendly and entailed all necessary information such as specified various themes and topics to be discussed, written and presented about.”

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Learning materials The list of recommended books was not exhaustive because they had to go and search through the internet to actually find additional relevant materials for tasks such as assignments or presentations. However, materials such as books were available at the library. For example, a Second Language Acquisition book written by Rod Ellis (1997), was one of the books that was used throughout the year for the Honours course (see Recommended Books – Course Outline). The course materials were of great use and they helped in making the course to be easily comprehended. Materials used in the course were fruitful in such a way that students were able to use their experiences to match with the materials given in the lecture room. The material helped the students to know what SLA is and the reason why it is useful in language education. All the prescribed learning materials were used as learning resources to help students to learn ESL. Many students embarked on English language courses, in this University. The Honours SLA course has inspiring resources to help students of English to be aware of theories of learning a language such as language learning strategies. Many materials that are used in this course are useful for all, especially for teachers of English. These materials are of great importance as they contain related work that inspire L2 learning students. They also cover a huge variety of language learning theories such as Universal Grammar (UG). The prescribed materials used in the course were understandable and easy to relate to as the materials were focused on both meaning and form; this was a good thing. The materials used in the course were very good and engaging but sometimes complex. The good part is that the complexity of the materials was always dealt with. It was after the assistance of the lecturer that the materials became easy to understand. Again, the materials used reflected that our needs have been taken care of. The course-pack that was used shows that our needs have been assessed and analysed. Some students personally thought the materials used were good enough for that module and good for them to learn how a second language is acquired. The materials used also taught them some language skills. Some also learnt to be active listeners from the presentations because they always engaged whoever was presenting. They also acquired presentation skills because they presented many times. In short, some found the materials very useful and interesting, largely because the lecturer knew how to present information to the students. There was no single prescribed book instead they used multiple sources

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and the compiled course-pack which was found to be very good. The materials used were inclusive and learner-centred.

Findings Findings comprise of the course pack, interaction, collaborative learning, L2 acquisition, return of control, choice of study stream and students’ independence: -

-

-

-

The course pack is meant to phase students into the ESLA course with the objective of ‘nudging’ them into searching for other relevant materials that would carry them through the course. Interaction helps students and the lecturer find one another in the process of language learning through meaning-focused materials. Collaborative learning is factored in, in that students are advised to share already presented content to enrich their subject knowledge. Students concurred that meaning-focused materials helped them acquire an L2. Through the initial scaffolded task-based interactive learning, the lecturer gradually returns control to the students as they go up the academic ladder of learning. In a nutshell, results indicate that the Language stream is popular and the students operationalised the recommended and self-sought materials when they perform the assigned tasks. This SLA process also fosters independence, which eventually leads to them passing the final examination through consistent hard work.

Recommendations To summarise the main findings presented above, the following recommendations are offered: -

-

English language teaching and learning calls for planning, transparency and effective delivery, overall. Lecturers need to identify their students’ language needs, which should be met piecemeal and concurrent with the delivery of content. This implies some labour-intensive venture. Cohorts of English L2 graduates or those with an English as an additional language background need extra nurturing when being phased into an English language academic community.

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-

-

Language lecturers teaching in an English medium of instruction university environment have to foster agency and collaboration among L2 or additional language graduate students. Effective English language teaching intervention strategies depend on extra human capital that would not only lecture but nurture cohorts of students they teach annually.

Conclusion English language educators, lecturers, facilitators as well as advisors in SA are faced with a huge responsibility which cuts across a number of levels of study even at institutions of higher learning. Institutions of higher learning such as the UL that employ English as a medium of instruction, but are mainly patronised by non-native speakers of English, have a fundamental and delicate responsibility of meeting the language needs of the students they enrol lest they fall through the cracks due to language challenges emanating from learning content through a second or additional language. Student voices appear paramount in assessing how effective English language teaching and learning could be delivered to speakers of other languages. This, therefore, calls for closer collaboration between students and lecturers, among other things. The salience of acknowledging, planning for and implementing students’ support at various levels of university study would purposefully attempt to address issues pertaining to language equity in developing students from disadvantaged backgrounds who have the potential to succeed.

References Abu-Rabia, S. (2003). Cognitive and social factors affecting Arab students learning English as a third language in Israel: Educational Psychology. Educational Psychology, 23 (4), pp. 347-360. Breen, M. (1989). The evaluation cycle for language learning tasks. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Christison, M., & Murray, D. E. (2014). What English language teachers need to know, volume III: Designing curriculum. New York: Routledge. Cunningworth, A. (1995). Choosing your coursebook. Oxford: Heinemann. Ellis, R. (2011). Macro- and micro-evaluations of task-based teaching. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Materials development in language teaching (2nd Ed.) (pp. 21-35). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Islam, C., & Mares, C. (2003). Adapting classroom materials. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Developing materials for language teaching (pp 86100). London: Continuum. McDonough, S., Shaw, C., & Masuhara, H. (2013). Materials and methods in ELT: A teacher’s guide. ELT Journal, 62 (3), 294-312. Nassaji, H., & Fotos, S. (2007). Issues in form-focused instruction and teacher education. Form-Focused Instruction and Teacher Education: Studies in Honour of Rod Ellis, 7-15. Nunan, D. (1989). Designing tasks for the communicative classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pica, T. (2005). Classroom learning, teaching and research: a task-based perspective. The Modern Language Journal, 89 (3), 339-52. Tasseron, M. (2015). These materials work and learners agree! Folio, 16 (2), 22-28. Tomlinson, B. (1998). Materials development in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Tomlinson, B. (2003). Developing materials for language teaching. London: Continuum. Ur, P. (1991). A course in language teaching: Practice and theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Appendix 1 Sample Course Outline Second Language Acquisition Second Language Acquisition (SLA) is a year course. The outline is as follows: Date

Theme

Unit Outcomes

Week 1: 11 Feb

1.

Introductio n to SLA

To contextualise English SLA

Week 2: 25 Feb

2.

Week 3: 10 Mar

3.

Behaviouri st & Mentalist theories of Language Learning Interlanguage

Week 4: 7 Apr

4.

To outline the complementary roles of the Behaviourist and Mentalist theories in SLA To discuss learner language in the process of SLA To describe how SLA is influenced by L1

Week 5: 21 Apr

5.

Week 6: 9 May

6.

The theory of Universal Grammar (UG)

Week 7: 14 Jul

7.

Week 8: 28 Jul

8.

The Role of Formal Instruction in SLA Social Identity and Investment in L2

The Role of the First Language in SLA Errors & Error Analysis

To distinguish between learners’ mistakes & errors

To provide Chomsky’s primary justification for Universal Grammar To synthesise purposes of formal instruction To outline Social Identity and Investment in L2

Assessment Task(s) A discussion of English SLA led by lecturer 0utline the complementary process of the Behaviourist & Mentalist theories Discuss learner language in the process of SLA Describe how SLA is influenced by L1 Distinguish between learners’ mistakes & errors Provide Chomsky’s primary justification for Universal Grammar Synthesise the purposes of formal instruction Outline Social Identity and Investment in L2

Presenter(s) All

Student (s)

Student (s)

Student (s)

Student (s) & Assignment

Student (s)

Student (s)

Student(s)

Seeding Task-Based Interactive Language Learning Week 9: 11 Aug

9.

Interaction -driven L2 Learning

To discuss interaction-driven L2 learning

Week 10: 25 Aug

10. Individual Learner Difference s in SLA

To describe how individual learner differences affect SLA

Week 11: 8 Sep

11. Motivation

To discuss motivation in the context of SLA

Week 12: 29 Sep

12. SLA Learning Strategies

To outline strategies that L2 learners employ

Week 13: 13 Oct

13. Future Directions for Second Language Research

To identify possible research topics from the SLA themes studied

Discuss interactiondriven L2 learning Describe how individual learner differences affect SLA Discuss motivation in the context of SLA Outline strategies that L2 learners employ Identify possible research topics from the SLA themes studied

179 Student(s) & Assignment Student (s)

Student (s)

Student (s)

All

List of Recommended Books 1. Alderson, C. (2009). The politics of language education: Individuals and institutions. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. 2. Dörnyei Z., & Ushioda, E. (2009). Motivation, language identity and the L2 self. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. 3. Ellis, R. (1986). Understanding second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 4. Ellis, R. (1997). Second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 5. Mitchell, R., & Myles, F. (2004). Second language learning theories (2nd ed.). New York: Hodder Arnold. 6. Saville-Troike, M. (2006). Introducing second language acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Appendix 2 Questionnaire Questionnaire on meaning–focused teaching materials for SLA graduate English language students NB: Respondents will be kept anonymous. Section A Kindly fill in information in the slots provided below: Course attended Year Pass % Current Study HENF080/ENGL709: Current study:

_____ _____ ____________

_________

Stream (Lang/Lit) _________

Section B Encircle the option you agree with and provide some explanation where necessary. 1.

Focus

1.1 Teaching materials focused more on meaning than on form. Yes or No? Explain your option. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 1.2 The materials focused more on form than on meaning. Yes or No? Explain your option. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 2.

Use

2.1 The use of meaning-focused materials was encouraged when doing tasks. Yes or No? Explain your option. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________

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2.2 The use of meaning-focused materials was encouraged when doing teaching activities based on specific topics or themes. Yes or No? Explain your option. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 2.3 Themes and topics course outline lend themselves to meaningfocused materials. Yes or No? Explain your option. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 3.

Tasks

3.1 Tasks were geared towards the needs of students. Yes or No? Explain your option. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 3.2 Students were given instructions on how to perform tasks. Yes or No? Explain your option. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 3.3 The tasks were engaging. Yes or No? Explain your option. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________

3.4 The tasks were motivating. Yes or No? Explain your option. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 4.

Reading

4.1 The materials encouraged students to reflect on what they have read. Yes or No? Explain your option. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________

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4.2 The materials encouraged students to think about what they had read. Yes or No? Explain your option. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 5.

Interaction

5.1 Task-based approach triggered interaction during oral presentations. Yes or No? Explain your option. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 5.2 Students had opportunities to interact with one another during oral presentations. Yes or No? Explain your option. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 5.3 Students were active participants in the negotiation of meaning. Yes or No? Explain your option. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 5.4 Interaction facilitated Second Language Acquisition (SLA). Yes or No? Explain your option. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________

5.5 Output emanating from interaction facilitated Second Language Acquisition (SLA). Yes or No? Explain your option. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 6.

Fostering Independence

6.1 Students eventually learnt to take control of their own performance. Yes or No? Explain your option. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________

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6.2 This approach helped students learn independently at post-graduation level. Yes or No? Explain your option. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 7. Comments about the materials used in the course/module ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Thank you for participating.

PART III

INTRODUCTION TO PART III CREATING MEANING THROUGH DIGITAL MATERIALS AND MULTIMEDIA

The chapters in this third part of the volume revolve around meaningful, multimodal language learning experiences aimed to enhance the development of linguistic and cultural awareness through art, stories and picture books. In Chapter Eleven, Claudia Mewald and Sabine Wallner (University of Teacher Education Lower-Austria, Austria) give a detailed account of the PALM project: Promoting Authentic Language acquisition in Multilingual contexts, an international project and online platform funded through Erasmus+. The platform aims to provide teachers and young learners with authentic, meaningful materials and tasks to support the development of linguistic and intercultural competences. The chapter reports on the texts produced by multilingual children and teenagers from diverse backgrounds, which constituted a meaningful, real-life corpus of communicative exchanges, and discusses the outcomes. In Chapter Twelve, Sujata Bhonsale, Jennifer Thomas, Ashwin Nagappa (Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India), and Ling Hsiao (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States of America) focus on a technology enabled language learning course in India. This course provides access to meaning-focused materials for English as a second language learners in under-served communities across four states. It aims to promote listening and speaking skills as well as collaborative learning through audio-visual stories connected to the students’ lives. In this chapter, four principles of materials development in similar contexts are offered to help curriculum developers and teachers make use of technology in meaningful ways. In Chapter Thirteen, Alessandra Belletti Figueira Mülling (University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom) makes a case for the advantages of extensive reading for the development of reading skills as well as general language acquisition. She describes a reading section added to distance learning modules, and discusses how staff members and secondary school

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learners from Brazil responded to these materials. The main objective of this section was to promote meaning-focused reading experiences and cultural awareness. The chapter concludes by observing a mismatch between learners’ common views about learning and how teachers and developers design materials to impact the learning experience. In Chapter Fourteen, Rosa-Maria Cives-Enriquez (REVO Ltd., United Kingdom) demonstrates her belief in putting stories at the heart of her teaching by using a CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) approach around storytelling and authentic materials. In addition to poetry and other linguistic materials, these include music, illustrations, paintings, and videos. The chapter discusses important CLIL concepts, presents a survival toolkit for her mixed-ability beginner learners, and contains a detailed lesson plan. It lists the main reasons why poetry and storytelling can be considered effective and meaningful ways of teaching culture and language. In Chapter Fifteen, Julia Reckermann (University of Paderborn, Germany) makes a case for the use of authentic English picture books as a valuable classroom resource for young English as a Foreign Language learners. She argues that, since foreign language learning in primary education is often constructed around a topic/theme-based syllabus, this primary context is by definition meaning-focused. The chapter provides five statements and offers examples to support the use of authentic picture books, which comply with principles of holistic and meaning-focused approaches to language teaching.

CHAPTER ELEVEN DIGITALISED MATERIALS FOR YOUNG FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNERS ON THE INTERACTIVE WEBSITE PALM CLAUDIA MEWALD AND SABINE WALLNER

Introduction Our increasingly globalized world is characterised by linguistic and cultural diversity as well as migration. Signs of globalization become increasingly visible and their impact is experienced most extensively in and around urban areas. Teachers, who are at the forefront of this rapid development, have to cope with diverse societies, new educational requirements and the complex demands of multinational and multilingual classrooms. The conscious use of all language resources at the learners’ disposal should thus be employed to find fruitful approaches to exploit the linguistic and cultural diversity in their classrooms in a beneficial way. Multilingual education should be considered an important task of any 21st century educational programme (Jessner, 2006). This requires educationalists to acknowledge that language education is especially important for people whose linguistic resources create barriers in their access to education or in obtaining vocational qualifications (Norton, 2013). In this context, the language of schooling (Schleppegrell, 2008) and its subject-specific aspects is considered equally important as any additional language (Fischer, Greiner, & Bastel, 2012). The responsibility to handle increasingly heterogeneous classrooms has become a challenging duty for teachers. Teachers may appreciate support in this endeavour, and appropriate strategies as well as meaningful materials should be at their disposal to accelerate their learners’ language acquisition. The effective use of shared languages together with English as a lingua franca as a bridge for intercomprehension plays an important role in this game. Conscious meaning making between languages is at the heart

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of teaching contemporary classrooms and learners should be taught to make use of their resources consciously and effectively. The PALM platform (Promoting Authentic Language acquisition in Multilingual contexts), funded through ERASMUS+ Key Action 2, provides teachers and learners with materials that aim at the authentic and conscious development of linguistic and intercultural competence in young learners. The following sections introduce the PALM platform and its aim to cater to the needs of young multilingual learners by providing authentic and engaging materials and accompanying tasks. They address aspects on authenticity, awareness and scaffolding when fostering autonomous learning.

The PALM platform The PALM platform encourages authentic communicative exchanges between multilingual learners through texts in written and audio- or videorecorded form produced by children and teenagers for peers at the same age. Six institutions of teacher education in Austria, Cyprus, Hungary, Italy and the United Kingdom collaborated with twelve schools in the collection of texts produced in authentic situations or in close to real-life classroom scenarios. The texts were produced in eight languages: English, French German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Ladin and Spanish. The products are presented at a platform (www.palm-edu.eu), where language learners can make use of the texts and their accompanying reading and listening tasks with immediate feedback and gamified activities, as well as materials that foster lexical development on the basis of the Lexical Approach (Lewis, 1993) and Lexical Priming (Hoey, 1991, 2005). In collaboration with course tutors and experienced teachers, teacher trainees engage in material production for the platform as well as for faceto-face encounters of the multilingual learner groups. The teaching and learning materials on the PALM platform are developed on the basis of analyses into a multilingual learner corpus accumulated from the authentic input texts. In the past, learning and teaching materials for young learners and teenagers used to be produced by authors much older than the target group and learning materials have rarely been developed exclusively with the help of a corpus based on texts generated in real communicative exchanges of the target group. The project PALM encourages teachers to engage their learners in text production during lessons and in their free time. The pupils write and speak with the goal to share their texts with peers who are acquiring their languages as new languages. Fun videos and oral presentations are recorded in subject matter lessons; stories, essays,

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book reviews, blogs and many more different kinds of texts are produced in language classes or clubs. The authors focus on the target group and consider how the texts may be used in language education; thus, text production becomes a real-life activity with a meaningful outcome. Through this targeted contextualisation of text production, output-oriented teaching of the classroom language becomes an authentic procedure in van Lier’s sense (van Lier, 1996, 1998). In addition to work done in the classroom, information exchanges capture casual conversations through modern media. Skype sessions, video conferencing or tutoring, as well as language ambassadors’ meetings create real-life settings for authentic communication in this project. All personal encounters target at information exchanges dependent on intercomprehension and produce meaningful outcomes based on multilingual input.

Intercomprehension In PALM, learners of diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds meet to learn together. The same happens in many classrooms where pupils work in genuinely multilingual settings. So far, classroom work only scarcely makes use of the multilingual potential of the learners. On the contrary, most classrooms are monolingual, and teachers tend to avoid tasks which consider the conscious use of the languages at the learners’ disposal in addition to the target language. This seems to be a waste of resources and a loss of opportunities: individual learners might benefit if their starting point for a task was input they could comprehend fully or nearly fully, while follow-up tasks could be solved in collaboration with learners who may not share their information. Multilingual approaches consider tasks which allow for more than one language in the input phase and that make use of the shared language(s) in the output. This creates natural information gaps that make the subsequent exchanges and the collaborative compilation of knowledge in the target language a natural process of mediation (Feuerstein & Rand, 1975).

Multilingual Learners Multilingual learners understand and use two or more languages. Their linguistic competencies may have developed equally in all skills or only in some of them. Likewise, the qualities of language ability in various skills and languages may vary (Jessner, 2006) and not all multilingual people are equally well-equipped in all the languages they understand or use. Teachers have to be made aware of this variety in competence and

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acknowledge that learners may be able to comprehend their aural input but struggle with it in its written form. This holds true particularly if they are not sufficiently familiar with the alphabet they are expected to read or produce. Intercomprehension provides multilingual learners with the ability to make sense of spoken or even written texts in and across languages they have not yet fully acquired or studied. The knowledge of intercomprehension strategies can provide teachers with tools to support their learners in their multilingual comprehension and communication. This includes the use of a lingua franca, i.e. a shared language used between speakers whose native languages are different (Seidlhofer, 2011). When learners use two or more languages in a conversation to achieve effective communication, they engage in a plurilingual discourse. If they are using their acquired languages to understand the unfamiliar languages of the others and to communicate with them, they are translanguaging. This process requires intercomprehension, which works best with learners who have learnt to do this consciously. Intercomprehension can be successful, even if verbal production in the target language has not yet been achieved (Doyé, 2005). Therefore, intercomprehension competence is different from intercomprehensive performance, the capacity to understand other languages without having studied them. Through intercomprehension, people understand the languages of the others and they use their own languages in plurilingual encounters. Intercomprehension can therefore be considered an alternative or complement to the common use of a lingua franca. Intercomprehension exploits previously acquired knowledge, skills and strategies and employs extralinguistic features such as background knowledge, knowledge of the situation or visual support in making sense of languages not studied and is highly individual and dynamic in its development.

Meaningful Materials Teachers can support intercomprehension in many ways. They can create learning designs with materials that make conscious or unconscious intercomprehension possible and that allow variation in the use of languages in their classrooms. This can be realised in providing the opportunity for learners to draw on input in their stronger languages in addition to the input in the language of instruction. This can be realised through approaches such as flipped classrooms (Bergmann & Sams, 2014), where the input comes through modern media, or through

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exploiting the dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses, and translation tools modern media can offer. If teachers consider variation in language input, foster strategy use, support awareness for and sensitivity to language needs and if they scaffold learner autonomy, they establish the necessary conditions of learning (Marton, 2015). Variation and diversity facilitate a multilingual language acquisition process, which encourages the development of intercomprehension competence. Through establishing intercomprehension as a guiding principle, teachers not only foster their pupils in a current learning situation. They also provide them with the opportunity to “acquire the strategies needed for the understanding of the texts and utterances of any new language they might encounter in the future” (Doyé, 2005, p. 20). This advantageous situation can only be generated if the learners’ different languages are given attention in the learning process and if teachers consciously make use of methods that make intercomprehension explicit. As depicted in Figure 11-1, the PALM platform relies on a framework for intercomprehension methodology (FRINCOM), which comprises the following elements: -

authenticity of input and task scaffolding of learning awareness of multilingual potential and identity sensitivity to cultural and personal predispositions autonomy in learning and personal language development strategies that foster meaning making within and across languages

Fig. 11-1 FRINCOM: A Framework for Intercomprehension Methodology

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Authenticity Young learners commonly enter education with a reasonably sound command of their family languages. They bring with them a wellestablished ability to infer meaning from oral input without understanding every word because they have learnt to interpret meaning from additional clues such as body language, facial expressions, sound and tonality. Moreover, they use their situational knowledge and knowledge of the world (KOW) to exploit limited language resources effectively. Children mix or adapt language they have picked up when they communicate. Additionally, they are inventive in creating their own languages and show all kinds of interlanguage in their linguistic development (Ellis, 2010). Families speak different language varieties such as dialects, sociolects or idiolects, and some family members may even use different languages. Thus, most contemporary homes provide plurilingual language environments, and so do most playgrounds. The proximity and retention of plurilingual language acquisition seem to shape children’s and teenagers’ attitudes towards new languages. Most young children bring with them a positive, relaxed and unharmed learning experience which can and should be utilized in language education. Taylor (1994) considers the classroom a real and authentic place and other researchers support this position if skill-getting (Rivers & Temperley, 1978), pre-communicative activities (Littlewood, 1992) or languagelearning activities are kept authentic (van Lier, 1996). Breen (1985) defines four types of authenticity relevant for language learning: the authenticity of the texts used as input data, the authenticity of the learner’s own interpretations of such texts, the authenticity of the tasks conducive to language learning, and the authenticity of the actual social situation of the language classroom (Breen, 1985). Most authentic texts written by adults for children are likely to be too difficult to comprehend for beginners of new languages of the same age as the original target group. Thus, teachers frequently use authentic books or materials originally produced for younger readers or listeners, or simplified texts. However, apart from caretaker speech (Ellis, 1997), input is not necessarily simplified in real life and children are used to coping with gaps in comprehension. They can usually make meaning from what they hear or read, even if adult input is lexically and syntactically more complex than their own productive language command. Listening to language by peers usually provides more comprehensible input because their lexical range is similar. If input in a new language comes from peers who are native speakers of that language, this may create different challenges. Although

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the input may not be more complex, it may still be hard to understand because of the speed of delivery, the accent or the lexical density. However, in authentic communication, the shared KOW and mutual interest in topics can support successful exchanges if the communicators know about each other’s limitations. In this situation, strategies can also help bridge obstacles and the knowledge of the partner’s language level may encourage mediation (Feuerstein & Rand, 1975). The authentic texts on the PALM platform are estimated in terms of their difficulty based on lexical and structural elements and presented with coloured frames that reflect the difficulty in CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for languages) levels from A1 to B2. For texts in the English language, the tool Text Inspector (http://textinspector.com/) is used in the process of determining the CEFR level. In addition to the authenticity of the input texts, the PALM platform provides the authenticity of tasks conducive to language learning as well as the authenticity of the actual social situation of learning environment (Breen, 1985) through providing gamified and playful learning activities in a virtual environment. Learners can make use of activities on PALM individually, as pairs or groups. They can compete against each other or just do tasks on their own or as homework set by the teacher. LearningApps, Quizlet or Smartboard activities are electronic applications for games and playful activities, but traditional board games such as Snakes and Ladders or Happy Families are also available with some texts. Most games and activities emphasise the lexical development of the users, reflecting the significance of vocabulary acquisition through focusing on learning lexical chunks, phrases and word partnerships (Boers & Lindstromberg, 2008; Davies, et al., 1999; Hoey, 2005; Lewis, 1993; Mewald, 2015; Nation & Waring, 1997). Meaningful learning materials such as mind-maps, graphic organizers, picture dictionaries, or dialogue frames encourage the development of personalised lexical notebooks to collect words and phrases which may cater for the learners’ readiness and immediate communicative needs. The idea is that the materials in PALM’s “Lexical Notebook” should encourage learners not just to build up but also to revisit their lexical collections and to supplement them in the course of their learning process with the platform. This means that the lexical notebooks are not thrown out like vocabulary journals are after a course has ended. Instead, it is expected that the notebooks are used over several months of learning, becoming richer the more words and phrases are added. Moreover, the lexical notebooks developed with materials on the PALM platform are expected to foster personalization because the users are encouraged to include the words and phrases they personally would

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like to remember in addition to words and phrases from languages they also speak, and which are similar to the lexical additions they are making. The example in Figure 11-2 depicts the mind map a six-year-old child has created after reading text 1021 on PALM (http://www.palmedu.eu/content/the-mitten/) and doing some classroom tasks related to this text:

Fig. 11-2 Mind map by a six-year-old child based on PALM text 1021

Strategies When learners create new and meaningful language based on texts in their additional languages, they usually activate prior experience and knowledge. The most intuitive strategy they use is to search for words or phrases that are similar in meaning, pronunciation and/or spelling in their first language. This usually happens subconsciously. Creating awareness for and the strategic use of cognates in other languages creates associations which will accelerate the comprehension of language input and the readiness to produce output. Additionally, international words can have similar effects on comprehension and fluency and many of them are readily available and understood by the learners. Making them familiar with cognates and international words therefore has a positive effect on

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accelerated learning. This effect is most obvious in topic areas related to modern media and interactive computer games that include linguistic components. Strategies that employ visual and additional auditory clues to understand what is going on in a text, such as pictures or body language and facial expression, support comprehension equally well as the conscious discernment of tonality and mood in videos on PALM. These paralinguistic strategies make use of behavioural knowledge, i.e. the use of “verbal signs to express ideas, emotions and intentions … [and] other norms of behaviour to serve the purpose of conveying information” (SarÕçoban & Aktaú, 2011, p. 151) as well as situational experience (Doyé, 2005). Cultural knowledge can serve or impede intercomprehension (Kramsch, 1998). It may lead to stereotypes and false generalizations or to shared social practice in which to participate is considered attractive. The learners’ diverse cultural knowledge and experiences are important in the development of their intercomprehension. The cultural diversity of texts on the PALM platform and the cultural facts and practices they depict can aid intercultural learning. If specific ideas or events in the users’ cultures are similar to those in the target language societies, learners will make helpful associations with the help of authentic texts on PALM. If their social and personal lives differ significantly, new understandings of what is likely to happen in certain cultures are developed.

Scaffolding and Autonomy Scaffolding and autonomy do not necessarily occur together because the former makes the learner dependent on the material’s help, while the latter aims at independence in the learning process. However, combining scaffolding and learner autonomy seems particularly important in multilingual settings and in the use of the PALM platform. Linguistically diverse groups of learners need to be provided with personalised learning opportunities. Thus, materials that are appropriately differentiated have to be available in order to cater for all learner needs. This requires a view of learning as a dynamic process of knowledge creation and exploration which varies with every single learner (Herdina & Jessner, 2000) and thus has an impact on the design of learning with an interactive platform. Meaningful learning for a linguistically and culturally diverse target group goes beyond being able to select from a variety of topics. Fostering intercomprehension requires learners to find scaffolds so that they can make their own connections and develop personal understandings.

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In classroom situations, this includes a careful analysis of what individual learners already know. In an interactive online learning environment, the necessary scaffolds to understand and learn based on the available input need to be manifold. Reading and listening tasks on PALM therefore provide immediate feedback based on a framework of competence descriptors and cued responses, as well as opportunities for self- and peerassessment provided in many interactive games and classroom tasks. Intercomprehension works best when learners have opportunities to reflect on what they understand, how they understand it and what they need to do next to understand more. Materials on PALM therefore allow for different ways of approaching textual input and for individual meaning making. The PALM platform provides variation in input, which can be written or oral, supported by visuals or scaffolded learning materials. In face-to-face meetings, where intercomprehension and translanguaging are consciously focussed, materials and tasks include input in the various languages. The pupils are encouraged to use prior contextual and content understanding to aid comprehension in the new languages they encounter. First results from translanguaging tasks showed that planning for intercomprehension can never be seen as a finished process resulting in a plan that can be followed. Actually, effective planning for intercomprehension was found to be a dialogic and dynamic process of varying goals, activities and materials according to learners’ reactions and needs. What looked like a messy process at first glance turned out to be an interactionalist approach based on a resourceful programme to foster learner autonomy. This programme was required to include diagnostic material with a component of immediate feedback that would enable teachers and learners to -

select learning objectives that relate to the individual learner needs; identify suitable learning material and scaffold their implementation; observe learner behaviour, assess their performance and/or encourage self- and/or peer-assessment, and to select new objectives and materials based on previous learning outcomes.

The following framework (see Table 11-1 below) was developed for the reading and listening tasks on PALM in the Quiz section. The framework is based on the application of pragmatic knowledge about text type and its social function. Once learners have identified familiar words and gained an overall understanding of a text, they can usually apply selective attention to understand concrete information that is explicit and

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Strategy

Competence

Feedback

Expeditious reading Selective attention (listening and/or watching)

understanding words/phrases

You can understand words. You can understand phrases.

Expeditious reading Selective attention (listening and/or watching)

overall understanding (gist/main idea)

You can understand the main idea. You can find the correct title. You can give the correct title. You can find the correct topic. You can give the correct topic. You can understand what is going on.

Expeditious reading Selective attention (listening and/or watching)

understanding information that is explicitly stated in the text

You can find concrete information.

Careful reading Careful listening

understanding information and differentiating it from supporting detail

You can understand details.

Careful reading Careful listening

understanding information that is not explicit in the text

You can understand what is meant even when it is not directly mentioned. You can read between the lines. You can listen between the lines. You can spot information that is not mentioned. You can understand words from the context.

Careful reading Careful listening

providing a personal response that shows understanding

Thank you for your reply.

Table 11-1. Framework of reading and listening competence and feedback

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easy to identify or spot, especially if there is visual support. Once gist and specific information are understood at micro level, learners can be encouraged to understand detailed information in a context. This requires careful attention in a listening task or careful reading. Depending on their readiness, learners may need different variations of scaffolding when a task requires understanding details. The most complex items in the reading and listening tasks require inferred meaning comprehension, which is usually the biggest challenge for readers or listeners in new languages. Learners who are developing self-direction in virtual learning scenarios should be able to rely on immediate feedback and support if they cannot find the correct solution on their own. Table 11-1 above depicts the framework of reading and listening competences as provided on the PALM platform. The framework includes strategies, competences and feedback. Subsequently, learners have to be given the options to select simpler or more challenging input according to informed decisions based on evidence of successful or failed comprehension. The following scaffolds are considered useful: -

visualisation annotated input texts (margin notes, word banks, glossaries, etc.) the opportunity to use online dictionaries and thesauruses subtitled video input and the opportunity for repeated input highlighted texts with margin notes and summaries, or glossaries

Because of the potentially individual solutions for annotation, highlighting or margin notes, strategies of this kind are left in the hands of the teachers who are using virtual learning solutions.

Awareness and Sensitivity Making learners aware of their abilities and what they can already do in their languages is highly motivating. Encouraging them to make use of all their resources available to make sense of new input covers concepts of strategies as well as autonomy. No teacher or tool is able to identify all connections learners are making at a certain moment. It is the learners themselves who need to become aware of and sensitive to learning opportunities and meaningful connections between their languages. While classroom teaching can create a transformed cultural understanding and share new cultures rather than maintaining parallel worlds of two or more cultures next to each other, online materials can provide culturally

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diverse and rich input. How successfully a user applies this process of cultural transformation, however, remains their private knowledge and results cannot be considered unless they share experiences and ideas in online feedback sections. The more autonomous learners are in their selection or input and materials, the faster they will obtain the necessary feedback and help. Targeted diagnosis and feedback on the basis of a theory is required in this process, because “any teaching method is most useful when there is plenty of prompt feedback about whether the student is thinking about a problem in the right way” (Hattie, 2012, p. 88). Immediate feedback is crucial for its effectiveness. Therefore, automatised, self-directed and collaborative solutions are inherent components of tasks on the PALM platform. This closes the circle to the other components of the theoretical framework on which the PALM platform is based. All the mentioned elements are crucial in the process of developing comprehension. In the absence of awareness, all the other parts can be applied, but they will not succeed in creating an understanding within or between languages. Sensitivity is important in the provision of feedback. Finally, authenticity needs to be mentioned as the overarching element which transcends all the other in that any work in language education that does not create an authentic need for communication fails its purpose. Only authentic use will trigger the kind of comprehension that it takes to make learners create meaning through and within all the linguistic resources they possess.

Conclusion This contribution started with the claim that linguistic and cultural diversity and migration are prominent characteristics of a globalized world and it ends with the expectation that sufficient und successful use of intercomprehension can support the awareness that a globalized and peaceful world depends on people who can communicate, each speaking his own language and understanding that of the other, but who, while not being able to speak it fluently, by understanding it, even with difficulty, would understand the “spirit”, the cultural universe that everyone expresses when speaking the language of his ancestors and of his own tradition (Eco, 1994). The PALM platform therefore aims to create a “spirit” of mutual and transcultural understanding and meaningful communication with and beyond the authentic texts and materials it provides. The starting point for meaningful material production is the collaborative project work of

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children and teenagers from several countries, their teachers and collaborators from higher education institutions. This creates the opportunity for meaning to derive from working together and from sharing texts and materials for which the authors really care.

References Bergmann, J., & Sams, A. (2014). Flipped Learning: Gateway to Student Engagement. Washington: International Society for Technology in Education. Boers, F., & Lindstromberg, S. (Eds.). (2008). Cognitive Linguistic Approaches to Teaching Vocabulary and Phraseology (Applications of Cognitive Linguistics 6th ed.). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Breen, M. P. (1985). Authenticity in the Language Classroom. Applied Linguistics, 6 (1), 60-70. Davies, A., Brown, A., Elder, C., Hill, K., Lumley, T., & McNamara, T. (1999). Dictionary of language testing (Studies in Language Testing 7th ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Doyé, P. (2005). Intercomprehension. Guide for the development of language education policies in Europe: from linguistic diversity to plurilingual education. Reference study. Retrieved from Council of Europe, Language Policy Division: https://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/Source/Doye%20EN.pdf Eco, U. (1994). The Limits of Interpretation. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Ellis, R. (1997). Introduction to Second language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Ellis, R. (2010). The Study of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Emberley, E. (1992). Go Away Big Green Monster! Boston: Little, Brown & Company. Feuerstein, R., & Rand, Y. (Eds.). (1975). Mediated learning experiences: An outline of the proximal etiology for differential development of cognitive functions. In L. G. Fein (Ed.), International Understanding: Cultural Differences in the Development of Cognitive Processes (pp. 737). New York: ICP. Fischer, R., Greiner, U., & Bastel, H. (2012). Domänen fächerorientierter Allgemeinbildung. Linz: Trauner Verlag. Hattie, J. (2012). Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximising impact on learning. New York: Routledge.

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Herdina, P., & Jessner, U. (2000). A Dynamic Model of Multilingualism: Changing the psycholinguistic perspective. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Hoey, M. (1991). Patterns of lexis in text. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hoey, M. (2005). Lexical Priming: A new theory of words and language. London & New York: Routledge. Jessner, U. (2006). Linguistic awareness in multilinguals: English as a third language. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Kramsch, C. (1998). Language and culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Lewis, M. (1993). The Lexical Approach. Hove: LTP. Littlewood, W. T. (1992). Teaching oral communication: A methodological framework. Oxford: Blackwell. Marton, F. (2015). Necessary conditions of learning. New York: Routledge. Mewald, C. (2015). Lexical Range of Learners in Bilingual Schools in Lower Austria. (M. College, Ed.) Global Education Review (1), pp. 98113. Retrieved from https://www.unifg.it/sites/default/files/allegatiparagrafo/21-072016/mewald_lexical_range_and_communicative_competence_of_lear ners_in_bilingual_schools_in_lower_austria.pdf Nation, P., & Waring, R. (1997). Vocabulary size, text coverage and word lists. In N. Schmitt, & M. M. McCarthy (Eds.), Vocabulary: Description, acquisition and pedagogy (pp. 6-19). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Norton, B. (2013). Identity and language learning: Extending the conversation. Bristol: Mutilingual Matters. Rivers, W. M., & Temperley, M. S. (1978). A practical guide to the teaching of English as a second language. New York: Oxford University Press. SarÕçoban, A., & Aktaú, D. (2011). A New Intercomprehension Model: Reservoir Model. The Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 7 (2), 144-163. Schleppegrell, M. J. (2008). The Langauge of Schooling. A Functional Linguistics Perspective. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Seidlhofer, B. (2011). Understanding English as a Lingua Franca. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Taylor, D. (1994). TESL-EJ: Inauthentic Authenticity or Authentic Inauthenticity? The Electronic Journal for English as a Second Language, 1 (2). Retrieved from

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http://www.tesl-ej.org/wordpress/issues/volume1/ej02/ej02a1/ van Lier, L. (1996). Interaction in the language curriculum: Awareness, autonomy and authenticity (Applied Linguistics and Language Study Series Ed.). London: Longman. van Lier, L. (1998). The Classroom and the language learner. London: Longman.

CHAPTER TWELVE CREATING MEANING-FOCUSED MATERIALS FOR A TELL COURSE: AN EXAMPLE FROM INDIA SUJATA BHONSALE, JENNIFER THOMAS, ASHWIN NAGAPPA AND LING HSIAO

Introduction Despite progressive education policies which recommend measures to improve teaching-learning processes (National Curriculum Framework, 2005, hereafter, NCF 2005) there is a preponderance of traditional methods like drills and rote memorisation (Alexander, 2001) in the Indian classroom. English communication skills are now a driver for education, employability and social mobility in India (Graddol, 2010) but there is a dearth of meaningful material that enhances the oral communication skills of students. This chapter focuses on a technology enabled language learning course that uses the affordances of computers: a) to enable access to meaning-focused and grade-appropriate material in under-served communities; b) to create opportunities to use English meaningfully, purposefully and creatively c) to promote collaboration and peer learning. Technology aids language learning in two ways: by providing teaching resources and by providing enhanced learning experiences (Larsen-Freeman & Anderson, 2016). At the same time rapid evolution of communication technologies has changed language pedagogy and language use, enabling new forms of discourse, new forms of authorship, and new ways to create and participate in communities (Kern, 2006). Since such an intervention within the Indian public education system is innovative and unique, we begin by examining factors that informed the development of meaning-focused materials that can be used at scale. We list principles we adopted to design materials and interactive digital tools

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that will encourage learners to focus on meaning-making while communicating. Offered under the aegis of a project called ‘The Connected Learning Initiative’ (CLIx)1, the course is currently being offered to approximately 12,000 students across four states in India, for all of whom English is a second language. Vignette 1: Learning English in an Indian Classroom Vipul is a grade eight student at a government school in Sirohi, a village in the north western state of Rajasthan. Every day after his domestic chores, he walks to school, a single-storey structure with five classrooms, a computer lab and a staff room. It stands in his rural village on a large dusty ground with no vegetation. His day always begins here with the morning assembly and prayers sung in Hindi. His classroom is bare except for the desks and benches and a blackboard. The medium of instruction is Hindi but Vipul has also taken English as a subject since grade one. His English textbook is a basal reader, comprised largely of extracted stories from the Western literary traditions. Characters with names like Margie or Tommy are unfamiliar; words like “attic”, “scornful” and “awfully funny” often leave Vipul perplexed. The teacher primarily teaches by reading aloud passages from the lesson, often translating every sentence in Hindi. Vipul tries to follow the teacher’s explanations by hastily noting down the translations in Hindi. Sometimes he also writes in Hindi the dictation of pronounced English words so he can remember how they sound. As the teacher dictates the answers to the questions printed at the end of every lesson, Vipul focuses on marking the correct answer in his textbook or copying the teacher’s answers from the blackboard. The lessons also emphasizes the rules of grammar, and students are expected to memorize the rules. There is little or no focus on the meaning and messages of the stories in the reader. Class work largely involves listening to the teacher. Vipul rarely speaks to anyone in English in class. Occasional choral reading is the closest learning experience Vipul has had in speaking and communicating in English.

