View Content #21603

by Stephanie Knight, CASLS Language Technology Specialist

Like all modes of communication, Presentational Speaking adds a certain richness and authenticity to the world language classroom. It is particularly beneficial to learners because it allows them to research information in the target language and then put that information in their own words, helping them to develop skills such as circumlocution and summarization. Learners are better off for it, but as anyone who has ever taken a public speaking course can explain, speaking in front of others can be intimidating, particularly in the target language.

In order to attend to the respective affective filters of learners and to help to prepare learners for Presentational Speaking, one may wish to adapt an approach based off of that advocated by Ishihara and Cohen (2010) for language analysis. First have learners observe presentational speaking, evaluate presentational speaking, and then practice presentational speaking.

The observation phase: The observation phase involves learners seeing presentational speaking tasks that are appropriate to their proficiency level and taking note of what they notice. At this point, learners may note the register of language used with a particular audience, the structure of the spoken text (how to appropriately open and close the spoken text based on context, for example), or vocabulary and grammar that are important to the text type that they are observing.

The evaluation phase: During the evaluation, learners share their observations. At this point, teachers may wish to explicitly explain nuanced language use and to engage in direct instruction regarding cohesive and rhetorical devices.

The practice phase: Finally, learners are ready to try their hand at preparing a Presentational Speaking text. If you have not done so already, model ways for learners to brainstorm and plan (see Nissler (2014) for an example of one such tool). During this discussion, learners should be reminded at this point to think of important cohesive and rhetorical devices and vocabulary. Next, allow learners to outline their work in the way that works best for them and to create working notes to use when presenting. It is necessary that these notes be bulleted and not so in-depth that the learner is able to simply read from the notes in order to give the presentation.

After learners are done outlining and creating their working notes, allow them to practice for one another and give one another specific feedback regarding strengths and weaknesses that affect over all meaning making (e.g., organization, clarity of message, use of cohesive devices, and implementation of the appropriate register). The learners should have time to reflect on their feedback and, after some additional practice, should feel ready to present.

References:

Ishihara, N. & Cohen, A. (2010). Teaching and learning pragmatics: Where language and culture meet. London and New York: Routledge.

Nissler, P. (2014). Scaffolding a presentation: Comments from Spanish and German. Journal of Language Teaching and Research. 5 (4). 723-730.