Chapter 8. Promoting learning from second language speaking tasks
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Tony Lynch
Abstract
In this chapter I report the findings of a study of language learner attitudes to comparators and oral feedback used as support for their performances on speaking tasks. The study involved two groups of international postgraduates studying at the University of Edinburgh: the first were students who had attended an in-session speaking skills course, and the second were an intact class attending a pre-sessional English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programme. The views revealed in their questionnaire responses and interviews show wide variation at the individual level, even among students from the same cultural background. The findings also suggest differences in perception between the two groups, which may be related in part to the different experience of learners at a pre-sessional stage and of those already attending degree programmes. I discuss the learners’ responses and suggest a teaching framework in which language teachers and course designers could accommodate different learners’ perceptions of the most effective ways of comparing and enhancing their second language performances.
Abstract
In this chapter I report the findings of a study of language learner attitudes to comparators and oral feedback used as support for their performances on speaking tasks. The study involved two groups of international postgraduates studying at the University of Edinburgh: the first were students who had attended an in-session speaking skills course, and the second were an intact class attending a pre-sessional English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programme. The views revealed in their questionnaire responses and interviews show wide variation at the individual level, even among students from the same cultural background. The findings also suggest differences in perception between the two groups, which may be related in part to the different experience of learners at a pre-sessional stage and of those already attending degree programmes. I discuss the learners’ responses and suggest a teaching framework in which language teachers and course designers could accommodate different learners’ perceptions of the most effective ways of comparing and enhancing their second language performances.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Series editors’ preface vii
- Introduction 1
- Chapter 1. How do beginning teachers conceptualise and enact tasks in school foreign language classrooms? 23
- Chapter 2. Teacher transformation of textbook tasks in Vietnamese EFL high school classrooms 51
- Chapter 3. Teacher perceptions and use of tasks in school ESL classrooms 71
- Chapter 4. The challenges of integrating focus on form within tasks 97
- Chapter 5. Optimal conditions for TBLT? 131
- Chapter 6. Task-based language teaching 165
- Chapter 7. Researching TBLT for young, beginner learners in Japan 199
- Chapter 8. Promoting learning from second language speaking tasks 213
- Chapter 9. Tasks in the pedagogic space 235
- Chapter 10. Becoming a task-based teacher educator 265
- About the authors 287
- Index 291
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Series editors’ preface vii
- Introduction 1
- Chapter 1. How do beginning teachers conceptualise and enact tasks in school foreign language classrooms? 23
- Chapter 2. Teacher transformation of textbook tasks in Vietnamese EFL high school classrooms 51
- Chapter 3. Teacher perceptions and use of tasks in school ESL classrooms 71
- Chapter 4. The challenges of integrating focus on form within tasks 97
- Chapter 5. Optimal conditions for TBLT? 131
- Chapter 6. Task-based language teaching 165
- Chapter 7. Researching TBLT for young, beginner learners in Japan 199
- Chapter 8. Promoting learning from second language speaking tasks 213
- Chapter 9. Tasks in the pedagogic space 235
- Chapter 10. Becoming a task-based teacher educator 265
- About the authors 287
- Index 291