Vipul’s experience of learning English is typical of many government school students who lack access to meaningful and authentic curricular resources in English. We believe technology available in Indian schools 1

This chapter has been produced as part of Connected Learning Initiative (CLIx). CLIx is the outcome of a collaboration between Tata Trusts (India), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, Cambridge, Mass., USA) and Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS, Mumbai, India). CLIx has been created to provide young people from under-served communities opportunities for participation in quality education offerings through the meaningful integration of technology.

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can be leveraged to enable access to meaning-focused and grade-appropriate materials to promote learning in ways currently not supported in the regular language classrooms. This chapter explores the principles we adopted and adapted, combining research from Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) to design a Technology-Enabled Language Learning (TELL) course for communicative English. The aim of this course is to promote listening and speaking skills among high school students from underserved Indian communities by nurturing safe and collaborative spaces for language learning.

Status of English in India: Policy and Practice Hindi and English are just two of many languages spoken in the multilingual tapestry that is India. However, recent trends in the global economy have favoured English as the language of choice, and it is today a symbol of class, privilege and possibilities for most Indians. Though English is spoken only by a small percentage of the Indian population, it is the language of the ruling elite and many activities at a national level are transacted mainly in English – administration, defense, health, large-scale industries, media, judiciary and even higher education (Mujumdar, 2016). As Graddol (2010) observes, English communication skills are now a driver for education, employability and social mobility in India. There is a clamour for instruction in English in schools today. Without fluency in English, one would not be able to participate equitably and equally in the large communicational matrix of democratic India (Mujumdar, 2016). However, classroom practices emphasizing rote memorization like the one Vipul experienced mean many Indian students struggle to learn English meaningfully. Text-based language instruction focused primarily on memorizing grammar rules may not advance fluency in communicative English. Consequently, students leave school with poor English speaking and listening skills, which, in turn, affects their access to higher education and employability. Educationists and policy makers in India recognise this gap where students, even after years of studying in English as the medium of instruction, struggle to understand or make themselves understood in social and academic situations requiring average English language skills. The NCF 2005, a policy document that provides the framework for the teaching and learning of subjects within the Indian school system recognises the aspirational status that English enjoys across all strata of Indian society. Recognizing the need for students to achieve communicative competence in the English language, the National Focus Group (hereafter, NFG, 2006) in its Position Paper on the Teaching of English draws on

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research in the field of SLA by Prabhu, Elley, Mangubhai and Krashen (NFG, 2006), noting that students should be able to achieve basic competence in the language much before they acquire communicative competence. It therefore stresses the need for a comprehensible input-rich curriculum as a foundation for spontaneous language growth (NFG, 2006). The policy further states that given the variety of language learning contexts in India, it is important that such inputs are provided in school classrooms and “the language environment of disadvantaged learners needs to be enriched in particular ways” (NFG, 2006 p. 6). These documents not only draw attention to the importance of building familiarity with the second language, or L2, in meaningful situations but also to the importance of providing “adequate data” (NFG, 2006, p. 6) for any successful language learning experience. It therefore stresses “moving away from mastery learning of limited input (in this case, a single textbook in an English language classroom) to regular exposure to a variety of meaningful language inputs” (NFG, 2006, p. 6). Based on these recommendations, efforts were made to integrate the four skills of reading, writing, listening, and speaking holistically in most states’ English language textbooks. However, listening and speaking skills continue to be challenging to teach through basal textbooks. Vignette 2 : Learning digital skills in school Vipul’s class timetable says he must attend a computer class every Thursday. However, Vipul and his classmates have never stepped inside the computer lab in their school as it is always locked for fear of theft or damage. Vipul has caught a peek of dusty computers, unconnected keyboards, and a tangle of wires inside the room when Mr. Singh, the Science teacher, occasionally unlocks to print some documents. Since the school doesn’t have a computer teacher, Mr. Singh doubles up as one and occasionally takes the computer period in their regular classroom. He talks to them about Microsoft office and its applications without ever demonstrating anything. Vipul has never touched a computer. He is eager to work on computers and do all the exciting things Mr. Singh says one can do on computers.

Digital Literacy in Schools Cumulative efforts by the state and policies like the National Policy on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Education (2012) have equipped many government schools with basic hardware for digital literacy. Under the latest ICT scheme (NPE, 2016), schools receive 10

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computers, a projector, a printer, a scanner, a webcam, a UPS, a modem, a broadband antenna and a generator. Despite these provisions, the computer labs are in a state of disuse and disarray. Infrastructure mapping surveys carried out as part of CLIx implementation strategy in four states including Rajasthan revealed that schools varied greatly in the kind of hardware they had (outdated or new), and most schools did not have access to regular lab maintenance support and more importantly, a dedicated computer teacher. This was further compounded by other challenges such as poor connectivity, high student-to-device ratio, and lack of teacher professional development in digital literacy. As a result using technology as an aid in education remains unexplored (NPE, 2016).

CLIx English: The Objective In a pilot survey, we asked students in Chattisgarh, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Telangana to rate their confidence level in applying English reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. Across the four states, nearly 75% of students rated writing as the easier skill and almost 50% rated speaking as their least confident skill. It is against this landscape of second language education and low digital literacy in schools, that CLIx attempts to reimagine the computer lab as a space for enhanced learning experience (Larsen-Freeman & Anderson, 2016), especially for students who cannot access meaning-focused and authentic language learning material in the classroom. CLIx English is a TELL course, where the focus of the curriculum is the functional use of English. Designed as an action research project since 2015, the CLIx English team designed 40 hours of content in two phases. This chapter highlights Unit 1 of the English Elementary curriculum (10 hours) completed for phase 1 in 2016. We wanted to use the limited but available technology in classrooms innovatively to create a thoughtful design scalable for use in classrooms across the states to promote listening and speaking skills using meaning-focused language learning materials. As we began tinkering with ideas, we were quick to realize that technology for us would only be a means to an end; it was important that we reflect on the social, cognitive and cultural implications of using computers for language learning (Kern, 2006). We envisioned technology as a conduit to enable access to materials that we created, to be meaningfocused, culturally and linguistically relevant and appropriate to Indian students. We prefer the broad terminology of TELL over CALL for the course we designed, as we expect to see a convergence of functionality across digital devices (which we expect could happen once our course is

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made available as an Open Education Resource) with the evolution of technology (Kern, 2006).

CLIx English: An Overview The primary objective of the CLIx English curriculum is to improve oral communicative competence in English, mainly for students in grades 8 and 9. The course is structured on the functional notional approach for Communicative Language Teaching (Larsen-Freeman & Anderson, 2016), which promotes practical oral language skills such as introducing oneself or expressing likes or dislikes, and tasks are designed to engage students in social contexts familiar and meaningful to Indian children. The curricular design encourages students to complete language tasks on the computer through mainly peer interactions. Tools created for this purpose incorporate a variety of scaffolds to increase skills in English listening and speaking. Our pilot assessments for grade 9 learners, conducted across the four states in 2015 demonstrated that a wide range of English proficiency levels exists. We used the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) A1 to B1 levels to target these proficiency skills. In order to provide a flexible curriculum, we created two modules - English Beginner (EB) that catered to learners with basic levels of proficiency in English (CEFR A1 to A2) and English Elementary (EE), for learners at a level higher than basic (CEFR A2 to B1). Furthermore, each module has two units (EB0-EB1 and EE1-EE2) with clearly defined objectives for reading, writing, listening and speaking, and the designed tasks gradually increase in levels of complexity. Teachers, therefore, have the option of beginning with any module that they deem fit for their learners’ English levels.

Designing the Course We wanted to create materials that would not only be informative and instructional but also experiential and exploratory for our learners (Tomlinson, 2010). By creating meaning-focused content, we intended to equip students with the confidence and skills to communicate effectively in English, a goal that the form-focused textbooks and classrooms have largely failed to achieve. At the same time, we also wanted the materials/activities in the course to guide students to work independently rather than solely under the teacher’s directions. We based our designs on Stephen Krashen’s (1985) Comprehensible Input Hypothesis, targeting language input acts as the starting point for acquiring aspects of the L2

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(Chapelle, 1998). Krashen supports the role of an “immersive” environment in the language to be learnt moving away from a focus on form and lexical study for more effective L2 learning. The stories and multimedia on our TELL platform for our course adhere to this principle. The value of stories in children’s first language development is widely acknowledged and well documented by research. Listening to, telling, and sharing stories helps in evolving comprehension, discussion, analysis, and imagination. More importantly, it also helps learners in developing a sense of who they are (Bruner, 1996). With the objective of providing an immersive language environment and meaningful contexts for language use, we decided to create stories that would not only provide learners opportunities to hone their listening comprehension in the L2 but would also anchor the course. The stories we created provide an authentic context for language development, through issues that we think are relevant and real for our learners to build their confidence in using the language in their lived contexts. We draw our understanding of authentic materials from Nunan (1991) as samples of written and spoken texts that have not been specifically written for the purpose of language teaching and which “learners will encounter outside the classroom” (pp. 215-216). Providing comprehensible input that L2 learners understand is not enough for language acquisition unless they are able to use the target language. The Comprehensible Output Hypothesis (Swain, 1995) guided us in our decision to incorporate production activities in our curriculum drawing from the context of the stories. Therefore, the tasks that we created in the course involve “learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language while mobilizing their grammatical knowledge to express meaning” (Nunan, 2004, p. 4). The focus of the tasks is to communicate meaning rather than form. Learners therefore are expected to use the language they hear or read in the stories in their production oriented tasks. Finally, we drew on findings from the large body of Chapelle’s (1998, 2005, 2007) work in CALL, especially the seven hypotheses she proposes for development of CALL material. Building on ideas of Comprehensible Input of Krashen and Interactionist SLA theories (Chapelle, 1998), Chapelle’s writing guided us to think about four big questions while developing CALL for SLA: 1. 2. 3. 4.

What is the input it can provide to learners? What are the opportunities to produce output it can offer? What are the interactions it can afford learners? What are the L2 tasks it supports?

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In Chapelle’s framework, we considered the CALL software as a participant in L2 tasks as it plays a role in input and interaction. This interaction is not limited to social interactions among learners but also other kinds of interactions viz., inter and intra; the former includes interaction between people leading to negotiation of meaning and between person and computer leading to receiving L2 input in different forms. Intra interactions refer to interactions within a person’s mind which directs attention to linguistic form of the input (Chapelle, 2003). In addition to these SLA theories, our curriculum adopted three broad pedagogical pillars for all consequent development work. These pillars were: 1. Peer interaction and collaboration 2. Safe Space to learn from mistakes 3. Authenticity and relevance Furthermore, given our field constraints, we felt design-based research is an appropriate research methodology to address these problems through a systematic process of iterative design and investigation (Palalas & Hoven, 2011) . In the following sections, we hope to illustrate through examples from the course material how theory informed our process of materials development and how it is reflected in the designed materials. Vignette 3: Connected learning in the CLIx lab Vipul and Somu are working together on a computer. Vipul navigates the CLIx platform and reaches EB Unit 1 Lesson 2. They both slip on their headphones and begin listening to Story Time. It is a story about a grandmother who has misplaced her spectacles. Somu takes the mouse and switches on the subtitles. Somu asks Vipul something in Hindi pointing to the headphones; he is checking if it is audible to Vipul. They continue to listen intently. When the story ends they move to the next task, which is Let’s Talk. They decide to answer the option which asks them to describe a pair of spectacles. Somu tries to respond and says, “These are spectacles. They have a …. (inaudible).” Vipul repeats his partner’s response. They practise the sentence thrice and then finally record it by clicking the record tool button. Only Somu records, “These are spectacles. They have round frame. They are black.”

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They move on to the Open Story Tool. They begin by clicking on the grid and looking at the pictures. They select one image and discuss in Hindi. One by one they choose their images, add text and audio to create their very own original story in English.

CLIx English Course Design - English Elementary (EE) Unit 1 To deliver the course through the CLIx technological platform, we decided to create lessons with a flow and design that was simple and standard, taking into account the low digital literacy skills of our learners and teachers. Because English teaching staff was sparse in many CLIx schools, our design tries to encourage autonomy in learning. Given below are the components of a 40 minute lesson. Warm Up is the first activity of every lesson in the English Elementary course. Since schema activation has been found useful for L2 learners, it is used here either by pre-teaching vocabulary or giving a brief recap of the previous lesson. The Warm Up sets the tone for the lesson and gives students the chance to review vocabulary together or discuss events or characters from the preceding lessons. The 5-7 minute Warm Up leads to the main action: the Story or Story Time, as the activity is called. At the heart of all our lessons is a story. The story was created by a team specialising in content, media, technology and production to create 4-5 minute long audiovisual stories keeping in mind the context of the students who were the target audience. The stories were created to sound ‘real’ and connected to the lived context of the students. There has therefore been a careful creation of the stories in the course, to foster interest and motivation in students towards language learning through stories. The stories act as a hook, a pedagogical tool, to focus students’ attention on the main language function of the lesson and provide ample practice for listening comprehension. An important aspect of learning a new language for learners is to check their understanding for what they have heard. For this purpose we have created the CLIx Time activity or task that is modeled on multiple choice question format. It is different from the ones learners usually do in the classrooms, as this audio task is done by a pair of students and includes scaffolds that guides student discussion to arrive at meaning. Multiple attempts in the task are expected to raise grammar awareness along with improving listening comprehension.

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CLIx Time is followed by tasks that provide learners with opportunities to practise their listening and speaking skills. Drawing mostly from a context set by the stories, these interactive tasks are designed to convey meaning, by making them similar to real world situations that learners like Vipul are likely to encounter in their lives. In some lessons there is a role play task, called Let’s Talk, where the conversation that the two learners at a terminal practice, is based on conversation triggers drawn from the stories they heard in the lesson. The task therefore has a clear focus on developing learners’ speaking skills. Instead of a role play task, some lessons include speaking skill practice through the ‘Open Story Tool’ or OST, where the task requires learners to create stories by combining images and text (that they input) and that they narrate to each other. Learners get immediate feedback on some tasks and in some others, scaffolds in the form of audio hints, model conversations and word clouds of words and phrases, guide students to the correct answer. In the process, it is expected that learners notice their own learning gaps (grammar errors, incorrect vocabulary) and gain a better understanding of the language learning process, making it a more meaningful experience. In a CLIx Lab, at each terminal, one will find a pair of learners wearing headphones, accessing the lessons in EE Unit 1. They work on the tasks collaboratively through tools created for this purpose. The set of tools developed for the CLIx platform are technological aids used to transact the language tasks and designed to keep the interface interactive and promote peer interaction. Given the diversity of the hardware and the nature of growth in technology the software being developed had to be agnostic and agile. The tools were designed and developed to be light and capable of running on old computers with lower computing power and memory. These tools are capable of working on standalone devices without network. The tools would work like a web page on any browser. Technological solutions were developed using open source libraries and some programming. The coding and scripting for the tools involved very little sophistication. Table 12-1 below gives a brief summary of the tools available on the tech platform created for EE Unit 1:

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Tool Name

Features

Intended Use

Story Time Video Player (Story Time)

It allows learners to listen to and watch animated stories. It includes features like adjusting speed of speech, same language subtitling, and a transcript feature that allows learners to read as they listen to the story. The video can be replayed more than once.

Stories set in contexts familiar to learners and in Indian accents, are expected to provide an immersive experience of language learning.

Selection Tool (CLIx Time)

It has multiple choice questions, with a choice of four responses in audio and text format. Learners can make multiple attempts. Incorrect responses are supported by pictorial, aural or textual scaffolds that guide learners to the correct response.

In pairs, learners can listen, discuss and choose a response. They can check understanding of the story and also practise reading skills as they simultaneously read instructions while listening to the audio. Constructive feedback through scaffolds, may help learners notice linguistic features and could enhance their active listening skills, grammar and vocabulary awareness.

Audio Recording Tool (Let’s Talk)

It allows learners to practise and record their conversations. Features include, a pre-recorded model conversation that scaffolds the learners’ production of language; a Word Cloud with key vocabulary for the given situation; a recording button and a playback feature.

Learners can practise their speaking skills, based on conversation triggers similar to real life contexts. Learners can record and re-record till they are satisfied. It is intended to improve fluency and build the confidence of learners to use English.

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Open Story Tool

It allows learners to create story or narrative presentation with images and audio. It has a repository of images that learners can choose from to create their own stories. The ‘caption’ feature allows learners to input their own text for given images and an audio recording feature allows them to record the text and narrate the story.

This open ended tool allows creative expression in writing and speaking for learners by giving them the freedom to use language in the way they want using audio and text features. Raising grammar awareness in L2 is an expected benefit, as learners collaborate to put together their stories.

Movable Word Tool (Word Play)

It consists of word blocks or phrases that learners can drag and drop to make a meaningful sentence. The blocks snap together to form a sentence. The sentence created by the learner is compared to a predefined sentence and appropriate feedback is given.

This tool is expected to raise awareness of sentence structure and grammar.

Table 12-1. Details of tools in English Elementary Course

We focus here on two tools – Story Time and Let’s Talk – to present a snippet of how our course design works in the CLIx lab on the field.

Story Time Stories are at the heart of both the modules we created. In EE Unit 1, Lesson 1 the main objective for listening skills is to recognise and understand the gist of a conversation that uses informal introductions and greetings and for speaking, it is the use of expressions of greeting others and introducing oneself. The story, “The First Meeting”, begins with Zo, a 14-year-old teenager, who arrives in a village to live with his grandmother and how he meets and makes new friends. The story develops around their friendship and this thread continues in the subsequent lessons, with focus on other functions and notions of language use. Figure 12-1 below shows a screenshot of Story Time, The First Meeting, from Lesson 1 of English Elementary, Unit 1 (reprinted from CLIx Platform, by CLIx, 2017):

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Fig. 12-1 Screenshot of Story time, The First Meeting, from Lesson 1 of English Elementary, Unit 1 of the CLIx English course2

As learners (sitting in pairs at a terminal), click “play” on the video player, they begin to listen and watch as the story unfolds. The illustrations show the characters with typical Indian features, with voice and accents to match. The meaning is conveyed through pictorial supports, techniques of highlighting/focusing on images that matches the audio and also through expressive voice overs. In trying to engage our learners, our stories use simple language that largely caters to A1 levels. The stories use situations that we created as part of the story plot to engage learners. For instance, in Lesson 1, the characters are first introduced to each other when they are involved in an accident – this is the context in which learners first engage with “making introductions”, the overall functional language objective of lesson 1. Creating our own stories has given us the freedom to create authentic contexts and characters with names and ages that our secondary school learners could identify with, and by leveraging technology, we can present these characters through illustrations and accented voices that have an Indian feel. Furthermore, the features that have been embedded in the Story Time activity has also been an effort in making the learners’ language learning experiences more meaningful. To reinforce listening comprehension in the 2

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L2, there is the option of adjusting speed of the voice over. Simple text instructions along with the audio also guides students in the activity. A transcript is also provided for learners to read as they listen and watch the story video. Same language subtitling is also an option available for learners who want to read the text to understand meaning in a story. Learners also have the option to watch and listen to the story more than once. These features that are leveraged by technology allow the language input to be provided and supported in more than one way.

Let’s Talk The objective of Let’s Talk in lesson 1 is social introductions. The context is already established for the learners through the audio-visual story in Story Time. Having listened to the conversation between Sahir, Zo and Kanasu, when students attempt Let’s Talk, the third activity in the session, they are already cued in to the context and have some exposure to the key vocabulary. Figure 12-2 below shows a screenshot of the Let’s Talk, Introducing Yourself activity from Lesson 1 of English Elementary, Unit 1 (reprinted from CLIx Platform, by CLIx, 2017). It shows two conversation triggers that students can choose from: Trigger 1 “It’s the first day of school after the summer vacation. A new student has joined the class. How will you talk to him or her?” Trigger 2 “You see someone new in the village. You are curious to know who he or she is. How will you talk to him or her?” Triggers in the Let’s Talk activity are kept as close to authentic contexts as possible, and learners must role-play different situations. This process of dialoguing and conversing is further scaffolded for learners through support mechanisms that the activity offers in the form of a recorded model conversation and a word cloud with key vocabulary. The short model conversation allows learners to pay attention to language usage and the additional transcript feature allows them to go back to the text of the conversation and make any notes if necessary. Learners are free to playback the audio as many times as they want.

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Fig. 12-2 Let’s Talk, Introducing Yourself activity from Lesson 1 of English Elementary, Unit 1 of the CLIx English course3

The computer interface creates a safe, non-judgemental and nonthreatening space for learners to play and experiment with the new language. Typically, we’ve observed learners doing this activity at a comfortable pace for both students. Pairs can write down and practise their dialogues before they are ready to click the red button and record their conversation. While a few pairs may repeat or imitate the model conversation, most others create their own conversations. The technology here also allows them to repeat and record their conversation a number of times till they are satisfied with their output. It is only the last recording that gets saved in the system as a student artefact and is considered as a final submission.

Conclusion In this section, we highlight the key principles which guided the design of meaning-focused TELL materials for the CLIx English module. In creating the course, we followed the process of ideation-creation-iteration and this helped us in drawing out the design principles for this TELL course. 3

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The principles that we outline here are the ones we mostly drew from Chapelle’s hypothesis for developing CALL material (Chapelle, 1998) and may be of interest to curriculum developers, instructional designers, and teachers who work with ESL learners in contexts similar to ours and wish to leverage technology to supplement regular classroom activities: 1. Create meaning-focused and authentic materials A major affordance of technology is that it can make materials available to learners in multimodal forms (illustrations, animations, audio, text) in easier and more cost effective ways than print. We optimized this feature by designing stories and tasks that would be cognitively stimulating and emotionally appealing to our learners. Through the stories we tried to create a word-world connection for learners, something that their basal readers had failed to do. We did this by bringing in social worlds, characters and issues our learners may identify with. The characters in the story were imperfect and flawed, things did not always go right for them and most importantly they spoke in the L2, in accents that were familiar to our learners. Stories and tasks like these can spur learners to receive L2 input, eventually leading them to notice salient syntactic features of the language (Chapelle, 1998). More importantly, it gives them contexts to practise their listening and speaking skills meaningfully. Such material, we feel, can help learners move away from mere rote memorisation of L2 to becoming meaning-makers and could make the language learning experience personally meaningful. 2. Leverage technology to make input available in other forms To use the authentic materials that we created in an immersive way, we use the affordances of technology to provide language input in more than one form – to cater to different kinds of learners and different language levels. We see this in the provision of same language subtitling in Story Time as well as option of the transcript. In CLIx Time and Let’s Talk, scaffolds, model conversations and word clouds are provided in audio and text forms to guide students in comprehending the input. These simplifications along with repetitions, multiple attempts, decreased speed of the audio are the ways in which technology allows the input to be modified to make it more comprehensible (Chapelle, 1998). 3. Create materials that promote social interaction among learners Language learning occurs in social contexts when learners are immersed in the target language. Since the school rarely allows learners like Vipul to

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meaningfully interact in the L1 or the L2, we wanted the course to give them these opportunities. For instance, activities like the Warm Up and Story Time invite learners to recollect and discuss the story and related vocabulary. The CLIx Time encourages learners to discuss the choices and together arrive at a response. The hints which appear when an incorrect response is chosen also remind learners to talk to their partners before submitting a response. Interactions that happen in output based tasks like the Open Story Tool and Let’s Talk require learners to collaborate to create dialogues and conversations. An affordance of the technology has been that it has enabled interactions between learners and between learners and computers by creating a safe space for learning where learners are confident users of the L2. 4. Leverage technology to give opportunities for learners to create meaning-focused output Comprehensible input available in the form of authentic materials in the course encourages talk that can be spontaneous, inclusive and uninhibited. The technological features of record and playback, along with the option of repeated attempts, allow learners to produce meaningful L2 output and encourages them to play with syntax and vocabulary in an uninhibited way. As learners work with peers there is potential for speakers to turn interlocutors, thereby creating more opportunities to notice aspects of linguistic forms they use. And as they discuss, repeat, and correct themselves they learn and motivate each other. As designers, the experience of creating this course has been exciting and enriching, but it has also been a messy journey of discovery and learning. Since available CALL literature largely came from contexts of developed economies where access to good infrastructure and connectivity was comparatively easy, there was little we could fall back on to guide the creation of an interactive TELL course that would run without internet connectivity. Though the principles that we have highlighted have been drawn from existing research in CALL (Chapelle, 1998) what has been a valuable experience for us in designing this course, has been opportunities to test the validity of these principles in the field through systematic, small-scale trials of the material and tool prototypes. In addition to designers closely observing learners interacting with the TELL material, actively seeking feedback from the field (the four states for the CLIx intervention) through focus group discussions and consultations with experts for story contexts and language levels helped us finalise tasks and tools that are simple and at the same time maximize opportunities for

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learners to practise their listening and speaking skills. From our experience, we tend to agree with what Anderson and Shattuck (2012) have stated: “These principles are not designed to create decontextualized principles or grand theories that function with equal effect in all contexts. Rather, design principles reflect the conditions in which they operate. These tools and conceptual models function to help us understand and adjust both the context and the intervention so as to maximize learning.” (p.17)

Factoring in field level constraints and constantly responding to them, while focusing on creating meaning-focused materials has been the most important guiding principle for us as curriculum designers, for this TELL course.

Acknowledgments We would like to acknowledge the contributions of the following people in the design and development of the modules that we created for CLIx English: Anusha R., Nishevita J., Lavanya M., Reema M., Surbhi N., Mayuri K., Bidisha D. We would also like to thank Dr. Malathy Krishnan, our curricular advisor, for her insightful advice during the process of creating this course. We are grateful for the expertise and time that all members of CLIx teams, specializing in media, technology, production, implementation, communication, research and project management have given us, for the creation and implementation of the CLIx English modules. We would also like to acknowledge the support of our colleagues at MIT for providing us their expertise.

References Alexander, R. (2001). Culture & Pedagogy: International Comparisons in Primary Education. London: Wiley-Blackwell. Anderson, T., & Shattuck, J. (2012). Design-Based Research: A Decade of Progress in Education Research? Educational Researcher, 41 (1), 16– 25. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X11428813 Bruner, J. (1997). Culture of Education. Retrieved November 22, 2017, from https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/carol-read/powerstories

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Chapelle, C.A. (1998). Multimedia CALL: Lessons to be learned from research of unstructed SLA. Language Learning and Technology 2 (1), 22-34. Chapelle, C.A. (2003). English language learning and technology: Lectures on teaching and research in the age of information and communication. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/lllt.7 Chapelle, C. A. (2005). Interactionist SLA theory in CALL research. In J. Egbert & G. Petrie (Eds.), Research perspectives on CALL (pp. 53-64). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Chapelle, C.A. (2007). Technology and Second Language Acquisition. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 27, 98-114. CLIx. (2017). [Story Time, The First Meeting] [Screenshot]. Retrieved from https://clixplatform.tiss.edu/5943ff594975ac013d3701fc/course/ CLIx. (2017). [Let’s Talk, Introducing Yourself] [Screenshot]. Retrieved from https://clixplatform.tiss.edu/5943ff594975ac013d3701fc/course/ Graddol, D. (2010). English Next India: The future of English in India. New Delhi: British Council. Krashen, S. D. (1985). The Input Hypothesis: Issues and implications. London: Longman. Kern, R. (2006, March). Perspectives on Technology in Learning and Teaching Languages. TESOL Quarterly , 40 (1), pp. 183-210. Larsen-Freeman, D., & Anderson, M. (2016). Communicative Language Teaching (Chapter 9, pages 115-130) in Techniques & Principles in Language Teaching (3rd edition ed.). London: OUP. Ministry of Human Resource Development (2012). National Policy on Information and Communication Technology in School Education. Retrieved September 25, 2017, from MHRD website: http://mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/upload_document/revis ed_policy%20document%20ofICT.pdf Ministry of Human Resource Development (2016). National Policy of Education: Report of the Committee for Evolution of the New Education Policy. Retrieved October 13, 2017 from NUEPA website: http://www.nuepa.org/New/download/NEP2016/ReportNEP.pdf Mujumdar, A. (2016). Tracing the history of English Language education in India: Teaching English as a Second Language [White Paper]. Retrieved October 13, 2017, from the Sage Publishing Website: https://studysites.sagepub.in/repositoty/binaries/PDFs/English_in_Indi a.pdf NCERT. (2006). Position Paper, National Focus Group on Teaching of English. National Council of Education Research and Training. New Delhi: NCERT.

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NCF. (2005, July). National Council of Educational Research and Training. Retrieved May 2017, from http://www.ncert.nic.in Nunan, D. (1991). Second language teaching and learning. Boston, MA: Heinle and Heinle. Nunan, D. (2004). Task based language teaching (1st Edition ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Palalas, A. & Hoven, D. (2013). Implications of Using DBR to investigate the Iterative Design of a Mobile-Enhanced Language Learning System; Chapter 5, CALICO Monograph Series, Volume 11. Swain, M. (1995). Three functions of output in second language learning. In G. Cook, & B. Seidlhofer, Principle and Practice in Applied Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Tomlinson, B. (2010). Principles and procedures of materials development. In N. Harwood (Ed.), Materials in ELT: Theory and Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved March 20, 2017, from http://www.iltec.pt/pdf/Principles%20and%20 Procedures%20of% 20Materials%20Development%20Paper.pdf

CHAPTER THIRTEEN LEARNERS’ VIEWS ABOUT MEANINGFOCUSED READING: A CASE STUDY OF THE READING SECTION “CATCHING A GLIMPSE” ALESSANDRA BELLETTI FIGUEIRA MÜLLING

Introduction In 2014, the Ministry of Education in Brazil launched a distance learning English language teaching material, “English M1”, for beginners. I was part of the team overseeing the development of this material. English M1 was developed to cater for students and members of staff (such as teachers and administrative personal) at vocational schools in Brazil. The material was made available through Moodle, a hardware copy and a CD-ROM. English M1 comprises 18 lessons. At the end of each lesson there is a reading section called “Catching a Glimpse” (CaG) with one text each. The texts vary in size, the smallest having 116 words and the longest one having 579 (an average length of 300 words each). Learners are expected to read one text a week, for 18 weeks. CaG is the only section in the material where learners can read texts in prose. All texts were written for pedagogic purposes. The texts in CaG are accompanied by a bilingual (English-Portuguese) glossary, a user-activated audio version of the text and text illustrations. CaG has no instruction or follow-up activity. Learners are not told to act in response to deliberately achieve a specific goal, as there is not an expected outcome. There is also no evaluation, or guidance on which measures to take to interact with the input data provided. When the material was developed, the main objective underpinning the design of CaG was that it would offer learners cultural information about an English speaking country as well as an opportunity to read in the

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language. In other words, instead of using the text to teach language (grammar or vocabulary) and intensively exploit it, the texts were written to promote the development of reading comprehension skills. Drawing on learners’ reported experience, this chapter reveals the extent to which CaG promoted an extensive reading (ER) experience and suggests an approach to developing meaning-focused reading in English Language Teaching (ELT) materials.

Participants, Data Collection and Instrument Twenty-four users of the material participated in face-to-face interviews. They were 14 school staff members (adult learners) and 10 secondarylevel students. All participants but one expressed they had previously studied English, but all considered themselves basic users of the language. The letter P combined with a number will identify participants hereafter. Because learners’ capacity to recall certain aspects of materials is likely to be low, participants were prompted to interact with two previously selected CaG sections on a computer screen as a way of remembering their original experiences and impressions about the reading section. This was also an opportunity to build rapport so learners would feel at ease to share their opinion. Stimulated recall was combined with recorded semi-structured interviews in the learner’s first language (Portuguese) in order to investigate detailed information about perceived benefits of reading the texts. For example, participants were asked to describe their impressions about the fact that there was no reading-related activity in CaG.

Giving Voice to the End Users: The Learners Harmer (2001), Tomlinson (2003), Mukundan and Ahour (2010), Lawrence (2011) and McDonough, Masuhara and Shaw (2013) agree there is not enough literature with regard to the retrospective aspect of evaluations, despite being the means through which more accurate information about the impact of the material on users can be accessed (Ellis, 1998; Harmer, 2001; Tomlinson, 2003; Tomlinson & Masuhara, 2004). As long ago as 1979, Cunningsworth claimed that materials evaluation needed to be learner- and context-related. It is only after learners have used the material that the definitive status of success or failure will be known (McGrath, 2002). Learners’ opinion about their experience with learning materials is often overlooked (Conole, 2008; Levy, 2016). Blake diagnosed that “little is known about students’ perception of their online learning experience”

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(2008, p. 109), making a reference to evaluations of language courses taught entirely online and suggesting little is known about what has been perceived by users of computer-assisted language learning materials. When it comes to self-access materials, giving voice to learners through qualitative analysis of data can reveal impressions that are very particular to learners’ experience (Bahumaid, 2008; Ellis, 1997; McGrath, 2002). This study reinforces the importance of evaluating materials from the point of view of learners, as opposed to “armchair experts” who, based on second language acquisition theory that can be generalized to many learning scenarios, may “screen out obviously unsuitable materials” (McGrath, 2002, p. 14) but may not understand the precise context and its specific needs (Bahumaid, 2008). For this reason, the analysis of the reading section CaG is conducted from the perspective of learners through the analysis of their reports.

The Pedagogy Underpinning Reading Sections in ELT Textbooks Maley and Prowse (2013) found that in the six coursebooks they analysed, most texts were written with examples of the target structures, followed by comprehension questions, vocabulary and grammar exercises. In line with what Brumfit (1984) said about intensive reading’s pedagogic purpose to be “accuracy” (p. 53), whereas ER is fluency, they concluded the materials were heavily grounded in PPP (Presentation-Practice-Production) models where texts exist to be intensively exploited and contextualize target structures, with little emphasis on the reading skills, mainly so as a way of complying with teachers’ expectations. Teachers tend to consider vocabulary activities as more efficient than working on reading processes (Kuzborska, 2011). Freeman (2014) investigated reading sections in four series of global EFL (English as a Foreign Language) intermediate level coursebooks with revised editions as these permitted comparison and identification of changes. She focused on the type of questions that accompany the texts and found that throughout the four series, content-type questions (cover text-related information) have the highest occurrence (appear in more texts) and frequency (there are more of them than the other types when they do appear). She added that the most common content-type questions are the inferential ones (higher-level thinking). She added that language questions are often related to lexis and that the most common affect questions draw on personal response (lower-level processing).

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Regardless of the reading model (bottom-up or top-down) approach, it can be inferred from the studies above that reading in EFL coursebooks is more often than not concerned with developing language skills or testing comprehension. For Watkins (2018b), the downside of post-reading comprehension checking is that it tends to compromise learners’ interest in an overall comprehension – as answering to questions becomes the byproduct of reading – and consequently restricts a more authentic response to the text. When reading in the first language (L1), readers’ focus is mainly on the information being conveyed, and not on the linguistic features or comprehension questions. Masuhara (2013) also supported reading with no linguistic or interpretative tasks: “expecting comprehension questions after reading often nurtures an inflexible studying reading style” (p. 367).

Extensive Reading (ER) The benefits attributed to ER in research studies have been constant (Watkins, 2018a). However, as the previous section showed, the reading syllabus in coursebooks is hardly committed to promoting an ER experience. It is reasonable that coursebooks would not invest in an ER programme due to financial and time constraints. Besides that, reading skills materials and graded readers are more commonly associated with ER and learners or teachers would look for these sources if willing to have ER materials. Day and Bamford’s (2002, p. 137-141) ER principles have influenced many ER programmes (Day, 2015). They are: 1. The reading material is easy. 2. A variety of reading material on a wide range of topic must be available. 3. Learners choose what they want to read. 4. Learners read as much as possible. 5. The purpose of reading is usually related to pleasure, information and general understanding. 6. Reading is its own reward. 7. Reading speed is usually faster rather than slower. 8. Reading is individual and silent. 9. Teachers orient and guide their students. 10. The teacher is a role model of a reader.

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Despite the fact that this list is a useful benchmark for teaching ER, Day (2015) concluded, “there is no single approach to the practice of extensive reading” (p. 296) as some contexts may preclude the use of some of the principles proposed by Day and Bamford in 2002. Even though successful ER programmes are not the result of a recipe, according to Day (2015) some ER principles have more constantly been used than others, such as learners’ freedom to choose, learners read extensively, texts are varied in terms of type and topic, texts are easy. Day also created the Extensive Reading Continuum, where ER programmes can fit into different categories according to the extent to which they use Day and Bamford’s (2002) principles: “Pure ER, Modified ER, ER Light, Fringe ER (i.e. ER only in name)” (Day, 2015, p. 296). The next section discusses learners’ reports about their experience with CaG and establishes some parallels between their experience and ER.

CaG: A Modified ER Experience Different from traditional ELT materials, the texts in CaG are not followed by content, language or interaction questions (Freeman, 2014). Reading is the only reward. There is not an instruction about how or why to use the different elements (the illustration, the glossary, the audio tool) that accompany the text. Comprehension is not tested. Learners are free to choose whether they want to read or not, or stop reading. When writing the texts in CaG, the team of developers envisaged that the cultural information about the United States would appeal to learners not only as interesting, but potentially useful for when and/or if they go to the US (or another English-speaking country). Consequently, we expected reading to be driven by interest in the information in the texts, i.e. in US culturerelated information. In many aspects, CaG resembles key conceptualizations of ER (Day & Bamford, 2002). In general, the topics in the texts were described as appealing to most participants’ interests and curiosity. P05 said the themes in the texts were “very well chosen” and that having all texts related to the US conveyed a more consistent and comprehensive overview about the country, which in his opinion optimized assimilation, as opposed to having random bits of information about different cultures, which would probably result in a shallow level of knowledge about different places and cultures, as he mentioned. Two other learners endorsed this opinion. Some respondents (P02, P11, P16, P25) did not explicitly say they enjoyed the information, but it can be assumed they did because of comments such as “I enjoyed understanding the texts… I always read the texts, I liked them” (P11) or

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“this was a part I enjoyed, as well” (P26). Others (P13, P14, P15, P22) did not speak much about CaG, they explained they had not read all the texts. Amongst the twenty-four participants, one (P03) said she did not like the content of the texts because they were “not part of her reality”. The texts were pedagogically written to fit elementary level learners (the expected target users of the material), reflecting another key aspect in ER, which claims reading should be effortless, with language and content sophistication that complies with readers limitations (Day & Bamford, 2002). The fact that learners declared to be so interested in the information in the texts strongly suggests they could understand them enough to be able to judge how interesting the information was. Day (2015) claimed that amongst the top 10 principles for teaching ER (Day & Bamford, 2002), number three “learners choose what they want to read” was the most used principle in the 44 ER programmes he investigated. The rationale underpinning this principle is that by choosing their own texts, the likelihood of learners enjoying the subject, and consequently reading, is greater. Day goes on to say that “the context in which an ER programme is located may preclude the use of some of the 10 principles” (2015, p. 396). Clearly, CaG being part of a language learning material, learners could not possibly have chosen the texts. However, as the previous paragraph showed, there is evidence that the corollary effect expected from learners choosing their own texts, i.e. interest in the information, was experienced by the readers of CaG. There is also evidence that the purpose of reading in CaG was similar to what Day and Bamford’s (2002) fifth principle suggests: “related to pleasure, information and general understanding”. For example, respondents recalled some of the information in the texts, suggesting interest in the information and focus on meaning took place when they read. When prompted with CaG, P05, P06, P08, P09, P12, P16, P17, P23, P24 and P26 spontaneously commented on that particular text they were looking at and throughout the interview made references to other texts. Respondents were not directly asked whether they could remember the texts; the references came as a complement to whether they had enjoyed reading the texts. Another evidence that reading was related to general understanding is that P08, P09, P10, P12, P16, P23 and P26 gave examples of situations when the information from the texts could be useful. For example, P04 and P16 became aware that hugging people when meeting for the first time may not be the best behaviour for an introduction in the US, different from what happens in social events in their own culture. P10 thought that the information in the texts was enriching and promoted comparison between his own country and the one described in the texts.

