TESL 0120 -Approaches to Speaking Instruction- Unit 1 Reflections

If I want to summarize unit 1, I would divide it into two parts: corrective feedback and speaking knowledge. As Harmer (2001) mentioned in chapter 7, “decisions about how to react to performance will depend upon the stage of lesson, the activity, the type of mistake made, and the particular student who is making that mistake” (p.104). I believe that ESL students need a constructive feedback and would like to receive it. Any corrections could help students to learn more from their mistakes, but it depends on how the instructor approaches that mistake. Also, ESL speaking feedback is related to accuracy and fluency. Regarding to fluency errors, instructors can wait and give feedback and for accuracy errors, it is better to give feedback right away; however, it is undoubtedly important that the instructor knows students' attitude and advises them that making mistakes is part of learning. A constructive feedback is the one that would remain in student’s mind and motivate them to practice more.

Also, instructors must consider speaking knowledge. According to Thornbury (2005) “the kind of knowledge that speakers bring to the skill of speaking comprise extralinguistic such as background knowledge of  topic and culture, and linguistic knowledge including discourse knowledge, speech act knowledge and knowledge of grammar, vocabulary and phonology” (p.26). Having a skilled linguistic and extralinguistic knowledge would lead a student to be an effective speaker.

In conclusion, it is a big challenge for instructors to provide an effective feedback at the begging of their career, and it relies on the experience. I found that instructors who have been interacting with more students from different cultures, seem to have a better approach in providing a constructive feedback. In addition, instructors should have the ability to provide learning materials and feedback, encourage them to learn and have the ability in both linguistic and extralinguistic knowledge to guide students in the learning journey.

 References

Harmer, J. (2001). The Practice of English Language Teaching, Chapter 7: Feedback on Oral Work, pp. 104-109. Harlow, Essex: Pearson Education Limited.

Thornbury, S. (2005). How to Teach Speaking, Chapter 2: What Speakers Know, pp. 11-26. Harlow, Essex: Pearson Education Limited.