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Being able to combine, synthesize as well as compare information in the texts to previous knowledge, as respectively occurred with, for example, P05, P16 and P10, suggests learners successfully processed lower and higher-level comprehension skills. Despite respondents’ claims that they were basic users of the language, the experience reported indicates the level of the texts was well within their reading skills capacity, which again, in ER, is an important feature when it comes to motivating learners to read (Day & Bamford, 2002). This explains their interest in the texts and meaning-focused approach to reading. Reading texts that are attractive and relevant to learners’ lives is paramount to ensure that further texts will be read (Renandya, 2007). In ER readers are expected to read in silence and at their own pace. Learners’ reports are not clear about whether the majority of them read in silence, or not. There is some evidence that suggests some of them did read in silence, at least when focusing on the meaning of the text. For example, P26 described, “I read once to understand … after I recorded myself reading the texts out loud”. The audio tool is a feature in CaG that could have prevented learners from reading in silence and at their own pace; however, the vast majority of the learners did not listen to the audial input, which may indicate that most of them actually read in silence and at their own pace. The meaning of extensive in Extensive Reading is not absolute (Bruton, 2002). Even though the texts in CaG are relatively short (the longest one has 579 words), and limited to one a week during eighteen weeks, it is arguable that for most learners, who would otherwise read close to nothing in the target language – as reported during the interviews – CaG can be perceived as large-scale reading. Another ER principle is related to reading a variety of texts and on a wide range of topics. Even though all texts in CaG are in prose, which means there is no variety of genre, and about the US, which would imply that there is also no variety of topics, the cultural themes are very distinct, and include tipping in restaurants, weather and climate, New York and Chicago, amusement parks, engaging traditions, Black Friday, gap year, to name a few. Learners’ experience with this modified ER (Day, 2015) revealed very particular nuances about their views on learning and learning materials preferences. The following section discusses how learners reacted to a reading section without instruction and their views on meaning-focused reading, as opposed to an intensive reading approach usually found in ELT coursebooks.

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Respondents’ Views on Meaning-Focused Reading A considerable number of participants said that reading in English without having any activity related to it generated a pleasant experience. In their opinion, an activity would make reading the text mandatory, hinder relaxation and change their perception of CaG as “a pause after work, a relaxing moment” (P10). P05 said, “if there was … a reading activity … learners’ motivation to read would be… as if it was a burden”. P05, P08, P10 and P25 considered that since there was no testing, CaG’s only role was to provide cultural information, an “entertaining moment” (P08). P09, P12 and P23 would only like optional follow-up activities for those who “want to read further into the text” (P09). They claimed that the lessons are already very long, and an optional activity would please whoever may want to do it and not interfere with those who want to read the text “more casually” (P09). P25 also said that he would not like a reading related activity because the lessons were already too long. He said that, in his opinion, an activity would enhance learning and promote fixation, especially if related to language (and not comprehension) which would be good; however, he insisted that there were already too many activities and for this reason he would not like another one. Arguably, as a distance learning material, learners have full autonomy in decisions about order, pace and procedures when engaging with CaG. Reading the texts is optional and so would be any activity related to it. P02 revealed that the absence of an activity led her to feel as if she was reading in her L1: “It didn't feel like I was studying English, it seemed something for entertainment but at the same time learning, because it is not saying, ‘use this rule’… it is more like a little text as if I were reading a text in Portuguese.” Being able to focus on global comprehension of the text, instead of formatting her reading style to get an answer right, led P02 to focus on the information of the text, which is what she does when reading in the L1. Even though she enjoyed not having reading-related activities, she went on to say that “for tests we need it”, making a reference to the exams learners take in primary and secondary schools as part of the English subject evaluation. P02’s reports suggest her English reading style is formatted to an intensive approach, where comprehension of specific information is tested (Grellet, 1981) or the grammar used in text is explored (Brumfit, 1984). P10 and P12 viewed CaG as not integral to the lesson. P12 only turned to the reading section after everything else in the lesson was done: “I used to finish everything and relax because then I could understand more and pay more attention”. Similarly, P07 described CaG as a final and relaxing

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part of the lesson: “This part is more relaxing. At the end, you know? … Before that you have all that workload of learning ‘oh I have to learn how to do this’, you know? ‘How to conjugate, how to not conjugate’... and then when I reach this point it’s just something, you know, like this.” P07 sounded depreciative of the importance of CaG to her language learning progress, but not in the sense that she did not like it, on the contrary, she clearly said how much she enjoyed the information in the texts, however she did not seem to believe it would make a considerable contribution to her learning of the language. P06, P11, P13, P14, P16, P17, P19 and P20 mentioned they would have liked a follow-up activity because testing the accuracy of comprehension and the challenge of correctly answering to questions would have motivated reading (e.g. P13 and P20), compelled reading (e.g. P17) and added value to the effort of reading (e.g. P02). P17 said “forcing” is an important aspect of distance learning and she thinks learners are more likely to dismiss optional activities. P06 argued that because there were no text-related activities, she “only read the texts, my understanding was not tested”. Preference for a reading-related activity does not necessarily mean that learners did not enjoy “simply” reading. Some of them still reported to have enjoyed/benefited from reading the texts, just not as much as they think they would have if comprehension had been tested, or if there had been some sort of activity. For example, P06 explained she was so interested in learning English that even though there was no activity related to the text she still enjoyed reading because she wanted to take advantage of every single aspect of the material. P11 said she enjoyed the information in the texts, but she believed that an activity would have given her assurance that she had properly understood. She goes on to explain that it was not as if she did not know whether she had understood the texts or not, she knew she had understood “at least some parts”, but an activity would have confirmed her impression. A similar opinion was also expressed by P16, P17 and P19. P13, P14 and P20 are the only learners who seem to have had a negative experience with CaG and believe one of the reasons for that was not having an activity. Respondents’ reports reinforce Masuhara’s (2013) and Watkins’ (2018b) views that reading-related questions can compromise a genuine and global comprehension as getting an answer right becomes learners’ motivation for reading. Because learners come from a tradition where reading in English is always followed by testing, they assumed that reading in CaG was not learning, but entertainment. For them, a textrelated activity would change the optional status of reading by legitimizing

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it and sparking off an external motivation towards engaging with the text. But for others, it was rather the opposite: by allowing them to feel relaxed and independently react to the input provided, they felt more motivated and inclined towards focusing on reading for the purposes of the information. Reading for entertainment may challenge learners’ views of efficient learning; however, for most of them, it does not appear to have had a negative impact. Even though respondents’ preferences for wanting a reading-related activity or not do not converge, their views on the impact of a reading-related activity is consistent: they think it would alter the way they read the text, making it less relaxing and more focused on consciously learning whatever the activity demanded of them (comprehension or grammar/vocabulary). Preconceived beliefs about language and the nature of language learning determine what learners expect from and how they react to materials (White, 1999). Traditional teaching environments impact learners’ beliefs and cause them to question the efficiency of reading that is entertaining and for communication (i.e. focusing on meaning, as their reports suggest they did). Intensive reading is traditionally known as the main mode of teaching reading in many language classrooms (Renandya, 2007). For these learners, an intensive reading approach results in identifiable learning, regardless of being usable at communicative situations. Respondents did not recognize meaning-focused reading as an efficient opportunity for language learning and development of reading skills. CaG succeeded in promoting meaning-focused reading and consequently cultural awareness, through a relaxed and easy reading experience. It is also noticeable that learners enjoyed reading in this way. However, their reports reveal a mismatch between learners’ views about learning and how teachers and/or material developers design materials to impact the learning experience.

Conclusions The evaluation of this reading section is a clear example of how the end users of learning materials, i.e. the learners, can provide unique and insightful feedback about learners’ beliefs, which can consequently enlighten the development of learning materials in matters that teacher- or language-expert-based evaluations would not be able to address. Data analysis revealed respondents 1. remembered the texts (or part of them); 2. were able to comment on a number of topics they read about as

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well as explain why or when such information could be useful in their lives; and 3. said the content of the texts appealed to their interest. Besides that, learners were able to engage in high-level processing skills such as combining the content of the texts in CaG throughout the 18 lessons and creating an overall understanding of the US as well as making comparisons to Brazil. These are clear instances that CaG promoted focus on meaning. Learners’ reports indicated CaG represented a free reading experience where, as autonomous readers, they were free to decide to which extent they would commit to understanding the text. Learners’ control of how they engaged with CaG and freedom to not do it at all motivated them to read the texts and approach it as if they were reading in their L1. Taylor (1994, p. 3) suggested authenticity can be “conferred on a text by virtue of the use to which it is put by particular people in particular situations”. CaG promoted an authentic type of reading experience. Free reading caused them to enjoy the experience of reading in English and motivated focus on meaning. Having to comply with instructions, requirements or follow-up activities tends to divert learners’ focus from a more comprehensive, general and genuine interest in the content of the text due to the need of getting something right, as argued by some of the participants. Furthermore, the fact that some of the learners (the ones who did not read or only read a few of the texts) thought that a post-reading activity would have motivated them to read the text because then they would have had a response to whether or not they had read properly, suggests learners may not be aware of how to tackle their own learning development. This implies participants’ views on learning are conformed to more traditional teaching styles where the use of language has to be motivated by the conscious study and testing of the rules, grammar, and vocabulary, among others, of this language. This also explains why they thought that not having a follow-up activity or an expected outcome led them into reacting to CaG as if it were an appendix in the material. It seems that respondents believe that to be part of a learning material, a section has to explicitly teach or demand learners to learn and/or produce something to be evaluated. If learners’ beliefs do not match the pedagogy underpinning materials, there is a gap. A possible way to close this gap is by training learners, providing guidance and information about the rationale for the activities/input in the material, especially when these challenge learners’ views about efficient learning, such as meaning-focused reading, as indicated by the respondents in this study. By doing so, learners would be able to make more informed decisions as well as assume a more active role in their learning development, which is a very important characteristic

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in distance learning. In this sense there is a real case for informing learners about the advantages of free reading for the development of both language acquisition and reading skills.

References Bahumaid, S. (2008). TEFL materials evaluation: A teacher’s perspective. Poznan Studies in Contemporary Linguistics, 44 (4), 423-32. Blake, R. J. (2008). Brave new digital classroom. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press. Brumfit, C. (1984). Communicative methodology in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Bruton, A. (2002). Extensive reading is reading extensively, surely? The Language Teacher, 26 (11), 23–25. Conole, G. (2008). Listening to the learner voice: the ever-changing landscape of technology use for language students. ReCALL, 20 (2), 124–140. Cunningsworth, A. (1979). Evaluating Course Materials. In S. Holden (Ed.), Teacher training (1st ed., pp. 31-33). Hong Kong: Modern English Publications Limited. Day, R. (2015). Extending extensive reading. Reading in a Foreign Language 27 (2), 294-301. Day, R., & Bamford, J. (2002). Top ten principles for teaching extensive reading. Reading in a foreign language, 14 (2), 136-141. Ellis, R. (1997). The empirical evaluation of language teaching materials. ELT Journal, 51 (1), 36-42. Ellis, R. (1998). The evaluation of communicative tasks. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Materials development in language teaching (1st ed., pp.217238). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Freeman, D. (2014). Reading comprehension questions: the distribution of different types in global EFL textbooks. In N. Harwood (Ed.), English language teaching materials: content, consumption, production (pp. 205-238). London: Palgrave Macmillan. Grellet, F. (1981). Developing reading skills. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Harmer, J. (2001). The practice of English language teaching (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Longman Publishing. Kuzborska, I. (2011). Links between teachers’ beliefs and practices and research on reading. Reading in a Foreign Language, 23 (1), 102-128. Lawrence, W. P. W. (2011). Textbook evaluation: A framework for evaluating the fitness of the Hong Kong New Secondary school (Nss)

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curriculum (Master’s thesis, University of Hong Kong) Retrieved from http://www.asian-efl-journal.com/thesis/ Levy, M. (2016). Researching in language learning and technology. In F. Farr and L. Murray (Eds.) The Routledge handbook of language learning and technology (pp. 101-114). New York, NY: Routledge Handbooks. Maley, A., & Prowse, P. (2013). Reading. In B. Tomlinson and H. Masuhara (Eds.) Applied linguistics and materials development. (pp.165-182). London: Bloomsbury Masuhara, H. (2013). Materials for developing reading skills. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Developing materials for language teaching (pp. 365-390). London, England: Bloomsbury. McDonough, J., Masuhara, H., & Shaw, C. (2013). Materials and methods in ELT: A teacher’s guide. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. McGrath, I. (2002). Materials evaluation and design for language teaching. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Mukundan, J., & Ahour, T. (2010). A review of textbook evaluation checklists across four decades (1970-2008). In B. Tomlinson & H. Masuhara (Eds.), Research for materials development in language learning: Evidence for best practice (pp. 336-352). London: Continuum. Renandya, W. A. (2007). The power of extensive reading. RELC Journal, 38 (2), 133-149. Taylor, D. (1994). Inauthentic authenticity or authentic inauthenticity? The pseudo-problem of authenticity in the language classroom. TESL-EJ, 1 (2), A-1. Retrieved from http://tesl-ej.org/ej02/a.1.html Tomlinson, B. (2003). Materials evaluation. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.) Developing materials for language teaching (pp. 16–36). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ͒ Tomlinson, B., & Masuhara, H. (2004). Developing language course materials. Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre. Watkins, P. (2018a). Extensive reading in ELT: Why and how? Part of the Cambridge Papers in ELT series. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Watkins, P. (2018b). Teaching and developing reading skills. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. White, C. (1999). Expectations and emergent beliefs of self-instructed language learners. System, 27 (4), 443-457.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN TRANSFORM YOUR STORYTELLING! POETRY AND STORYTELLING AS AN EFFECTIVE WAY OF TEACHING CULTURE AND LANGUAGE ROSA-MARIA CIVES-ENRIQUEZ

Introduction1 As a linguist and trainer, I am all too aware of the investment, financial and emotional, that organisations and individuals, respectively, make to acquire new competencies and/or language skills. It therefore makes sense for me to do everything possible to try and fulfil some, if not all, of those expectations and do everything in my power to give my learners the tools to help them remember, recall and apply what they have learned. Over the years, I have blended my own methods with research from leaders and pioneers in language education, such as Stephen Krashen, Steven Pinker, and Blaine Ray amongst others. Krashen and Pinker promoted natural language acquisition – communication and immersion over traditional grammar and drilling. Ray invented TPR (Total Physical Response) Storytelling in the 1990s, a story-based method (based on the original methodology devised by Asher in the late 1960s) gaining rapid popularity among teachers worldwide. The concept of multiple intelligences was devised by Howard Gardner, professor of cognition and education at Harvard Graduate School of Education and he identified eight strengths or intelligences that we each excel in differing degrees; I refer to these constantly in the planning of my multisensory learning environment. 1

This chapter is an adapted version of the shorter paper published in Folio, the MATSDA journal (Cives-Enriquez, 2017). Permission to edit and reprint was granted by F. Mishan (Ed.).

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In addition to the above, I draw inspiration from Management Theory (Freemantle, 2001; Sinek, 2016) and my work as a Learning and Development (L&D) professional (Dörnyei & Csizér, 1998) as I feel that there is a close link and overlap in the work that we carry out as L&D professionals where we “invest in a person’s fundamental human needs in order to nurture and create productivity” (Cives-Enriquez, 2013, p. 270) by creating an environment in which individuals thrive. However, of late, when I have attended conferences in the United Kingdom and abroad, there appeared to be much talk of meaning-focused materials for second language (L2) learners, (see, for example, Masuhara, Mishan, & Tomlinson, 2017) and with that, an old familiar friend keeps making an appearance, namely, Content and Language Integrated Learning, (CLIL), as a methodology being employed to achieve the dual purpose of raising language proficiency/attainment through the use of meaningful content and language. On reflection, I found it quite surprising that CLIL had not gained its deserved momentum until the beginning of the millennium, as a way of encouraging plurilingualism/multilingualism; as I recall, this is the way I was taught Spanish (at an Immersive Spanish school) in the UK back in the mid-1970s and the way I, too, have taught Spanish for many years. Nevertheless, I welcome its widespread appeal. In this chapter, I examine practices and activities that I employ in the classroom, allowing the student to develop their transferable skills, and the tutor to develop/enhance materials that suit the students’ needs and enthuse both the facilitator and the L2 learner. I would like to start by offering a definition of CLIL and provide an explanation as to why I believe poetry and storytelling2 can be an effective and meaningful way of teaching culture and language through CLIL. The chapter goes on to offer some practical pointers for CLIL, and lastly to illustrate the operationalization of CLIL precepts in a sample lesson.

CLIL CLIL methodology refers to an educational situation in which “subjects, or parts of subjects, are taught through a foreign language with dual focused aims, namely the learning of content and the simultaneous learning of a 2

When I refer to ‘storytelling’ my aim is to create ‘character-led’ stories that make my students feel something because it is the emotion produced by a story/journey that makes it memorable (giving it unique meaning) and ensures that its message ‘sticks’.

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foreign language” (Marsh, 2002, p.175). CLIL is considered a model of good practice in Europe (Lasagabaster & Ruiz de Zarobe, 2010). It has been adopted by a large number of infant and primary schools in Spain, such as schools in the Bilingual Project in Madrid (Ruiz, 2014) and Spain is rapidly becoming one of the European leaders in CLIL practice and research: “The richness of its cultural and linguistic diversity has led to a wide variety of CLIL policies and practices which provide us with many examples of CLIL in different stages of development that are applicable to contexts both within and beyond Spain” (Coyle, 2010, p. viii).

From the literature, CLIL appears to have been embraced in the UK in ‘pockets’ over the years and, whilst results have been positive, it appears that the jury is still out (Coyle, 2011; Coyle, Holmes, & King, 2009; Eurydice at the National Foundation for Educational Research, NFER 2005). Surprisingly, the term CLIL was coined only as recently as 1994 by David Marsh of University of Jyvaskyla, Finland; however, CLIL is not new. Although the term was adopted in the 1990s, successful implementation of such dual-focused learning stretches back many decades. Through CLIL, students are using a language as they learn other subjects. Their thinking skills are engaged through successful methodologies right from the beginning. Students are learning in a very active and challenging way. CLIL’s flexibility is underpinned by a theoretical framework commonly referred to as the 4C model. The 4C model is a holistic approach, where content, communication, cognition and culture are integrated. Effective CLIL takes place through five dimensions: progression in knowledge, skills and understanding of content, engagement in higher order cognitive processing, interaction with the communicative text, development of appropriate communication skills and acquisition of a deepening intercultural awareness (Coyle, 2010). In addition to the above, advances in brain imaging technology are revealing in more detail than ever how we learn (Edward, 2017). This assists us as trainers and teachers to create environments that will enhance the student learning experience and, in turn, increase levels of retention and application. We now know that learning changes the physical structure of the brain – due to a process known as neuroplasticity, which refers to the way the brain changes over time: “When we learn something new, there is a firing and connection of neurons in a new pattern. This new learning is then stored first in our short-

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However, if the new information is not novel enough, then “the most recent information is discarded and the ‘old’ information stays the same; this is exactly what we do not want as learning facilitators” (Edward, 2017, p. 18), so in addition to making new information novel, it is important to make it relevant and engaging to every individual (Gardner, 2006). This will be the starting point for practical pointers on this aspect of CLIL methodology, with reference to the Common European Framework of Reference for languages (CEFR) levels A0-A2 learners of Spanish.

How do I Make Information Novel whilst Engaging Learners? I.

II.

Before the session, I encourage students to develop an awareness of, and to reflect upon their individual learning style, needs, and strategies (Honey & Mumford, 2006). They will then be able to identify how best they are able to learn and be empowered to make choices about their learning journey. I empower and hand over control to learners by giving them a set of ‘Survival Tools’ (see Table 14-1), enabling them to ask for the information and clarification in Spanish.

Spanish ¿Qué significa? ¿Cómo se pronuncia? ¿Cómo se escribe? ¿Cómo se dice ‘‘change’’ en español? No sé. ¿Puedes repetirlo? ¡No entiendo! or Perdona, no te entiendo ¡Más despacio por favor! ¿Puedes hablar más despacio,por favor? Disculpe (formal) / Perdona (informal)

English What does it mean? How do you say/pronounce it? How do you write it? How do you say ‘change’ in Spanish? I don’t know Can you repeat it? I don’t understand or I’m sorry but I don’t understand. More slowly please Could you please speak a bit more slowly please? - Excuse me (...to attract someone’s attention)

Table 14-1. Spanish Beginners/False Beginners ‘Survival Tools’

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IV.

V.

VI.

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I explain and discuss approaches to teaching and learning and highlight strategies that I hope to use in the session. If learners are aware of their ‘journey’ they are more likely to feel at ease and ‘buy into’ the process. As part of the rules of engagement, I make it clear that I will offer the tools, but it is up to each individual to employ them as/how they see fit, thus encouraging self-efficacy and student awareness. New information is introduced primarily through visual, auditory and kinaesthetic mediums and in context. Students have the chance to search for meaning and process information using a variety of learning preferences (Gardner, 2006). During the session, I offer the opportunity to work as part of different groupings: pair work, group work, collaborative tasks, ’working the room’ or mingling, whereby the whole class can access various work stations at different points (similar to an ‘activity circuit session’ in no particular order).

Sample CLIL/Storytelling Lessons In this section, I aim to provide an example of a CLIL/storytelling lesson sequence to a mixed ability group of learners of Spanish using a variety of communicative tools. The levels 1-3 in my lesson equate to CEFR levels A0 to A2, respectively (Level 1 = A0, Level 2 = A1 and Level 3 = A2). Session 1 In this particular session, I want the environment to be visually interesting and as the topic is ‘Picasso’s life story’, it lends itself perfectly to stimulating examples of the artist’s work posted around the room. We learn by taking information in through our five senses, and there is evidence to suggest that “we may have a preference for visual stimulus, as the largest of all our sensory cortices is the visual cortex” (Edwards, 2017, p. 17). However, if we want to maximise learning and retention, we need to appeal to all senses when designing our learning environment, especially the visual. Making the learning environment visually appealing with posters, colour and pictures (in this case, posters of Picasso’s artwork) can enhance the process and enjoyment of learning. I have drawn inspiration from the work of another academic (Bender, 2015), who also uses artwork images to teach language, culture and history in context. As students enter the classroom, I play a guitar piece by Jose Delgado, entitled Freegull (2013) which often transports individuals to holiday

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destinations, individuals encountered and relaxing, happy times in the sun whilst absorbing what is visually around them. In this session, I start by showing an image from Together is Better (Sinek, 2016. p.17), in which Sinek talks of travelling a journey with others to spur you on and encourage you (shared vision) but also invites the reader to ask probing questions. I start the session by asking them WHY? they had come along to the session and WHAT? the image represents for them; this enables me to gauge their motivation for being there. Responses include: “to see your approach”, “to challenge myself”, “to see what I can add to my toolkit”, “to hear Spanish again as I have forgotten a lot”, and a former colleague added: “to find out what you are up to”. For many, the picture (of two friends standing before a brick wall), represents a barrier to progress, a ‘block’, others mention ‘friendship’, ‘looking after someone (younger friend/sibling)’, ‘wonder what’s on the other side/how they are going to get over’, and yet another said: ‘give me a leg up!’, which was met with some giggles. This, for me, is an attempt to lighten the atmosphere in the room and I notice that some participants start to engage with the pictures on the wall without being asked to do so. There was a black and white photograph of Picasso and a copy of Guernica; one individual mentions that she has seen Guernica in Paris and immediately this sparks off a little discussion amongst some who are familiar with the historic symbolism surrounding the painting. As participants sit down, they notice laminates and envelopes on one of the tables in front of them facing down dotted with 3 colours (green = 1, yellow = 2, blue = 3) and I ask them politely not to look. The levels 1-3 in my lesson equate to CEFR levels A0 to A2 respectively (Level 1 = A0, Level 2 = A1 and Level 3 = A2). I introduce myself (in the first person) and then introduce Picasso, as if he were my personal friend, making it easier for the audience to connect with the story of my ‘friend’ (in the 3rd person, using the historic present). I have the pronouns yo, tu, el/ella and ‘ar’/ ‘er’/ ‘ir’ verbs listed on a whiteboard and point to them as I say them. As I tell the story of Picasso’s biography, I am aware that not all the language will be accessible so I have numbered laminates around the room for the learners to pick up and turn around, and as they do this, they will be piecing the biography together as I am telling it. I also use exaggerated body language to reinforce points, ask open questions, repeat information, paraphrase, elicit responses individually/collectively and I immediately experience learners ‘steering the session’ as they use the ‘survival tools’

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given; most students appear to be engaged in the multiple avenues to ‘comprehensible input’ (Krashen,1992). After I have finished the storytelling part of the lesson, I use multiple resources to stimulate the senses, such as an authentic three-minute interview with Spanish musicians to practise and reinforce adjectives and build upon language learnt. Learners are given the transcript of this (see Appendix 1) so that they can follow the interview if they so wish with questions and answers; they are given a list of adjectives to circle as they hear them (see Appendix 2), and/or a text with missing adjectives which they can fill in. From this exercise, learners have access to questions and answers that they will be able to apply to their next situation; I then ask them to interview each other and record the interview on their phones/iPads as they so wish. For those who want to be creative and play with the language they can use an app called YAKIT Kids to introduce Picasso using animation. This app allows users to record their voices to the animation and change the tone so that it becomes unrecognizable; they can also add expressive animated stickers to customize photos, including facial features, props, characters and special effects. Videos that are created can be saved directly to the user’s phone or sent anywhere. Whilst this is an app designed for children, I have found that it is a fantastic tool for creative adults in the room who like animation, emojis, etc. All these tools serve to make the session interesting, current, relevant and appeal to multiple intelligences and varying degrees of fluency. I fully agree with Cook (2000), when he says that language play “involves simulation, competition, the creation of social networks and creative thinking and that ‘play’ – albeit with varying degrees of complexity – can take place at all levels of proficiency” (p. 204). The above activities are colour-coded (green = 1, yellow = 2, blue = 3) according to level of difficulty. There are stations around the room that are explained to the learners; they are then given the choice to work in groups/individually at each station and time to complete each exercise before they move on to another, thus offering them autonomy and choice. As well as being one of the most prolific artists of the 20th century, Picasso (unbeknownst to some) was also a poet. One of Picasso’s (less complex) poems and poems of that era, are made available for learners to read, before and during the next session. They are given an insight as to when it was written so that they can place it along the story timeline that they have previously constructed and relate it to a pictorial representation,

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tying various elements of the story together using illustrations, narrative, film and poetry. A short eight-minute film (with sound but no words), The Bombing of Guernica (Lematchemin, 2012), serves to enhance and add relevance to the existing lesson content. It provides visual/sound stimulation and input by transporting individuals to a tragic time in Spanish history; the footage depicting the bombing of Guernica in parallel to how Picasso’s Guernica evolved, shows images as they are deconstructed and represented. In the first instance, I ask the whole class to write any noun, verb, adjective that entered their head, during or after, the footage - ‘word storming’. This elicits words such as: toro (bull), negro (black), avión (plane), bombas (bombs), mujeres (women), correr (to run), corren (they run), tiros (shots), blanco (white), azul (blue), gris (grey), ruido (noise), destrucción (destruction), ojo (eye), triste (sad), época (period), gritos (screams), muerte (death), etc. This exercise raises a lot of emotions and discussion around war, fear, cruelty, sadness, women, children and modern day atrocities, and has worked well across the levels. It starts off with initial thoughts/emotions, listing adjectives, nouns and verbs and very quickly building up to sentences and whole paragraphs and a comprehensive body of text written by more able students (which feeds into extension exercises). Extension exercises are offered at all levels (my levels 1 to 3) to complete before the next session to reinforce and embed learning. They have a picture of Guernica and a poem by Vicente Aleixandre, Oda a los niños de Madrid muertos por la metralla (“Ode to the dead children of Madrid killed by shrapnel”) to prepare before the next session. They can engage in a variety of exercises in preparation. They are asked to employ the verbs/nouns experienced in the class exercise (either labelling the pictorial representation, expanding upon knowledge and creating full sentences, and/or using the poem to help them express what is happening in the picture). For those who want to understand the context fully in English before embarking on the Spanish language use, a link is offered: https://prezi.com/zmb5wd0skegx/comparison-of-spanish-art-andliterature/ to allow them to fully understand the correlation between Spanish Art and Literature. Session 2 In the next session, we develop this discussion further using a blog and online teacher resources for inspiration. I return to Guernica to teach (language learnt in context) about the Spanish Civil War more generally, in my class, and I pair it with the poem by Vicente Aleixandre. At the time

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of the poem’s publication in 1937, the bombing of Guernica (Gerika), a small Basque town in northern Spain, was still four months away. As per Bender’s (2015) recordings, my class also observe parallels in Guernica “Oda a los niños…” as we compare the imagery of the poem to the mural. My students had also read the poem for homework prior to class, identifying poetic devices like anáfora, metáfora and apostrophe. The image of Guernica and observations can be viewed online at: https://rebeccam bender.wordpress.com/2015/12/05/spanish-civil-war-art-poetry/. In the first image, the right portion of Picasso’s painting, my students noticed that the person with their arms raised appears to be screaming and in Aleixandre’s poem, the verb gritar (to scream/yell) and the words grito (a scream) are used repeatedly – not only do the women scream, but the houses, the streets, and the windows, too. Aleixandre emphasizes the sounds of war, speaking of the voz de las víctimas (voice of the victims). Additionally, the poem uses haunting imagery, such as espanto and fantasma (terror and ghost), and Guernica presents a ghostly figure entering the window of the room. Observing this imagery in two different pieces of art – literary and visual – prompted my class to pay more attention to how the use of a word like ‘ghost’ functions to communicate broader themes of death, memory, and loss, something they may have overlooked in their first reading the poem. In this way, images actually help students perform close-readings (often without their realizing it) (Bender, 2015, Para 4).

Why Are Poetry and Storytelling Effective and Meaningful Ways of Teaching Culture and Language through CLIL? I believe that poetry and/or storytelling is a fantastic way of encouraging learners to think outside the box and assist with memory recall and retention and application. A great deal of research and current literature reviews point to the beneficial role of poetry in all major aspects of second language acquisition, such as: 1. the accuracy of pronunciation (Akyel, 1995; Hanauer, 2001); poetry helps students to notice sounds – the phonetics and phonology – of a foreign/second language. 2. development of L2 complex syntax and vocabulary (Akyel, 1995; Hanauer, 2001; Lazar, 1996; Melin, 2010; Tin, 2011). Students notice grammar structures and unusual grammatical usage; they focus on form and meaning.

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3. development of understanding of the L2 discourse (Akyel, 1995; Hanauer, 2001; Lazar, 1996); looking at meanings of words in context can develop an appreciation for language meaning and application in the target language. 4. cultural awareness and promotion of multiculturalism (Hanauer, 2001, 2003; Lazar, 1996; Melin, 2010). Poetry and storytelling, in my opinion, go beyond the benefits acquired from linguistic interpretations and can raise awareness of the target culture and create a personal understanding/‘connection’ with socio-cultural issues. 5. deepening the language learners’ ways of self-expression and selfrealization (Lazar, 1996). Students are not just learning language and grammar ‘dryly’; language becomes a powerful communication tool that is transformed into a medium of creative, emotive selfexpression and self-realization. When an individual connects on a personal/emotional level it stops being a mechanical exercise; it evokes emotion and learning will take place. Emotion is, of course, “an enhancer of learning” (Edward, 2017, p. 18). Student involvement in the process of reading and writing is also a powerful tool for self-expression and emotional connection with the task at hand. In the past, some of my students have likened the process to “painting with words” and “firing the imagination”. I think these observations are a true reflection of what actually happens; when we paint a picture with adjectives, our visual cortex lights up, painting a picture in our ‘mind’s eye’. The fact is that “stories are remembered seven times more so than facts and data”, so they are ‘made’ for learning; each story will be uniquely interpreted by each learner’s unique interpretation of the world (Edwards, 2017, p. 18). For learners of a foreign language, hearing and liking the rhythm of a foreign language, wanting to speak and make themselves understood and wanting to understand the language and culture in question, are some of the stimuli that spark the motivational drive to incite or improve their performance in the foreign language – Spanish in this case (Akyel, 1995; Hanauer, 2012; Lazar, 1996). However, if we speak of language and vocabulary, it is not only these that create the stimulus but also the way in which they are used. “Vocabulary and structure alone form merely strings of two dimensional expressions in the form of phrases and sentences” (Cives-Enriquez, 2013, p. 270). I truly believe that to be effective in eliciting a response from students, the language stimulus ‘has to be right’ and has to be amplified by the third dimension of emotion (Freemantle, 2001); that poetry – the sound and

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music of it, perhaps even more than the sense – has power to reach across even the deepest chasms.

Conclusion In this application of CLIL, I have demonstrated my belief in putting human stories (through poetry, storytelling and authentic texts) at the heart of my lesson content, as this is one of the most effective ways to create relevance, engage learners and deliver messages which aid language acquisition. CLIL promotes situational adaptability: it supplies students with better skills to learn how to adapt themselves, their communication, and their thinking to different contexts. In addition to these advantages, CLIL also promotes flexibility of the mind. It encourages students to look at things from different angles and perspectives, and also helps students develop their problem-solving skills. Although I am a great advocate of CLIL, I do recognize that this method of teaching does not come without its shortcomings. If CLIL’s potential is to be fully implemented, a number of measures should be taken: a clearer theoretical model is required to better underpin the integration of content and language in CLIL lessons and the relationship between the CLIL language curriculum and traditional modern foreign languages lessons. If CLIL is to be accessible to all learners and leave behind its selective past, it should trigger more integrated and socially inclusive whole-school language policies, with a clearer focus on the role that language plays in assimilating concepts across subjects. CLIL “is presented as a timely and perfect solution to the demands of the global knowledge society for a multilingual, adaptable workforce, and this has led to a lack of definition and occasional over-estimation of its expected outcomes” (Harrop, 2012, p. 67). To conclude, I feel that in the UK, where this study is situated, CLIL for MFL teaching is still very much in an ‘embryonic stage’ of implementation. In the UK, CLIL needs far more development and investment all round (financial/human resources, materials development, teacher training, application, evaluation, etc.) for it to become an effective and realistic mainstream model.

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References Asher, J. (2012). Learning another language through actions (7th edition). California: Sky Oak Productions. Akyel, A. (1995). Stylistic analysis of poetry: A perspective from an initial training course in TEFL. TESL Canada Journal/Revue TESL Du Canada, 13 (1), 63-73. Bender, R.M. (2015). Picasso’s “Guernica” and Aleixandre’s “Oda”: The Spanish Civil War in Art and Poetry. Blog: December 5, 2015. Para.3&4. Cives-Enriquez, R.M. (2013). Inspiring and motivating L2 adult learners of beginner’s Spanish. In Tomlinson, B. (ed.) Developing Materials for Language Teaching (pp. 269-287). London, New York: Bloomsbury Publishing. Cives-Enriquez, R.M. (2017). Transform your story-telling! How can poetry and story-telling be an effective and meaningful way of teaching the target culture and language through CLIL. Folio 18 (1), 23-28. Cook, G. (2000). Language play, language learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press Coyle, D. (2010). Foreword. In Lasagabaster, D. and Ruiz de Zarobe, Y., CLIL in Spain: Implementation, results and teacher training (viii). Newcastle Upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Coyle, D. (2011). ITALIC Research Report Investigating Student Gains: Content and Language Integrated Learning. University of Aberdeen, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. Coyle, D. Holmes, B., & King, L. (2009) Towards an integrated curriculum-CLIL national statement and guidelines. London: The Languages Company. Delgado, J. (Katsiashvili, N.) (2010, October 24). Freegull. (repost) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsEEiuraln0 Dörnyei, Z., & Csizér, K. (1998). Ten commandments for motivating language learners: results of an empirical study. Language Teaching Research, 2, 203-29. Edwards, C. (2017). Waking Up the Brain. Training Journal, (May 2017), London. Eurydice at NFER. (2005). Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) at school in Europe. Brussels: European Commission. Freemantle, D. (2001). The stimulus factor: The new dimension in motivating your people, your customers and yourself. Financial Times Prentice Hall, USA.

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Gardner, H. (2006). Multiple intelligences: New horizons in theory and practice. New York: The Perseus Book Group. Hanauer, D. I. (2001). The task of poetry reading and second language learning. Applied Linguistics, 22 (3), 295-323. Hanauer, D. I. (2003). Multicultural moments in poetry: The importance of the unique. Canadian Modern Language Review, 60 (1), 69-87. Hanauer, D. I. (2012). Meaningful literacy: Writing poetry in the language classroom. Language Teaching, 45 (1), 105-115. Harrop, E. (2012) Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL): Limitations and possibilities. Encuentro, 21, pp. 57-70. Honey, P. & Mumford, A. (2006). The Learning Styles Questionnaire: 80item version (Revised edition July 2006). Maidenhead: Peter Honey Publications. Krashen, S.D. (1992). Fundamentals of language education. Torrance, CA: Laredo Publishing Company. Lasagabaster, D., & Ruiz de Zarobe, Y. (2010) CLIL in Spain: Implementation, Results and Teacher Training. Newcastle Upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Lazar, G. (1996). Exploring literary texts with the language learner. TESOL Quarterly, 30 (4), 773-776. Lematchemin (2012, March 10). El bombardeo de Gernika, el Guernica de Picasso, la Marimeta de Marixular [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYpYlzfkPss&feature=youtu.be Marsh, D. (2002) LIL/EMILE –The European Dimension: Actions, trends and foresight potential. Public services Contract EG EAC. Strasbourg: European Commission. Masuhara, H., Mishan, F., & Tomlinson, B. (Eds.). (2017). Practice and theory for materials development in L2 learning. Newcastle Upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Melin, C. (2010). Between the lines: When culture, language and poetry meet in the classroom. Language Teaching, 43 (3), 349-365. Sinek, S. (2016). Together is Better. London: Portfolio Penguin. Tin, T. B. (2011). Language creativity and co-emergence of form and meaning in creative writing tasks. Applied Linguistics, 32 (2), 215-235.

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Appendix 1 http://zachary-jones.com/zambombazo/como-eres-polock/ “En tres palabras, ¿cómo eres?” Escucha la respuesta de Polock en este video. ¿Cómo eres? es una nueva serie de entrevistas de corta duración en la que los músicos se describen a sí mismos en más o menos tres palabras. Hoja de actividades: ¿Cómo eres? Polock (pdf) Esta actividad se puede usar para empezar la clase, para captar la atención, para romper el hielo, para terminar la clase o en un momento libre. Cada hoja tiene diez billetes para no tener que sacar tantas copias. Transcripción: ¿Cómo eres? Polock Uf… eso sí que se me hace complicado. No sé… yo… ¿cómo soy? No sé. Soy tímido. No sé. ¿Cómo es él? Pues, es meticuloso. ¿Y… la tercera? Pues, es complicado. Y genio. (¿Y cómo eres?) Yo soy cabezón. ¿Y…? (Me gusta esta idea, una palabra de cada persona para describir a los demás. Es buena idea.) Dale tú. (No, tú primero.) Es muy… no sé cómo se dice… comparte todo lo que tiene. Es como muy generoso, muy buen rollo. Y muy tranquilo. (Te ha salido bien, ¿eh?) (¿Y cómo eres tú?) Yo, amable, por ejemplo. (Muchas gracias, señor, muy amable.) Un placer. Es puntual. Y yo creo que es buena gente. (Amable. ¡Ha repetido!) Es un gran tío. Es un genius. (Otro, otro…) Es muy guapo. Es un dandy.

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Appendix 2

¿CÓMO

ERES? Polock

Instrucciones: Marca todos los adjetivos que utilice cada persona para describirse. տ amable

տ genio

տ puntual

տ cabezón

տ guapo

տ ruidoso

տ constante

տ meticuloso

տ tímido

տ generoso

տ optimista

տ tranquilo

¿Y tú……Cómo eres? ¿Cómo es tu compañero/tu madre/padre/hijo/hija etc…?

CHAPTER FIFTEEN READING PICTURE BOOKS: A RESOURCE FOR MEANING-FOCUSED LANGUAGE LEARNING MATERIALS IN PRIMARY SCHOOL JULIA RECKERMANN

Introduction Foreign language learning in the primary school is usually built around a topic-based syllabus, which entails that all learning activities are chosen and planned based on a core theme and as such organised around content (Richards & Rodgers, 2014). Therefore, teaching languages to young learners is by definition focused on meaning rather than on any other syllabus, for example a grammar-based one. Materials for such classes should also, for the most part, be meaning-focused in order to comply with the principles of topic-based and meaning-focused language learning. This chapter will suggest authentic English picture books as one possible resource of meaning-focused materials in the primary school English classroom and emphasise their potential for meaning-focused reading tasks. Therefore, this chapter firstly gives an overview of current research on the skill of reading in the primary school English classroom and then elaborates on whether authentic English picture books can be used as reading materials for young language learners. This chapter will argue that this is, indeed, the case and underpin the argument with results from an empirical study. Based on that, five statements will be given and explained, which will show the potential of using authentic English picture books as materials for meaning-focused reading tasks with young language learners.

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Reading in the Primary School English Classroom Germany looks back at about 50 years of history with regard to teaching foreign languages to young learners in primary school (Years 1 to 4; the learners are aged about 6 to 10). By 2006, English1 had found its way into all German primary school curricula and has since then been taught for two lessons a week, beginning either in Year 1 or in Year 3 (SchmidSchönbein, 2008). Teachers and researchers soon found that the aim of pure linguistic progression was not age-appropriate for young language learners, but that instead they needed more concrete contents and situations for target-oriented language use and successful foreign language learning (Dines, 2000; Elsner, 2010). These contents and situations are found in topic-based approaches to language teaching, which are characterised by the essential notion that “many different activities are linked together by their content; the theme or topic runs through everything that happens in the classroom and acts as a connecting thread for pupils and teachers” (Cameron, 2001, p. 180). Centred on such a topicbased approach, the methodology of early language learning and teaching has thus since the onset been communicative, playful, learner-oriented and holistic (Elsner, 2010). However, in this child-friendly approach to teaching foreign languages to young learners, researchers and teachers have been controversially discussing the role of written language in the primary school English classroom for a long time. In fact, from the beginning of primary school English teaching in Germany around the 1960s and 70s, the teaching approaches mostly ignored reading and writing skills and an inclusion of written language (Mindt, 2007). Only recently have English reading and writing skills come to be generally accepted as part of the curriculum. A discussion of the use of written English with young learners has prevailed for about the last 20 years and became known as the debate on early biliteracy. Common arguments on the con side included a fear of overtaxing the learners, a fear of interference with L1 (first language) reading and writing development and a fear of too much emphasis on written language (see Kierepka, 2010; Legutke, Müller-Hartmann & Schocker-v. Ditfurth, 2009; Piske, 2007). However, pro arguments outweigh these worries as researchers could show that children desire foreign language literacy and ask for written forms, that an inclusion of all skills better complies with a holistic way of teaching, that invented 1

In some parts of the German border region to France, French is taught as a foreign language in primary schools.

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spelling occurs when learners are not introduced to written language in class, that learners are not overtaxed and that L2 literacy use has no negative consequences for learners’ L1 development (see Diehr, 2010; Diehr & Rymarczyk, 2008; Zaunbauer, 2007). Only in the last years has written language gained acceptance in foreign language teaching with young learners (Legutke et al., 2009). Although the primacy of oral language remains and shall remain uncontested (Drew, 2009; Pinter, 2006), there seems to be more or less agreement nowadays that reading and writing should at least have a supportive function in the early stages of L2 learning (Legutke et al., 2009). Today’s question therefore is rather how written skills should be taught and not if or when (Piske, 2010). Looking at classroom practice, researchers find that written skills are included today, but that such activities are often limited with regard to their frequency and level of difficulty (Kolb, 2013). A large-scale study in German primary schools, for example, showed that single words and sentences are read regularly by young learners in the English classroom, but that teachers scarcely ever use stories, books or coherent texts for reading (BIG-Kreis, 2015). Therefore, on the one hand, the question arises whether young learners can be confronted with more challenging reading demands that include reading at the text level. On the other hand, the question then is which texts are suitable in order to comply with the learners’ levels of competence as well as with the holistic, communicative and meaning-focused approach to language teaching. Attempting to answer the first of these two questions, a number of studies indicate that young learners of English could be confronted with more challenging reading tasks than is currently done. In Germany, the BIG study (BIG-Kreis, 2015) as well as the EVENING study (Paulick & Groot-Wilken, 2009) have shown that primary school English learners can easily read at the word and sentence level and exceeded teachers’ and researchers’ expectations. In addition, there is initial evidence of more qualitative and explorative studies that young learners of English are also not overtaxed with the task of reading at the text level (Frisch, 2013; Kolb, 2013; Reichart-Wallrabenstein, 2004). The mixed methods reading study presented later in this chapter is in line with these results and will support the argument of confronting young learners of English with reading tasks at the text level.

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Authentic English Picture Books as Reading Materials Assuming that reading at the text level is not too demanding for young learners, the second question as stated earlier is that of which reading materials can and should be used. Two of the aforementioned studies (Kolb, 2013; Reichart-Wallrabeinstein, 2004) used authentic English picture books because, amongst other reasons, the curricula require the use of such books (see, e.g., MSW NRW, 2008). Therefore, authentic picture books will also be suggested as reading materials in this chapter. In short, authentic English picture books are defined for the purpose of this chapter as follows: “They are real children’s books that were not created for language teaching purposes and written in a context in which English is a dominant language. They tell a story which follows a storyline through an intricate interrelation of visual and textual elements, both of which are essential for full comprehension by creating multi-layered meaning” (Reckermann, forthcoming; based on Burwitz-Melzer, 2013; Legutke et al., 2009; Nikolajeva & Scott, 2000).

Such books are already available as materials in primary schools and well known to teachers and pupils from the method of storytelling: an oral activity in which the teacher reads out or tells the books’ stories to the learners through a number of storytelling techniques (Böttger, 2005; Cameron, 2001). For storytelling, usually authentic English picture books are chosen because they are easily available, inexpensive, observe the principle of authenticity and comply with the learners’ interests (Böttger, 2005; Wright, 1995). In addition, such books come with a number of further advantages: -

-

the educational value of stories for the development of children is undisputed (Brewster & Ellis, 2002; Bland, 2013b); they are interesting and motivating for young learners because they deal with topics that cater to their interests (Wright, 1995); although picture books are often aimed at a younger age group than primary school learners, the latter are often happy to accept such stories in the L2 in that they experience a strong sense of achievement (Brewster & Ellis, 2002; Kolb, 2013); they provide learners with rich, authentic and meaningful input (Piepho, 2000; Wright, 1995); stories offer holistic language learning (Burwitz-Melzer, 2013);

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and picture books contain multi-layered meaning through visual and textual elements and thus allow various comprehension processes (Mourão, 2013).

Last but not least, there is a growing awareness of the importance of authenticity in language learning (Ellis & Brewster, 2014; Hedge, 2000), which has, among other aspects, led to a trend of favouring authentic texts instead of graded readers. The latter are often criticised as being boring and not motivating, because graded readers usually provide only artificial language and a limited selection of words (Bland, 2013a; Frisch, 2013). Rich and authentic input as found in authentic books, in contrast, gives learners the feeling that they are learning ‘real’ language and as such maintain as well as increase the learners’ motivation (Guariento & Morley, 2001). In addition, Krashen’s (1982) comprehensible input hypothesis justifies the use of authentic texts as a means of learning a foreign language, in particular when such texts provide rich input that is challenging and slightly beyond the learners’ current level but still comprehensible to them (also see Mishan, 2005). In summary, the use of authentic picture books complies with principles of holistic and in particular meaning-focused language learning, which is understood in this sense as language learning that engages learners in tasks that are meaningful and interesting for them, prepares learners for tasks they may encounter in the real-world, follow the principle of fluency before accuracy but do not exclude a potential focus on form.

A Mixed Methods Reading Study In order to provide empirical evidence for the arguments outlined above and support the notion that authentic English picture books can be used as reading materials with young language learners, this section presents core results of a mixed methods reading study that I conducted in Year 4 of a German primary school with a bilingual programme (see Reckermann, forthcoming). Over the first five months of Year 4, I took eleven learners of different ability levels out of their regular English classroom and engaged them in weekly reading sessions. During these reading sessions, they independently read six different authentic English picture books that were based on three different learner-oriented themes: London, shopping, Christmas/winter. Enough copies of the books were available, so that all learners had their own books. In addition to reading the books, the learners

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were engaged in a number of different pre-, while- and post-reading activities. During the reading phase, a number of supportive devices were provided for the learners to freely choose from when needed: picture dictionaries, bilingual dictionaries, words lists that were created for each book and contained key vocabulary, MP3 players with an audio-recording of the books. In addition, the learners could freely choose whether they wanted to read by themselves or with a partner. These supportive devices were meant to help the learners during the reading process and catered to a differentiated reading process based on the heterogeneous abilities of the learners. One of the main research interests of this study was the learners’ reading comprehension2 of the books and the question whether they could independently read the books without being overtaxed. Data on reading comprehension were collected via the learners’ self-assessment of their reading comprehension, an oral recall and oral comprehension questions that followed the reading of the books as well as written comprehension tasks. Core results show that the learners were not overtaxed with the task of reading the books independently and that particularly the word lists and the audio-recording supported the learners in accomplishing the task successfully. Exemplarily, results of the learners’ self-assessment of the two books on the topic shopping, Five little monkeys go shopping (Christelow, 2007) and Something good (Munsch & Martchenko, 1990), are presented in Figure 15-1 below. The learners rated their understanding of the books immediately after they finished reading the respective book in that they determined their comprehension on a five-point scale that ranged from ‘understood none of it’ to ‘understood all of it’. Only these two extremes were labelled. Firstly, Figure 15-1 shows that the ratings for the comprehension of a book range from level 2 to 5, respectively level 3 to 5, indicating that different learners reached largely varying levels of reading comprehension 2

It is important to note that reading competence in the scope of this study was understood as reading comprehension as the most important and most desired outcome of reading processes (Koda, 2007). However, also the importance of reading aloud (see, e.g., Diehr, 2010; Rasinski, 2010) as well as the importance of literary learning in a broader sense (see Spinner, 2006) should principally not be neglected in teaching and certainly also have their justification. With regard to meaning-focused language learning, however, particularly reading comprehension complies with its principles, in that reading centres on understanding and retrieving important information from a written source (Dehaene, 2010).

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on one and the same book. On the one hand, this mirrors the natural heterogeneity of (primary school) classes and demonstrates the need for differentiated reading demands and expectations. On the other hand, the results show that the learners could cope with the task of reading the books and that all learners indicated to have understood at least some aspects, if not many or all, of each book. This is supported by the researcher’s observation that all learners read all books from cover to cover and did not give up on the task of reading.

Learners' self-assessment of reading comprehension

Level of comprehension

5 4 3 2 1 0 A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

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Learner

Five little Monkeys go shopping

Something good

Fig. 15-1 Learners’ self-assessment of reading comprehension of two different picture books, rated on a scale from 1 (equals ‘understood none of it’) to 5 (equals ‘understood all of it’).

In addition, Figure 15-1 shows that six learners rated their comprehension levels as even for the two books, while the other five learners indicated to have understood one of the books better than the other. However, there is no noticeable gap between the comprehension levels but they only differ by one level. This shows that all learners seem to possess a certain degree of foreign language reading competence that allows them to understand

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authentic books in the realm of a certain comprehension level, but that at the same time they seem to perceive the degrees of difficulty of different books as (slightly) different. Therefore, factors such as interest in the book, the learners’ motivation to read a book, a book’s particular vocabulary and structure, etc. seem to play a role in reading processes and influence the level of reading comprehension to a certain extent. The results found for the other four picture books as well as by the other two instruments that investigated reading comprehension (oral recall/questions and written comprehension tasks) are more or less congruent with what has been presented here in short. The overall picture is thus that the primary school learners of English could cope with reading authentic English picture books and were not overtaxed by this task. However, the results mirror the learners varying competences and underline the need for careful differentiation of tasks in order to allow successful learning situations for each learner. In this regard, the study could show that particularly word lists and audio recordings that are designed for each specific book can support the learners’ reading processes and that also to a certain extent cooperation with other learners was useful during reading for some learners. Overall, these results underline the argument outlined earlier in this chapter that reading authentic English picture books can be a resource for meaning-focused materials and tasks in the primary school English classroom and serves to support learners in developing reading comprehension skills, the latter of which are needed to cope with reading demands in everyday-life situations. For this to be fulfilled, though, the targeted outcome of reading a foreign language text should be reading comprehension. However, as a final note about the study, the school’s bilingual programme should be taken into consideration. At the time of the study, the learners had taken part in the bilingual programme for three years. Through this programme, they had three weekly English lessons and at least one additional subject that was taught in English or via team-teaching in English and German. These learners thus received enhanced input in English compared to learners at regular primary schools. Certainly, this is an advantage for them in reading picture books, because their foreign language knowledge is likely to be more advanced than that of learners of primary schools without bilingual programmes. However, on the one hand, each primary school could set up a programme for enhanced input in English. On the other hand, and frankly speaking more realistically, the results of the study presented in this chapter could at least be transferred to more skilled learners of English at regular schools. Finally, when the reading demands of picture books are too high for a certain group of

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learners, the teacher can still choose to use the method of storytelling and read the story or parts of it out the learners. The latter still enables meaning-focused work in the foreign language.

Meaning-Focused Language Learning through Picture Books Based on the aforementioned elaborations, the following five statements will summarise the potential of meaning-focused language learning through reading picture books: 1. Picture books provide rich, authentic and meaningful input for young learners This potential of authentic picture books is well known and undisputed. With regard to meaning-focused language learning, picture books provide a source of input that is interesting to the learners and thus meaningful to them. Language learning through rich input can thus happen as a side effect, in that the actual focus on reading (or listening to) a story is on understanding the story’s content. As such, language learning through reading stories is meaning-focused and picture books are a great resource of meaning-focused materials for the foreign language classroom. 2. Picture books can serve a dual focus on language and content Picture books can make for a skilful integration of language and content in the foreign language classroom, because in books “content is inseparably woven into the language” (Bland, 2013b, p. 4). The use of books thus offers potential for a dual focus on language as well as content learning. While the focus is on the books’ content and therefore on meaning, language learning is integrated in a natural way. 3. Reading picture books can and should have clear language learning aims As outlined above, reading and understanding a story focuses on meaning. As such, language learning is not the centre of attention but more so happens as a side effect. However, teachers still need a set of clear language learning aims when using picture books in their foreign language classroom. As Cameron (2001) points out, theme-based teaching needs to take the step of moving from content to language learning goals. For the learners, these can be hidden and need not always be made explicit, but the teacher should know what areas of foreign language competence could be fostered and practised through using picture books. In fact, the language

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learning potential of picture books is manifold, but details would go beyond the scope of this chapter and also depend on the curriculum and syllabus of a class. In brief, learning aims could include: an insight into a particular structure of the foreign language, an increase of vocabulary knowledge through reading a book (Lightbown & Spada, 2013) or training communicative reading and listening skills (Aristov & Haudeck, 2013). The following paragraph provides selected examples. 4. Reading picture books can include a focus on form in the postreading phase Especially with a focus on language learning through using picture books in the classroom and the idea of gaining language awareness through this medium, the skilful integration of a focus on form should not be missing. Meaning-focused language learning does not exclude a focus on form, but more so puts meaning and fluency in the foreground of teaching, which should be supplemented with occasional phases of a focus on formal accuracy (Lightbown & Spada, 2013). Since the 1990s, foreign language teachers and researchers re-emphasise the importance of the formal aspects of language in classroom teaching and highlight that learners’ attention should be drawn to form and accuracy from time to time (Lennon, 2008; Müller-Hartmann & Schocker-v. Ditfurth, 2014). In reading picture books, this focus can best be implemented in the postreading phase. According to Ellis (2003), the post-task phase is well-suited for focusing on form in that the language focus at this stage of the task does not interfere with the actual focus on meaning any longer. For instance, a focus on structures such as the plural -s or the use of simple past tense in narrative texts is accessible for young language learners and could be brought to the learners’ attention by the two books mentioned above. Five little monkeys go shopping (Christelow, 2007) is particularly useful for plural -s as it contains numerous instances of simple nouns in their singular and plural form, and Something good (Munsch & Martchenko, 1990) is particularly useful for past tense structures, as the past simple is the main tense used in that book. 5. Reading picture books should be concerned with reading for comprehension When using picture books as meaning-focused language learning materials, a focus on form must not be missing, but the main focus should clearly be on the interesting, motivating and meaningful aspects of this joyful medium. Teachers must be careful not to lose the learners’ attention and interest by putting too much stress on the learning aspect of reading

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picture books and not let the pleasure of reading move into the background. This implies that the desired outcome of reading picture books should be reading them for pleasure to reach a certain degree of comprehension of the stories, while teachers should implement a focus on language learning and form only carefully or even just implicitly. In return, this complies with a meaning-focused approach to language learning.

Conclusion and Outlook This chapter has shown that authentic English picture books can serve as a medium and basis for topic-based language learning with young learners. When learners are asked and given time to read these books for comprehension, this complies with a meaning-focused approach to language teaching for a number of reasons. Young learners love stories and find it interesting to dive into a story and identify with its characters. This makes the reading of stories meaningful to them, in that they want to understand what happens in the story. Learning through rich and authentic input can happen as a side effect, in that the attention is on meaning and reading fluency. At the same time, reading picture books is a challenging task that allows various learning processes, in that it does not fully exclude a potential focus on form. The research studies outlined in this chapter were mostly conducted in the German context, but their outcomes as well as the central arguments of this chapter can be transferred to other contexts outside the German sector. Authentic English picture books retain their potential for topic-based and meaning-focused language learning for young learners, regardless of the teaching context.

References Aristov, N., & Haudeck, H. (2013). Bilingual education – subject matter(s): Natural science. In D. Elsner, & J.-U. Keßler (Eds.), Bilingual education in primary school: Aspects of immersion, CLIL and bilingual modules (pp. 42-50). Tübingen: Narr. BIG-Kreis – Beratung Information Gespräch Stiftung Lernen (2015). Der Lernstand im Englischunterricht am Ende von Klasse 4. Ergebnisse der BIG-Studie. München: Domino. Bland, J. (2013a). Children’s literature and learner empowerment: Children and teenagers in English language education. London: Bloomsbury. Bland, J. (2013b). Introduction. In J. Bland, & C. Lütge (Eds.), Children’s literature in second language education (pp. 1-11). London: Bloomsbury.

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Böttger, H. (2005). Englisch lernen in der Grundschule. Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt. Brewster, J., & Ellis, G., with Girard, D. (2002). The primary English teacher’s guide. 2nd ed. London: Penguin. Burwitz-Melzer, E. (2013). Approaching literary and language competence: Picturebooks and graphic novels in the EFL classroom. In J. Bland, & C. Lütge (Eds.), Children’s literature in second language education (pp. 56-70). London: Bloomsbury. Cameron, L. (2001). Teaching languages to young learners. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Christelow, E. (2007). Five little monkeys go shopping. Boston, MA: Houghton. Dehaene, S. (2010). Lesen: Die größte Erfindung der Menschheit und was dabei in unseren Köpfen passiert (trans. H. Reuter). München: Knaus. Diehr, B. (2010). Research into reading in the primary school: A fresh look at the use of written English with young learners of English as a foreign language. In B. Diehr, & J. Rymarczyk (Eds.), Researching literacy in a foreign language among primary school learners: Forschung zum Schrifterwerb in der Fremdsprache bei Grundschülern (pp. 51-68). Frankfurt a.M.: Peter Lang. Diehr, B., & Rymarczyk, J. (2008). „Ich weiß es, weil ich es so spreche“: Zur Basis von Lese- und Schreibversuchen in Klasse 1 und 2. Grundschulmagazin Englisch, 6 (1), 6-8. Dines, P. (2000). Themenorientierter Fremdsprachenunterricht in der Grundschule. In W. Bleyhl (Ed.), Fremdsprachen in der Grundschule: Grundlagen und Praxisbeispiele (pp. 72-80). Hannover: Schroedel. Drew, I. (2009). Reading and writing in Norwegian primary EFL education and how it compares with the Netherlands. In G. Engel, B. Groot-Wilken, & E. Thürmann (Eds.), Englisch in der Primarstufe: Chancen und Herausforderungen: Evaluation und Erfahrungen aus der Praxis (pp. 101-110). Berlin: Cornelsen. Ellis, R. (2003). Task-based language learning and teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Ellis, G., & Brewster, J. (2014). Tell it again: The storytelling handbook for primary English language teachers. British Council. PDF retrieved from https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/D467_Story telling_handbook_FINAL_web.pdf (last access: 03.11.2017). Elsner, D. (2010). Englisch in der Grundschule unterrichten: Grundlagen, Methoden, Praxisbeispiele. München: Oldenbourg.

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Frisch, S. (2013). Lesen im Englischunterricht der Grundschule: Eine Vergleichsstudie zur Wirksamkeit zweier Leselehrverfahren. Tübingen: Narr. Guariento, W., & Morley, J. (2001). Text and task authenticity in the EFL classroom. English Language Teaching, 55 (4), 347-353. Hedge, T. (2000). Teaching and learning in the language classroom. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Kierepka, A. (2010). Historischer Blick auf den Fremdsprachenunterricht in der Grundschule. IMIS Beiträge: Institut für Migrationsforschung und Interkulturelle Studien, 37, 83-97. Koda, K. (2007). Reading and language learning: Crosslinguistic constraints on second language reading development. In K. Koda (Ed.), Reading and language learning (pp. 1-44). Malden, MA: Blackwell. Kolb, A. (2013). Extensive reading of picturebooks in primary EFL. In J. Bland, & C. Lütge (Eds.), Children’s literature in second language education (pp. 33-43). London: Bloomsbury. Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. New York, NY: Pergamon. Legutke, M. K., Müller-Hartmann, A., & Schocker-v. Ditfurth, M. (2009). Teaching English in the primary school. Stuttgart: Klett. Lennon, P. (2008). Second language acquisition studies. In S. Gramley & V. Gramley (Eds.), Bielefeld introduction to applied linguistics: A course book (pp. 91-102). Bielefeld: Aisthesis. Lightbown, P. M., & Spada, N. (2013). How languages are learned. 4th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Mindt, D. (2007). Fortschritte im frühen Fremdsprachenlernen von 2000 bis heute und Perspektiven für die Zukunft. In H. Böttger (Ed.), Fortschritte im frühen Fremdsprachenlernen: Ausgewählte Tagungsbeiträge Nürnberg 2007 (pp. 12-22). München: Domino. Mishan, F. (2005). Designing authenticity into language learning materials. Bristol: Intellect. Mourão, S. (2013). Picturebook: Object of discovery. In J. Bland, & C. Lütge (Eds.), Children’s literature in second language education (pp. 71-84). London: Bloomsbury. MSW NRW - Ministerium für Schule und Weiterbildung des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalens (2008). Richtlinien und Lehrpläne für die Grundschule in Nordrhein-Westfalen. Frechen: Ritterbach. Müller-Hartmann, A., & Schocker-v. Ditfurth, M. (2014). Introduction to English language teaching. Stuttgart: Klett. Munsch, R., & Martchenko, M. (1990). Something good. Toronto: Annick Press.

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Nikolajeva, M., & Scott, C. (2000). The dynamics of picture book communication. Children’s Literature in Education, 31 (4), 225-239. Paulick, C., & Groot-Wilken, B. (2009). Rezeptive Fähigkeiten und Fertigkeiten am Ende der 4. Klasse unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der sprachlichen Schülerbiographien. In G. Engel, B. Groot-Wilken, & E. Thürmann (Eds.), Englisch in der Primarstufe: Chancen und Herausforderungen: Evaluation und Erfahrungen aus der Praxis (pp. 179-196). Berlin: Cornelsen. Piepho, H.-E. (2000). Story telling: Which, when, why. In W. Bleyhl (Ed.), Fremdspachen in der Grundschule: Grundlagen und Praxisbeispiele (pp. 43-55). Hannover: Schroedel. Pinter, A. (2006). Teaching young language learners. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Piske, T. (2007). Pro & Kontra: Die Einführung der Schrift im fremdsprachlichen Anfangsunterricht. Take Off!, 1, 46-47. Piske, T. (2010). Positive and negative effects of exposure to L2 orthographic input in the early phases of foreign language learning: A review. In B. Diehr, & J. Rymarczyk (Eds), Researching literacy in a foreign language among primary school learners: Forschung zum Schrifterwerb in der Fremdsprache bei Grundschülern (pp. 37-50). Frankfurt a.M.: Peter Lang. Rasinski, T. V. (2010). The fluent reader: Oral & silent reading strategies for building fluency, word recognition & comprehension. New York: Scholastic. Reckermann, J. (forthcoming). Reading authentic English picture books in the primary school EFL classroom: A mixed methods study on reading comprehension, reading strategies and FL development. Dissertation at Bielefeld University, Germany. Reichart-Wallrabenstein, M. (2004). Kinder und Schrift im Englischunterricht der Grundschule: Eine theorieund empiriegeleitete Studie zur Diskussion um die Integration von Schriftlichkeit. Band 1. Berlin: Dissertation.de – Verlag im Internet. Richards, J. C., & Rodgers, T. S. (2014). Approaches and methods in language teaching. 3rd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Schmid-Schönbein, G. (2008). Didaktik und Methodik für den Englischunterricht. Berlin: Cornelsen. Spinner, K. H. (2006). Literarisches Lernen. Praxis Deutsch, 200, 6-16. Wright, A. (1995). Storytelling with children. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Zaunbauer, A. C. M. (2007). Lesen und Schreiben in der Fremdsprache: von Anfang an. Take Off!, 1, 46.

PART IV

INTRODUCTION TO PART IV CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON MEANINGFOCUSED MATERIALS

The chapters in the fourth part of this volume offer critical perspectives, both theoretical and practical in nature, on the role and contents of materials for language learning and assessment. In Chapter Sixteen, Amir Hossein Sarkeshikian (Qom Branch, Islamic Azad University, Iran) analyses the existing literature on meaningfocused instruction. With this chapter, he aims to fill a gap in the applied linguistics literature by presenting and discussing a critical constructivist framework for meaning-focused language materials. This theoretical framework is based on a critical approach to language education, and consists of three stages: shared critical reflection, situated problematisation, and co-development/co-adaptation. Practical implications for language teachers and materials developers are also discussed. In Chapter Seventeen, Nausica Marcos Miguel (Denison University, United States of America) and Robert Hershberger (DePauw University, United States of America) discuss the motivations for and challenges of developing meaning-focused materials for intermediate-level Spanish courses at US universities. Their materials are informed by a critical pedagogy perspective, which views the language classroom as a place to learn about linguistic, cultural, and socio-historical elements of the target language. The chapter explores why global content needs to be a part of language courses; four design principles as well as many sample materials are presented and discussed. In Chapter Eighteen, Iffat Subhani (Stafford House International, Toronto, Canada) faces a dilemma in striving to adopt an English as a Lingua Franca angle whilst simultaneously aiming to prepare her students for their IELTS examinations. She discusses her reasoning behind the adaptations of academic course materials to make them more meaningful for her Saudi students, who are enrolled in an academic pathway programme in Toronto, Canada. The chapter contains a detailed sample

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lesson plan, based on her own Carry forward – Combine – Construct (3Cs) approach, to inspire readers to look beyond standardised examinations. In Chapter Nineteen, Asma Aftab (Kinnaird College for Women, Pakistan) considers critical concepts in relation to the notion of meaning, and proposes an elaborate framework which includes these considerations. She uses this framework to evaluate the extent to which an English as a Second Language coursebook, several IELTS examinations, and the Cambridge O Level English Language Examination focus on meaning. The chapter concludes that, while existing teaching and assessment materials seem to be moving towards a meaning-focused approach, many significant features of the framework are not reflected in them. Concrete suggestions for adaptations are made. In Chapter Twenty, Claudia Saraceni (University of Bedfordshire, United Kingdom) elaborates on the diverse nature of language and what it aims to do as the basis for language teaching, learning and assessment. She strives to bridge the gap between authentic language use and classroom practices. The chapter contains a variety of examples of authentic language use, from literature, advertisements and media. These examples are then contrasted with tasks found in Cambridge and IELTS examinations, in which language use seems controlled and neutralised rather than pragmatic, diverse and context-driven. Recommendations for future research are also presented.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN DEVELOPING/ADAPTING MEANING-FOCUSED LANGUAGE MATERIALS: AN EMERGING CRITICAL-CONSTRUCTIVIST FRAMEWORK AMIR HOSSEIN SARKESHIKIAN

Introduction Before the beginning of the third millennium, Pennycook (1999) called for the need for the reconsideration of social, cultural, and political aspects of language acquisition, with a focus on gender, power, race, as well as multiplicity and situatedness of the subject. He further stated that “the nature of second language education, however, requires us to understand our educational practice in broader social, cultural, and political terms, and it is to critical pedagogy that I think we could most profitably turn” (p. 303). In the same vein, Widdowson (2000) argued that applied linguistics should operate within a critical and objectivist framework. All the same, language materials developers have mostly drawn on dominant approaches to materials development (see Tomlinson, 2011), leaving out critical approaches to language education (Pennycook, 1999). Given this gap in the literature, this chapter aims to propose a framework for meaning-focused materials development by analyzing the current literature of meaning-focused instruction (MFI) as well as by exploring the ways in which it may be embedded within a critical constructivist perspective. For doing so, an attempt will be made to draw on the literature on MFI, social constructivism, critical pedagogy, language ecology and critical discourse analysis (CDA). More specifically, this framework is aimed to embed the MFI literature in a larger framework. In doing so, an expanded concept of MFI will be developed and the implications of this framework will be for the developing or adapting meaning-focused language materials.

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MFI Approaches to Language Teaching In second language acquisition (SLA) literature on the effects of formfocused instruction (FFI) on language learning, three different positions may be identified: a) no interface hypothesis (Krashen, 1982); b) the strong interface hypothesis (DeKeyser, 2007); c) the weak interface hypothesis (Ellis, 2004). The first position posits that acquired knowledge and learnt knowledge are totally separate because they result from different processes (Krashen, 1982). The strong interface hypothesis holds that explicit and implicit types of language knowledge are the ends of one continuum, and not distinct (De Graaff & Housen, 2009), while the former can be transformed into the latter through repeated practice (DeKeyser, 2007). Proposing the weak-interface hypothesis, Ellis (2004) characterized learnt knowledge as a kind of knowledge which is conscious, declarative, controlled, learnable, and exploitable as a tool while failing to intuitively judge grammaticality. The three interface positions outlined above underlie three approaches to instructed SLA: a) MFI; b) focus-on-formS (FonFs); c) focus-on-form (FonF). The FonFs and FonF approaches are two subtypes of FFI, defined as “any planned or incidental instructional activity that is intended to induce language learners to pay attention to linguistic form” (Ellis, 2001, pp. 1-2). According to Long (1991), FonFs is informed by a strong-interface view, and occurs when parts of a grammar are taught as discrete units, in order of their linguistic complexity. Moreover, Long (1991) defined FonF as “overtly draw[ing] students’ attention to linguistic elements as they arise incidentally in lessons whose overriding focus is on meaning or communication” (pp. 45-46). Following the non-interface position and inadequacies of traditional form-based approaches to language instruction, the proponents of MFI argued for incidental language acquisition through exposure to meaningful input in context, implying that discrete syntactic and lexical items do not constitute second language (L2) development. Hence, they focused on the idea that “L2 should be treated as a tool for communication and not as an object of study in itself and that there should be an overall emphasis on the communication of meaning in L2 classes” (Loewen, 2011, p. 576). In the 1970s, with a reaction to traditional approaches to language teaching, the centrality of grammar in language teaching and learning was put under question. This led to the advent of fluency-first language instruction, which tries to determine learners’ grammar needs based on fluency tasks instead of the predetermined objectives of a grammatical syllabus (Richards, 2005). Accordingly, several communication-based

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syllabi for language teaching came under the spotlight (Loewen, 2011). The first was CLT (Communicative Language Teaching) syllabi, which were designed according to the language functions that learners were expected to carry out in a language, such as commanding, introducing, apologizing, asking for information, requesting, and so on (Richards, 2005). The CLT proponents hold that “language is a vehicle for the expression of functional meaning” (Richards & Rodgers, 2001, p. 21). Therefore, the communicative view of language went beyond the sentential level, highlighting the importance of discourse in context. According to Richards and Rodgers (2001), the CLT syllabus involves three principles: a) communication principle (i.e., activities involving real communication); b) task principle (i.e., using language to carry out meaningful tasks); c) meaningfulness principle (i.e., the use of meaningful language to support language learning process). According to Loewen (2011), content-based instruction (CBI) is another kind of MFI, which involves the teaching of content or information in the language being learned with little or no direct or explicit effort to teach the language itself separately from the content taught (Stoller, 2002). There are a number of models of content-based language teaching, and therefore content-based syllabi. Moreover, Brinton, Snow, and Wesche (1989, as cited in Gaffield-Vile, 1996) identified three CBI models, namely theme-based, adjunct, and sheltered. According to Stoller (2002), CBI calls for a tradeoff between language and content. According to Bigelow, Ranney and Dahlman (2006), CBI often starts with content, but content is the medium of language education rather than an end, and it is sometimes performed with no explicit language instruction. Moreover, CBI differs from grammatical syllabi in that they may not seem to be linear (Bigelow, Ranney, & Dahlman, 2006). Furthermore, it “is a truly and holistic approach to foreign language education … [which] can be at once a philosophical orientation, a methodological system, a syllabus design for a single course, or a framework for an entire program of instruction” (Stryker & Leaver, 1997, as cited in Dueñas, 2004, p. 1). The other kind of MFI involves task-based language teaching (TBLT) (Loewen, 2011). TBLT has some commonalities with the general assumptions about the nature of language learning underlying communicative language teaching (Richards & Rodgers, 2001). As Skehan (1998) noted, meaning has priority in TBLT, and task performance is assessed in terms of the outcome, thus task-based language learning is not involved in language display. Drawing on SLA research on interaction and negotiation, TBLT proponents propose that a task may stimulate input-output practices, meaning-based negotiation, or transactions (Richards & Rodgers, 2001).

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To Nunan (2004), TBLT emphasizes the following principles and practices: a) needs-based content selection; b) interaction in target language; c) authentic texts; d) focus on language and learning process; e) learner’s personal experiences. In spite of a myriad of positions in TBLT literature, there is a broad agreement on the following principles (Swan, 2005): a) primacy of meaning and natural language use; b) learner-centeredness; c) the necessity of involvement in accuracy tasks to acquire formal linguistic elements; d) the importance of communicative tasks; e) formal pre- and post-tasks; f) ineffectiveness of traditional approaches to language instruction. All the same, it seems that the notion of meaning means differently to different people in the domain of MFI. In view of that, Tomlinson (2017) stated that the question of what meaning means has remained unanswered in the MFI literature. He reviewed a number of dichotomies of meaning in the literature (e.g., denotative/connotative, semantic/pragmatic, isolated/contextual, apparent/actual, etc.). In the same vein, Maley (2017) analyzed the concept of meaningfulness in language input, learning processes, learning outcomes, and interaction. He showed that this notion has been used to characterize different issues and variables in the literature. All the same, criticality has remained unnoticed in the existing definitions for the concept of meaning.

A Critical Constructivist Framework for MFI Language materials may lack contextual authenticity unless ecological validity is taken into consideration (see Taylor, 1994; van Lier, 2004). Whereas much of the scholarly work related to MFI has been situated in the mainstreams of curriculum theory and language pedagogy to the neglect of critical theories, recent literature marks a growing interest in ecological perspectives on language learners’ classroom needs (e.g., Sarkeshikian, 2017) and critical language teacher education (e.g., Sharma & Phyak, 2017). This increasing attention to critical language education is part of a general shift in the field toward a focus on transformative pedagogy and culturally responsive instruction. Since the world is in a state of change, the paradigms for understanding the global and local societies should also change. According to Morrison (2003), “change is

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ubiquitous, and stability and certainty are things of the past. The compression of time and space into a celebration of the ahistorical present has brought with it a range of features…” (p. 282). However, educational systems are still dominated by the traditional and linear paradigms (Jonassen et al., 1997, as cited in Harshbarger, 2007). Such paradigms have over-simplified the world, ignoring the complexity of second language classroom. As van Lier (1996) stated, it can neither be claimed that learning results from the environmental stimulus, nor that it is innately predetermined. Rather, the process of learning is caused by complex interactions between learners and the environment. For socio-cultural constructivists, knowledge is constructed in communities of practice through social interaction. In other words, knowledge construction occurs through social interaction and in the mind of the learner. From the perspective of socio-cultural theory (SCT), language is learnt through meaning-making processes in collaboration with other language users in a community. In the words of Lantolf and Thorne (2007), SCT “is grounded in a perspective that does not separate the individual from the social and in fact argues that the individual emerges from social interaction and as such is always fundamentally a social being” (p. 217-8). In addition to this constructivist view of meaning negotiation and knowledge construction, van Lier (1996) set the following as the additional goals of education: a) dealing with the unexpected; b) making informed choices; c) developing sharp observational skills; d) following internal values, convictions, and reasons. Moreover, learners are influenced by their personal histories of language learning (Lantolf & Thorne, 2006), and the language ideologies that are part of the discourse at institutional levels (Lantolf & Pavlenko, 2001). All the same, MFI materials do not draw on critical constructivist view of language pedagogy, ignoring issues such as identity, sexuality, access, ethics, disparity, difference, and desire (Pennycook, 2001) as well as power, privilege, and oppression in society (Smith, 1976). As a result, language materials development rarely introduces critical agendas that are sensitive to glocal contexts. In the remaining part of this chapter, a critical constructivist framework for meaning-focused language materials development/adaptation will be presented and explicated (see Figure 16-1 below).

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Fig. 16-1 A framework for adapting/developing meaning-focused materials

Stage 1: Shared Critical Reflection Language teaching methods are far from neutrality, ahistoricity, and universality (Kumarivadivelu, 2006). This is also the case with language materials, which form a constituent part of language teaching methods (Richards & Rodgers, 2001). Therefore, the language teacher and material developer must not only have competence in the target language, but also be sensitive to the political and socio-cultural angles of language and language use. Hence, in this stage, they must be able to function as a critical co-thinker with course members or colleagues because criticality is of importance in critical work (Quang, 2007). According to Vrasidas (2000), on the basis of the assumptions of socio-cultural constructivism: -

There is a real world that sets boundaries to what we can experience. However, reality is local and there are multiple realities. The structure of the world is created in the mind through interaction with the world and is based on interpretation. Symbols are products of culture and they are used to construct reality. The mind creates symbols by perceiving and interpreting the world. Human thought is imaginative and develops out of perception, sensory experiences, and social interaction. Meaning is a result of an interpretive process and it depends on the knowers’ experiences and understanding (p. 7).

As a result of this stage, the language teacher and material developer should develop critical awareness of identity, sexuality, access, ethics, disparity, power, privilege, and oppression in society in partnership with

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course members or language materials development colleagues. By way of illustration, they can critically reflect on different races, social classes and genders in terms of discrimination or marginalization (Giroux, 1983) they may experience in education or at work. Stage 2: Situated Problematization In this stage, the language teacher and material developer (and even language learners in the language classroom) should bring their real experiences to the learning process to make language the object of, rather than the means of, instruction. Hence, this stage is aimed “to extend educational space to the social, cultural, and political dynamics of language use” (Kumaravadivelu, 2006, p. 70). Considering the situatedness and particularity of language education, they should hold a critical approach to the problems of language learners with issues such as identity, sexuality, access, ethics, disparity, power, privilege, and oppression. According to Papastephanou (2010), when curricula are developed, the major problem is that people are now allowed to participate in public discursive spaces in a way that matters. Hence, the goal of this stage can be fulfilled through activities such as critical discussion questions and dialogs (Sharma & Phyak, 2017) between language teachers and learners, or members of language materials development teams, so that linguistic resources will not be merely part of a “neutral and impersonal language”, but as appropriation of words that at one time “exist[ed] in other people’s mouths” before we make them our own (Bakhtin, 1981, pp. 293-294). As a result, using this problem-posing stage, problems or themes (Freire, 1970) are interrogated and deliberated as topics (for adapting/developing language materials), and language learners and teachers will become active agents in shaping their own realities for meaning-focused activities. For the purpose of this stage, the language teacher or material developer can ask critical questions of how language learners think about their experiences of having interactions with people from other racial or social backgrounds, how their perspectives of other races or classes have been formed, or why some of them harbor prejudiced thoughts on people of color, marginalized groups, and the disadvantaged. Stage 3: Co-development/Co-adaptation As Akbari (2008) stated, “coursebook contents and teaching methods have been cautiously selected to make sure that only socially refined topics are addressed” (p. 278). Keeping this in mind, the language teacher and material developer should design and incorporate activities to contextualize the

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problematized themes in their lessons. As a result, the codified or thematized realities will be decoded back to the social and political contexts (Freire, 1970). For fulfilling the goals of this stage, the language teacher or material developer can use a series of activities, which originate from CDA. For instance, in the case of input-providing meaning-focused materials, learners can be motivated to answer critical questions about texts, besides responding to comprehension questions. Following Fairclough’s (1992) analytical model, a text can be analyzed at three levels of social practice, discursive practice, and textual practice. In the social practice phase, learners can be asked to answer questions such as if the reading passage has led to any changes in the readers’ thoughts and ideologies. When designing or adapting output-prompting meaning focused materials, CDA can drive teachers and material developers to think differently about writing/speaking pedagogy. According to Fairclough (1992), textual analysis focuses only on the semiotic features (e.g., lexis), which may seem to have nothing to do with the explanation of social context or social analysis. However, this is really not the case with the way texts are constructed. In the same vein, Jank (2005) has shown how the meaning potential of language is realized through lexical and grammatical choices; therefore, the knowledge of such choices empowers readers to understand how texts have been constructed and how they tend to mean something beyond what they seem to mean. Using Jank’s (2005) rubrics for analyzing the linguistic features of texts, teachers and material developers can help the language learner comment on the use of the semiotic or linguistic features in specific texts. For instance, they can be taught how the passive voice allows for the removal of agency and voice, or the pronoun ‘he’ may result in gender stereotyping at the cost of removing the voice and identity of women and children. By means of real-life examples in the form of images and videos in both online and printed formats, language learners can be motivated to produce output to analyze the social side of language. Moreover, they can be more active agents in constructing the multiple realities in local and global worlds if they know how the lower-level features of the text can be employed for higher-level purposes (e.g., gender stereotyping, discrimination, marginalization, deprivation of voice and agency, power exertion, etc.), which may benefit some, but not others.

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Conclusion In the MFI literature, the notion of meaning has been defined from different perspectives (see Tomlinson, 2017). All the same, the conceptualizations of this concept have remained limited to the textual or discursive levels of analysis to the neglect of the social level of analysis in Fairclough’s terms. As a result, the concept of meaning in the literature on language input, learning processes, learning outcomes, and interaction have been far from criticality. Although attempts have been made to offer suggestions for incorporating critical pedagogy into language classrooms (e.g., Akbari, 2008), a working framework is needed to put such ideas and suggestions into practice. According to Pennycook (2001), critical pedagogy seems to have remained at the level of theory rather than practice. Hence, this tentative framework tries to suggest practical implications for the language teacher and material developer. To put it in a nutshell, the first stage of this framework tries to make the agents in the language classroom critically reflect, to cope with the unexpected phenomena through informed choices for the next stage, where they will hone their skills and construct their schemata in interaction with others, so that in the last stage they may resort to their reasons (van Lier, 1996). To conclude, meaning-focused language materials can be evolved if meaning is taken as multiple local and global realities that may be constructed by agents that critically can reflect on the world and interactions among the individuals, interrogate the problems (e.g., inequality, injustice, deprivation and poverty, religious discrimination, etc.) that they have experienced at both local and global levels, and finally re-educate themselves and reconstruct their minds using their agency and criticality.

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language research in cross-cultural perspective (pp. 39–52) Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Maley, A. (2017). Make Mine Meaning. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from https://fontys.nl/Over-Fontys/Fontys-Lerarenopleiding-Tilburg/ Studiedagen/MATSDA-Conference-2017-10-11-June.htm Morrison, K. (2003). Complexity theory and curriculum reforms in Hong Kong. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 11 (2), 279-302. doi:10.1080/14681360300200174 Nunan, D. (2004). Task-based language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Papastephanou, M. (2010). Communicative utopia and political reeducation. In M. Murphy & T. Fleming (Eds.), Habermas, critical theory and education (pp. 33-46). New York: Routledge. Pennycook, A. (1999). Introduction: Critical approaches to TESOL. TESOL Quarterly, 33 (3), 329-348. Pennycook, A. (2001). Critical applied linguistics: An introduction. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum. Quang, V. D. (2007). Critical applied linguistics: concerns and domains. Journal of Science, Foreign Languages, T.XXIII (1). Retrieved from /www.js.vnu.edu.vn/ Richards, J. C. (2005). Communicative language teaching today. Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre. Richards, J. C., & Rodgers, T. S. (2001). Approaches and methods in language teaching (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Sarkeshikian, S.A.H. (2017). Teacher authenticity and emergent classroom needs: The case of EFL in Iran. In A. Maley & B. Tomlinson (Eds.), Authenticity in materials development for language learning (pp. 84100). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Sharma, B. K., & Phyak, P. (2017). Criticality as ideological becoming: Developing English teachers for critical pedagogy in Nepal. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 14 (2-3), 1-29. doi: 10.1080/15427587.2017.1285204 Skehan, P. (1998). A cognitive approach to language learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Smith, W. A. (1976). The meaning of conscientizacao: The goal of Paolo Freire’s pedagogy. Amherst: Center for International Education, University of Massachusetts. Stoller, F. L. (2002). Project work: A means to promote language and content. In J. C. Richards & W.A. Renandya (Eds.), Methodology in language teaching (pp. 107-120). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Swan, M. (2005). Legislation by hypothesis: The case of task-based instruction. Applied Linguistics, 26 (3), 376-401. Tomlinson, B. (2011). Materials development in language teaching (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Tomlinson, B. (2017). What Should Meaning-Focused Mean? [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from https://fontys.nl/Over-Fontys/Fontys-Leraren opleiding-Tilburg/Studiedagen/MATSDA-Conference-2017-10-11June.htm Van Lier, L. (1996). Interaction in the language curriculum: Awareness, autonomy and authenticity. London: Longman. Van Lier, L. (2004). The ecology and semiotics of language learning: A sociocultural perspective. New York: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Vrasidas, C. (2000). Constructivism versus objectivism: Implications for interaction, course design, and evaluation in distance education. International Journal of Educational Telecommunications, 6 (4), 339362. Widdowson, H. (2000). On the limitations of linguistics applied. Applied Linguistics, 21 (1), 3–25.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN RE-IMAGING GLOBAL CONTENT AND PEDAGOGY FOR INTERMEDIATE SPANISH L2 LANGUAGE COURSES NAUSICA MARCOS MIGUEL AND ROBERT HERSHBERGER

1. Introduction Around 50% of Bachelor of Arts (BA) granting institutions (four years) in the United States have a language requirement that implies between two to four semesters of language studies (Lusin, 2012). The curriculum in those courses tends to be decided by the textbook used, especially at large institutions where there are several sections of the same language course (e.g., Allen, 2008). Although content-based instruction has been recommended as a methodology favoring language-learning (see Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition, CARLA), most language textbooks published in the US do not follow that approach (see Cubillos, 2014; Martín Peris & Cubillos, 2014). Based on the idea that textbook modifications are a resource for teachers to tailor books towards their specific needs (see McGrath, 2013), this chapter will discuss the motivations and challenges for developing meaning-focused materials for intermediate Spanish L2 courses. Whereas the idea of meaning-focused materials might emphasize the learning of linguistic features (e.g., Norris & Ortega, 2000), the goal of this chapter is to present materials that contribute to the learning of grammatical features, but that make the learning of subject matter a primary goal of instruction. Thus, the language classroom is not only a space to learn language, but also to learn about linguistic, cultural, and socio-historical elements of the target language. The intermediate courses in a language program articulation present a specific challenge as they have to serve as an

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introduction to literature and culture courses and are not seen as a mere language practice as basic courses (e.g., Schultz, 2005). First, in this chapter, we discuss how critical pedagogies can serve to assess textbook content and create complementary materials that introduce global content. Second, we explore why content and, more specifically, global content needs to be part of language courses. Finally, we report on the meaning-focused materials developed and their implementation.

2. Critical Pedagogies as a Tool to Develop the Language Curriculum In language teaching and learning, critical pedagogies analyze the relationship between language and social issues (e.g., Fairclough, 2014; Glynn, Wesely, & Wassell, 2014; Janks, 2010; Norton & Toohey, 2004). The term critical pedagogy was first formally introduced in the late sixties in Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1968), amidst the struggle of Latin American countries to decolonize as they aspired to a more just and democratic way of life. In the United States, this was the era of the civil rights movement and the resistance to the Vietnam War. In the 1970’s and 1980’s, educational projects connected to the feminist movement or “ethnic-cultural nationalist projects of minority consciousness and activism within and against Western and Northern educational systems” and continued to employ Freire’s liberating ideology (Luke, 2004, p. 23). Although there are many models of critical pedagogy circulating in a wide range of fields in academia today, Luke’s interpretation is the most relevant to our project as it focuses on linguistic or discursive practices. According to Luke, “at least one of the characteristics of the critical is to engage in disruptive, skeptical and ‘other’ social and discourse relations than those dominant, conventionalized, and extant in particular social fields and linguistics markers” (p. 26). To engage in critical pedagogy is to scrutinize “the rules of exchange within a social field” (p. 26). In order to accomplish this, we must first conceive of ourselves as Other by adopting subject positions outside of our conventional self-identifications in the arenas of gender, class ethnicity, and so on. Finally, this Othering or doubling of the self from the dominant discourse or text can be “cognate, analytic, expository, and hypothetical, and it can, indeed, be already lived and narrated, embodied, and experienced” (p. 26). Within the specific context of second language acquisition, we would add to Luke’s definitions of the critical that learning a foreign language is, by definition, a continual process of positioning students as a linguistic Other. Our task, then, is to take advantage of this naturally occurring linguistic doubling as

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a point of departure for a more profound interrogation of cultural practices and norms. In sum, in language teaching, “problematizing practice … keeps questions of language, discourse, power, and identity to the fore” (Pennycook, 2003, p. 330). For example, no material that is utilized in a classroom is ever “innocent” (p. 337). This implies that we, as teachers, need to examine as critically as possible our materials and their underlying ideological assumptions. It stands to reason that our own scrutiny as teachers should then somehow be related to our students, as they are often innocently unaware that every time they enter a text, they are entering a network of ideologies. Language textbooks are fundamental materials in most language programs. For example, in most US universities, textbooks establish the curriculum (see Allen, 2008; Cubillos, 2014). This especially helps large language programs where multi-section level courses are the norm. Despite individual differences in teachers’ textbook use (e.g., Marcos Miguel, 2015), the textbook always permeates the classroom discourse. For example, Guerrettaz and Johnson (2013) found out that classroom discussion pertained at least 83% to the textbook. Most textbook research in foreign languages focuses on English as a foreign language textbooks (e.g., Harwood, 2014; Tomlinson, 2012). For instance, there is currently a discussion on the global textbook versus the local textbook, and on the homogeneity of textbook approaches (see Gray, 2010; Harwood, 2014). In our context, namely intermediate-level university Spanish courses at US universities, textbooks are clearly localized within a national context: published for the US market by US publishers. As Martín Peris and Cubillos (2014) established in their review of Spanish second language (L2) textbooks, US published-textbooks follow recommendations by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). Still, similar to English L2 textbooks, most Spanish L2 textbooks also seem to propose an ideal world (Herman, 2007) and limit the historical information to relatively few countries and, present exoticized realities of those countries (Holley-Kline, 2013). Explicit teaching of grammar is at the forefront and is organized around a presentation-practice-production approach. Cubillos (2014) concludes that “well-established [beginner and intermediate] high school and college textbooks adhere firmly to a pedagogical paradigm that dates back to the late 1970s” (p. 221). Although analyzing textbook content is still not sufficient to predict what will happen in the classroom (e.g., Guerrettaz & Johnston, 2013; Li & Harfitt, 2017; Shawer, 2010), if teachers want to include meaning-focused materials following critical pedagogies, they

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need to modify their textbooks. The question remains why global content is important.

3. Why Global Content in Language Courses? In the last decades, there has been a push for integrating content with language instruction. In some contexts, this approach is called ContentBased Instruction (CBI), whereas in Europe the term Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is preferred. These are, however, not homogeneous methodologies when envisioning how to balance language and content (see for a review Fernández Fontecha, 2001, 2012). Still, there is an established relationship between language learning through content, and we are assuming this connection in our proposal. For example, for language teachers in the US, the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition recommends this methodology. Although there have been several proposals for integrating literature in content courses (see Paran, 2008), there is a dearth of materials related to other content topics for intermediate Spanish L2 classes at university level. There is, of course, content in intermediate published textbooks, such as short socio-historical and/or cultural readings and short videos (see Cubillos, 2014). However, the idea is not to have content as an excuse for language learning, but rather to make the content a main curricular goal. To our knowledge, there is no published content-based textbook targeting US intermediate college students. Following the World-Readiness Standards (National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project, NSFLEP, 2015) endorsed by ACTFL, introducing global content can help learners become more informed global citizens. Before describing the materials in the detail, in the next section, we offer a background of the courses in which the materials were implemented. This will be followed by a discussion of how these guidelines can be enriched with critical literacies approaches. 3.1. Background of the courses To place this project in context, it is important first to explain the setting of the faculty and learners involved in this “re-imaging content project”. First, both instructors work at Liberal Arts Colleges (LACs) in the Midwest of the United States. LACs are undergraduate institutions characterized by smaller student-faculty ratios. The two institutions where this project was carried out have fewer than 2,300 students. Students are enriched by taking courses across disciplines: humanities, social sciences, arts, and sciences. Relevant to this project is the fact that students

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complete a foreign language education requirement that will bring them, after two or three semesters, to an intermediate level (ACTFL, 2012). Once this requirement is completed, some students will further pursue studies related to languages, whereas for others, this requirement will be their last language course at the college level. Both faculty’s institutions belong to the Great Lakes Colleges Association (GLCA). This is an association of 13 similar schools in size and mission. Within its commitment to a liberal arts education, GLCA launched a call for proposals for themed courses: “Faculty at two or more Alliance institutions collaborate on the development of a single course, a set of related courses, or one or more modules (course components) within courses that have in common a theme that has an international dimension” (our emphasis, GLCA, 2017).

This call was framed within a larger set of proposals for campus and faculty to work on a global connection. A part of the statement read, “an undergraduate education that consists solely of academic pursuit within the classroom, library, or laboratory does a disservice to students if it does not include significant opportunities to engage meaningfully with people and achievements of other cultural, ethnic, and linguistic traditions, whether they are in a distant part of the world or in a nearby community” (GLCA, global crossroads statement, 2017).

Because of mutual interest in enriching the courses curriculum so that it was more content-driven and informed by critical pedagogies, we submitted a collaborative proposal. In a first phase of the project, we compiled a bibliography on literal pedagogies for language learning. Next, we created specific materials for our courses. An important element of our discussions was how to include what we were teaching within the World-Readiness Standards (NSFLEP, 2015). The World-Readiness Standards are guidelines for US-based language teachers to think about the content they include in their courses so that language and culture are connected. These standards do not prescribe what is to be taught at what level, but rather let other curricular stakeholders decide, including schools and teachers. Nevertheless, these standards ensure that meaningful learning is a core element: culture and content are incorporated into a language curriculum. Successful communication is defined as knowing how (grammar), when (context) and why (purpose), to say what (vocabulary) to whom (audience) (NSFLEP, 2015). Within the framework of this project, we needed to modify the standards so that we could align them with our specific global content.

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As a matter of fact, a year after we started this pedagogical project, several programs in the GLCA group gathered at a symposium titled “From Crisis Management to Innovation: Reimagining the Role of World Languages in the 21st Century” in Hope College (October 6-7, 2017).1 Although most programs continue to focus on ACTFL-based language proficiency, they are now equally, if not more, invested in the treatment of cultural content as the ultimate goal. For this reason, the National Content Standards, the 5 C’s — Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons and Communities — are considered by some programs as a viable template to guide professors and students in the endeavor of deepening cultural awareness through language. The tendency to follow content-based approaches appears to be driven by a need to realign language programs with other blossoming interdisciplinary program areas and general education requirements, as well as by a conviction that engaging students in a profound study of culture is best accomplished through language courses. These programs argue that language study, by positioning students in the role of a linguistic ‘other’, enables students to appreciate perspectives outside of their own. Faculty expertise at LACs’ language program is quite diverse. Thus, one can imagine the difficulty of pairing a commercially available textbook with a particular content interest. An extreme solution, endorsed by Van Patten at the Hope symposium, was to do away with textbooks all together. Still, our proposal is rather to supplement or modify existing textbooks. Our approach of employing critical pedagogy is well-suited to this task as it challenges students and instructors to deconstruct and critically interrogate underlying philosophies and assumptions framing the presentations in the textbook. In order to do this in a systematic fashion that is easily managed by professors and students alike, we have chosen to modify the 5 C’s to be more explicitly focused to achieving a more critical approach to culture. In the next section, the critical element is included in the standards. 3.2. Infusing global content in the World-Readiness Standards The standards were first articulated in 1996 by defining the 5 C’s as interconnected content areas with accompanying standards for their implementation in foreign language curriculums. In 2015, the National Standards were ‘refreshed’ as The World-Readiness Standards for Learning 1

https://hope.edu/academics/modern-classical-languages/crisis-managementinnovation/index.html

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Languages. This updated version of the 5 C’s also had the backing of Phillips and Abbott’s (2011) report, which indicated the broad acceptance of these standards at institutions throughout the United States. It is our belief that the 5C’s of our national association are well-suited to the goals of a critical pedagogy approach to the teaching of language and culture. To this end, we present the existing 5 C’s and their accompanying standards below, and then indicate in bold what additional considerations might be taken into account for those hoping to employ a critical approach 1.

Communication “Communicate effectively in more than one language in order to function in a variety of situations and for multiple purposes” (NSFLEP, 2015, p. 9). There are three modes: interpersonal, interpretive and presentational. Communication should be viewed in the broadest sense possible as meaning making, a multimodal enterprise, which includes the visual, the gestural, the performative and even silence itself. Communication must acknowledge the diverse life experiences students bring to the classroom and an awareness of socio-historic legacies of injustice and inequality that may shape these (based on Stein, 2003).

2.

Cultures “Interact with cultural competence and understanding” (NSFLEP, 2015, p. 9). In approaching other cultures, students should be reminded of issues of power and privilege in our regarding of the other culture and cautioned against “exoticizing” and “essentializing” the other culture to a mere collection of neutral artifacts, customs, and festivals.

3.

Connections “Connect with other disciplines and acquire information and diverse perspectives in order to use the language to function in academic and career related situations” (NSFLEP, 2015, p. 9). The connection between the language classroom and other disciplines such as sociolinguistics, sociology, political science, economics, women’s studies, LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) studies, and conflict studies, can enhance the students’ appreciation for language learning as enmeshed within a complex network of competing ideologies, economies, and assumptions about race, class, ethnicity, gender, and sexual identities.

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4.

Comparisons “Develop insight into the nature of language and culture in order to interact with cultural competence” (NSFLEP, 2015, p. 9). As stated before, students should be reminded of issues of power and privilege in constructing comparisons with other cultures and languages and not ignore historical legacies of oppression and subordination, be they social, political or economic form their own culture and language.

5.

Communities “Communicate and interact with cultural competence in order to participate in multilingual communities at home and around the world” (NSFLEP, 2015, p. 9). In engaging with these communities, students should not ignore their potentially unique position of privilege and power as students of the language in relating to these communities.

4. Discussion of Materials Developed The pedagogical activities presented here take into consideration the following principles discussed: 1) the teacher can enhance the curriculum by being critical of its content following critical pedagogies; 2) the textbook articulates the courses, but does not dictate the curriculum; 3) there is a need to introduce more global topics in intermediate language courses, and 4) the 5 C’s infused with critical approaches are a scaffold when designing new materials. In the semesters these materials were developed, the two authors were teaching intermediate language courses with an already set curriculum, mostly organized around the classroom textbook. The materials were created to fit with the context of their textbook. These modifications of the current textbook brought a meaningful discussion to the classroom. From an analysis of the chapters’ design, it was clear that content was used as an excuse for teaching grammar and vocabulary. In every chapter in Blanco and Tocaimaza-Hatch (2015), there was a literary text, a cultural section including a video in the ancillary materials, and a cultural text created for the book. However, this could not be considered an extensive

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content since it was mostly very superficially discussed. The main topics of the chapter were rather the grammar and the vocabulary points. In Pellettieri, López-Burton, Hershberger, Gómez, and Navey-Davis (2012), it was a similar situation. We will start with an analysis of the vocabulary from a critical perspective. 4.1. Vocabulary in context Our experiences engaging students in critical pedagogy begins with the most basic feature of all foreign language textbooks: the vocabulary domains. In Rumbos (Pellettieri et al., 2012), the vocabulary domains are grouped in conventional modules. For example, in the first chapter, dedicated to “Los hispanos en los Estados Unidos” (Hispanics in the US), students are given the following infinitives under the category of talking about Hispanic populations in the United States: abundar asimilarse destacarse establecerse influir inmigrar pertenecer a superarse

to be abundant to assimilate to distinguish oneself to establish oneself to influence immigrate to belong to to overcome, to improve oneself

Obviously, this selection of vocabulary terms makes several underlying assumptions about Hispanics in the US. We are directing our students to talk about this population as immigrants who come to the United States in order to willingly submit, through hard work and resolve, to the demands and practices of a pre-existing dominant culture who welcomes them to a process of self-improvement under the banner of the American dream. As we are currently, under the Trump administration, in the midst of erecting a wall to fortify the US-Mexico border and beginning to crack down on all illegal immigrants on US soil, we asked our students to generate a second list of verbs to more accurately describe the experience of Hispanics in the US. Some of the verbs our students generated include the following, many of which are binary opposites of those in the first domain: aislarse esconderse refugiarse deportar

to isolate oneself to hide oneself to seek refuge to deport

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Engaging students in this type of critical exercise not only realigns the chapter focus with contemporary socio-political realities, but also allows some students, especially those of Hispanic descent, to better identify with the context being presented. As Stein (2003) points out, “any meaningful engagement with issues of diversity and humanity cannot avoid the lived experiences of the participants who want their voices, histories and experiences acknowledged” (p. 108). In addition to vocabulary domains, introductory and intermediate textbooks abound with images that tend to reinforce stereotypical norms. Consider, for example the following image, taken from a cultural reading in Chapter 2 of the same textbook “¿Qué es una familia?” (What is a family?):

Fig. 17-1 A Mexican family in Rumbos (Pellettieri et al., 2012, p. 53, Getty Image reprinted with permission)

In order to bring this image under critical scrutiny, we might ask our students questions like “Does this image represent typical families in Mexico?” or “How else could we represent the family in Mexico?” or “If

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you are familiar with a Mexican family, is this image representative?”. Students are quick to point out that this particular representation portrays the Mexican family as unseemingly white, heterosexual and affluent. By inviting our students to deconstruct vocabulary domains and photographic representations in this way, we are engaging them in a critical appreciation that will only further their cultural appreciation of issues of diversity, difference, privilege and power. 4.2. Cajas de Cartón (Cardboard Boxes) Using a text subversively also allows for those moments when a particular presentation is well-suited to our project of critical pedagogy. Such is the case for a literary selection in Chapter 1 of Rumbos: Francisco Jiménez’s short story of “Cajas de cartón” (Cardboard boxes). Jiménez, who immigrated to the US as the son of migrant workers, offers an excellent opportunity for our students to grapple with the notion of occupying Otherness. In this autobiographical treatment of the experience of migrant fruit pickers in California, Jiménez relates a moment, the arrival of the school bus, which has the opposite effect on the father and his family than most of our students would expect. Rather than representing the end of the school day — a moment when children are reunited with their parents — the bus is a threat to the family, who are residing in the region illegally and will suffer persecution if it is discovered that the children are not attending school. The children run and hide, yet manage to view two white children exiting the bus: “Dos niños muy limpiecitos y bien vestidos se apearon. Llevaban libros bajo sus brazos” (p. 37) (Two very clean, and well-dressed children got off. They carried books under their arms.) In many cases, these school children who appear unusually clean, and well-dressed, carrying books — the means to their future edification — embody our students’ experiences of themselves as school children. This instance of making the familiar strange, by seeing themselves through the eyes of the Other, allows our students to begin to appreciate their own privileged status as citizens of the United States. Although this reading strikes us as an effective means to introduce students to the idea of Othering or doubling, a central purpose of critical pedagogy, it should be preceded by a pre-reading activity which prepares students more specifically for this purpose. In Appendix 1, we include the materials where the existing pre-reading strategy with 3 additional questions (proposed) specifically attempt to foster a connection between the student and the perspective of the young, illegal, migrant worker.

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4.3. Multilingual advertisement This didactic unit on multilingual advertisement complements Chapter 3 of Sueña (Blanco & Tocaimaza-Hatch, 2015), which offers a broad and uncritical perspective on the influence of mass media. This unit (see Appendix 2) integrated global content, linguistics, and language learning as a supplement to the textbook used in a third-semester language course. The learning goal was to make students recognize that every language has an associated prestige, e.g., English is a “cool” language to learn in many Spanish speaking countries, and that the choice of a language in advertising is not neutral (e.g., Granville, 1993). For this learning unit, several commercials and advertisements from different Spanish-speaking countries, as well as the US, were analyzed. The Comparison and the Connections standards were very present when designing the unit. The prestige connotation was understood by most learners, but not all of them could make the connection between language and prestige in the North American advertisement they analyzed. 4.4. Teenage speech For the second learning unit to complement Sueña (Appendix 3), Chapter 4 (Blanco & Tocaimaza-Hatch, 2015), which was organized around the topic of family, was modified. Again, the topic was superficially addressed and limited to vocabulary instruction. Nevertheless, this topic was an excellent springboard for introducing a social factor influencing language use, namely age. Thus, the main, new content goals were to recognize that age affects language, i.e., the linguistic goal, and that there are different phenomena common among teenagers across languages and countries, i.e., the global goal. To that end, we analyzed the most frequent words utilized by teenagers as compiled by the Corpus of Teenage Speech in Madrid (Jørgensen, 2007). Students discovered patterns in teenage speech as well as characteristics of spoken language, and drew comparisons with English. Students were also familiarized with basic elements of corpus linguistics such as corpus composition and design, and frequency lists.

5. Implementation of Materials These materials were crafted during two semesters. During that time, the authors met regularly every two weeks. First, we discussed some readings on critical pedagogies related to language learning such as Luke (2003), Pennycook (2003) and Janks, Dixon, Ferreira, Granville, and Newfield (2014). The critical language awareness approach was especially informative when deciding how to introduce content related to linguistics, i.e., this

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approach highlights language both as a learning object and as a biased cultural product. This approach was especially suitable to discuss advertisements in Spanish media (section 4.3 above) based on Granville’s (1993) recommendations. Although the lessons designed were relatively short, i.e., they were part of classroom discussion mainly for one or two sessions, their development implied first an analysis of the textbook so that they would fit in within the other curricular goals of the chapter. In brief, it was a time-consuming project. However, for one of the authors, after implementing the first lesson (section 4.3) in fall 2016, the following chapter turned out to be lacking meaning. That is, the content of the chapter was not offering anything new: neither for the instructor nor probably (from the instructor’s perspective) for the students. Thus, it was clear that a second unit should be created for Chapter 4 (section 4.4 above). 5.1. Assessment of modifications for Rumbos Although the intention of the instructor was to apply critical pedagogy to only the first two chapters of Rumbos, the class ended up employing several of the attitudes and practices throughout the semester. Students were particularly interested in analyzing vocabulary domains and images, especially those which did not conform to their own lived experience. The instructor also found that the subversive attitude of critical pedagogy was useful in providing wider options for paragraph assignments. In particular, writing exercises in which the familiar was made strange engage students in deeper cultural understanding by allowing them to assume the identity of the Other (see Appendix 1). It should be mentioned that the instructor found several aspects of the Rumbos program to be already well-suited to the program of critical pedagogy. The literary readings, in particular, were ones in which perspectives of otherness were foregrounded. The instructor felt that by simply supplementing the pre- and post-reading activities, a more effective critical approach could be achieved. Another effective component of Rumbos is a section in every chapter entitled Entre culturas. In this section, students are invited to engage in a series of exercises foregrounding intercultural perspectives. The instructor felt that this particular feature of Rumbos was the most closely aligned element to the practice of critical pedagogy. In the future, the instructor will continue to use Rumbos as a text to both deconstruct and construct a more critical approach to second-year Spanish at DePauw University.

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5.2. Assessment of modifications for Sueña For the multilingual advertisement unit (section 4.3), students had to write an essay where they reflected on the content as well as practiced their writing skills (Appendix 4). From a sample of 24 compositions, 14 students focused on the positive aspects of multilingual advertisement taking into consideration the multilingual population in the US as a matter of reaching a higher number of speakers, whereas ten focused on negative aspects such as stereotyping cultures and, in the case of English outside the US, not helping speakers comprehending the message. For the chapter exam, students read a text adapted from an online article2 related to anglicisms. Students had to summarize the main points of three paragraphs. From a sample of 32 exams, 27 students understood the prestigious connotations of English in US advertisement and the meaning of anglicisms. For the 5 remaining students, these concepts were not clear yet. For the second unit (section 4.4), there was a reading related to opinions on teenage speech3 in the chapter exam. From a sample of 18 exams, 15 students understood that teenagers have their own speech variety and that is not something negative. For the three remaining students, this was not so clear. Based on these three assessments, most students grasped the main content goals of both units. These lessons were shared with other colleagues so that they could use them as they saw fit. For example, another instructor utilized 4.3, removing all of the content goals. As the instructor was going to be observed and unsure of adding the new content to the chapter, they used the advertisement idea to practice grammar, but eliminated all information related to anglicisms in media. Although this is an excellent example of how a teacher localized their materials to their needs, seeing their materials devoid of their core meaning was a reminder of how bottom-up curricular changes might just be limited to a teacher rather than to a broader audience.

6. Conclusion This chapter has discussed how textbook modifications can make textbooks more meaningful. Adopting a critical perspective enriches the materials’ design by making them more meaningful for both instructors and students. The particular areas of expertise of the authors were also in 2

http://www.univision.com/estilo-de-vida/trending/la-publicidad-habla-demasiado-ingles-la-campana-que-critica-el-exceso-de-anglicismos-en-los-anuncios 3 http://www.periodicodelestudiante.net/noticia.asp?pkid=927

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the forefront when selecting the topics, thus, including the interdisciplinary element in the language classroom. Although literature is a main element in LACs’ program, it is clear that other topics are also suitable for the language classroom. Thinking about the 5 C’s from a critical perspective helps in designing new materials. Moreover, thinking of ways to assess learners’ content was a necessary second step. Furthermore, we advocate balancing content and language. This is not a matter of learning grammatical points, but language structures should also be regarded when presenting the materials. This balancing also makes the content more age-appropriate. Interestingly, Cubillos (2014) points out that high school textbooks are more realistic than college-level textbooks because they follow the World-Readiness Standards more closely. As a last point, we want to comment on the professional development opportunity of sharing experiences when developing materials. Although we created and executed different materials in the classroom, the practise of sharing experiences was fundamental. The GLCA was instrumental in that process since one of their ways to foster collaboration is that they provide only funds for collaborative projects. From here, we want to invite other instructors to reflect on their own use of the textbook, and to discover where they could modify the textbook in order to create more enriching learning experiences.

Acknowledgements The authors wish to thank the GLCA, who funded their MATSDA/Fontys University conference attendance and presentation.

References Allen, H. W. (2008). Textbooks materials and foreign language teaching: Perspectives from the classroom. NECTFL Review, 62, 5-28. American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). (2012). ACTLF Proficiency Guidelines. Retrieved from https://www.actfl.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/public/ACTFLProficiency Guidelines2012_FINAL.pdf Blanco, J. A., & Tocaimaza-Hatch, C. C. (2015). Sueña. Español sin barreras (3rd ed.). Boston, Massachussets: Vista Higher Learning. Brown, D. (2014). The power and authority of materials in the classroom ecology. The Modern Language Journal, 98 (2), 658-661.

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Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA) (Producer). (2017). Content-Based Language Teaching with technology. Retrieved from http://carla.umn.edu/cobaltt/. Cubillos, J. H. (2014). Spanish textbooks in the US: Enduring traditions and emerging trends. Journal of Spanish Language Teaching, 1 (2), 205-225. Fairclough, N. (2014). Critical language awareness. New York: Routledge. Fernández Fontecha, A. (2001). Una selección bibliográfica sobre el método AICLE (Aprendizaje Integrado de Conocimientos Curriculares y Lengua Extranjera). Contextos educativos, 4, 217-239. Fernández Fontecha, A. (2012). CLIL in the foreign language classroom: Proposal of a framework for ICT materials design in language-oriented versions of content and language integrated learning. Alicante Journal of English Studies, 25, 317-334. Freire, P. (1996). Pedagogy of the oppressed (revised). New York: Continuum. Glynn, C., Wesely, P., & Wassell, B. (2014). Words and actions: Teaching languages through the lens of social justice. Alexandria: The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. Granville, S. (1993). Language, Advertising and Power. Witwatersrand: Witwatersrand University Press. Gray, J. (2010). The construction of English: Culture, consumerism and promotion in the ELT Global Coursebook. New York: Palgrave MacMillan. Great Lakes Colleges Association (GLCA). (2017). Global Crossroads. Retrieved from https://glca.org/glcaprograms/globalcrossroads Guerrettaz, A. M., & Johnston, B. (2013). Materials in the classroom ecology. The Modern Language Journal, 97 (3), 779-796. Harwood, N. (Ed.) (2014). English language teaching textbooks: Content, consumption, production. Hampshire: Palgrave MacMillan. Herman, D. (2007). It’s a small world after all: From stereotypes to invented worlds in secondary school Spanish textbooks. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 4 (2–3), 117–50. Holley-Kline, S. (2013). History through first-year secondary school Spanish textbooks: A content analysis. Berkeley Review of Education, 4 (2), 221-240. Janks, H. (2010). Literacy and power. New York: Taylor & Francis. Janks, H., Dixon, K., Ferreira, A., Granville, S., & Newfield, D. (2014). Doing critical literacy: Texts and activities for students and teachers. New York: Routledge.

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Jiménez, F. (2002). Cajas de cartón: Relatos de la vida peregrina de un niño campesino. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Jørgensen, A. M. (2007). COLA: Un corpus oral de lenguaje adolescente. Oralia, Anejos, 3 (1), 225-234. Li, Z., & Harfitt, G. J. (2017). An examination of language teachers' enactment of curricular materials in the context of a centralised curriculum. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 25 (3), 403-416. Luke, A. (2003). Two takes on the critical. In B. Norton & N. Toohey (Eds.), Critical pedagogies and language learning (pp. 21-29). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lusin, N. (2012). The MLA Survey of Postsecondary Entrance and Degree Requirements for Languages Other Than English, 2009–10. Retrieved from https://www.mla.org/content/download/3316/81618/ requirements_survey_200910.pdf. Marcos Miguel, N. (2015). Textbook consumption in the classroom: Analyzing classroom corpora. Current Work in Corpus Linguistics: Working with Traditionally-conceived Corpora and Beyond. Selected Papers from the 7th International Conference on Corpus Linguistics (CILC2015). Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 198, 309-319. McGrath, I. (2013). Teaching materials and the roles of EFL/ESL teachers. London: Bloomsbury. Martín Peris, E., & Cubillos, J. H. (2014). Publishing. In M. Lacorte (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of Hispanic applied linguistics. New York: Routledge. National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project (NSFLEP). (2015). World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages. ACTFL: Alexandria, VA. Norris, J. M., & Ortega, L. (2000). Effectiveness of L2 instruction: A research synthesis and quantitative meta-analysis. Language Learning, 50 (3), 417-528. Norton B. & Toohey, N. (2003). Critical pedagogies and language learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Paran, A. (2008). The role of literature in instructed foreign language learning and teaching: An evidence-based survey. Language Teaching, 41 (4), 465-496. Pellettieri, J., López-Burton, N., Hershberger, R., Gómez, R., & NaveyDavis, S. (2012). Rumbos: Curso intermedio de español (2nd ed.). Boston: Heinle Cengage Learning. Pennycook, A. (2003). Critical moment in a TESOL practicum. In B. Norton & N. Toohey (Eds.), Critical pedagogies and language learning (pp. 327-345). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Phillips, J. K., & Abbott, M. (2011). A decade of foreign language standards: Impact, influence, and future directions. Report of Grant Project # P017A080037, Title VII, International Research Studies, US Department of Education to the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. Retrieved from https://www.actfl.org/sites/default/files/publications/standards/National Standards2011.pdf Schultz, J.M. (2005). The Role of special focus sections in the articulation of language and literature courses. In C. M. Barrette & K. Paesani (Eds.), Language program articulation: Developing a theoretical foundation (pp. 60-77). Boston: Thomson, Heinle. Shawer, S. F. (2010). Classroom-level curriculum development: EFL teachers as curriculum-developers, curriculum-makers and curriculumtransmitters. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26 (2), 173-184. Stein, P. (2003). Representation, rights, and resources: Multimodal pedagogies in the language and literacy classroom. In B. Norton & N. Toohey (Eds.), Critical pedagogies and language learning (pp. 95115). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Tomlinson, B. (2012). Materials development for language learning and teaching. Language Teaching, 45 (2), 143-179.

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Appendix 1 “Cajas de Cartón” by Francisco Jiménez Before reading 1. In what parts of the U.S. are there a lot of migrant workers? Are there migrant workers in your state? (existing) 2. Have you had any experiences working with this community? (proposed) 3. Find an image depicting migrant workers, and then investigate specifics about this community. (proposed) 4. Imagine the physical difficulties of doing hard manual labor on a daily basis. How would you describe such work and how might you feel at the end of a long day? (proposed) 5. Consider how their outlook on life compares and contrasts to your own. Consider family, housing, work, and education. (proposed) Post-reading activity 1. What is the significance of the title? (existing) 2. How does your childhood compare with the situations depicted in the story? (existing) 3. Is first-person an appropriate narrative voice for the story? (existing) 4. Why were the boys afraid of the school bus? (proposed) 5. Why were the children described as “very clean and well dressed”? (proposed) 6. Compare and contrast the perspectives of the brothers with those of the school children. (proposed) 7. In what ways are you like/unlike the two brothers? (proposed) Making the strange familiar – writing prompt Imagine that you and your family are living illegally in a neighborhood in the United States. Describe a situation from your daily life in which you come into contact with members of the community who are there legally. Be sure to convey your perspective with feelings, thoughts and emotions. Use the highlighted vocabulary in your writing and be sure to narrate the events in the present tense.

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Appendix 2 Multilingual Advertisements 1. 2. 3.

Textbook: mass media, subjunctive in nominal clauses Advertising as part of mass media 5 Cs: a. Communication: interpretative/interpersonal b. Communication: presentational i. present your own commercial/advertisement ii. Essay: comparing advertising in Spanish speaking countries and US (assessment) iii. Giving opinions (subjunctive) c. Culture: products, practices, perspectives i. Examples of commercials and other advertisements ii. Language prestige iii. Reactions to anglicism in Spanish: language-only policies 1. Campaign against English in Spanish advertising d. Comparisons: i. US and Spanish speaking countries ii. Advertisement practices iii. Language practices e. Connections: i. Linguistic content: borrowings, language values ii. Beyond the language classroom

Warm-up: 1. ¿Qué es un anuncio? (What is an advertisement?) 2. ¿Dónde aparecen los anuncios? (Where can you find advertisements/commercials?) 3. ¿En qué se centran? (Cliente, producto, empresa) (What do they focus on?) 4. ¿Estás de acuerdo con las siguientes oraciones? (Based on Granville, 1993) a. Es importante que los anuncios sean sinceros. (Commercials should be honest.) b. Los anuncios venden ideas, no productos. No venden cigarrillos, coches o perfumes sino (que venden) libertad, masculinidad y seducción. (Commercials sell ideas, not products. They do not sell cigarettes, cars or perfumes but freedom, masculinity and seduction.)

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Los anuncios influyen a la sociedad positivamente y traen cambios sociales. (Commercials positively influence a society and bring social changes.) Los anuncios son divertidos, modernos y creativos. ¡A casi todo el mundo le gustan! (Commercials are fun, modern and creative. Everybody likes them!) Como anunciarse es caro, los precios de los productos suben. (Since advertising is expensive, prices rise.) Los anuncios nos convencen para comprar cosas que no necesitamos. (Commercials make us buy things that we do not need.) Es malo que haya anuncios sobre tabaco. Deberían prohibirse. (Commercials about cigarettes are bad. They should be banned.)

Listening Activity: La serenísima “Más” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPMbxVaeqXs 1. ¿En qué (o quién) se enfoca el anuncio? (What is the focus of the commercial?) 2. ¿Cuál es el producto? (What is the product?) 3. ¿En qué país se presenta el anuncio? (Where is this commercial from?) 4. ¿Qué recursos se utilizan para hacer el anuncio atrayente? (What strategies are used to make this commercial appealing?) Volskwagen, Das auto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSiLKc5qtAc 1. ¿Qué se anuncia aquí? (What is advertised?) a. Creo que… b. No creo que… c. No estoy seguro de que… d. Es posible que… e. No es posible que… f. Es probable que.. g. No es probable que… Picture discussion using structures with/without subjunctive: https://ep01.epimg.net/diario/imagenes/2010/04/16/madrid/1271417054_8 50215_0000000000_sumario_normal.jpg https://www.publix.com/images/products/910000/910286-600x600-A.jpg http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_1JEek5P5IJo/S8bfJSDA1SI/AAAAAAAAAA8/ NcfSdTxfgEs/s1600/etiketa.JPG

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En los anuncios que hemos visto…(In the advertisements that we have seen…) 1. ¿Qué recursos usaban los anuncios para atraer a los consumidores? (What resources were used to appeal to consumers?) 2. ¿Qué recursos lingüísticos tenían en común los anuncios? (What linguistic resources do they have in common?) 3. ¿Qué vendían? (What was sold?) 4. ¿A quién se lo vendían? (Who is the client?) Alguna crítica para los anuncios anteriores… (Critiques of the advertisements…) - Es una lástima que… - Es una pena que… - Me molesta que… - Es malo que… - Es extraño que… Listening Activity/Criticism of Anglicisms by RAE (Royal Academy of the Spanish Language) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVlEElFtkVg • Sunset Style with Blind Effect –¿Qué te sorprende de este anuncio? (What surprises you?) • Me sorprende que… (What do you like?) –¿Qué te gusta de este anuncio? • Me gusta que… –¿Qué no te gusta de este anuncio? (What do you not like?) • No me gusta que… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBEomboXmTw 1. ¿Cuál es la crítica? (What is the criticism?) 2. ¿Qué ejemplos da? (What examples are used?) 3. ¿Qué hacen para luchar con el problema? (What does the RAE do to fight the problem?) 4. ¿Es necesario que hagan este tipo de anuncios? (Is this necessary?) Wrap-up: 1. ¿Por qué se usan…(Why are they using...) a. Préstamos (ej., anglicismos, germanismos, galicismos…)? (borrowings) b. Cambios de código en los anuncios? (code-switching)

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2.

¿Tienen todas las lenguas el mismo valor en la publicidad? (Are all languages equally worthy in advertising?) 3. ¿Ejemplos en anuncios en inglés? ¿Se usa español u otras lenguas? (Examples in English advertising? Is Spanish and other languages used?) a. ¿Qué significa el uso de la lengua en estos anuncios? (What does the use of other languages imply?) b. ¿Es necesario que se haga un anuncio como el de la RAE para luchar contra el uso de otros idiomas en EEUU? (Is it necessary to have commercials such as those by RAE in the US?) c. Justifica tus respuestas. (Explain your answers in detail.) Final presentation: 1. Busca anuncios estadounidenses que usen español (u otras lenguas). (Search commercials/advertisements that use Spanish or other languages in the US) 2. Puedes buscar anuncios que aparezcan en la calle o en la televisión. (You can use examples from billboards or television.) 3. Puedes también buscar el producto en el supermercado. (You can also find an example in the supermarket) 4. Prepara tus anuncios para discutirlos en clase con tus compañeros. Formato opcional…¡Sed creativos! (Prepare your examples to show and discuss with your classmates.)

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Appendix 3 Teenage Speech 1. 2. 3.

Textbook: bridging the generation gap (family vocabulary), subjunctive Teenage speech as part of generation gap 5 Cs: a. Communication: interpretative/interpersonal b. Culture: products, practices, perspectives i. Real examples of teenage speech ii. Real examples of “general language speech” c. Comparisons: i. U.S. and Spanish speaking countries (Spain) ii. Different language varieties (age effects) d. Connections: i. Linguistic content: corpus, frequency lists, sociolinguistics

Introduction 1. Reading activity: https://hablacultura.com/cultura-textos-aprender-espanol/cultura/ellenguaje-de-los-jovenes/ 1. ¿Idea principal del artículo? (Main idea?) 2. ¿Quiénes hablan en el artículo? (Who are speaking in the article?) 3. ¿Qué palabras de los jóvenes citan? (What are some examples of teenage speech?) 4. ¿Es una jerga homogénea? (Is this a homogenous speech?) 5. ¿Qué sucede en inglés? (What happens in English?) 2. Reflection: 1. ¿Normalmente usas palabras que sean juveniles? (Do you use words from teenage speak?) 2. ¿Tienes que buscar en el diccionario las palabras que usan los jóvenes? (Do you need to look up words that young people use?) 3. ¿Lenguaje de la adolescencia? (What is teenage speech?) 4. ¿Lenguaje de la niñez? (What is child speech?) 5. ¿Lenguaje de la edad adulta? (What is adult speech?) 6. ¿Hay una brecha generacional en inglés? (Is there a generation gap?)

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3. Corpus linguistics: 1. ¿Qué es un corpus? (What is a corpus?) 2. ¿Qué es una lista de frecuencias? (What is a frequency list?) 3. ¿Quién tiene listas de frecuencia en español? (Who has created frequency lists for Spanish?) Analysis 1. 10 grupos con 100 palabras cada uno del corpus COLA http://www.colam.org/om_prosjektet.html (10 groups with 100 words from COLA each) 2. Revisad las palabras y pensad si la palabra se usa en lenguaje general o sólo es de jóvenes (Are these words part of teenage speech or standard speech?) 3. Si no sabéis su significado, buscadlo. (If you do not know the meaning of a word, look it up.) 4. Escribid en una hoja todas las palabras de “jóvenes”. (Write down all examples of teenage speech.) 1. Feedback for other groups: a. ¿Estáis de acuerdo con la selección de tus compañeros? (Do you agree with the selection of your classmates?) b. Completad las frases: (Finish the following sentences:) Los jóvenes (o adolescentes) usan palabras que… Los adultos usan palabras que… En una lengua hay palabras que… Buscamos palabras que… Nos gustan las palabras que… 2. Reflection: • ¿Qué te sorprende de COLA? (What surprises you about COLA?) –Me sorprende que… • ¿Qué no te gusta de COLA? (What do you not like about COLA?) –No me gusta que… • ¿Qué te gusta de COLA? (What do you like about COLA?) –Me gusta que…

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Appendix 4 Prompt for assessing content in the “Multilingual Advertisement” Unit A) Escríbele una carta de opinión al editor de The Denisonian o The Bullsheet reflexionando sobre el uso de lenguas distintas en anuncios en los Estados Unidos. ¿Crees que es bueno o malo haya más de una lengua en los anuncios? ¿Cuál es la motivación para estos anuncios multilingües? [...] Da al menos un ejemplo de un anuncio de Estados Unidos. (Write a letter to the editor of The Denisonian or The Bullsheet where you think about the use of different languages in advertisements in the US. Do you think is it good or bad that there is more than one language? What is the motivation for these multilingual commercials? [...] Give at least an example.) B) Escríbele una carta de opinión al editor de The Denisonian o The Bullsheet reflexionando sobre el uso de lenguas distintas en anuncios en el mundo hispanohablante. ¿Crees que es bueno o malo haya más de una lengua en los anuncios? ¿Cuál es la motivación para estos anuncios multilingües? ¿Qué opinas de campañas como la de la RAE? [...] Da al menos un ejemplo de un anuncio del mundo hispanohablante. (Write a letter to the editor of The Denisonian or The Bullsheet where you think about the use of different languages in advertisements in the Spanishspeaking world. Do you think is it good or bad that there is more than one language? What is the motivation for these multilingual commercials? What do you think about linguistic campaigns such as the RAE? [...] Give at least an example of an advertisement in the Spanish-speaking world.)

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN BRINGING EAP MATERIAL TO LIFE: CONTEXT OF APPLICATION AND PEDAGOGICAL RELEVANCE – AN EXPERIMENT AND A CASE STUDY IFFAT SUBHANI

Fig. 18-1 My approach to adaptation: Carry forward – Combine – Construct (3Cs)

Introduction Saraceni (2013) describes “Adaptation as Critical Awareness Development” (p. 52), but adaptation is not necessarily about exposing students to different materials. Equally important is making pedagogical adjustments

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towards a cultural framework, especially in the context of Global English. This means making materials relevant to suit learning styles and academic goals, an approach enabling students to their apply knowledge of English rather than just having information of English. I adapted some academic course material for my students from Saudi Arabia in an academic pathway program in Toronto, where certain instances of academic preparedness include training them to write language proficiency examinations, such as IELTS. Drawing on the principles of English in the lingua franca communication contexts of teaching and testing, a textbook topic, for example, Branding is contextualized, first within a traditional backdrop (learners’ first language, i.e. Arabic); then combined with linguistic and stylistic features of general academic English before presenting it as a topic commonly found in academic textbooks and language proficiency examinations. Herein the discussion revolves around the following concepts: English in lingua franca communication contexts; the shaping of English language ideology and attitudes to English as a Lingua Franca (ELF); English in the international university; English language teaching and testing; and further implications for English language testing. A sample of a lesson plan to develop writing skills is given in section 3 of the chapter. It highlights the learning outcomes that capture features of general academic English; features similarly found in the texts of English proficiency exams such as the IELTS1 exam which is referenced herein throughout for illustrative purposes only. Two themes are central to section 3. Firstly, general English for Academic Purposes, and English used in the language proficiency exams could be incorporated into academic preparation, although they are usually dealt with independently in the teaching of English as a Second Language, usually in the form of grammatical structures. Secondly, teaching English for academic preparedness should not be misconstrued as teaching to proficiency tests. With the two themes, I devised a Carry forward – Combine – Construct approach to adapt and present materials (see Figure 18-1 above). First, students bring forth their own ideas about a given topic, either through discussion or by answering concept-check questions. After this, they assimilate new information given about the topic with their existing ideas. Finally, they build up and expand on the existing knowledge and language concepts they have of the topic. I created this plan after recording instances of improvement and student engagement, as in this case, obtained in the form of IELTS test scores, before and after using materials I adapted from the course book. Samples of students’ writings obtained during the length of the course gave important insights into their

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formative assessment and related progress while working with the supplementary materials I created for them. Learners reported that being made aware of the features of general academic English and having being facilitated in transferring those across learning situations (academic or exam English), they could appreciate that language is a function of grammar, logic and rhetoric, which informs the exploratory and analytical potential of any text (Subhani, 2016). Moreover, they became engaged with the input (reading and listening texts), and it helped them in the meaning-making process possibly because their cognitive filters were reset. They could interpret materials critically attempted to convey the denotative and connotative aspects of the texts when the topic was placed in the context of their personal experiences. Overall, an awareness of language usage in context with respect to the topic improved their writing skills.

1. Context of Application The spread of English is a global phenomenon which “bilingual users of English” (McKay, 2002, p. 131) have promoted having acquired and assimilated it within their own linguistic repertoire. This has three implications for English language teachers and course designers in making international learners adjust at university, for example, in Canada. First, to assist students communicate effectively with other students, the majority of whom are from outside of Canada. Additionally, to help them qualify for universities by writing the IELTS. And third, to prepare them meet academic study skills demanded by universities. According to Graddol (1997), English as a Second Language users are “monolingual speakers from more than one country” (p. 12). Each language has a physical home, but geographical boundaries are not clearly demarcated to contain communication within the confines of that home. Therefore, communication is not restricted within their own countries. English provides a common platform to share, exchange and gain from cross cultural experiences. It is a “default language” that bilinguals not only “…share(d) with another speaker; it is (also) often used because it is culturally regarded as the appropriate language for a particular communicative context” (p. 12). Toronto, home to nearly 200 languages, is a visual illustration of Graddol’s perception of speech communities in a native English setting of the default language. It becomes pertinent to explore “patterns of speech communities that use English alongside other languages” (McKay, 2002, p. 32) when developing existing courses, so that they are recast into globalised English.

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One way of possibly achieving this is by adapting materials, for example, for a prescribed syllabus of academic English for international students from Kachru’s Expanding Circle countries (see Crystal, 1997, p. 54). Adaptation should address their linguistic needs and hone their cognitive abilities so that information is synthesized, then applied across academic, examination and real-life disciplines. Hence, the aim of the sample lesson plan in section 3 is strengthened with reference to “Adaptation as Critical Awareness Development” (Saraceni, 2013, p. 52). 1.1 Students’ linguistic identity It is important to establish the linguistic identity of students preparing to enrol in universities because most higher education institutions set admission criteria of 6.5 (competent user) or 7 (good user) on the IELTS test (IELTS, n.d.). Designing supplementary academic material for students whose first language (L1) is Arabic entails categorizing them first as users or learners to ascertain if they should be perceived as deficient native speakers (in relation to their IELTS scores) or users of ELFA i.e. English as a Lingua Franca in Academic setting while learning English in Toronto. According to English as Foreign Language (EFL) characterizations of a non-native English speaker, English usage for communication is described in terms of a learner language that is incomplete or deficient compared to the native speaker variety. On the other hand, ELF characterizes users and their variety of English as a resource which is adapted to the context and needs of each communicative situation. Another element of their linguistic identity is the variety of English defined in terms of IELTS marking criteria. IELTS compares candidates’ English on a gradient of 9 bands of English proficiency levels, where 9 denotes achieving proficiency with “full flexibility and precision”; producing “consistently accurate structures apart from slips characteristic of native speaker speech” (IELTS, n.d.). Although it is not explicitly stated that a band 9 is equivalent to native English, the fact that tolerance for errors is alluded to as “slips characteristic of native speaker speech” is telling. A fourth aspect is ELFA. English as a Lingua Franca for communication on campus is at variance with the academic standards of English demanded at tertiary levels of education. In learning English as a second language, a dominant trend is to adopt a communicative approach that overrides the instruction of explicit grammatical structures in favour of pragmatic competence. Therefore, native English proficiency does not necessarily validate the academic calibre of university goers because increasing student mobility promotes an aptitude for unrestrained

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communication between large groups of students whose first language is not English (Muranen, 2007). One interpretation entails that in an academic context, high standards of precise communication, both oral and written, ought to take precedence over standardization of language proficiency. On the contrary, it appears that measurements of proficiency, such as the IELTS tend to assess the ability to communicate as “characteristic of native speaker speech” with “grammatical range and accuracy” (www.ielts.org), which forms part of the recruitment policy of tertiary educational institutions. It might be argued that scores from language proficiency tests are but a momentary reference to language abilities, which might not indicate the potential academic aptitude of the test-taker. Although Jenkins (2014) argues that English as a medium of instruction is now applicable to both Anglophone and non-Anglophone universities, this does not as anticipated imply that geographical location of a university in the Inner Circle – Australia, Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom, where English is the primary language of communication – makes it truly international. Internationalization, it seems, occurs because of the vast majority of international students enrolled at a university using English as the second language. In principle, language policies for the purpose of communication and academics ought to be governed by global English and not native English. How internationalization occurs, and how it should logically lead to an institutional focus on successful communication from a perspective of Global English, indicates the predisposition for certification through exams based on a native-speaker model which seems paradoxical in these new contexts. Furthermore, the predictive ability of standardized scores tends to be unreliable in relation to what students themselves prove to be able to do in English, once admitted to university (Greene, 2008). Whether this is factored into the teaching of English language, especially for academic preparation or IELTS courses, is uncertain because universities use standardized testing to discern communicative abilities of potential candidates, where hypothetically, the higher the score, the higher the communicative ability. But does testing really create a communicative situation? There is insufficient data indicating that communicative abilities are equivalent to academic abilities. 1.2 Adapting materials to learners’ needs Having established the linguistic identities in the context of learning, I wrote a lesson plan and supplementary materials to prepare my class for general academic English and IELTS preparation, using the data collected

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through needs analyses and action research. I found that language concepts, especially grammar points, learnt during the course of a regular English programme, are not applied successfully when studying for academic English or IELTS preparation, and that students processed language features, for example, the -ing form as isolated structures (refer to section 3. A Sample Lesson Plan, particularly 3.3.1. Listening 1, Postlistening spot check). To facilitate transfer of knowledge of grammatical form, function and meaning, I created and arranged the activities for the improvement of: -

academic writing IELTS writing scores cognitive skills and higher order thinking (important academic / life skills) intercultural communication

The materials incorporate elements of English as Lingua Franca, English as a Foreign Language, and English as Native Language vis-à-vis IELTS. A multi-English approach to material design is devised using those elements to cater primarily to the foreign student body seeking admission to international English medium universities, within or outside Canada. By extension, these materials could also address the language needs of those students (non-Arabic L1) who pursue an English medium education at home. In either situation, the majority of the student body is comprised of non-native English speaking students who interact amongst themselves and rarely engage with a sizeable native English student body, yet their English proficiency is measured against a native English standard. So how are linguistic identities defined for Academic College Preparation programmes, in Saudi Arabia and in Canada? The variations in English language speaking identity can possibly be resolved in terms of the learners’ position on a timeline of their English learning path expressed as a continuum (refer to Figure 18-2 below). This routine starts from the time they start studying English as a second language upon arrival in Canada, then move into academic English programmes after nearly a year of their arrival wherein they acquire acceptable proficiency levels as per native-English model, measured by IELTS. On acquiring the requisite IELTS score (6.5-7) after approximately two years of studying English, they qualify for universities where they likely encounter English as a Lingua Franca in an Academic setting. It is an interchangeable role along the continuum of language learning, where these students are users and learners at the same time, following the

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dictates of their social interactions inside and outside the class. In class, they use English as Lingua Franca to communicate with students from other nationalities, or in an academic English class when they do speaking activities. However, they are dissuaded from making errors and persuaded to remove errors that might occur due to L1 “interference or imperfect learning” (McKay, 2002, p. 59) so that they develop “fluency and accuracy” (IELTS, n.d.) in the Native English variety which is not the English variety of proficient Arab users of English, to score better on the IELTS. In view of the foregoing, an illustration of the interchangeable linguistic identities of Saudi learners of English is summarised in Figure 18-2: English as Second Language (ESL) English as Lingua Franca English as Foreign Language (EFL) (ELF) English as Native Language (ENL) English as Lingua Franca in Academic setting (ELFA)

Fig. 18-2 The English learning continuum of Saudi students in Canada The attitude of Saudi students towards learning English is rooted in grammar instruction which is the central focus instead of communicative competence or critical appraisal of the content (Zaid, as cited in AlSeghayer, 2011). This restricts their approach to writing because they are seemingly misguided in their belief that grammar alone should suffice for an entry into Western academic circles, presumably due to prior English language learning experiences at school. The audiolingual method and grammar translation remain popular modes of teaching English in Saudi Arabia. Saudi students are not exposed to authentic spoken English or academically written texts, as language production is restricted to grammar drills and study of isolated grammatical structures. Rote learning and memorization of isolated vocabulary items are still prevalent, and teachers explain English grammar using Arabic translations (Al-Ahaydib; Abu-Ghararah; Zaid, as cited in Al-Seghayer, 2011). As a result, their knowledge of English rests on grammatical foundations that might not be adequate for the achievement of oral or written communicative competencies in terms of English as Lingua Franca or English as a Foreign Language. Grammatical structures are acquired from books reportedly vetted and deemed suitable, either in terms of presentation, content, or basic grammar, and approved by the highest educational

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authority, The Ministry of Higher Education. These books, although written by native English speakers, and commissioned by renowned international publishers, are nevertheless ill-equipped to orient Saudis to a Western academic environment. However, contact with varieties of global English through government scholarships has apparently reformulated their attitudes towards their own culture, identity, and English usage in host countries (of study), so they feel motivated to improve their linguistic skills to pass up to next class in the programme for university (AlSeghayer, 2011). In using English as Lingua Franca, students’ general performance in class is impacted positively, making them cultural ambassadors and bridging the communication divide with their classmates from around the world. In general English and IELTS classes, they encounter students from other countries and get more opportunities to practise English. This extrinsic motivation diminishes when they revert to the L1 if the majority of other students speak Arabic. They still rely heavily on guided instruction involving memorizing or working with written models, for example, of essays that provide stock phrases which they then employ in their own writings. They depend on linguistic and organizational guidance, relevant to both academic and IELTS writing tasks, which tend to focus “on grammatical range and accuracy” (IELTS, n.d.). 1.3 Premise: English for Academic Purpose as English for a proficiency exam Many textbooks for teaching English grammar or writing follow a predominantly Presentation – Practice – Production approach, while textbooks for teaching academic English focus on a process approach to writing. A wide gap exists, both linguistically and pedagogically, in transitioning from general English to academic English while learner identities oscillate between ELF / EFL (see Figure 18-2) before they achieve native-like English proficiency. This is to say, any explicit teaching of either intercultural communication or focus on skills and strategies development for universities, either at general English or academic English levels, would not be factored into pre-service academic programmes which are offered by third party course providers. Records of my classroom practice and anecdotal accounts of other teachers, students, and even administrators suggest that the only measure of students’ learning lies in data obtained from monthly or weekly tests taken as part of in-house assessments, and used in conjunction with writing assignments and oral presentations. The validity of these tests could be contested on the basis of students’ responses to test items and

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written assignments or oral presentations, because such tests are developed by institute managements to balance academic achievements with business considerations. The typical copy-paste responses of students to comprehension questions in reading passages are a case in point. Most answers indicate test takers’ ability to skim and scan for the required information – a reading strategy, but an unreliable indication of how relevant information is being processed, which would otherwise demonstrate sufficient understanding of the text. Test scores show progression on the academic pathway but are not a commendable development of competencies in deciphering academic discourse, a likely overriding factor in determining the overall preparedness for university. Test items comprise isolated grammar drills: gap-fills, matching items, and etcetera. A standard of assessing knowledge of English grammar or academic English is questionable because comprehension or critical thinking as indicators of true academic competence at the time the test was taken cannot be quantified as such. A clear formative assessment would entail corrective feedback as an ongoing process rather than a fail-start-over-again exercise. Common topics such as food and drink or transport in many English grammar textbooks are superfluous; they render the pre-academic learning experience inconsequential. The cultural experiences of Arabic speakers studying in multicultural societies like Toronto are rarely factored into the learning materials. Even ethnic diversity of inhabitants with native languages other than English and their communication in Canada using English as Lingua Franca or English as a Foreign Language is not exploited. Therefore, such materials do not have a transformational impact on learners’ academic maturity because a majority of them are either not aware of or not prepared to handle the demands of the IELTS test even after completing academic preparation programmes. The content in textbooks used in teaching grammar in relation to the needs of these Arabic speakers is thus undemonstrative of academic prowess. Many academic English course books, for example, the LEAP series, are customarily Canadian with sporadic references to Chinese or Saudi university goers in Canada. Such books, however, do not reflect the linguistic uniqueness of foreign students; hence, the premise of raising awareness of materials which are otherwise decontextualised, becomes important through adaptation. The academic texts can be used as a spring board to adapt writing activities by combining features of academic English and native English through an IELTS task 2, for instance, when writing an opinion essay using multi-modal input.

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In this manner, to learn academic English by enrichment of materials covers multiple facets of learners’ needs because it is geared towards raising their awareness of English as Lingua Franca by comparing and contrasting their user and learner English with a native English (e.g. Canadian) variety. This process is seen as a shift from English as a Lingua Franca to perhaps English as a Foreign Language, which means focusing on the deficit perspective. In the process, it exposes “deficiencies” (IELTS, n.d.) that need to be overcome to improve proficiency levels from a foreign standard to a native English standard measured by the IELTS (band 6.5–7). A context-based approach that I devised, carry forward – combine – construct (3Cs), thus provides opportunities for real but very complex student needs.

2. Pedagogical Relevance In theory, making pedagogical adjustments to reconcile challenges of global English, the main test was, on the one hand, taking a lingua franca angle, while on the other, aiming to provide useful input and practice for the IELTS exam. It can be argued that the IELTS exam and Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) models of English are fashioned on the native-English variety, rather than the English as Lingua Franca variety. Reconciling this issue was important in the choice of the varieties of language presented. Moreover, to encourage learner autonomy, adjusting the material to suit the educational background and learning styles of the class with the ultimate aim of fostering complete learner autonomy seemed liked the best option, given time and institutional constraints. This is a complex task, compounded by the fact that the challenge involves reconciling two contradictory aims. According to McKay (2002), findings from much second-languageacquisition research focus on the interference of English with the learner’s L1. Contrary to Sridhar and Sridhar’s opinion regarding “admiration for the native speakers of the target language and a desire to become a member of their culture” (1994, p. 44), the needs analyses I did with my class indicated that their “intrinsic motivation is … to pass an English examination” (McKay, 2002, p. 40), the IELTS, for example, or to avoid the exam altogether by doing an academic pathway programme for higher education. Accordingly, materials to teach academic English were adapted to facilitate this group of students transition into Canadian universities. The academic text was thus made relevant to the learners and to multiculturalism in Canada on the basis that “a bilingual speaker is someone who can converse with monolingual speakers from more than

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one country” (Graddol, 1997, p. 12). The supplementary material was prepared to “appeal to all learning styles; provide learner autonomy; encourage higher level cognitive skills; make language input more engaging”, following techniques of “adding by extending the same type of material; simplifying by rewording instructions; reordering to make more pedagogic sense to sequence activities differently; and replacing material with more appropriate audio visual texts” (Islam & Mares, 2003, p. 9192). 2.1 A practical approach to data collection Qualitative and quantitative feedback was obtained for a comprehensive understanding of students’ perceptions and to match the content of an academic English course book to IELTS standards. First-hand information was readily accessible from institutional surveys. Student observations were recorded over a period of three years with respect to the IELTS and in-house academic test scores. Samples of students’ writing, including IELTS and academic essays were collected from over fifty students and data continues to be extracted from both types of writing to check for errors (lexical, grammatical, stylistic, organisational, etc.) in order to address these in various academic and IELTS related tasks. Following programme evaluations done by the students, information about their learning preferences was sought through focus group tutorials. Interview questions related to previous teaching and learning practices and learner’s general interests. In making pedagogical choices, their prior learning experiences were taken into account to address their current needs for English (as part of their new cultural identities in a multicultural environment that also accounts for their academic and later professional needs). These needs were determined based on both, students’ perceptions of academic preparedness as well as my own assessments of student generated responses to written assignments, test readings, and prior IELTS test scores, if available. Contrary to the notion that learners are not entirely involved (Allwright, 1979), students participated actively in plugging their knowledge gaps over various disciplines of English: general, academic, and exam (IELTS). A negotiated syllabus (Clark, 1989) thus emerged which was internally generated, a cooperative venture between the teacher and learners, and not just a mere adherence to the syllabus made compulsory by the school. The students identified aspects of their English needs, and also made their choices for culturally appropriate and individually motivated topics. Patterns of common errors found in samples of student writings were collated to generate corpora of the students’ own language production,

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which showed recurring errors because they were not in the habit of editing their work. Some inconsistencies were noted and used for feedback, and more opportunities for writing were created to allow for guided and free practice. Hence, it became the most intensely practised skill. 2.2 Combining theory and practice Seidlhofer (2011) elucidates, “the point to be stressed is that ELF cannot be primarily identified with any of the Kachruvian Circles but is a function of the transcultural exploitation of the communicative resource of all three. ELF thus needs to be added as an option to be made use of when appropriate, and as a conceptual innovation reflecting the realities of globalized communication” (p. 81).

Kachruvian circles are described as three boundaries: Inner Circle, Outer Circle, and Expanding Circle, defined by the number of English speakers and the “official recognition” (McKay, 2002, p. 4) or primacy of English in each respective territory. Seidlhofer’s (2011) point illustrates that English as a medium of communication transcends geographical borders or circles defined by Kachru (1989), and that the world of English pervades intercultural communication across boundaries of traditional, colonial or institutional domains. English, therefore, evolves and in the process takes on characteristics of that variety of English spoken by people, regardless of their land-related orientation. Despite this, the use of English as lingua franca in academics, or as a foreign language in Canada or in Saudi Arabia is presumably being assessed on the basis of a native English models. Assuming candidates are expected to produce varieties of standard English – standard being alluded to as the native English speaker model, it is uncertain if any accommodation for its nature as a lingua franca or a foreign language is factored into the assessment. Secondly, it seems to undermine the strength of a lingua franca as a standard despite its strength in numbers. Stressing “grammatical range and accuracy” (IELTS, n.d.), both in standardized testing and with respect to academic English requirements, means that intercultural communication through English as the Lingua Franca ought to be reconceptualised. Consequently, ambiguity about its identity makes it all the more difficult to assess. It is clear, then, that standardized testing systems do become the acceptable system for assessment of English proficiency levels.

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2.3 Conclusion The native speaker standard for assessment might not always be grammatically or phonologically appropriate in terms of English in an international context (Kim, 2006). But despite global advancements, and the phenomenal increase in the numbers of international students travelling to Inner Circle countries, English language proficiency exams, based on a native speaker model of language, have increasingly gained traction. Thus, English as a Native Language inevitably becomes the default language of education, hence of assessment; and, as Jenkins (2014) argues, this is precisely the deficiency: that non-native speakers of English (as lingua franca or foreign language) are measured against standards of native English which tend to be both, inapplicable and nonviable to the learners without any bearing to their current or future practical lives. One would contend that it is impractical to call for any overhaul in standardized testing when it is only being strengthened. Thus, the need to adapt and adopt instruction materials to the native-English standards is a more pragmatic approach to align the two varieties of English (lingua franca and foreign language) instead of substituting one for the other. Also, this is relatively easier by adjusting teaching materials rather than revamping the testing of English criteria for non-native speakers because an IELTS 6.5 or 7 is achievable compared to a band 9: “expert user”, (IELTS, n.d.). The fact that hardly any university demands an 8 or a 9, equivalent to the native-English level, is testimony to the fact that even higher education institutions do not expect native-like English proficiency. This fact is strengthened by Bulley’s (2008) observation that non-native English students are already aware that they could not bridge the gap between the English they would acquire at a learning institution and the native-English level they aspire towards but definitely fall short of. And a 6.5 or 7 is indeed short of perfection, but perfect for securing admission into university. Teaching to tests by adapting materials is necessitated, so that learners become adept at handling standardized tests through refined academic skills. Developing intercultural communicative competencies of students in pre-service academic courses in this context is rendered practically irrelevant, because future interaction at universities is likely to be with non-native speakers of English. At universities English as a lingua franca is the standard by default so students will automatically develop related competencies, an assertion based on my own professional experience with students. A rather disturbing paradox remains unresolved. Students enter into universities in native-English or Inner Circle countries, where chances

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of extensive encounters with native English speakers are slim, but are, nonetheless, required to match up to native English standards as a step in that direction. In an attempt to address this paradox, supplementary materials are presented below.

3. A Sample Lesson Plan Primary aim: To raise awareness of semantics through a common topic – Branding – in academic English and IELTS Secondary aim: To facilitate transfer of grammatical knowledge (form, function, and meaning) and its application in various written academic genres Genre: Argumentative essay in the IELTS writing task 2 Language benchmark: CEFR B1 / B2 or CLB (Canadian Language Benchmarks) 5-7 Assessment benchmark: IELTS bands 6.5 – 7 Theory: Extracting and fine-tuning the “information readers bring to a text” (Grabe, 1988, p. 56) fosters higher order cognitive processing of the reading material and higher retention. Therefore, before students engage in reading, it is imperative to reactivate as much background information as possible about the topic to grasp at least some portion of the textual understanding that native English readers apply to the text in terms of schemata. The activities in this lesson plan are organized to provide learners various opportunities for internalizing the topic in their preferred learning style. Premise: Many students struggle to improve their writing. Also, they would rather work with topics common in academic English and IELTS preparation so that vocabulary and ideas could be used interchangeably to sharpen cognitive skills by increasing the strength and frequency of exposure to target language. Some features of general academic

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English, such as the use of discourse markers, were selected to address some grammatical and stylistic issues found in writing samples collected from learners. This was done to demonstrate how teaching and assessment in the context of English as Lingua Franca can be reconciled to prepare students for English for Academic Purpose. Motivation: Over 75% of the learners opted for business studies, and all students are familiar with many popular brands, so branding and advertising are highly relevant. Overall lesson outcome: To improve in-house and IELTS test results by developing linguistic and cognitive competencies for university or standardized testing, which are inherently the same. 3.1 Warmer: speaking activity Aim 1 – skills: To allow students to orient themselves to the content Aim 2 – language: To elicit the target language (comparison & contrast) Methodology: The task is unstructured but has an element of similarity and contrast inherently self-evident within each category: fast food, telecommunications. At this stage, the criteria for comparison and differentiation are not defined to encourage students to recall any latent knowledge of relevant grammatical structures; a teacher-student interaction is used to lower affective filters. A popular Saudi brand like Almarai (large dairy products company) is used to orient students to the context and engage them instantly. They compare and contrast common popular Saudi brands with international brands e.g. AlBaik (a fast food chain selling fried chicken) and KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken); Zain (telecommunications network in Saudi Arabia) and Rogers (telecommunications network in Canada) to activate content and language schemata. Outcome: Student responses are noted on the board for everyone’s reference. Since the most common answers pertain to taste and quality of meat,

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for example in the food category, these responses are tabulated as follows (Table 18-1, for illustration purposes): Category

Criteria

International Brand (example)

Saudi Brand (example)

Fast food

Taste, quality of meat, price etc.

KFC - too salty, oily - tough - $10/- a meal

Al-Baik - like homemade - tender and juicy - $5/- a meal

Telecommunications

Products, coverage, price

Table 18-1. Student responses Students are paired together to add a few more categories of brands to the table, and fill in the worksheets to maintain a written record for later use. 3.2 Pre-listening activity Aim 1 – skills: To prime students for the listening task and target language input Aim 2 – language: To build vocabulary related to the topic (adjectives, compound nouns). Focus on adjectives with –ing; cohesive devices (pronouns, connectors of sequence) Methodology: This is a semi-structured activity. The following set of questions is provided as a guided pre-listening activity for group discussion where students may be using English as a lingua franca. First, they generate language and the teacher walks around taking note of the structures for later use to help raise awareness of the differences (if any) between the lingua franca and native-English varieties. Then, a list of academic English target structures taken from the two listening texts, and is presented to students so they can identify them as discourse markers within a cohesive text. Q1) What is your understanding of a brand? Q2) What is your opinion about the following brands: Nike, Starbucks, Apple? Which of these is the most successful brand? Why?

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Q3) Why do you think some brands are successful, while other brands fail? Give an example of a brand that is very successful in Saudi Arabia; and a brand that failed in Saudi Arabia. Q4) In your opinion, what is the most important characteristic when making a brand? Q5) How can a brand tell a story? Is it important that a brand should tell a story? Why? Why not? Explain your answer with the help of examples. 3.3.1 Listening 1 Aim – skills: Note-taking while watching the following two videos from YouTube: 1. What is a brand? (TheFinancialBrand, 2011) 2. What is Branding? (DBDInternational, 2015; NorwichBSchool, 2011) Post-listening spot check Aim: Scaffolding to check for language forms (-ing), function and meaning; attention to word families in building “lexical resource” (IELTS, n.d.). Students compare notes to differentiate between a brand and branding. 3.3.2 Listening 2 Aim 1 – skills: Building discussion using notes Aim 2 – language review: Vocabulary, grammar (pair/group work) Methodology: Watch the videos again as a dictogloss activity and take notes. Teacher gives group feedback. Post-listening follow-up Aim: To identify verb tenses, and differentiate between the -ing form (gerund or continuous tense) -

Students explore the AlBaik website and read the ‘AlBaik story’. They highlight various verb tenses (past simple, present simple, present perfect) as part of the ongoing grammar review.

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-

-

They draw a timeline of their own ‘Academic Journey’ from Saudi Arabia to Canada from the year they started kindergarten to the current ESL school in Toronto, and as a challenge set a future date of entering into university. Study timelines are shared as an additional opportunity to practise speaking using personal timeline prompts. Language work: focus on -ing present continuous form used as future tense. Other forms such as will, going to are also discussed. Generates discussion on various functions of -ing: Branding (noun), present continuous for an ongoing activity and future

3.4 Production 1: Speaking – group presentation Aim – skills: Brainstorming, planning, preparing and presenting Q6) Task: Create a new product or service; develop a story of this product or service; use this story to sell your product; do a group presentation of your brand story. You may use your notes (vocabulary and ideas) from the YouTube videos, the AlBaik website along with the following words: origins, reason, need, connection to consumers (e.g. emotional, friendly), importance, personal and community experience. 3.5 Production 2: Collaborative writing - creative Aim – skill: Summarising Q7) Design a logo for the product. In two sentences, write your design philosophy and read it out to the class. 3.6. Production 3: Collaborative writing Aim 1 – skills: Use the activities in Production 1, 2, 3 to promote independent learning and team work; develop research and synthesis skills Aim 2 – language: Recycle lexical resource; use a variety of grammatical structures (compound/compound-complex) (www.ielts.org)

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Task: - Delegate questions within the group to ‘Google’ for information - Share information and complete the responses to Qs 1-5 in writing Methodology: Guided discovery, through a process writing approach. Students review the questions as a spoken activity, and after they research some websites, they revisit the same in writing because language is only a vehicle to convey the message which gets embedded unlike the language itself (Sinclair, 1990). Teacher only facilitates with language support and feedback while students discuss their answers. 3.7. Production 4: Writing – warmer task Aim 1 – skills: Brainstorm ideas and organize writing before doing the final EAP essay (graded). Aim 2 – language: To recycle vocabulary; elicit language prompts for expressing opinions, cohesive devices for starting paragraphs, introducing explanations and examples, etc. “I think it is true...” “The reason why we have so many advertisements…” “With proper regulations, …” “In conclusion, …” Students collate responses from Qs 1-5 and use these to brainstorm for an IELTS writing task 2 question: Today, the high sales of popular consumer goods reflect the power of advertising and not the real needs of the society in which they are sold. To what extent do you agree or disagree? (Cambridge IELTS 6, 2007, Test 1, Writing Task 2, p. 31) 3.8. Academic reading input 3.8.1 Pre-reading Aim: To note how opinions are expressed in the 3rd person (academic style) and the 1st person (acceptable in IELTS)

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3.8.2 While reading Identify opinions expressed in a reading text from an academic English course book. 3.8.3 Post-reading Comprehension task from an EAP course book 3.9. Academic writing output Aim – skill: Synthesis Task: Use the following websites for reference: 1. Why Brand Building Is Important (Goodson, 2012) 2. Advantages & Disadvantages of Branding (Kokemuller, 2018) Develop a thesis and write an essay (1,000 words) on the following quote from website 1: “Branding is fundamental. Branding is basic. Branding is essential. Building brands builds incredible value for companies and corporations.” Methodology: Materials from the above websites provide extra input for higher order cognitive processing, and give models of style, tone and register that students can draw on when writing the assignments. They make outlines in class, and write the first draft after discussing with the teacher. The sample lesson covers 7 hours of material for class work. The final writing assignment is discussed in class, but set as homework so students have time to research, process and synthesise the information.

Acknowledgements Mrs Patricia Grounds, course tutor, MA ELT-online, University of Southampton, for her constructive feedback on the course assignment done in 2015 on which this chapter is based. Mr Lawrence Laffan, teacher of English, Stafford House International, Toronto, Canada, for proofreading and giving valuable feedback on the use of English in a Canadian context.

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References Abu-Ghararah, A. (1990). EFL speaking inability: Its causes and remedies. National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE) Journal, 14, 6373. Retrieved January 21, 2018 from http://perpus.stkipkusumanegara.ac.id/file_digital/Buku%20Digital%2 055.pdf. Al-Ahaydib, M. (1986). Teaching English as a foreign language in the schools of Saudi Arabia. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Kansas, Lawrence. Retrieved January 21, 2018 from http://perpus.stkipkusumanegara.ac.id/file_digital/Buku%20Digital%2 055.pdf. Allwright, D. (1979). Abdication and responsibility in language teaching, Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 2 (1), 105-121. Al-Seghayer, K. (2011) Teaching English in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Slowly but steadily changing. In G. Braine (Ed.), Teaching English to the world: History, curriculum, and practice. Routledge. Retrieved January 6, 2018 from http://perpus.stkipkusumanegara.ac.id/file_digital/Buku%20Digital%2 055.pdf. Clarke, D.F. (1989). Materials adaptation: Why leave it all to the teacher? ELT Journal, 43 (2), 133-141. doi:10.1093/elt/43.2.133 Crystal, D. (2004). The past, present, and future of World English. Globalization and the future of German. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Retrieved January 28, 2014, from http://www.davidcrystal.com/DC_articles/English9.pdf. DBD International (2015, February 1). What is Branding? [Video file] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaGotppPsCs Goodson, S. (2012, May 27) Why brand building is important [Blog post] Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/marketshare/2012/05/27/why-brandbuilding-is-important/#7ced7b9d3006 Grabe, W. (1988). Reassessing the term “interactive”. In P. Carrell, J. Devine, & D. Eskey (Eds.), Interactive Approaches to Second Language Reading (Cambridge Applied Linguistics, pp. 56-70). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Graddol, D. (1997). The Future of English. London: The British Council. Retrieved on January 6, 2018 from https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/learning-eltfuture.pdf.

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Greene, J. C. (2008). Is mixed methods social inquiry a distinctive methodology? Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 2 (1), 7-22. How IELTS is scored. (n.d.) Retrieved from https://www.ielts.org/aboutthe-test/how-ielts-is-scored Islam, C., & Mares, C. (2003). Adapting classroom materials. In Tomlinson, B. (Ed.) Developing materials for language teaching (pp. 72-100). London: Continuum. Jenkins, J. (2014). Global Englishes: A resource book for students. Oxon: Routledge. Kachru, B. (1989). Teaching world Englishes. Indian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 15 (1), 85-93. Kim, H. (2006). World Englishes in language testing: A call for research. English Today, 22 (4), 32–39. doi:10.1017/s0266078406004068 Kokemuller, N. (2018, April 16) Advantages & Disadvantages of branding. In AZCentral. Retrieved on April 16, 2018, from https://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/advantages-disadvantagesbranding-11411.html McKay, S.L. (2002). Teaching English as an international language: Rethinking goals and approaches. 32; 49-80; 131-134. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Muranen, (2007, September 21). Letters. Times Higher Education Supplement. Retrieved from Topic 8, course module LING 6025, MA in ELT – online, University of Southampton, UK. NorwichBSchool (2011, September 16). What is Branding? [Video file] Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKIAOZZritk Saraceni, C. (2003) Adapting courses: A critical view. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Developing materials for language teaching (pp. 72-85). London: Continuum. Saraceni, C. (2013). Adapting courses: A personal view. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Developing materials for language teaching (2nd ed., pp. 49-62). Chennai Bloomsbury. Seidlhofer, B. (2011). Understanding English as a Lingua Franca. OUP in English as a Lingua Franca (ELF): a mode and its implications by Cornelia Hulmbauer. Retrieved on May 5, 2015 from http://www.academia.edu/1993725/English_as_a_lingua_franca_a_mo de_and_its_implications. Sridhar, S.N., & Sridhar, K.K.. (1994). Indigenized Englishes as second languages: Toward a functional theory of second language acquisition in multilingual contexts in Agnihotri, R.K. and A.L. Khanna (Eds.), Second language acquisition: Socio-cultural and linguistic aspects of English in India (pp. 41-63). London: Sage Publications.

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Subhani, I. (2016). Examination materials and Arab learners: Exploring the efficacy of examinations texts in learning and testing for academic English. A Case Study. (Unpublished Master’s thesis). Southampton: University of Southampton. TheFinancialBrand. (2011, October 26). What is a Brand? [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5016fh7TgQ Tomlinson, B. (Ed.). (1998). Materials development in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Tomlinson, B. (Ed.). (2013). Developing materials for language teaching (2nd ed). Chennai: Bloomsbury. Zaid, M. (1993). Comprehensive analysis of the current system of teaching English as a foreign language in Saudi Arabian intermediate schools. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Boulder, CO: University of Colorado. Retrieved January 21, 2018 from http://perpus.stkipkusumanegara.ac.id/file_digital/Buku%20Digital%2 055.pdf

CHAPTER NINETEEN MEANING-FOCUSED ACTIVITIES AS INCORPORATED IN ACTUAL COMMUNICATION: EVALUATION OF FORMAL ESL TEACHING AND ASSESSMENT MATERIALS ASMA AFTAB

Introduction Based on the British Academic Written English corpus, the word ‘meaning’ occurs most frequently in the discourse composed within the discipline of applied linguistics, which indicates the tremendous importance given to this term in this field of study. ‘Meaning’ at the very basic level has been associated with the semantic understanding of lexical items; however, in the context of recent language teaching approaches such as the communicative approach (which emphasizes creation and negotiation of meaning) and related methodologies such as Task-Based Language Teaching, ‘meaning’ implies a message which the communicator conveys to an audience for a specific purpose. Recently, Littlewood (2004) and Ellis (2005, 2009) have elucidated and characterized the term meaning from different perspectives. Littlewood (2004) proposed a scheme or continuum for classifying language activities according to the extent that the activity focuses on language form or deals with meaning; the first category indicating pure attention on form is “noncommunicative learning” (pure structural/ linguistic focus), while the fifth category signifying pure meaning-focused tasks is termed “authentic communication” (flexible and free communication) (Littlewood, 2004, p. 322). As apparent from this typology, Littlewood assumes meaning to signify information or message and this concept is presented as being antagonistic to ‘form’.

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According to Ellis (2005), the term meaning can have two implications: meaning of vocabulary items and structural aspects (semantic meaning) and contextual implications (pragmatic meaning). Semantic meaning implies the ‘abstract’ information set in the lexical and syntactic elements of the discourse (Griffiths, 2006). Pragmatic meaning is based on the communicative context of a spoken/written utterance and effective communication in this sense depends on how far the addressee (the listener/reader) has perceived the producer’s (speaker’s/listener’s) purpose, that is, can comprehend the ideas which he/she wants to communicate (ibid.). In brief, ‘meaning’ continues to figure significantly as a key concept in some sections of applied linguistics literature and research. In the following sections, I will attempt to elucidate the concept in terms of communication while highlighting some functional approaches which can support language learning in classrooms. Next, I will evaluate the extent to which some teaching and examination materials reflect the specified theoretical perspectives.

Meaning Redefined ‘Meaning’ cannot be limited to manifest ‘ideas’ and/or semantic and pragmatic implications. In fact, in order to characterize ‘meaning’ in the context of language learning, it is essential to analyse how language is used in real life, since “the need to communicate lies at the heart of all language learning” and “this involves not just communicating within the classroom but ultimately in the real world outside” (Rubdy, 2003, p. 47). Though most communication involves language, what is being conveyed and the intended purposes are more important; the lexis, grammatical elements (such as use of verbs and articles) and mechanical features (such as punctuation and intonation patterns) function as the best possible ‘vehicle’ of a message according to the aim, audience and situation. The following two short oral excerpts will help to illustrate these aspects of communication. Example 1:

“Donald Trump is going to be our president.” (Golshan, 2016, Nov 9, para. 16).

This example has been taken from Hillary Clinton’s (the United States 2016 presidential candidate’s) concession speech. Clinton makes this declaration apparently in order to display her sense of commitment to the American democratic process while accepting her defeat. However, this

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utterance in actual effect has more implicit intentions: Clinton wants to promote herself as a gracious and very open-minded politician who wholeheartedly accepts the results of an election even when these are against her. At the same time, she wants to signal to her supporters to refrain from inciting the general public’s anger against the winner Trump, considering that during the run-up to the election tension and negative feelings were running very high. Thus the quoted statement reflects different layers of complex objectives and intentions. An analysis of this opening of Clinton’s speech highlights that appropriate linguistic features help her achieve both the explicit purposes and the hidden agendas of communication as demanded by the specific situation. First of all, the grammatical or functional words (namely “going to” and “our”) (instead of the content words) actually imbibe significance in this sentence as these help to create the main meaning. Moreover, the role of “going to” as presented in grammar books is different in this real-life example; for instance, we are informed that the most common function of “going to” is to talk about decisions or to predict events based on existing signals. However, while this verb phrase refers to the future here, it is not really being used here by Clinton to indicate her decision or prediction, since irrespective of whether she had made this assertion or not, as the situation stood at that time, it was a foregone conclusion that Donald Trump would be the next president of USA. Clinton is using “going to” subtly to manipulate the opinion and feelings of her supporters, US politicians and public, and even the international community. The key aim of communication here is the intended effect of the message on the relevant audience (involving arousal of the desired attitude and feelings of approval and appreciation) and thus the message is important and it has to be conveyed clearly and effectively using relevant language. Example 2:

“There’s something in the air!” (MacBook Air Introduction by Steve Jobs, 2008)

This exclamation was used by Steven Jobs (the co-founder and the former chairman of Apple Inc.) to open a presentation intending to introduce and promote his product (the latest notebook MacBook Air). These words have been used in a double sense: at one level, Jobs is insinuating through a hyperbole that something is about to happen and everyone is excited about it (in order to promote the product), but at another level, he is, in effect, introducing the name of the new product through this common idiom. The main aim is to attract the audience so that they are interested to listen to his marketing presentation and probably

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become prospective buyers of the notebook; the language (lexis, structural features, and the stress and intonation patterns) here plays the subordinate role of expressing the relevant ideas helping him fulfill the purpose of communication. In short, both the quoted utterances are examples of “successful outcomes” (Tomlinson, 2008, p. 6); the speakers’ main focus is on communicating messages in order to fulfil different purposes (complex political point scoring and a promotional introduction of a new product) and they are using linguistic elements appropriately to convey their messages according to the context (that is, the communicative purposes and the specific audience). Finally, it is pertinent to highlight, as the quoted utterances indicate, that effective communication entails the emotional and cognitive involvement of the communicator and the audience. Based on this analysis of two real communicative acts, ‘meaning’ in the context of language learning can be assumed to incorporate the following elements:

Fig. 19-1 Characterizing ‘meaning’

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The message, the language, the communicational context and relevancy constitute important aspects of ‘meaning’. In other words, according to this framework, meaning-focused tasks focus on ideas and linguistic structures for expressing those ideas, and are contextualized reflecting a purpose for communication, a sense of audience, and the communicator’s and/or audience’s interest and/or needs. Thus, these activities are similar to communication in the world outside the classroom where the speaker/writer conveys what he/she wants to according to his/her aims, requirements and interests (adapted from Tomlinson, 2003) using appropriate linguistic structures. The following evaluation framework (which is derived from the above discussed assumptions) is proposed in order to assess the extent to which English as a Second Language (ESL) activities and formal English language examinations have adopted a meaning-focused approach: Criteria Code

C2

C3

Main attention is on the conveyed message

Both semantic and pragmatic meanings are under focus

Forms to be used are relevant to the message & the context (in fact, according to this characterization of meaning, this concept is not assumed as being opposite to form, but instead it is accepted that the use of appropriate linguistic structures supports the effective communication of meaning)

0

only focus on language

only focus on semantic meanings

no focus on any compatibility between language and content

1

only focus on only explicit semantic no importance given to compatibility focus on language meanings to a between language and content very large extent

Criteria/ Score

1.5

2

2.5

C1

only focus on pre-dominant semantic focus on language meanings to a large extent

a very limited focus on compatibility between language and content

direct focus only on language to a large extent

focus on semantic meanings predominately

a limited focus on compatibility between language and content

a very limited direct focus on ideas

semantic meanings given importance

focus on compatibility between language and content to a small extent

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3

direct focus on ideas to a limited extent

both semantic and pragmatic meanings given importance but the latter to a limited extent

focus on compatibility between language and content to a moderate extent

3.5

explicit focus on ideas to some extent

pragmatic meanings given importance to some extent

focus on compatibility between language and content to some extent

4

explicit focus on ideas to a large extent

pragmatic meanings given importance to a large extent

focus on compatibility between language and content to a large extent

4.5

explicit focus on ideas to a very large extent

pragmatic meanings given focus on compatibility between language importance to a and content to a very large extent very large extent

5

complete explicit focus on ideas

pragmatic meanings given complete importance

complete (holistic, thorough & full) reflection of compatibility between language and content

Table 19-1. Meaning-focused evaluation criteria and elaboration of scores (codes C1-C3) Criteria Code

C4

C5

C6

Criteria/ Score

Reflects a communicative purpose

Reflects a sense of audience

The utilized topic(s) reflects/reflect the target students’/candidates’ interests

0

no focus on any communicative purpose

no focus on any audience

no reflection of interests of the target population

1

no importance given to any communicative purpose

no importance given to any audience

no importance given to interests of the target population

1.5

a very limited focus on communicative purpose

a very limited focus on audience

a very limited reflection of interests of the target population

2

a limited focus on communicative purpose

a limited focus on audience

a limited reflection of interests of the target population

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2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

focus on communicative focus on purpose to a small audience to a extent small extent

reflection of interests of the target population to a small extent

focus on communicative focus on purpose to a moderate audience to a extent moderate extent

reflection of interests of the target population to a moderate extent

focus on focus on communicative reflection of general interests of the audience to some purpose to some extent target population to some extent extent focus on focus on communicative audience to a purpose to a large extent large extent

reflection of general interests of the target population to a large extent

focus on communicative focus on purpose to a very large audience to a extent very large extent

reflection of the specific interests of the target population to some extent

complete focus on communicative purpose

reflection of the specific interests of the target population to a large extent

complete focus on audience

Table 19-2. Meaning-focused evaluation criteria and elaboration of scores (codes C4-C6) Criteria Code

Criteria/ Score

C7

The task(s) is/are compatible with the target students’/candidates’ needs

C8 The task(s) is/are flexible (that is, it/they provide(s) opportunities to the target students/candidates to choose the topic(s), relevant aspects related to the topic(s), and/or appropriate language/style)

0

no reflection of relevant needs

not at all flexible

1

no importance given to relevant needs

flexible to a very limited extent

1.5

compatible with relevant needs to a very limited extent

flexible to a limited extent

2

reflection of relevant needs to a limited extent

flexible to a small extent

2.5

compatible with relevant needs to a small extent

flexible to a moderate extent

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3

reflection of relevant needs to a moderate extent

flexible to some extent

3.5

compatible with relevant needs to some extent

flexible to a large extent

4

reflection of relevant needs to a large extent

flexible to a very large extent

4.5

compatible with relevant needs to a very large extent

mostly flexible

5

complete reflection of relevant needs

completely flexible

Table 19-3. Meaning-focused evaluation criteria and elaboration of scores (codes C7-C8)

Tables 19-1, 19-2 and 19-3, first of all, present the 8 elements of the framework or evaluation criteria together with the scores (0-5) which can be assigned to the activities. In addition, these tables elaborate what each score implies in terms of the relevant criteria element. The ESL coursebook Step Ahead (level 1), The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) examination, and the Cambridge O Level English Language Examination (2014 - 2020) will be evaluated in the subsequent sections of this chapter. Here it is important to point out that this evaluation to a certain extent is limited in scope since, in the case of the textbook, only five activities were examined, and for IELTS the data was mainly elicited from the sample examination papers.

Evaluation of the Textbook Step Ahead 1 Step Ahead (Jones & Mann, 2006a, 2006b) is prescribed in Singapore and some other countries such as Pakistan. In Pakistan, it is prescribed at the middle level (grade VI onwards). Each level of this textbook series includes a student book and an activity book. Five activities were selected from the student and the activity books of Step Ahead 1. The student book incorporates mainly explanations and the only relevant areas for evaluation were the main writing and speaking sections; one of these sections was randomly chosen from the content pages. The activity book consists of different activities related to the language skills and linguistic areas; for the purpose of this evaluation it was decided to focus on listening skills, thinking skills, grammar and vocabulary and one task from each of these earmarked sections was selected randomly once again using

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the content pages. These tasks were assessed using the above presented framework to establish the extent to which these activities have adopted a meaning-focused approach (see Jones & Mann, 2006a, 2006b for the page references in Table 19-4): Excerpts from the Activities

Activity A: “In this writing workshop, you will write and design an advertisement for a product that will help … study better” (2006a, p. 252). Activity B: “Read the following brochure headings and … find the denotative meaning as well as the connotative associations of these words”. (2006b, p. 79) Activity C: “The following brochure describes how boys and girls learn about how … to behave. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate relative pronouns”. (p. 82) Activity D: “Listen to the passage from The Hobbit and choose the best answer for each question. 1. Where did the hobbit live? (p. 88) Activity E: You are a reporter who has to submit two different reports for two news websites. The first website is called Keen and Sharp Parents… The second website is called KidsmArt… You will need to rewrite the following report (from The Straits Times: 2 January 2000) for the two websites. [own addition]” (p. 150).

Scores C1 C2

C3

C4

C5

C6

C7

C8

Total Scores (%) 35.5 (89%)

4.5

3.5

5

5

5

4

5

3.5

2

3

2

2

1

2

2

1

15 (37.5%)

0

0

2

0

0

2

1

0

5 (12.5%)

3.5

1

0

0

1

4

1.5

0

11 (27.5%)

3.5

4

4

5

5

2.5

4

2.5

30.5 (76 %)

Table 19-4. Evaluation of Step Ahead activities

Rationale for Evaluation Scores The first activity, A, asks learners to prepare an advertisement promoting a product that will “help” the students “study better” (Jones & Mann, 2006a,

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p. 252) and the specific requirements are to incorporate “description”, “selling points”, views and factual details of the advertised item; thus, this task has an explicit focus on ideas to a very large extent (C1). In order to effectively undertake this task, each student will have to use language which will help him/her fulfill the specific objective of composing advertisements; some guidance has been provided in the activity such as utilizing “a mixture of facts and opinions” and “superlative adjectives” (2006a, p. 252). However, to a large extent, the learners will have to work based on their experience of such genres, selecting content, linguistic features and style which can lead them to promote the selected product. In short, Activity A provides opportunity for focusing on both semantic and pragmatic meanings to some extent (C2) and using linguistic structures which are completely compatible with the indicated purpose (C3). Similarly, the task in every respect reflects a communicative purpose (promotion) (C4) and sense of audience (classmates) (C5). 135 students belonging to grades VI and VII of 5 Pakistani private schools were asked to rate 14 randomly selected topics reflected in the various activities of Step Ahead 1 in terms of the level of interest. The topic presented in Activity A, namely “products which will help you study better” was assessed to be ‘very interesting’ or ‘interesting’ by a majority of these respondents, implying that the theme may be of interest to some sections of the target population to a large extent (C6). Moreover, the task is completely relevant to the learners’ real-life needs (specifically using language for promotion) (C7) and since the students are free to choose their own item, content, language and style within the provided broad guidelines, Activity A is also flexible to a large extent (C8). Activity B asks learners to provide the denotative and connotative meanings of the provided brochure headings. Thus the task directly focuses only on language to a large extent (C1). The learners will be comprehending the semantic meaning and additionally interpreting the pragmatic meaning only to a limited extent since the headings are decontextualized, that is, removed from the relevant specific discourse (C2); similarly, the activity may help students to acquire an understanding of context based linguistic compatibility to a limited degree (C3). The communicative purpose is implied only to a limited extent (C4), while no importance is given to the target audience meant for the provided headings (C5). Some of the themes suggested by the headings (such as transport services and shampoos) might be of interest to some of the target learners, though the task in actual fact does not focus on the appeal or effectiveness of the headings; thus the task may reflect interests of the target population to a limited extent (C6). Merely finding the meanings and implications of

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the provided words has relevance to the students’ real life needs to a limited degree (C7) and the task is flexible to a very limited extent (C8). Activity C involves providing suitable relative pronouns to complete the provided brochure, which focuses on the correlation between different ways of bringing up boys and girls and their varied behaviour. The following two sentences taken from the brochure illustrate the requirements of this task: “Sandra and Daryl Ben, _____ are married, have done an interesting study on this issue.” “These differences, _____ have been confirmed by many studies, are clear even by the age of six months.” (Jones and Mann, 2006b, p. 82) As can be seen, this activity only requires identifying the relevant nouns as animate or inanimate in order to decide whether ‘who’ or ‘which’ is needed in the blank. As such, the task only focuses on language (relative pronouns) and does not reflect the pragmatic implications (C1 and C2). The understanding of only the relationship between the restricted content (the noun phrases) and the grammatical structure (the relative pronouns) is being assessed; thus the task reflects the linguistic compatibility with subject matter to a limited degree (C3). There is no reflection of any communicative function (C4) or suggested audience (C5). Learners (aged between eleven and thirteen years) may be interested in the message provided in the text, but they are not required to actually focus on or interact with the provided ideas and so the activity was assessed to reflect the interests of the target population to a limited extent (C6). The activity apparently does not give any importance to the target students’ real-life needs; it only deals with a single area of grammatical competence (relative pronouns) (C7). Moreover, this controlled task neither provides learners freedom to choose their own language nor content (C8). Activity D is a listening task incorporating multiple choice questions based on a narrative fictional excerpt from the book The Hobbit. The activity involves focusing on largely explicitly provided factual information. Thus, this task requires understanding the orally presented ideas to some extent (C1). The focus is only on semantic meanings to a very large extent (C2). The activity does not reflect any compatibility between message and language (C3) or any communicative purpose (C4). Moreover, the target learners are not required to interact cognitively and affectively as audience or listeners with the provided message (C5). A small number of Pakistani target users expressed interest in the main topic

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of the text (that is, the theme of hobbits) and so the activity can be said to reflect the interests of one section of the target population to a large extent (C6). However, the task incorporates multiple choice items, and so instead of actually understanding the text in order to answer the questions learners may merely guess the right answer; thus the activity was evaluated to be compatible with the real-life needs of the target students to a very limited extent (C7). Moreover, the task is very controlled and does not provide any linguistic/content-based flexibility (C8). Activity E asks learners to compose two reports about changes in Singaporean education policy for two websites, each focusing on a different age group (Singaporean teenagers and their parents) and their tastes; the content has to be adapted from the provided newspaper item. Since the relevant content has to be selected for each report, there is a focus on ideas to some extent (C1). The students will be using language according to the requirements in each case and so they will be required to display both semantic and pragmatic understanding of the used vocabulary to a large degree (C2), while they are provided an opportunity of choosing the linguistic features and style according to the provided contexts to a large extent (C3). The task explicitly and completely reflects the communicative function of informing specific sections of the population (Singaporean teenagers and parents) (C4 and C5). Nevertheless, most of the target students may not find the main theme of these reports interesting and so the task reflects interests of the target population only to a small extent (C6). However, since this activity is similar to tasks which the learners may have to undertake outside the classrooms in their future life (that is, preparing informative web reports), it is compatible with their needs to a large extent (C7). Nonetheless, though the students have to choose effective language and appropriate styles for writing the reports, most of the content has been provided and this makes this task flexible only to a moderate degree. The selected activities of this textbook received varied scores; the mean score was 19 (47%).

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Evaluation of International English Language Assessment Bands and Schemes: The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) examination has four components: listening, reading, writing and speaking. There are two versions of the reading and writing sections: the academic version is taken by prospective students, while the general skills module is taken by prospective immigrants. The assessment scheme of the IELTS incorporates 9 bands with ‘1’ indicating the lowest proficiency level and ‘9’ indicating the highest proficiency level. The assessment band descriptions have been clearly specified for the speaking and writing components. The band 9 descriptions for both skills emphasize linguistic “accuracy” and language based fluency (British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia and the University of Cambridge, n.d.). The evaluation based on the assessment bands, format descriptors, and sample examination papers has elicited the following scores: Sections Listening Reading Writing Speaking

Scores C1 C2 3 0 2.5 0 1.5 3.5 2 3.5

Total Scores (%) C3 1 1 3 3

C4 3.5 3.5 4.5 2

C5 3.5 2 3 2

C6 3 3 3 3

C7 2.5 2.5 3 2

C8 0 0 2.5 2

16.5 (41 %) 14.5 (36 %) 24 (60 %) 19.5 (49 %)

Table 19-5. Evaluation of IELTS examination

Rationale for Evaluation Scores Listening section The listening section requires candidates to listen for specific factual information or precise words/phrases and, at times, to comprehend either certain sentences/phrases or the overall content (theme); there is a direct focus on both ideas and language, but the former to a limited extent (C1). Most tasks either involve reproducing the exact words from the presented oral texts or understanding only the semantic meanings of specific phrases, such as "was never a disappointment” (Cambridge English IELTS, 2001, p. 127) (C2). Appropriate usage of language is not given any importance in this section (C3). The main aim of the test items appears to be to gain factual information (thus the communicative purpose is reflected to some extent) (C4), but no audience is explicitly identified. However, some

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utilized text types reflect specific audience types; for instance, a lecture given by a geography professor indicates university students enrolled in the geography programme as relevant listeners, and an interview with an environmental expert suggests an audience which is interested in this issue. Nevertheless, in those tasks which involve listening to formal or informal conversations, the candidates seem more likely to be placed in the role of over-hearers or eavesdroppers. Thus overall we can say that a sense of audience is reflected to some extent in this section (C5). The tasks assess a number of listening sub-skills (such as listening for specific information and following directions), but useful higher order cognitive skills (such as evaluation and critical listening) are not utilized; thus the listening tasks are compatible with the candidates’ needs to a small extent (C7). The test questions are inflexible since candidates can neither choose their texts/tasks nor use their own ideas while responding to the questions (C8). Reading section The reading section requires candidates to decipher main themes and specific information; in many instances, the exact words/phrases incorporated in the presented texts are to be provided and the prime focus is on selected key phrases and words. The clues for the answers are, at times, mentioned directly in the questions. For example, one sample task requires prospective candidates to match the provided description “It is open for breakfast” (Cambridge English IELTS, 2001, p. 112) with one of the listed restaurants; however, the candidate can easily choose the correct restaurant name since the advertisement promoting the relevant restaurant incorporates the phrase “Breakfast by the water” (p. 113). Thus there is mainly explicit focus on language while a very limited direct focus on ideas since candidates can answer most questions without actually paying much attention to the content (C1). The reading section tasks do not give any importance to understanding of the appropriate usage of language and only the semantic meanings of selected lexis are under focus; for example, in one sample practice test the correct responses require deciphering that a “market research organization” (p. 83) is the same as a “business survey organization” (p. 85). In short, the test items only assess “local-literal comprehension” (Moore, Morton, & Price, 2007, p. 63). Moreover, the aim of these test items (similar to other reading examinations) is to test candidates’ “abilities to process written text”, instead of acquisition and assimilation of well-defined discipline-related subject matter as is the case in actual academic environments (p. 68) (C2 and C3). The main aim of the reading tasks appears to be to gain specific information, reflecting a focus

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on communicative purpose to some extent (C4). However, these task questions only reflect any sense of audience to a limited extent since the passages have been presented out of context (C5). The reading test assesses some sub-skills (such as summarizing or scanning) which the candidates may need in their real life. However, the test items differ in many ways from university-based academic reading tasks, since these additionally require “global”, interpretative, analytical and purposeful interaction with texts (Moore, Morton, & Price, 2007, p. 65). Thus the tasks are compatible with the target candidates’ needs only to a small extent (C7). The candidates are not provided any freedom to choose the texts or activities; moreover, the test format restricts the candidates to only providing or selecting the precise phrases/words. In short, the reading activities are not at all flexible (C8). Writing section The detailed format and the band descriptors for the two writing tasks (both academic and general training versions) indicate a predominant focus on proper organization, style, and grammatical, lexical and mechanical accuracy, rather than content and appropriateness. The descriptions for each band are classified into four categories, namely ‘task achievement/response’, ‘coherence and cohesion’, ‘lexical resources’, and ‘grammatical range and accuracy’; only the first category additionally focuses on relevance and development of ideas. Thus both the examination tasks reflect a pre-dominant focus on language (C1). The mention of proper usage of lexis in the band descriptors indicates that the candidates should be aware of both the semantic and pragmatic meanings of words to some extent (C2). The detailed format, especially of the general training tasks, alludes to relevant use of language, so overall there appears to be reflection of the appropriate usage of language to a modest extent (C3). Both communicative purpose and sense of audience are reflected to varied degrees in the first task; the second task requires detailing and justifying one’s viewpoints about the specified issue (in the format of an assignment in the general training version) and thus implies a focus on the communicative function of sharing and rational justification of opinions. In other words, there is a reflection of communicative purpose to a very large extent, but a moderate focus on a sense of audience (C4 and C5). In general, individuals may be required to write letters, reports and argumentative/discursive essays for academic, professional or personal reasons; hence, the writing tasks are compatible with the needs of the target candidates to a moderate extent (C7).

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The candidates are not provided any choice of topic or genre in the writing section. Moreover, the first writing task directly specifies the detailed content either in the form of graphs/tables in the academic version or explicitly listed requirements in the general training version. For instance, in the sample task (general training version) asking candidates to write a letter reminding the relevant airline for lost baggage, the following instructions are provided: “Write to the airline and explain what happened. Describe your suitcase and tell them what was in it. Find out what they are going to do about it.” (Cambridge English IELTS, 2001, p. 124)

Such directions directly try to control the ideas which the candidates will be incorporating in the letter. In short, the first task is not very flexible in terms of the particular content areas which can be handled. The second task is an argumentative/discursive essay and the examination question presents one contentious or debatable topic related to a social issue, for instance capital punishment, and the candidates are required to express and justify their own opinions. The second task is more flexible since the candidates are free to incorporate their own notions, perceptions and interpretations. However, the provision of a single topic, and the requirement of primarily incorporating logical and valid reasons in a formal academic style restrict the candidates’ decision-making autonomy to a moderate degree (C8). Speaking section The speaking section has three components. The first task involves talking about some familiar topic, such as favourite outdoor activities (Cambridge English IELTS, 2001, p. 53). In the second part, the candidates are asked to talk at length about one theme, such as a museum (p. 53). Part 3 incorporates a comprehensive discussion and analysis about the topic introduced in the preceding task; for instance, “How important is it for children to visit museums?” (p. 53). The test mainly follows the adjacency pair (question-answer) structure. The speaking band descriptors are classified into four categories, but only one category, “fluency and coherence”, referring to detailed and adequate topic development as one element of the assessment criteria, indicates any focus on meaning. Moreover, the criteria for the highest bands indicate acceptance of instances of any “content-related” “hesitation” and not “language-related” indecisiveness (British Council, n.d.). Thus the speaking tasks require direct attention being paid only to language to a large extent (C1).

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The three speaking tasks involve semantically understanding the presented questions and topics; however, for the second and third tasks, the candidate has to be aware of the pragmatic usage of the relevant lexis and structures to some extent in order to communicate accurately, clearly and appropriately (C2). In addition, the band descriptors mention appropriate use of grammatical structures as one aspect of the assessment criteria implying importance being assigned to compatibility between content and language to a moderate extent (C3). Since the candidate is presenting and justifying his/her views, the three tasks apparently reflect a communicative purpose and a sense of audience, though, unlike in a real conversation, because of the examination format, there is no indication of a relevant situation/context. In fact, the tasks involve no real communication since the examiner is not really interested in the provided information or opinions; there is no true exchange of ideas or discussion and the talking is “almost entirely one-sided” (Seedhouse & Harris, 2008, p. 40). In short, the tasks focus on communicative function and a sense of audience only to a limited extent (C4 and C5). The candidates are provided only the freedom to develop the specified topics and present relevant reasons and examples; every other aspect (including the topics) is strictly controlled. “Candidates have little or no opportunity to display their ability to introduce and manage topic development, ask questions or manage turn-taking” (Seedhouse & Harris, 2008, p. 40). Thus the speaking tasks are assessed to be flexible only to a small extent (C8). In fact, the speaking test is not in actual fact similar to a normal conversation since the speakers are not provided any decisionmaking opportunities; they have to articulate thoughts based on the given topics focusing primarily on linguistic accuracy, fluency and time management. These characteristics render the test different from real-life speaking activities such as conversations, debates, interviews and presentations and in short, reflect the target candidates’ needs only to a limited degree (C7).

Compatibility of IELTS Examination Items with the Candidates’ Interests (C6) A small-scale survey was conducted in order to decipher whether the relevant population could be interested in the content or themes incorporated in the IELTS examination. Thirty Pakistani adults who could be prospective candidates of the IELTS examination participated in the survey; in fact, one participant had already taken the examination while another had prepared for the examination. A closed-ended questionnaire

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which presented 20 topics either directly taken from IELTS sample papers or similar to the IELTS sample themes was used as a research tool. The participants were asked to indicate their degree of interest. Most of the respondents indicated higher interest levels for 15 topics; these topics included ‘Caring for the old’, ‘Museums’, ‘National art centres’, ‘Role of advertisements’, ‘and ‘Celebrities & their private lives’. Low levels of interest were shown towards ‘Beetles and bees’ and ‘Capital punishment’. In conclusion, based on this small-scale survey, it can be claimed that most topics incorporated in all four sections of the examination may appeal to some sections of Pakistani IELTS candidates. However, it is not possible to make generalizations about all the IELTS candidates since these individuals belong to different countries, ages, and social backgrounds, and so they may have varied experiences and tastes. Thus, for the criterion C6 each IELTS section has been assigned an average score of ‘3’, implying compatibility with the interests of the target population to a moderate extent. The mean score was 19 (47%), which indicates that, overall, the IELTS examination reflects a limited focus on meaning; the writing section displays the most characteristics of meaning-based activities, while the reading section reflects minimal focus on meaning. All the sections of the examination are inflexible and the expression of ideas is highly controlled; in addition, the test incorporates listening, reading and speaking tasks which were assessed to be generally unlike those undertaken in real life.

Evaluation of Cambridge O Level English Language Examination (2014-2020) The Cambridge O Level English Language examination (2014-2020) includes two papers and each paper incorporates two tasks. Paper 1 incorporates one directed writing task and one composition writing activity. Paper 2 focuses on reading skills; the first task involves summary writing, while the second task assesses reading comprehension. Both tasks are based on two different reading passages. The marking criteria indicate that the prime focus of assessment for this examination is on language and style, instead of the content. For instance, an excerpt from the highest band description for the second writing task (composition writing) is as follows: - Consistently relevant. Interest aroused and sustained. - Tone and register entirely appropriate (Cambridge International Examinations, Mark Scheme, 2015, p. 6)

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As can be seen, style is being assessed even when content is under focus. The evaluation of the syllabus objectives, the assessment schemes and the past/sample examination papers resulted in the following data: Tasks Paper 1: Task 1 Paper 1: Task 2 Paper 2: Task 1 Paper 2: Task 2

Scores C1 C2 3.5 2.5 2 2 3.5 2 3 2

Total Scores (%) C3 4 2 2 2

C4 4.5 2 1.5 2

C5 4.5 1 0 0

C6 2 3.5 2 4

C7 4 2.5 2 3

C8 1 4 2 0

26 (65%) 19 (47.5 %) 15 (37.5 %) 16 (40 %)

Table 19-6. Evaluation of Cambridge O Levels English Language examination

Rationale for Evaluation Scores Paper 1: Task 1 The first task of Paper 1 is directed writing, in which students are provided a familiar situation and they are required to write a specific text type for a stated purpose and indicated audience. There is no choice in this activity. In-depth elaboration of specified aspects is required, so there seems to be a direct focus on content to some extent (C1). However, it is not clear from the task specification and the marking scheme whether pragmatic implications of the utilized language will be given any importance (C2). Nonetheless, style and tone relevant to the required context and text type are indicated and assessed reflecting compatibility between content and language to a large extent (C3). The activity reflects an appropriate communicative purpose (for instance, informing people about a fellow citizen’s valuable public service, or wishing a friend best wishes for the future) and a sense of audience to a very large extent since a context (for instance, the building of a new road, or a popular school friend moving overseas) is provided and specific text types (for example, a letter to a newspaper or a speech) and audience (such as readers of a local newspaper or class fellows) are mentioned. Moreover, the assessment criteria of the task directly focus on these two aspects “Good understanding of purpose” (Cambridge International Examinations, Mark Scheme, 2015, p. 3) and “Clear awareness of … audience” (2015, p. 3) (C4 and C5). However, limited topics and text-types are under focus and thus the subject matter and style may not be compatible with the diverse tastes of all the candidates and in short, this task reflects the interests of the target population to only a limited extent (C6). Nevertheless, students may be required to undertake similar tasks (that is, using language for specific communicative reasons and audience) outside the classroom and so this

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writing activity reflects the needs of the target population to a large extent (C7). All three listed aspects should be discussed and the required style is also specified. For instance, the specimen paper for 2018 provides the following instructions for the candidates: “You must [own emphasis] include the following: - The name of your friend and where your friend is going - Why your friend is moving - What you and your classmates will miss about your friend. Cover all three points above in detail. You should [own emphasis] make sure your speech is both polite and friendly.” (Cambridge, Specimen Paper 1, 2015, p. 2) In short, this task is flexible to a very limited extent, especially as far as the communication of content is concerned (C8). Students (who may be familiar with the proposed situations) can be provided freedom to select their own ideas; in this way, the target learners may be able to use the target language more effectively since they are provided the opportunity “to say what they think is worth saying” (Tomlinson, 2003, p. 440), instead of being forced to only state what they have been instructed. The specifications of style/tone can also be presented as suggestions rather than requirements. Paper 1: Task 2 The second task of Paper 1 requires candidates to write an essay on one of the five provided narrative/descriptive/argumentative topics. The main focus is only on language to a large extent, as is clearly stated in the relevant mark scheme: “Primary emphasis is on quality of Language; comments on Content used to adjust mark within Band” (Cambridge International Examinations, Mark Scheme, 2015, p. 6). The mark scheme does not adequately focus on appropriate or pragmatic usage of language. The story is the only specified text type and there is limited focus on any communicative purpose as far as most topics are concerned. Similarly, the activity does not give any importance to specific audience (C1, C2, C3, C4 and C5). Since the task requires the use of a few sub-skills (such as organizing discourse) which are similar to those utilized outside the classroom, it seems to be compatible with the target students’ needs to only a small extent (C7). Students are asked to choose one topic from the five provided alternatives and thus this activity may cater to a variety of tastes, reflecting the general interests of the target

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candidates to some extent, while being the most flexible and creative task in the examination (C6 and C8). Paper 2: Task 1 The first activity in Paper 2 involves writing a summary of a factual text. The emphasis is on listing the main content points, which implies that relevant ideas are explicitly under focus to some extent (C1). Since no communicative context is indicated, pragmatic implications or contextrelated linguistic requirements are not really given adequate importance (C2 and C3). The task reflects a very limited focus on any communicative purpose and no indication of any audience (C4 and C5). The summary writing texts focus on similar factual thematic subjects with historical backgrounds and/or benefits and disadvantages. Examples include glass (October/November 2016), social networking sites (May/June, 2015), and coffee (October/November, 2014); considering the similar approach and organizational features in most passages incorporated in the different past examination papers (2014-2016), the themes are predictable. Nevertheless, a section of students may be interested in these informative topics, though the provided inflexible and structured format of summary writing has limited similarity with outside classroom summary writing tasks (C6 and C7). Moreover, activities are flexible only to a small extent since no freedom is provided to the candidates as far as the choice of the reading passage and content are concerned, (C8). Paper 2: Task 2 In this task, the candidates are required to respond to short-answered questions based on a narrative text; the questions focus on providing elaborations, short explanations and implications. For instance: “What did the girl’s mother disapprove of?” (Cambridge International Examinations, May/June, 2014, p. 5) “Describe how Octavia was feeling.” (Cambridge International Examinations, Specimen Paper 2, 2015, p. 6) Understanding of literal and inferential semantic meanings seems to be the main requirement implying a direct focus on language, while content is given importance to a limited extent (C1 and C2). The questions do not give adequate importance to linguistic compatibility with the communicative purpose or target audience (C3). In fact, communicative purpose is reflected only to a limited extent since the examination questions are not based on the main objective (that is, entertainment) of

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the utilized text-type (C4). In addition, there is no reflection of any sense of audience as the relevant students are not required to interact affectively as readers with the text (C5). The selected texts are largely fictional (mostly 20th century) and extracted from diverse sources reflecting varied themes and cultural values. Sources of these texts include O'Farrell’s novel The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox (2007) (May/June, 2014); an excerpt from Drabble’s novel The Millstone (1965) has been incorporated in the specimen paper 2 meant for the 2018 examination. These texts can appeal to a variety of tastes because of the wide-ranging themes and contexts (such as family relationships, moving into alien locations abroad or visits to doctors) and the reflection of everyday modern life to which the candidates can relate. In short, this section reflects the general interests of the target population to a large extent (C6). The activities mainly require use of only some reading sub-skills which are similar to outside classroom tasks (such as inferring and guessing the meaning) and thus these questions are compatible with the target candidates’ needs to a moderate degree (C7). However, no flexibility is reflected since students are required to focus only on the content and language presented in the text and they are restricted to discussing the required explanations and inferences related to the different sections of the provided text (C8). The mean score obtained overall by the Cambridge O level examination is 19 (47%). The examination needs to additionally focus more on content rather than predominately assessing language, style and organization in all tasks, while providing candidates ample opportunities to use their own ideas, and/or evaluating, assimilating, and commenting on what they have read.

Conclusion Before proposing a meaning-focused approach for language teaching, it is imperative that we explore the ways meaning is manifested in real communication. In this chapter, I have attempted to identify the specific features which are reflected in actual acts of communication and thereby present a set of criteria which can help us assess the extent to which meaning-focused principles are illustrated in formal teaching and examination materials. The evaluation has indicated that both ESL textbooks and international English language examinations seem to be moving towards a meaning-focused approach; in fact, these materials have received similar scores on average. However, as the detailed analysis has

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indicated, many significant features are not reflected in the assessed materials. For instance, especially the examination tasks are extremely controlled and most activities do not focus on skills which the candidates need in real-life contexts, such as evaluating and sharing viewpoints according to specific social, academic and professional requirements, and experiencing affective and pragmatic engagement as communicators while relating to an interested and involved audience. Nevertheless, it is important to acknowledge that the prime concern of the international English language examination boards is to maintain standardization, objectivity and reliability and, in this scenario, a complete implementation of the meaning-focused framework (as elaborated in this chapter) might adversely affect these essential assessment quality criteria. In conclusion, the following four sample activities have been prepared in order to illustrate how meaning-focused approach can be reflected in examination tasks: Activity 1 Write a review of a book/movie/programme of your choice which you have recently read/watched for your local newspaper. Activity 2 Give a two-minute presentation about an important health/social issue aiming at the general public of your city. Activity 3 (based on the O Level Specimen reading passage): a) Provide a suitable title for the passage b) If you were in place of the young mother, how would you have reacted to the illness of the baby? Activity 4 (based on the O Levels May/June, 2014 passage): Imagine you are Esme or Kitty. Write a letter to your mother relating your feelings and experiences as described in the passage. These sample examination tasks are meant only to be taken as suggested ideas; obviously, detailed needs analysis and piloting should be undertaken before actually incorporating similar tasks for language assessment. Linguistic elements and stylistic features are important, but they only represent the tools or the media which are used to convey ideas. In spite of prolific applied linguistics research and the diverse teaching approaches which have surfaced in the past decades, textbooks have been slow to adopt these new principles, while examination boards have apparently

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shown even more reluctance to adapt. The predominant focus on linguistic accuracy, controlled and correct responses, and the resulting overt attachment to the medium (instead of the content which has to be conveyed) is making learning a language a less enjoyable experience for students and promoting language users who may be able to produce flawless sentences (perfectly written or articulated) while their conveyed messages have limited value or interest to themselves or to anyone else.

References Abate, E. B. (2014). Prospects and challenges of communicative approach in EFL context. Research on Humanities and Social Sciences, 4 (25), 128-136. Retrieved from www.iiste.org British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia and the University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations (Cambridge ESOL). (2017). How IELTS is scored? Retrieved from https://www.ielts.org/about-the-test/how-ieltsis-scored British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia and the University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations (Cambridge ESOL). (n.d.). IELTS SPEAKING: Band Descriptors (public version). Retrieved from https://www.ielts.org/-/media/pdfs/speaking-banddescriptors.ashx?la= en British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia and the University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations (Cambridge ESOL). (n.d.). IELTS Writing Task 1: Band Descriptors (public version). Retrieved from https://www.ielts.org/-/media/pdfs/writing-band-descriptors-task1.ashx?la=en British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia and the University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations (Cambridge ESOL). (n.d.). IELTS Writing Task 2: Band Descriptors (public version). Retrieved from https://www.ielts.org/-/media/pdfs/writing-band-descriptors-task2.ashx?la=en Cambridge International Examinations: Cambridge Ordinary Level. (2014). English Language 1123/22 Paper 2 Reading May/June, 2014. Cambridge International Examinations: Cambridge Ordinary Level. (2015). English Language Paper 2 Reading Specimen Paper for Examination from 2018. Retrieved from http://www.cambridgeinternational.org/images/255832-2018-paper-2specimen-paper.pdf Cambridge International Examinations: Cambridge Ordinary Level. (2015). English Language Paper 2 Specimen Insert for Examination

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from 2018. Retrieved from http://www.cambridgeinternational.org/ images/255838-2018-paper-2-specimen-insert.pdf Cambridge International Examinations: Cambridge Ordinary Level. (2015). English Language Paper 1 Writing Specimen Paper for Examination from 2018. Retrieved from http://www.cambridgeinternational.org/images/255830-2018-paper-1specimen-paper.pdf Cambridge International Examinations: Cambridge Ordinary Level. (2015). Mark Scheme for the May/June 2015 series 1123 English Language: 1123/11 Paper 1 (Writing). Retrieved from http://www.cambridgeinternational.org/images/344273-2015-markscheme-11.pdf Cambridge International Examinations. (2015). SYLLABUS Cambridge O Level English Language 1123 (For examination in June and November 2018, 2019 and 2020). Retrieved from http://www.cie.org.uk/images/253847-2018-2020-syllabus.pdf Cambridge International Examinations: Cambridge Ordinary Level. (2016). English Language Paper 1 1123/12 Writing October/November 2016. Cambridge English IELTS with answers. (2001). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Ellis, R. (2005). Principles of instructed language learning. Asian EFL Journal Quarterly, 7 (3), 9-24. Retrieved from asian-efl-journal.com/sept_05_re.pdf Ellis, R. (2009). Task-based language teaching: sorting out the misunderstandings. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 19 (3), 221-246. Golshan, T. (2016, Nov 9). Hillary Clinton’s concession speech full transcript: 2016 presidential election [Article]. Retrieved from https://www.vox.com/2016/11/9/13570328/hillary-clinton-concessionspeech-full-transcript-2016-presidential-election Griffiths, P. (2006). An Introduction to English Semantics and Pragmatics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Jakeman, V., & McDowell, C. (1999). Insight into IELTS. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Jones, H., & Mann, R. (2006a). Step Ahead 1. Singapore: Panpac Education Private Limited. Jones, H., & Mann, R. (2006b). Step Ahead 1: Activity Book (2nd ed). Singapore: Panpac Education Private Limited. Littlewood, W. (2004). Task-based approach: some questions and suggestions. ELT Journal, 5 8(4), 319-326.

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MacBook Air Introduction by Steve Jobs [Video File]. (2008, April 12). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvfrVrh76Mk Moore, T., Morton, J., & Price, S. (2007). Construct validity in the IELTS Academic Reading Test: A comparison of reading requirements in IELTS test items and in university study. Research Report, 11 (4), 186. Retrieved from https://www.ielts.org/-/media/researchreports/ielts_rr_volume11_ report4.ashx Rubdy, R. (2003). Selection of materials. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Developing materials for language teaching (pp. 37-57). London: Continuum. Seedhouse, P., & Harris, A. (2008) Topic development in the IELTS Speaking Test. IELTS Research Reports, 12 (2), 1-56. Retrieved from https://www.ielts.org/-/media/research-reports/ielts_rr_volume12_ report2.ashx Tomlinson, B. (Ed.). (2003). Developing materials for language teaching. London: Continuum. Tomlinson, B. (Ed.) (2008). English language learning materials: A critical review. London: Continuum.

CHAPTER TWENTY LANGUAGE DIVERSITY AND LANGUAGE TESTING CLAUDIA SARACENI

Introduction Consider the following dialogue: ‘Hullo, my covey! What’s the row?’ […] ‘I am very hungry and tired’, […] ‘I have walked a long way. I have been walking these seven days.’ ‘Walking for sivin days!’ […] ‘Oh, I see. Beak’s order, eh? But,’ […] ‘I suppose you don’t know what a beak is, my flash com-pan-i-on?’ […] ‘Why, a beak’s a madgst’rate. But come, you want grub, and you shall have it. I’m at low-water-mark myself – only one bob and a magpie, but, as far as it goes, I’ll fork out and stump. Up with you on your pins.’ (Dickens, 2003, p. 56)

The above short exchange is, of course, between Oliver and the Artful Dodger from Dickens’s Oliver Twist. There are at least two points that can be made in relation to this extract: 1. Language is used as a tool for communication but also to emphasise identity. 2. The words and phrases mentioned above are not to be read in their Standard English basic dictionary meaning, but they can only be understood if interpreted in the context of this story, where they then acquire a specific meaning. One of the most noticeable features of this extract, particularly contained in the Artful Dodger’s words, is the use of a colloquial style which is

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based on a type of slang common in London in the 19th century setting of the novel. This specific register not only emphasises the different social groups each interlocutor belongs to, but it also creates a distance between the two characters and provides the Artful Dodger with an authentic voice thus a distinct identity. This is realised in his accent portrayed here, but also in the dialect he uses expressed mostly in the use of vocabulary typical of the 19th century London slums. Certain words characteristically represent this dialect, such as “beak” referring to a magistrate, or “pins” referring to feet or legs, and expressions such as “I’m at low water myself”, referring to the fact that the Artful Dodger was short of money. It is perhaps relevant to note that this register can also indicate being part of a certain group of children in the London Victorian underworld scene, scraping by, pick-pocketing and committing petty crime, as if the group could almost substitute their family. It is perhaps also linguistically interesting to note that this register provides a sense of belonging and identity which is somewhat similar to what is commonly expressed by teenage, ever evolving slang. Therefore, this extract clearly demonstrates an example of language complexity, adaptability and diversity, all aspects discussed in more depth in this chapter, in relation to language teaching and learning but also in terms of the distinction between form-focused and meaning-focused approaches. The central point of this chapter considers the diverse nature of language as the basis for language teaching and learning. This is discussed with an attempt to reduce the distance between authentic language use and the practices of the language classroom and, more specifically, of language assessment and testing. In view of the above debate, this chapter, therefore, has a dual aim. One is an attempt to move away from the often divergent, binary definition of concepts related to meaning-focused and form-focused language teaching. The other is to promote the diverse nature of language use through a more realistic, authentic, learner-centred and localised approach to materials for language teaching and learning and also, as a result, to language assessment. The ultimate objective of this chapter is, therefore, to discuss, explore and promote ways of making language assessment subordinate to language learning. Following the Introduction, this chapter is divided into four main sections. The first is based on a description of language use outside the classroom outlining some of its main characteristics specifically in terms of its diversity. The second and third sections aim to contrast authentic language use with the type of language presented in assessment and

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testing, and with the language used in teaching and learning contexts. Finally, the fourth section aims to offer a number of possible, practical suggestions of promoting authentic language in the materials as well as in the assessment, focusing specifically on its diversity.

Form-Focused and Meaning-Focused Approaches – A Brief Overview In many ways, the practice of language teaching and learning has often been considered, in the relevant literature, in terms of two approaches: meaning-focused and form-focused language teaching (amongst others see, for example Ellis, 1997; Ollenhead & Oosthuizen, 2005; and Tomlinson & Masuhara, 2018). These two concepts are very often found at the centre of an ever-lasting debate which has gone through a number of stages and seems to follow different pedagogical trends. This debate often results in describing, discussing and evaluating such approaches mostly in terms of separate, distinct and opposing, often mutually exclusive extremes. Interestingly, as a consequence of the development of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), meaning-focused language teaching and learning became more dominant compared with form-focused approaches, and perhaps also more commonly used in the classroom practice (Saraceni, 2007). Thus, meaning-focused language teaching has been increasingly considered effective in the language classroom, relevant to learners’ needs and beneficial for learning, as its development seems to coincide with interactive language learning, context-driven and learnercentred approaches. However, as different trends develop and change, emphasis in relevant literature and research in language teaching seems to swing back and forth from one approach to the other depending on various deductive and inductive principles and different views on language and also on language teaching and learning. A development of the above, seemingly endless debate between formfocused and meaning-focused teaching, is to be found in an attempt to combine these two approaches to language teaching. This development is often referred to with a number of terms, for example, focus on form rather than focus on forms (see for example Ellis, 2001; Saraceni, 2007; Sheen, 2002), but also, perhaps more recently, as Content and Language Integrated Learning or CLIL (Cives-Enriquez, 2017; Lasagabaster & Doiz, 2016; Phung, 2016;):

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“The ‘focus on form’ approach is an alternative to, and evolution of, the ‘focus on forms’ approach – where grammar points were taught in isolation – and the ‘focus on meaning’ approach – where all emphasis was placed exclusively on meaning. […] This means that now grammar […] is more embedded […] within a methodological framework which continues to be primarily communicative.” (Saraceni, 2007, p. 2)

The developments in language teaching and learning described above demonstrate perhaps two main ideas: -

one that reaffirms the role that a focus on language structures can play in the classroom when considered in relation to content, as a tool to create and convey meaning; the other that seems to acknowledge the view that the two approaches do not need to be considered in contrastive terms but should be seen in combination.

However, despite the aforementioned debates, the reality of language pedagogy often seems rather different, and the developments described here appear to be found mostly on existing literature related to pedagogical principles and research. They, in fact, tend not to play an equally influential role in the practices of the language classroom, to a certain extent also in language teaching and learning materials. In these more practical applications, at best, a communicative approach seems to still play a rather dominant role, and in the worst cases a teacher-centred, grammar translation based approach is also often used where language is mostly considered in discrete items in isolation. Moreover, if, on the one hand there seems to be general consensus on the potential value of meaning-focused approaches and also on CLIL, on the other, these approaches, and their principles and objectives, do not seem to be reflected particularly in a large proportion of language assessment and testing procedures. Due to a number of reasons, mostly related to practicality, but also to validity and reliability (Green, 2014), a number of widely used, internationally recognised test papers seem largely influenced and often determined by rather standardised, form-focused controlled language practice tasks, commonly focusing on language analysis mostly considered in isolation. In turns, this type of language assessment also tends to inform the practice of language teaching in the classroom as well as in the materials. In doing so, it seems to feed and justify its own existence in a kind of cyclical process, which seems to, somehow, lie beyond language pedagogical principles.

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Lexical Diversity in Authentic Language To some extent, the distinction between form-focused and meaningfocused language teaching often relates to the teaching and learning of grammar. However, diversity is noticeable in all language areas, and, for the purposes of this chapter, the specific examples drawn here are related particularly to lexis and vocabulary use. Consider, for example, the word ‘British’. When considered in isolation, its meaning seems rather simple and straightforward: an adjective referring to a person or a thing that comes from Great Britain. However, when analysed in its various different contexts, this word seems to acquire a number of meanings which lie beyond the seemingly simple definition, as shown in the following examples. From advertising language The adjective ‘British’ is, for example, very often found in advertising language when marketing a number of products, particularly in relation to food. Consider the following examples: Example 1: This is taken from one of the HP sauce adverts, and it is presented also with the British national anthem playing in the background. Here is the slogan: ‘HP, PROPER BRITISH!’ Example 2: This is an advert used by one of the main high street supermarkets to advertise its meat products, which reads: ‘We’re 100% committed to British meat.’ Example 3: A number of TV programmes also seem to be advertised with the use of the word British. Consider, for example, The Great British Bake Off as perhaps one of the most popular TV programmes followed by a large number of viewers in the United Kingdom. When used in the above contexts, the word British seems to be an adjective used with an indication of quality and almost as a type of synonym of good, preferable, desirable. And, in the case of supermarket

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products, it is often used as a marketing tool almost in the same way as, for example, the adjectives ‘organic’ or ‘fair-trade’ are used on various food packages. This seems to emphasise a presumed specific type of characteristic quality of the product which makes it distinct from all other goods and which provides a type of guarantee that it has gone through a number of inspections and strict rules, which make it more easily sellable to certain groups of consumers. From newspaper language In 2017, the ruling Conservative party enjoyed a comfortable majority in the UK parliament. However, the Prime Minister (PM), Theresa May, decided to call an early national election in an attempt to gain an even bigger majority. She also attempted to legitimise her role as the UK PM after she stepped into this position, not as a result of an election, but replacing the previous PM David Cameron who resigned in 2016. On the 2017 UK national Election Day, on June 8, the Daily Mail front cover presented a picture of a presumably triumphant PM, Theresa May, with the headline that read: ‘LET’S REIGNITE BRITISH SPIRIT’ The article then started with the following paragraph: “Theresa May issued an eve-of-poll rallying call last night to ‘reignite the British spirit’. She called on Labour supporters to back the Tories in the national interest and for the country to get behind her over Brexit.”1 (Doyle & Groves, 2017, p. 1)

So, in this case, what does the word ‘British’ really mean? Firstly, it is used in combination with the word ‘spirit’ in the phrase ‘British spirit’ and with a rather explicit call for action that seems to be addressing the whole nation with the verb structure: ‘Let’s reignite British spirit’. It is also then used again in the first paragraph in PM May’s words reported later on. In the context of the article, this headline is then also used in association with other words and phrases which are meant to emotionally appeal to its implied reader, such as ‘a nation built on fairness and security’, ‘leaving the European Union to create the greatest meritocracy in the world’. In relation to the PM Theresa May’s words also the following phrases are used, such as ‘patriotic appeal’ and ‘comfortable majority in sight’. Hence 1

Please note: this issue of the Daily Mail was published before the results of the national elections were announced.

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the above mentioned word British is identified and defined in association with concepts of fairness and security, meritocracy and patriotic. There seem to be a number of assumptions here, and the first one relates to the idea that the implied readership of the Daily Mail would not only understand the headline, but would also be able to relate to it and identify with it. The headline and the subsequent article are, however, aiming to appeal not only to a specific group of implied readers, who share certain ideological views and opinions, but also to those who normally would follow a different political party, as the article reports: ‘She called on Labour supporters to back the Tories in the national interest and for the country to get behind her over Brexit’. Exploiting an initial apparent idea of encouraging national unity, this article actually attempts to make supporters of both the right and left wings feel part of a group who share the same identity with similar ideas, principles and values in a sort of presumed patriotic feeling of unity, associated with being British. This word is then used in order to underline its connotations in contrast with another identity, which is presented as distinctively different, more specifically with members of the European Union, with a pretext of different principles and ideologies. This is a rather typical characteristic of many examples of political propaganda, which seems to exploit a kind of ‘us-and-them’ rhetorical feature in the way language is used. At this point it may be of interest to mention the following from one of George Orwell’s essays on language and writing first published in 1946, where he wrote the following: “Political language … is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. One cannot change this all in a moment, but one can at least change one’s own habits, and from time to time one can even … send some worn-out and useless phrase … into the dustbin where it belongs.” (Orwell, 2004, p. 120)

The above are simply a few examples which only represent certain characteristics of language use; they are also rather limited and obviously cannot be seen as a complete description of the main features of authentic language. They do, nevertheless, illustrate perhaps at least two main underlining points that can be drawn from the above discussion so far: 1. Words have very little more than simple basic meaning when considered in isolated, discrete items; 2. When considered in context, language form can achieve much more than a simple tool to convey meaning, but also to fulfil a number of

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different functions such as to manipulate or create different points of view or for self-expression and to shape identity and voice. The following equation reported by Paul Simpson clearly outlines the role of context in language use: “Pragmatics = semantics + context” (Simpson, 2000, p. 120).

The above described role of context and its relation between language meaning and language use is also emphasised by a number of applied linguists (see for example Maley & Tomlinson, 2017) particularly in relation to the use of authentic language in materials for language teaching and learning. Language use outside the classroom presents a number of characteristics which relate to its authenticity, namely it is constantly evolving, it is dynamic, multifaceted and adaptable. These characteristics make language most of all diverse, in relation to its possible uses, contexts as well as in relation to its speakers and their needs and purposes. This is reflected in the use of different registers and degrees of formality as well as regional, local and social accents and dialects, for example. It is also noteworthy that, in the case of the English language, this is also valid in its many varieties as a global language (Saraceni, 2016, 2017). Language diversity is, therefore, clearly noticeable in different types of authentic texts produced in a great variety of different contexts. “Language use becomes meaningful, expressive, hence authentic, when it is adapted by its users in order to convey their thoughts and as a tool for self-expression. This makes language and authentic language use rather diverse, multifaceted, dynamic and changeable, as it is adapted to a large number of speakers for a numerous number of purposes and contexts…” (Saraceni, 2017, pp. 65-66).

At this point, the type of language used in assessment and testing will be considered; the rest of this chapter will illustrate the differences between language used in authentic contexts, described in the above examples, and in assessment and testing.

Language Testing Language assessment plays a central role in the field of English Language Teaching and Learning. Such role is particularly significant in English language testing and, to some extent, to the most commonly used examination papers by Cambridge Assessment English, such as the

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International English Language Testing System (IELTS) or other Cambridge Examinations at a wide range of different levels, for example, the Preliminary English Test (PET) or the Cambridge First Certificate in English (FCE), Cambridge Advanced Examination (CAE) or the Cambridge Proficiency Examination (CPE). The IELTS test is perhaps currently considered the most popular English language test for Higher Education and migration purposes. Many of these examination papers share a few characteristics: they are all UK-based, used worldwide and internationally recognised. Gaining a certain grade in one of these examinations generally represents the main language requirement for university entry in most English-speaking countries. They, therefore, also tend to be very often taken all over the world by students planning to study at undergraduate or postgraduate level at a university where English is the main language. They are also part of the visa requirements needed for many potential students to travel, live and study in most English-speaking countries of an Anglo-Saxon tradition. It is, therefore, easy to understand the significant role these examination papers can play in the study and career plans of a wide number of people in the world. The aforementioned examinations involve all different aspects of language in the four skills. In this chapter the reading test will be considered, particularly in relation to the assessment of vocabulary. More specifically, four examples from two papers are taken into account here: the Use of English section from the Cambridge Proficiency Examination and the IELTS Reading paper. The first two of the following examples are drawn from a section of the Cambridge test that focuses on sentences in isolation, and the other two examples are drawn from the IELTS Reading paper and focus on tasks to be carried out on the basis of reading a whole text. Examples 1 and 2 – Use of English The Cambridge Use of English section consists of four separate papers with four different types of exercises for students to complete. These papers mostly assess reading and vocabulary and involve language manipulation tasks: they include, for example, fill-in-the-gap exercises, vocabulary and grammar tasks, as presented in the examples below. The first example presented includes the reading of a text, with a number of gaps for candidates to fill in using an appropriate form of a word to fit in the text. The second example presents a set of sentences that need to be rewritten using a given word with a similar meaning to the original sentence, as mentioned above.

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Example 1 – Use of English Paper: Part 2

Fig. 20-1 Excerpt from Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English (2012, p. 17)

Example 2 – Use of English Paper: Part 4

Fig. 20-2 Excerpt from Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English (2012, p. 20)

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Examples 3 and 4 – IELTS Reading Paper The IELTS examination includes a reading paper which focuses on three passages and a number of possible different reading tasks focusing on different types of questions. These range from multiple choice questions, to identifying different aspects of the text, such as, identifying the writer’s views, from matching tasks, such as matching information or matching headings, but also summary tasks, sentence completion tasks, diagram label completion tasks and also short answer questions. Example 3 – IELTS Reading Paper: Matching Sentence Endings

Fig. 20-3 Excerpt from IELTS 8 with answers (2011, p. 28)

Here, examples 3 (above) and 4 (below) are both specifically drawn from the reading paper of an IELTS examination practice paper and are both based on the reading of a text, which, in this specific example, focuses on ‘Telepathy’. The first example focuses on a matching sentence endings task, and the second example is based on a summary task focusing on the use of a table with information to complete from the reading text.

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Example 4 – IELTS Reading Paper: Table Summary Task

Fig. 20-4 Excerpt from IELTS 8 with answers (2011, p. 29)

The examples of reading test papers presented here share some common points but a few differences can also be identified. Perhaps the main, most noticeable difference between the first two Use of English examples and the IELTS reading paper examples 3 and 4, is related to the fact that the former two examples are based on the use of sentences in isolation, whereas the latter two require candidates to carry out the tasks on the basis of the reading of a text. In the specific case of the above examples, candidates are meant to use a few summary skills in order to fulfil the requirements of the tasks. However, the IELTS examinations generally present a number of different texts used for different purposes, such as identifying information, and also tasks that require candidates to identify the writer’s views or claims. This, therefore, demonstrates that in the IELTS reading test examples, there seems to be an attempt to promote reading different texts for different purposes with a more functional, textdriven approach. On the other hand, in the Use of English examples, language is considered in isolated sentences with no particular reference to context or to the use of specific reading or vocabulary skills or strategies. Candidates are required to carry out different language manipulation exercises. What is mostly assessed here is the candidates’ knowledge of grammatical

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categories of the focused words and also, to a certain extent, knowledge of certain structures and sayings commonly used in English. There are a number of assumptions particularly underpinning the above examples 1 and 2, and perhaps the most evident one relates to the idea that it is possible to produce two sentences using different grammatical structures and retaining a similar meaning, as long as the sentences are both grammatically correct. There are, therefore, also at least two points related to the above mentioned assumption: the first is that language can be meaningfully produced without reference to context; the second is that the different lexical and grammatical structures can be used interchangeably without affecting sentence meaning. Moreover, the two types of language assessment presented above also seem to share a number of common points. From a purely descriptive point of view, the examples presented here and some of their most significant characteristic features can also be considered as representative of the type of language assessment typically found in international test papers. From a more evaluative point of view, both these papers seem to consider language in its most basic, semantic meaning. As a result, language is used in a standardised, rather sanitised, neutral and voiceless form. The tasks involve very little emphasis on a more authentic use of language, mostly without a lot of reference to its functional, pragmatic, diverse, multifaceted, context-driven uses, described in the first section of this chapter. Consequently, assessment tasks generally require candidates to decipher the language used in the reading tests without focusing on their reader response or their interpretations, emphasised by a number of researchers (see for example Masuhara, 2013; Saraceni, 2010; and Tomlinson, 1997). These tests, therefore, tend to mostly emphasise structure manipulation and language controlled practice, based on a rather prescriptive view of language where meaning seems to be subordinate to form. It can be argued that the above mentioned characteristics and potential limitations of the type of language assessment emphasised in the IELTS and Cambridge examinations discussed here, can also be considered part of its main value mostly due to the elements of practicality, and also of validity and reliability of widely used test papers of this type. The very need to create valid and reliable test papers, which are to be recognised world-wide, is what makes them also, almost inevitably, focused on standardised texts, sentences, and tasks. The language used is then mostly rather controlled and context-less. The large development and international nature of these test papers seem to, therefore, also be directly proportionate to the use of mostly form-focused characteristics of its language and tasks.

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Authentic Contexts, Language Teaching and Learning, Language Assessment As previously discussed, the above described examination papers play a very influential role in all the fields related to English language teaching and learning. Significant evidence of such a role is provided by the fact that over three million IELTS tests were estimated to be taken in 2016 in over 140 countries in more than 10,000 organisations world-wide (IELTS, 2017). Given such a significant role, it is reasonable to acknowledge how, almost inevitably, language assessment and testing also influence language pedagogy. Many of the characteristics presented above in relation to language assessment, therefore, also seem to be overwhelmingly present in language teaching and learning classroom practices and in published materials. Language exposure provided in many materials, for example, ranges from language considered in isolation to the use of carefully selected texts, which are most often based on Standard English, focus on rather neutral, somewhat sanitised topics and simplified content. Language, therefore, is mostly used to demonstrate the structure of a particular item often with a form-focused approach. The tasks that are very often used in the language teaching and learning context seem to be mostly based on controlled language practice focusing on increasing explicit grammar or vocabulary knowledge. In the case of vocabulary development, for example, many approaches used in a variety of materials produced for language teaching and learning mostly seem to be based on the following aims: -

Vocabulary for testing comprehension; Increasing vocabulary knowledge; Vocabulary development through language decoding.

Following the above objectives, the type of activities learners are generally required to do, are similar to what they will then have to do in order to pass their examination and are often based on answering a set of comprehension questions, or multiple choice questions, activities related to filling in the gaps in sentences, or language manipulation tasks, often with specific right answers. These activities leave very little space for vocabulary skills and strategy development in more authentic and functional contexts.

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A focus on form is probably the main implication of the above described practices and it seems to take prominence over a meaningfocused approach; it is used as the main end-product of language learning, rather than as a tool to convey meaning. On the one hand, behind the above described approach to language teaching and learning, there are various reasons and a number of points. The main one may be related to the view that this approach is rather simple, standardised and straightforward, hence easily accessible and usable for both teachers and practitioners in general. It not only seems to focus on the simplest, most basic, dictionary meaning of language, but it may also be considered easy to follow for learners and teachers who may not question its techniques and practices. However, on the other hand, as discussed above, language is mostly considered in isolation from context, tasks seem rather repetitive and are used mostly following similar patterns without a clear text-driven approach. For example, newspaper articles, extracts from novels and emails are approached in similar, mostly context-less ways. In sum, the nature of authentic language use in its diversity does not seem to be taken into account. Alternatively, however, it may be argued that it is particularly due to its very diverse nature, that perhaps authentic language can also become difficult to access and potentially problematic for learners. Below, Table 20-1 illustrates a comparison between authentic language and the language used in assessment and testing. To a great extent, however, what seems to influence the practice of language teaching and learning is perhaps, more than anything else, related to the requirements and characteristics of language testing. As described above, this is mostly due to the fact that many learners need to pass an international examination thus require a large amount of form-focused, controlled practice to fulfil such an aim. In these terms, materials and classroom practices do not seem to be determined by pedagogical principles but are rather generally based on the main aim of enabling students to pass an internationally recognised examination. Perhaps this is where the very limitation of this type of examination-driven approach, lies. In doing so, as mentioned earlier in this chapter, this approach also seems to justify its own existence with a view that seems to place language testing at its core.

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376 Authentic Language Diverse and multifaceted Context-driven and localised Complex Value laden Dynamic and adaptable Authentic Language Contexts To be understood and interpreted Interactive and purposeful Language form used as a tool for conveying meaning

Language Assessment Standardised Context-less and considered in isolation Simplified and sanitised Neutral Static and voiceless Language Assessment Tasks To be deciphered Based on controlled, examination practice Meaning subordinate to form

Table 20-1. Authentic Language and Language Assessment

Conclusion At this point, Orwell’s words from the same essay mentioned above can provide a very interesting concluding point: “…modern writing at its worst does not consist in picking out words for the sake of their meaning and inventing images in order to make the meaning clearer. It consists in gumming together long strips of words which have already been set in order by someone else, and making the results presentable by sheer humbug.” (Orwell, 2004, pp. 111-112)

Even though Orwell was referring mostly to political language in the above cited essay, in many ways the above quotation can also be related to the type of language often used in the classroom and in materials for language teaching and learning, as discussed in this chapter. This chapter, in fact, aims to emphasise an identified gap between the diverse nature of language, when used in its authentic contexts, and the rather controlled, standardised and context-less language practices in language assessment and, particularly, in widely used, international language examination papers. This mismatch is then consequently also reflected not only in the type of language exposure provided in the classroom and in the materials, but also in the activities and tasks included, which seem to become dependent on the principles of the test papers, rather than on research-driven principles behind language learning and teaching.

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Suggestions and Recommendations For the specific purposes of this concluding section, a number of suggestions and recommendations are presented. These can be considered a starting point to further research as an attempt to investigate and reduce the above presented gap between authentic language use, language teaching and language assessment. 1. Language pedagogy should move away from the above described, binary distinction between form- and meaning-focused approaches, as it seems unnecessary. Perhaps a more specific focus on a combination of these two approaches would be more beneficial in the language classroom and in the materials, as well as in language assessment. Such a combination would imply that language forms are critically analysed, understood and interpreted in context as a tool, and not as an end-product. 2. As emphasised in the following citation, language is context-based and thus never neutral and sanitised: “As no use of language is considered truly neutral, objective and value-free, then … critical linguistic analysis may be performed on any form of discourse.” (Simpson 2000, p. 7). One of the main aims of language teaching and learning, and of the relevant materials, should, therefore, also be based on the development of critical language awareness (Bolitho, 2003; Carter, 2003). This should aim not only to facilitate input comprehension, but also enable learners to recognise how language forms in context can contribute to conveying meaning. This should then also be reflected in language assessment and testing. 3. The development of more localised, context-driven testing and assessment methods should be promoted with a dual purpose. The first is to make language assessment more relevant to the different, local contexts, hence become truly learner-centred; the second is to provide a more reliable tool to assess learners’ abilities to use the target language for different, more authentic purposes. 4. Through critical evaluation (Simpson, 2000), language teaching and learning should also aim at empowering learners to use and also manipulate the target language to express meaning in their thoughts and in their identity, as they would in their first language. Context shapes language structures and language use; a more contextdriven approach to language teaching and learning should, therefore,

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determine classroom practice, materials development, as well as the practices and principles used in language assessment and testing.

References Bolitho, R. (2003). Materials for language awareness. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Developing materials for language teaching (pp. 422-425). London, New York: Continuum. Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English, (2012). Student’s book with answers. Examination papers from University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations 2, by Victorian Association for Environmental Education. Cambridge books for Cambridge Exams. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Carter, R. (2003). Language awareness. ELT Journal, 57 (1), 64-65. Cives-Enriquez, R.M. (2017). Transform your story-telling! How can poetry and story-telling be an effective and meaningful way of teaching the target culture and language through CLIL? Folio, 18 (1), 23-28. Dickens, C. ([1838] 2003). Oliver Twist. London: Penguin Classics. Doyle, J., & Groves, J. (2017, June 8). Let’s reignite British spirit. Daily Mail, pp. A1-A4 Ellis, R. (1997). Options in form-focused instruction. Folio, 4 (1), 4-9. Ellis, R. (2001). Introduction: investigating form-focused instruction. In R. Ellis (Ed.) Form-Focused Instruction and Second Language Learning (pp. 1-46). Oxford: Blackwell. Green, A. (2014). Exploring language assessment and testing. London and New York: Routledge. IELTS (2017). Retrieved from www.ielts.org IELTS 8 with answers (2011). Cambridge Examination Papers from University of Cambridge ESOL Exams, by Cambridge ESOL. Cambridge books for Cambridge Exams. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lasagabaster, D., & Doiz, A. (2016). CLIL students’ perceptions of their language learning process: delving into self-perceived improvement and instructional preferences. Language Awareness, 25 (1-2), 110-126. Maley, A., & Tomlinson, B. (2017). Authenticity and materials development for language learning. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars. Masuhara, H. (2013). Materials for developing reading skills. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Developing materials for language teaching (pp. 365-389). London: Bloomsbury.

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Ollenhead, S., & Oosthuizen, J. (2005). Meaning-focused vs form-focused L2 instruction: Implications for writing educational materials for South African learners of English. Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics, Vol. 36, 59-84. Orwell, G. ([1946] 2004). Why I write. London: Penguin Books. Phung, L. (2016). Facilitating content and language integrated learning (CLIL) through web-based activities: A teacher’s reflection. Folio, 17 (1), 12-17. Saraceni, M. (2007). Meaningful form: transitivity and intentionality. ELT Journal, 29 (1), 1-9. Saraceni, C. (2010). Readings. An Investigation of the role of aesthetic response in the reading of narrative literary texts (Doctoral dissertation, Leeds Metropolitan University). Saraceni, C. (2016, June). Use of ‘Englishes’, Culture awareness development and L2 materials authenticity. Paper presented at the MATSDA/University of Liverpool 2016 Conference - Authenticity and L2 Materials Development, June 18th-19th, 2016. Saraceni, C. (2017). A Discussion of global Englishes and materials development. In A. Maley, & B. Tomlinson (Eds.), Authenticity and materials development for language learning (pp. 65-83). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars. Sheen, R. (2002). Focus on forms and focus on form. ELT Journal, 56 (3), 303–305. Simpson, P. (2000). Language, ideology and point of view. London and New York: Routledge. Tomlinson, B. (1997). The role of visualisation in the reading of literature by learners of a foreign language. Doctoral dissertation. Nottingham: University of Nottingham. Tomlinson, B. & Masuhara, H. (2018). The complete guide to the theory and practice of materials development for language learning. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell.

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS

Asma Aftab, Kinnaird College for Women, Pakistan Roberta Amendola, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil Alessandra Belletti Figueira Mülling, University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom Sujata Bhonsale, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India Marina Bouckaert, Fontys University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands Rosa-Maria Cives-Enriquez, REVO Ltd., United Kingdom Majid Elahi Shirvan, University of Bojnord, Iran Robert Hershberger, DePauw University, United States of America Ling Hsiao, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States of America Monique Konings, Fontys University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands Anne-Mette Korczynski, University of Greenland, Greenland Nausica Marcos Miguel, Denison University, United States of America Claudia Mewald, University of Teacher Education Lower-Austria, Austria Ashwin Nagappa, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India L. Junia Ngoepe, University of Limpopo, South Africa Danny Norrington-Davies, International House London / King’s College London, United Kingdom Sakae Onoda, Juntendo University, Japan Julia Reckermann, University of Paderborn, Germany Claudia Saraceni, University of Bedfordshire, United Kingdom Amir Hossein Sarkeshikian, Qom Branch, Islamic Azad University, Iran

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Isabella Seeger, University of Münster, Germany Iffat Subhani, Stafford House International, Toronto, Canada Jennifer Thomas, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India Brian Tomlinson, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom / Shanghai International Studies University, China / Anaheim University, United States of America Sabine Wallner, University of Teacher Education Lower-Austria, Austria Tony Waterman, Royal Air Force of Oman, Oman Marjon van Winkelhof, Fontys University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands