THE INTERNATIONAL HOUSE

JOI]RNAL OF EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Number1. Anril 1996

Editorial CharlesLowe

Action Researcb Martin Parrott

Livc Listening for Beginners Alastair Banton

Puttirg Vocabularyat the Top ofth€ JatreyFulerill l5

Agenda

Usinga Lexical Approach with Advanccd Jayne Wcst

Students

What's the teab-teachingdiflerencer DominiqueVouillemin

Information Updrte

ia,lnternationalllouse London 1996

lLrblishedby: lnternational House Linited
hJrted by: CharlcsLolve and Mallhew Bamard
\\'ord-processcdby: Pierre Danncr and Alison l,cilh€r
 Editorial
Why is lnternational Houscsosuccessful?

The follouing is al unashamedly

firlsomeaccountof why I am so entlusiasticaboul
IntematioDal House,and why I believeIntemationalHouseteachers everywhereare
partofils etronandits achievemenr.

The Int€mationalHouse World Organisationis rurique. We have forty years,

experieDce of practical languageteaching,and thirty years of practicallirnguage
teachertraining. We havethe broadestgeographical distributionof languageschools
and trainingcentresof any comparableorganisation,and we teachin toial rwerve
languages. We are united by a commonphilosophyof languageteachingwhich we
fostercoDtinuously in our annualconferences.
Wehavevastnumbersofdedicatedand
gifted teachersfull of ptacticalideaswho marry innovationwitlr soundprinciples.
Over the }ears we have producedten major contempomrycoursebook authorsand
seven lldtels of highly-regardedtextbooks for teachers.We are also foftrnate in
havingseleralwell-known thinkersin the field of latguageteachereducation,and
have clearly shown our commitnent to, and understanding of. theoretical
pe$pectives.We aret}l:osufiiquelypositionedto explorcanddeveliptheconnections
betweenprinciplesand practice.We tain well over3000language teachersa yeirron
pre-service and in-servicecouNes,including600teacherswhosefirst languagels not
English.We field speakersat a wide rangeof conferences everyyear,and many IH
teachersand manageF regularlywrite articlesfor joumals. We collaboratewith
schools,r:niversities ajld govemments.We are reptesentedon conmittees iu cvcry
sphereof educationin many countries and ate hugely influential in the growth and
directionof theprofession.

Our aim is to improve the standardsof languageteachingand to be regardedas the

leadingsourceofexpertisein thefield. ID this,rveareclearlysucceeding.

Why this journal?

The Intemdtional Eouse Journal of Educdtional Developmentwas conceivedas an

in-house educational forum for Intemational House teachersthroushout the World
Organisation,comingout twicc a year. lt is writtenby teachersyorrJachers.anyone
and everyonecan have thcir say. It will containalticles on actiontesearch(i.e.
classroominvestigation)projects,conference papers,ptacticalideas,newsitems,and
work-in-progressfrom leading thinkers within the organisation. We want to
encoumge debate,give peoplea platform,createnew ideas,refloatold idcas.debunk
myths,andgenerate a new scnscofadventure.
'fhis
first issuecontainschallengingarticlesby AlastairBmton, JaneyFuterill,Jayne
WestandDomjniqucVouillcmin,on four very differentactionresearch projects,with
an excellentintroductorypicce by Mnrtin paarottcalming fearsabout thc rather
intimidatingterm "Action llcscarch".Thcreis also an lnforin:rion Uf,clircin which,
in the comingissues,we'll be teliingyou aboutrccenttextbooksby III authors,up_
comingconferences, leachcr{rainingslatistics,newbooks.ctc.etc_
What's thc ncxt step?

The next issuervill be in November1996.We aJelookirg for articles,sopleasesend

tlem to us, CharlesLowe and MatthewBamard, at IH London, by Thursday 12
September.We are particularlykeenon low-key classroominvesligalionprojects,
and on any methodological ideasthat are inteodedto challenge.if possiblesendall
text on disk: Wordfor Windows 2,6 or 1 (PC or MAC) accompanied by the hard
copy.Ifyou don'thaveaccessto a computersimply sendus a t]?ed copy.

An editorialpanelwill selectand if necessary

edit the articlesfor the nextissue.The
panel will consis of: Elaine Smith (CeDtralDepartrtetrt), Charles Lorve (l-ondon),
Matthew Bamard (London), Adrian Underhill (Hastirgs), and Scotl lhombury
(Barcclona).

The ne:'1issuewill contain:

. Ideas:e.g. Methodology- wherenext?

Promrnciationteaching- is it too complicated?
Thelexical view of language- an update
Neuropsychology- hasit got somethingto te1lus?
Terminology- who needsit?
Leamingprocesses in teacbertrainingcourses- *hal s goingon?
A minimaldiscrete-item syllabus- whatwouldit look like?
. Projects:e.g. Classroominvestigations
. Information update: e.g- What,whereand when
. Questionandanslvercolumn: e.g. Ifyou haveaa educarional quesiionyou
would like aired.do sendit alonlr

++*+*

For now,I wish youhappyreadingofthis issue.Pleaselet me kno\\ \\'hatyouthinkof

theJoumal, aruJgle me feedbacldsuggestionsfor possiblemodillcalions.I havesent
one copy to eachDOS and one to eachstaffioom(schoolDireclorshavebeensent
copiesundersepardtecover).

With everygood*ish

CharlesLowe
DirectorIntemational HouseLondon
(Co-editorofthe lllJED)

April 1996
t:

Action Research
J
Martin Panott

Action researchis not so much somethingthat we do in additionto our teaching

as somethitrgthat we integrateinto it. In many ways it is a stateof mind - it is a
sccpticisrnabout assumptionsatrd a willingnessto put everltbing to the test. It is
I somethingwhich should tak€very little time atrdwhich doesnot trecessarilyneed
to be madepublic. It fu a way of ensuritrgthat we coutinuc to leam even as we
teach.It helDsto stave ollstale[essand routine.

ia Red ink

I don't krow when I stopped using ied still ask my classeswhich colour they
ink to conect homework, or whether I prefened;red cameout on top eachtime.
ever usedi! in the firs-tplace. Somewhere I askedmy colleagues \rhat colourstiey
along the rvay I had absorbedthis idea used to mark homework, and stangely
that using red ink was a 'bad thing'. I enough I discoveredtiat my prejudice
even told CTEFLA cou$e participants was by no means unique to me. I
a not to use red ink an4 in that irritating encouaged them to ask for a show of
way that teacher tlainels sometimesdo, hands in their classes,and in almost
produced an instant pseudo-rationaleto every casethe result was the s,Lmeas in
suppoft m ptejndicet "Peoplefhd red my owrr clesses. Vithout kholaing it, I
ink threatenihg. They associate it with had discorercd action rcsearch.
negatiyeexperiences at school".
The best thing about this example of
I had tlvo fountain pens; one with black actionresearch is its simplicity- it took a
: ink and the other with blue. lf students few seconds to carryout'andinvolvedno
wrote in biack, I used my blue pen to time in preparationof materials or
underlineand annotare:if they wTotein computation and interpretation of data.
] blue, I used my black pen. And I was Something had happenedto make me
ratherproud of being so resourcefirl. questionmy assumptions- I did a littie
bit of researchand modifiedmy practice
.l Ten yearsor so into my careerald for the (andmy assmptions)accordingly.I also
I ,th time, I was asked by a studentwhy I extended the originalpieceofresearchby
1 did this: ''But Martin, wouldn't it be askirg otber classesand by gening my
easier for us to rcad your conections if colleagues to replicaremy 'experimenr'
:l
they were llTitten in red?". Out camethe a sequence of events ( question
same platirude about red ink being assumplions: do research; modifu
threatening.Zlrs time I noticedlooks of practice; extend)wlich coEespondsquite
amused indulgence pass anong the closely to the 'classical' lbur
students."\!ho would like me to usered developmental phasesof actionresearch:
ink?".I asked.Handsshotinto theair.
Phasel: Developa planofactionto
From thenon I askedeachof my classes improvewhatis alfeady happening.
what colourthey would like me to usern Phasell : Act to implementthe plan.
marking their homework. Most students Phaselll: Observetheeffectsofaction
preferredred,and no one seemedto find in thecontextin whichit occurs
this in the least thieatening.I beganto PhaseIV: Reflectofon thesceffects.
uscred asa matterof course,but I would (SeeNunanp12)

':
Action rescarchasa way oflearning had madeno progressat all and,in all the
about our leamers yeals that I have been carrying out
exercisesof this kind, prezumably the
My red ink anecdoteis one exampleof samehasbe€nlhe case.
ieaming about rvhat leameN like, anri a
simple showof trandsis one of the easiest Example2: I have alwayshad a hunch
and most effective tools of action that presentingvocabulary up-front is a
research: who wants to be corrected waste of time, aDd that students leam
moreT Wo wanls me to corrcct their vocabulary more effectively if they
mistakes? Who likcs mistakes to be research it themselves. I asked ths
correaed by other students? Who lir,as stud€nts in an elemertarY class
working in pairs? lVho likes wriften individually to luite down tle names of
homework? everything they could find in a kitchen
and I collectedin thei sheetsof papcr.I
Short questionnairescan also be very then 'taught' them the names of ten
useful to find out in more detail what our items.A weekandthel a forhight laterI
studentslike and dislike - handing out repeatedthe write down the names of
paper in the.last five minutes of the even'tline vou can find in a kitchen'
lesson and asking the students to write exeriise t6 iee how many itemsthey had
down what they leamed, what they retained.I did a similar exercisewith a
enjoyed or what they found useful in the secondelementaryclass, but this time I
lesson. If we use joumals/rcflection simply askedthem to usetheir bilingual
books we caD ask for feedback on dictionariesto find the names of ten
'kitchenobjects'for homeworkinsteadof
specihc issues, and can follow up
questionnaireresults and feedback in actuallyteachingthe vocabulary.Over a
joumals with brief interviews to clariff period of time I repeatedthis procedure
what individuals have said. InstitutioN with classesat different ievels and with
often ask for feedbackof some sort from diferent areasof vocabulary,eachtime
studentsat the end of their course.But dt keepinga recordonly ofthe total number
the end of the coutse is too late if we of new wordsremembered afterone and
want to take students' attitudes and two weeks. Of couse my original
prcfeiencesinto account, if we wish to assumptionswere lvrong (they often are)
make changes to our teaching and to - not that up-ftont teaching scoredbetter
evaluateor reflect on these. in this instance,but on the basisof my
rcsearchit becameapparentthat acrcss
Action researchasa way oflearning the whole iange of students,eitrer
ofour teaching
aboutthe effectiveness approach seemedto be more effective
Lhanthe other. lhc point wasrhatcertain
'Test-teach-test' is seen as a model for studentsseemto leammuchbetterin one
presentingnew language,as a way of or other of the approaches- and so now I
diagnosingwhat needs to be taught and consciously vary my approach
as a way of demonstratingthe rclevance (gmdgingly waving flashcards about
of what we teachto the leaners. We can when no one is looking).And I keepon
also integratea modified 'test-teach-tesf tryingto rcpeatthe experiment.
approachinto our teaching in order to
evaluatethe effectivenessof what we do. Acfion researchas a way ofmonitoring
Thetestsneedto be simple,and oftenwe and evaluatinginnovation
can just bring our practice activity
forwardanduseit astest. l'm someonewho tends to rcact to
innovationwith dreadand a gut reaction
bxamplel: I startedteslingclasseson of it wouldn'tpossiblywork', ald I have
lheirtbiliN ro discriminate minimalDairs clways envie.lpeoplewho greel new
hefore uslnt exercisesond aclitilies ideaswlth enthusiasm. At bothendsnf
designed to aid their discrimination.I'hen this particularscalethere are problcms,
I rcpeatedthe test later and found that a howcver.Stick-in-the-muds like mc are
worryinglylargenumberof the students in daoger of fossilising, rvhile over-
 eagemessto Jump onto de latest If I wantsomedatathat'smoreobjective,
bandwagotrcan cause the studentsto be I caq actually courlt the oumber of
subjccted to unpriDcipled and questionsI ask in the form of statements
inappropiate teaching. as compared with those in which thc
auxiliary precedesthe subject,and arrive
Action researchcan help botl kinds of at a precise mtio. lf I want, I can
people- simplebut systematicevaluation consciously try to change this in my
of innovarioncaD help stick-in-de-muds lessons,make a secondrecordingand
to incorpoEte principled change into comparethe ratio here with that in tie
their teachingan4 at the other end of the prcvious lesson. I can changethe way I
scale, can act as bmke on tle over- give instructions and correct
applicationof rvhizzoideas. pronulciation and ask the studentsif they
have Doticed a difference; ask them
The secrel is partly to start evaluating which way they prefer.
be/orethe innovationis introduced,and
paitiy to make the evaluation irdilecl. I We catralso video our lessons.It seems
rcmember being taken to task by a to me lhat teachers wbo do rhis
colleaguefor sneeringat wall dictations. sometimes get hudg up on the lvrong
For a week I asked my (executive)class things- they becomeself-conscious about
to describewhat they had leamedin the gesturesand verbal mannedsms(O.K.?)
first ten minutes of their lessonsin their that actually pass unnoticed in class.
joumals.Onthe Friday I beganthelesson More revealing, I think, is to let the
wirh my first ever \a"ll dictatioD, cameraplay ol the facesof the students.
expectingthat studentswould saythat the
begirningofthe lesso[ hadbeeosilly aDd How come I didn't notice how bored
a laasteof time, wondering if any ofthem Gretchenand Sumiwerein the role play?
would seize on what I understood the Or how confused Hiroko and Renaldo
objective of the procedure to be - looked during m)) presentation of the
developing accuracy in listening aDd presehtperfect continuousthot I thoughl
pronunciation. What I discovered was had broken new reconls for clarity and
that they thought that the exercise had sinplicity? How comeI didn't notice the
beena usefulway to help themremember number of students who said absolutely
vocabulary. I asked a colleagu€ to nothing in thepair vork exercise?
replicatethis with a generalEnglishclass
at a lowerlevel - the rcsultwasmuchthe If we havethe luxury ofpeerobservation,
same.\o one Lhoughttherewasany,tlLingwe can use 'observationschedules'.For
remotely silly about the activity and I example. we canaska colleague to dlaw
havenow absorbedthe (udicious)useof a plan of the classroomand to recordall
wall dictationsinto my teaching. the intemction that tales place in the
lesson.The evidenceis undeniableand
Action researchas a way oflearning invariably surprising.
about our teaching
'fhere llho do I Eiye the lion's share o;f my
is a great deal that we can leam attention to - is it to one or other ride of
about the way we teach through simple the room? Is it to the men or to the
observation of differentkinds. women?The attractiveonesor the less
ottractive ones? The stronger studentsor
Wc can recordoul lessonsand take the theweakerones?
tapehometo listcnto.
I canrepcatthe exerciseanotherdayor ln
Do I really talk so much?Or so slowly? anotherclass.Is a pattemenerging?
Do I really unsv,erso many oJ my own
qu,.,ttnnr-(')r ask.romanyquc.ttit)ns in lVhyJiJ no tne cvcr rcl m. lhut I giN,
theJi)rmt)[statements? Do I rcally sound fiore lhan twicc as much atlenlion lo lhe
lo l'\ttruaiunF rthcn I chetk inrlruc!ions allraclive soltth American men and
or so bullying when J correct middle-aged Italion \|omen as to anyone
'trj
PronunciQtion?
else? Did Elsefrom Finland really speak The following hins are intendedto offset
lo .tbsolutely no one al any time in the this danger:
lesson?
. generallyask no more than two or
The basicmethodolosrof action thrcequestions in a questionnaire
research . avoidaskng anyoneto pu1statements
in rankorder(impossible to process)
I have tried to provideexamplesof the . try to use questions to which the
basic tools of action research in the answeris yer ovo, or whichinvolve
preceding sections.To surnmarise,these choosing(circlingor ticking)threeor
tlre: at mostfour options
. if you have a large class,pre-select
. questionnaires(to be filled in by students whose questionnaires/
studentsor by otherteachers) joumals etc. you v/ill use in your
o joumals research(and, for the purposesof the
. interviervs research,ignore all the others)
. tests
r arrzlin recn'rlinoc The second danger is 0rat of over-
. video recordings generalisingor lhe bxsiso[ findings. To
. objective observation schedules go back to my red hl anecdote. it is
(something to keep those CTEFLA temptingto asseftthat students'donot
observe$quiet!) fird the use of red ink threatening'.I
think we needto be very carefulto avoid
Somepay-offsol action research assetionslike this. All we can reliably
conclude is $,at the studentsI asked
Action researchlends itself to shadngof seemednot to fnd red ink threatening.
expedenceand ideas aEong colleagues, The aim of actionresearch is notto arrivc
and can often openup dialogue on issues at unive$al tuths bui only to leam more
that otherwise tend to rcmain under the about ouselves (at the moment),our
caq)et. In particular, it is often both teaching(at the moment),our learners(at
helpfirl and revealing if two or morc the moment) and their leaming (at the
teacheN carry out the same piece of moment).
research,comparethe resultsanddiscuss
the implications.It can help to kindle and Further reading
maintain enthusiasm,and if it involves
regular evaluationof teaching,it can also Understandihg Language Classrooms
help to prcmote confidence (knowing @avid Nunan,PrenticeHall) inspiredme
whal the problems are is better than to takeactionrcsearchseriously.
worrying aboutwhat they might be!).
Chapter 2 of Tasks for Language
Somedangersinherentin action Teachers (Manin Parott, C.U.P.)
research providesa very short introductionto the
topic, and the book contains 12
The greatestdangerin my experiencers classroom-basedtasks, which are
that rve are over-anbitious: that we effectively ready-madeaction research
collect too much dataor that lhe dala is projects.
too complicated to processeasily.
Martin Parrott
February 1996
 Live Listening For Beginners
AlastairBanton

Introductiotrand background

In July andSeptemberthreeteachers,AlastrairBa-oton,Jayne West and Lucy Baylis,

carried our_s_ome experimeffal listenbg work with Beginner and Elementiry levei
leamers. We stroogly believe-tbat developingeffecrive listeningshould be the
pnma.rygoarm ure eally stagesot languagedevelopment.As MichaelLewisour it in
The Lexical_Approach': 'theearlystagesofa leamingprograrrune - in statescioolsin
Europetie frst two yearsperhaps - shouldunashamedly pursuea merhodololvbased
on receptile skills.' Our reasonsfor taking this position we would summ-alscas
follows.

Being ableto unde$tandwhat.is going information to predict and pzcss t|e

on arouno oDe ln a target language meaning of what is being said; linl.
cornmuniry is, on the whole, more anen[on is paid ro helpir:s le3mers
conduciveto one'sgeneralDsvcboloeicalidenily what is actuolly being-said. Lesr
comfort rbanan abil-ity to speil. Spiectr we be accusedof tumingthe clock back,
wilhout aoralcomprehension is virtually I should make it clear tlat we are not
useless, but a good Ievel of against students beilg encouragedro
comprehension, supported by a few makeguessesand to predictmeaning:a
survival phrases,will enablea leamer to largepan oI our worl( hasprecrselytits
achieve a basic level of interactionwith aim. But we would arguethatto do oaly
members of the target language this is to limit stu?ens needlessly.
1 commuruty. Moreover, we believe that to tell studenE
'Don'tlistento everyword'.as
is so o{len
Secondly,rvebelieve that beginnersoften done, is mistaken;'a bit like telling an
' l make rapid gains in their ability to aspiringmusiciannot to listeDto n6tes!
articulatesimple ideas,but very soonfind Of course when students do listen to
themselvesout of thei depth with natiye every word, this will probably interfere
.i speaker interlocutois simply becauseof with their ability 10 understandwhatever
limited comprchension,This can have a messageis being conveyed,but only for
damaging effect upon motivation and the moment. Thereis a dme to listento
might be a factor in the so-called messages and a time to listen to words.
'intermediateplateau'. Our airn has been
Effective languageleamerssuely need
to prcvent this happening by striving to theversatilityto be ableto do both.
push our sfudents'comprehension some
way aheadoftheir production. Our main aim, therefore,may be summed
up as being rc efl'ecta large and rapid
Thirdly, and, in our view, of prime boosl in our srudents' lislening- borh
importance, is the fact that if leamersare comprehension ard perception- in order
unableto hearwhat is beingsaidto them, to improve the quality of their life rn
then they are, to that extent,incapableof Londonin the sholt term andto facilitate
acqulnng new spoken language. We their languageacquisition in rhe longcr
refer to this capacrty as listening lerm. Traditionally. lhecassenc Dla\(r
perception, by which we metur the has beenregardedas the main rool ibr
identilicalion of language - words, approaching suchgoals,but disembodied
phrases, slress and intonation patterns, voices lack facial expressions,mouth
synta\ - irrespeclive ofmeaning. Wirhin movementsand gestureswhich, we are
cunent EL l practrce.rhis is a neglected convinced,significantlycontdbuteto the
skill. A grealdeal of emphasisis placed processof comprehension. Video rs
upon leamers using non-linguiqlic obviouslyJ'referible, bur we wcre dt\-
 il
.r

satisfied with lhe content of much of tle rcason why a much larger number of
comnercially a ilable matedal. A.Dd studentsof similar level could not be
clearly. tapedmaleria.lis. by definitioq handledby just two teachers,although
/ixed. We wanredto inE-oducesomeof some degreeof personaltouch would
the spontaneityof real conve$ations. probablybelost.
By way of preparation I read 'The It was importantto pitch our materialat a
Listening Approach', l.hich describes suitable level. Interestingly,finding a
work donein Utah and Thailand in which meanbetweenthe \reakestBegirulersand
studentswerc taughtby two teachers,one the stongest ElementaryA studentswas
an 'assistant'. The line is archly less of a problemthan keepingup with
Krashenite. My own viewpoint is rather the very rapid progress of all our
different. AlthoughI acceptrhat many students!Activitiesseemedto acquirea
leamelsbenenlfioma'silentperiod'I do 'useby'date. For example,il the second
not believethat thereis a sharpsepamtlon month of tie project a certain'prices
between conscious leaming aad bingo' activir_v did not, for somereasor!
unconscious acquisition- Rather, I take place on the day for which we had
believe that conscious leaming of plannedit anda lew dayslaterLucy andI
vocabulary - including lexical phrases- realisedthat it was simply no longer
can directly assistaural comprehensioochallengingenoughio be of any value.
and perception and thereby promote In orderto monitor students' perceptions
acquisition. It is important, though, that ofthe difficultyof our activities,eachone
students come to leam how words and endedwith studentsfilling in a feedback
pbrasesreally do soundwhen producedin form - seeAppendixA. We foundrhis
conteK by fluent speakers.otherwise invaluable for accuratelypitching our
such leaming will be of limited value. In malerial.
spite of these theoretical differences,the
idea of using live dialogue and a number For the two hours when we were not
of very interesting applications of this working together,we taught'normally'.
conceptwe owe directly to this book all Thiscenainluinclrrded trpestharfincdin
of which contributeda great deal to oru with the coursebookmaterialwe werE
project. using. lt woLldbe fair to scy.tierefore.
that morethan40%, quitepossiblymore
GenemlEnglishclassesin lH Londonmn than 50% of total class time dealt
for three hours a day. (There are also primarilyrvith the listeningskill. To tne
optional classesfor one or two exta question,"Did we specificallyprepare
hous). We decidedthat in order to students for the live listening?",the
ensue that we could regularly have two answeris 'sometimes andto someextent'.
teachers involved in the activity, every Such preparationtendedto be lexical
day, for some period of any'thingup to ratherthan grammatical. For cxampie,
onehour,we \vouldcombinetwo classes beforeanyofthe number-based activities,
at the bottom end of the level systemand I made sure that my studentshad a
carry out 'live listening'activities. Our reasonableability to recognise and
classmaximumis twelvesfudentsandwe producenumbers.On the otherhand,we
rarely get more than twelve real presentedlive conversations about our
beginners and so this meant that we previous weekends,be/'oremy beginnet
combinedmy Beginnersclassand Jayne studentshad had any formal prcsentation
West's Elem€ntaryA (false beginner) of thepasttense.
class. The project was continuedin
September with a completelydifferentset As to the questionof evaluation, I would
ofstudents;Lucy Baylistaughtthe higher dearly lovc to have found someway of
classandI, again,hadthe Beginners.We objectively testing the successof the
arc tbrtunateto have availablea room proiectin tems of how well the students'
which is large enoughto house up to language and motivation developcd
aboul twenty-fivc actively mobile againstthat of a controlgroup. But we
students!Schoolsconside ng adoptinga do haveour studcnts'repliesto a simple
similarschcme .houldnotelhatproviding questioDnaire thatvr'epresentcd at the end
the room is of sufficientsize,thereis no of eachmonth(SeeAppendixB) andthe
il
H
X
R
informai impressionsof sevetalobservers there was an emphasison 'staight' TPR
- directo$ of studiesand DTEFLA course and rather less of this towardsthe end of
participans, mostly. The students' the month. Otherwisewe tended to
responsespeaksfor itself. Observe6 inlerspersedifferent aclivitiesaccordrne
ff werc generally very positive and to oui senseof what the studentsneeded
impressed by the concentation, and whal they could handle. For

ffi coIrrmilmentand involvement of our convenience, 'J' and 'A' are used as
students. We, the teachersconcemed, abbreviationslor Jayne cnd Alasrdir.
have no doubtof the value of what wc Takeit as meaning'oneteache/and 'the

ffi
lt!
IF
Its
were doing. The atmosphere was other teachel! Seveml of the activitres
wonderfirl. There was a gteat deal of could be carried out by one teachet
humour. ard. perhaps surprisilgly for working alone, witlr minor adaptationsto
Iistening-orientated activities,noise and theprocedue.
spoken cornmunication! We were
constantl)-delightedby how much our Live listenihgactiyities
l* stud€ntswerc coming to unde$tand and

ffi
IH
we feel certainthat there was no adverse 1. Total Physical Response. The arm
eflecrcr rle qualiryor quantityof their was lo increase students receplive
speaklng. vocabularyof verbs involving (mostry]
movement and the manipulation of
,t
Before describingwhat we did, I would objectsand alsoto developtheir listening
like to addressthe questionas to whether comprehension. TPR involves studentr
rfl, this kind of thing would work in a non- rcspondingto simple commandssuch as
iI English speaking environment as Comehere, Sit down, Standup, Go to the
ffi opposedro here in London. All other t ihdow, Imagihe a cat and pick it up,

W
things being equal, I arn coDfidentthat it Giveit to your neighborlretcetc. We did
would. It couldeven work ,etter in that this kind of tiing most days, gradually
students abroad, not having the increasing both the lexical load and the
immediate need to speak, as they length and complexity of the commards,
i$ inevitabl-ydo here,might be lesslikely to so that by the end of the cou$e we were
resist a reception-orientated approach, sayingtlrings like:.If you aren'! wearing

ffi
W
not that we ever encounteredresistancc jeans, go lo the windote, turn lound and
here. But a note of caution. A lookat me. Not easy! Sometimes
tremendousamount of planning and sfudentsto form smallergroups,so that
we gol

tr
prcparationwent into this project. I do only one of the groups would follow
not believethat TPR, for example,can insfuctionswhile the restobserved.As
reallybe learntfiom a bookor evenfrom long as we kept bumpingup the level of
.:B my notesbelow! I was lucky enoughto chailenge,studentsmostlyenjoyedthis a
have some relevant training in Japan lot.
ffi many years ago. Schoolswishing to Thebasicprocedurewasasfollows:
work along similar lines should be (i) A would instruct J with a few

ffi
W
careful not to undercstimate the
preparatorvwork necessaryfor such a
schemelo operatesuccessfully.

Lastly, and on a more personal and

cornmands.J wouldactaccordingly.
Studentswouldobse e.
(ii) The reverse- J wouldinstructA.
(iii) A would instructthe studentsfor a
fett minutes while J observed,
perhaps'tcacher-c€ntredr note, I want to helpingindividualsas necossary and

ffi
'.. *
{li
say horv much fun it was working wrth
Jayneand Lucy, not only becausethey
are supremelygiffed teachers,but on
thcn vice versa,J would take over
andso on lbr a few rounds.

accountof the plain fact of beingabieto 2. Video linked TPR. Aims as above,
team-teach.I commendit to everyone. but also to familiarisestudentswith the

ffi
lffi
We all leamta g.eatdealfrom eachother. prescnl conlinuous for on-gorng
One day. surely,all classeswill be mn andwith whateverlarguageis beingused
this wayl I shall concludewith an in the video. Also to give students
cctiviti(,

itemisationof all the types of activities practice in quickly picking up and

we ran. Therewere up to threedistinct emulating languagethey heat around
activiticsper day. ln the earlierlcssons them. We usedsomeof Video English
rld$

l'ff
for this, but we felt it to be mther slilted. tried not lo comprcmisenatumlness
The video needsto involve languagethat as far aspossible). The conversation
the studentsare already quite familiar is taped- (See 4 below, for reason.)
with. They shouldalso be familiar with StudeDts just listen
basicTPR procedures. (ii) Studetrs are given task sheetsand
Procedueasfollows: we have the convenation a second
(i) Introducesequenceto the students. time. We are carefii to cover the
(ii) Show sequencewith sound oJf, A ground required by the
and J discussingwhat is happenhg comprcheDsion questions on the
in the picture, speculating, sheet, but some fiee-wheelingis
questioning eachother aboutwhatis normal.
going on. Studentssimply observe (in) J and A give feedbackon the task
andlisten. Rewindto start. sheets.
(iii) Assign roles to students,so that if
there are, say,three charactersin the 4. Word order dictations. Tle aim is to
video, there should be three groups develop studentslistening perception of
of students,one per role. Students convercational exchangesin order that
shouldadoptstances/ positionsthat they might be better able to pick up
coEsspond with Oose of theu phiases as they listen to other native
respectivecharactemat the start of speakers in conversation. This tates
the video sequence. This witl someprepar-alion.It is necessaryto listen
involve re-groupingthem. to the tapeofa recentlive dialogueandto
(iv) Re-play video, sound on quietly, select a short exlract ftom it of between
give studetrts instructions, TPR- about 20 - 35 words of ttree to five
style, to move as can be seen on utterances. The exact words should be
screen. In a restauant scene,ths written on sepamtepieces of paper or
would include things like: 'John, ask card and thereshouldbe enoughsetsfor
the waiter for a menu. Waiter, give as many groups of three or four as you
the menu to John.' Students may have in the class. A way to do this is to
speak;it doesn'tmatterif they don't. divide an .A4 sheet into as many equal
Filst time th(ough, the video will rcctanglesas you need afld to $,rite the
alrnostcertainlyneedto be pausedto words, one in the centre of each
allow the chamctelsto catch up with rectangle. Then photocopythis onto
the action. This stage may be different colour sheets for as many
repeated, ifit is f-eltnecessary. groupsas you need and chop them up.
(v) Students improvise scene with Then paper clip the sets together. I
neithervideo nor teachersupport. always separateout contacted words so
that for it3, for example,il and b go on
3. Live dialogues. The main aim is to sepamre pleces.
help students to understand natuml Procedurc:
conve$ations be veen two native (i) Put studentsinto groupsof three or
speakersbetter and to become familiar four ald give eachgroupa complete
with listener expressions. By way of setofwords. Tell studentswhat the
preparation,the two teachersneed to materialis and what they are going
decidein advance what they will talk to do wirh it.
about and prepare task sheets to guide (ii) J and A loudly, clearly but with
comprehension. naturalspeedand intonation,saythe
Procedure: exchangeand studentstry to order
(i) J andA sit in front ofclass andhave the words accordingiy. (On the
thc conversation.(Thesetendedto floor,is convenient.)
lastbetweenfive andten minutes.It (iii) J andA repeatthis until most of the
is impo(ant that we talked to each studentshavethe right order.
othcrand 'ignored'the students.As (iv) Feedback. The sentenceis vrritten
we did tiris on several occasions, on the boardand whateverstudents
running jokes would sometimcs were havingdifficulty with may be
develop. I wouldn't say thc highlightedandrepeated, so they get
conversatioiswere totally ungraded usedto thesound
- thcy wereal1erall staged- but we

t0
VARIATION. Not really a variation,but over 40 when he got marded'. A tube of
the same procedure can be used for Smartiesor similar asa prize.
naluai uner,Lnces from other live Procedure:
listeningactivities. One examDle,
based (i) Explain tbe rules.especiallyaboul
on our TPR sessions was: 'Pick up the callingout 'Line!'or 'Bingo!'
rcd booh take it to the windov, bu fi (i) Studentsare askedto sletch 3 X 3
downandcomeback here.' bingo cards and to fill them in wiltr
their own choice of numbersfrom I
5. Lcarnertraininp scenarios.Theaim
-1o - 50.
is for students learq through (ii) I and A take rums to pick uD a
observation.ways of developingtherr aumber slip at random and reai it
English. AIso to become f;mjiiarised oDce oDly. Studentshave to mark
wirh useful language for leamlng off the numberif theyhaveit.
Fnglish. EsscntJally riis involvesJ ard (iii.)Studentscall 'Line! as apDroDna.e
A adopLingroles and improvisinga and are given a coupleof Smarties.
scenario.Oneof lhe rolesis alwaysftat Tle firsl to reachBingogelslhe resl
of a lermer. The otheris thatof a native of thetube
speaker. We tended to do 'student and VARIATION. Pdcesareusedinsteadof
landlady/lord, sitting room, scenes but numbers.In this case,the teachersneed
there are maDy other possibilities. (No to prepare the cards in advance. The
ham accellts;we used our normal voices.) pricesare called out itr co-texts,actedour
I will describeoneofthese. by the leacherssuch as: 'Was that watch
Procedure: expensive?''No, it vas only f19.99'
(i) Sludentswerc given a sheetwith a
pictureof a rypicalsiningroom. 7. So_ngs.Aims: Lisening perceprion-
(ii) J and A introducedthemselvesrn posslblysomecomprebension.Studenrs
role. 'This is Paolo, He'sa student. are familiarised with lhis ever-prcsenr
I aln his landlady. He is at home, authentic rcsource, For DreDaratiL,r.
doinghis homework.' choosea suirablesong. Altraciive, trn-
(iiit laolo' ocls comingin. greetinghis subtJe lexis,singablemne. Lucy and I
landlcdy,asking for help wirh his used'Walk oD By'. Elton John's Blue
homework. He then sits himself at Eyes' and Lou Reed's'PerfectDay'.
the OHP with a transparency Createa task basedon the lyics. We
corresponding to the onehandedout usedgaps(last word of everyline) ano.r
to tie students. lile orderingtask. Groupshadsetsoi rll
(iv) Pointing at one of the filmiture lhe lines of the song and had ro order
items,Paoloasks'What'sthis called tnem.
in English?'Landladytellshim. He Procedule:
askshow to spell it. Shetells tum (i) Ask studentsto listen to the song. to
andhe writesit down, Students also decide whar general
-to feelint l
write downthe nanesofthe items. expressed, and note down_tur\
VARIATION. As above, but er'ith the words or phrasesrhey hear. Do thcu
OFITswitchedoff. Studentsthenhaveto know or ccn tlev suessthe title?
write just through having heard the {ii) Phy songand g;t-feedbeck.
spellinss provided by Lrndlady. (iii) Hand out task and play sons apain.
Atler$ards, Lhe filled in OHT mav be {iv) Check rask.re-pliiing son"g.iine oy
displayedfor studentsto checktheir own Ine.
\rriting ofthe namesofthe items. (v) I[ youre happy doing thts, gel lne
classon their feet lo sing lhe sor)g.
6. Gamcs.n ims: various. deDending un (I always d,o this - it,s the best bitiy
rhegame.burr-heBingo.descrjbedbeiow Play rhe lape quierly in rfe
is ro devclop lislcning perceDtion of background as a guide.
numl'crsI - 50 Preparaiion: thcleaclrcr
needsto prepareslips of paperwith fifty 8. Receptive grammar excrcise!.
sentencesincomoratins
-These each of the (Thesec_an be done by just one teachej,
numbers1 - 50. io not needto be Arm: 5ludenlsgel nrcclice in llurilJ.)
graded. A couple of examples,'l don,t OrScrlmlnillng belwee
Ar nmAliC.ri
think 13 is an unlucky number.''He was ch Dks. You needto preparca list of l0

I1
20 or so shon sentences that embodya (") Feedback.
few items to be contasted, for example,
questions,negativesand afFrmatives of 9. Other possibilitie! - things we
oneor severallenseformations. (For the talked aboutbut didn't get roundto:
sakeof this example,we'll assumel0) Home movies - take a video of your
The sentencesshould be of severely home and the people in it. Play it to
restrictedvocabularywith which the studenls, talking them tirough it.
studentsare alreadyfamiliar. You also Shadow reading - students
needa 'word rose',including all of the simultaneouslylisten to some speech,
wordsusedin tie sentences. read the transcdptand try to speakalong,
Procedure. imitating the speaker as accrrately as
(i) Tell studens to wdte 1 to l0 do\rn possible. we would want natual-
the left of their page. Explain tbat soundingconversations for this.ideally. i'
you will readsentencesand they are
to write +, - or ? accordingto what Bibliography
theyhear.
(ii) Read the sentences. Then do Brown,J. M. andPalmer,A. S. 1988lle
feedback. Listening Approach (London,Longman,)
(iii) Provide studentswith the word rose Lewis, Michael t993 The Lexical
of all the Nords you used in these Approach (Hove, Language Teaching
sentences.There shouldn'tbe too Publications)
many words, for obvious reasons-
Focusstudents'attention on the word Alastair Banton & JayneWesl
tose. September 1995
(iv) Dictate the sarne set of sentences,
studentswrite th€m. They can be (Note: A versionof this articleshouldbe
read once or twice depending on published in a forthcoming issue of the
their complexity. (Once is probably English LanguageTeachingJotnal.)
Dest..)

t2
AppendirA

LIVE L]S]ENING EVAIUATION CHART

Y O U RN A M E . . . . . . . . . . .

Pleaseput two ricks (/) agailst each activity aDd retum this sheet to Jayne or
Alastair.

i .......INTERESTING?........... HOWEASY?.......

13
Appendix Il

LM LISTEN]NG: FINAI EVALUATION CHART (with totalled responses)

Pleasewrite yourNAME: ....--.and

answer
thesethreequestions
by ticking oneofthe boxesfor eachquestion,like this:
E

What do you thinl about the amount of listening praq[ice you had in your couse?
Wasit:

(a) @ Too lide. lwantedmore. 2 6co

fl

(b) @ Too m!ch. I wantedless. I 4%

(c) O It was6ne.
fl ,8 900

What do you thinli abouthayiDgtwo ieachen for someof the time betweenI I .00 and
12.00?

(a) O I enjoyedit. Jzq 7',t%

(b) I It wasokay. t r 4 t3%

(c) 6 I didnt like it. t t l 1lvo

What do you think about working-gilh-anettbcrclass for some of the time between
11.00and12.00

(a) @ I enjo-ved
it. fl ,' 68Vo

(b) g It wasokay. l 6 19%

(c) @ I didn'tlike it. ! 4 13%

How muchdo youthink your listening.hasimproved? (only September
classes
asked)

(a) @ A lot ! 6 35%

(b) O Some n r t 65%

(c) @ Not verymuch t r o 0v.

l4
Puttingvocabularyat the top ofthe agenda
JaneyFuterill

The subjectofmy Action Research Projectwastheteachingofvocabulary.I wanted

to seewharwould happenif studentswere,ftom the beginningoftie course,willing
and well-infomed participantsin a project to deliberately increasethe amount of
vocabularythey could gpically be expect€d10absorbduring 30 hoursof tuition. I
also wantedto test my hunch ttrat they would leam more if they were encouragedto
absorbit not as isolated or discreteunits, but exclusively as contextualisedsentences.
A firther hunch was that a lot more classroomtime needs to be devotedto helping
students\\ilh the demandsof remembering if we u,ish our teachingto significanllt
raisetheirvocabulary'lhreshold-'.

I did this projecttwice with consecutive Our negotiationscompleted, I spentsome

groupsof six studentsattendingGeneml time teachingthosestudyskills necessal-l'
Englishcoursesin the ExecutiveCente. to the leaming of vocabularyand ensured
One was a Late Intemediate goup, the their familiarity with the concept of
other a (barely)Intermediateone; both collocation.I had chosenthe majorityol
were higtrly motivated and of varied the largeted items before the couse
nationality- In each case,I taughtthem began,while the rcmainderwere selected
30 out ofa totalof60 hours. by a nahrral process .rs the lessons
proceeded.My choiceswerebasedupon
On the fust day I askedthe studertswhat the following criteria: that they shouldbe
they hoped to get out of their words or ph€ses that occurred with
participationin the course,and what they frequency in the press; that they were
consideredto be their pdncipal weakness. ones which I myself used in everyday
Unsurprisi4ly, they highlighted their conversation;that the number of phrasal
problems with vocabulary. Typically verbs amongstthem shouldbe limited;
ihey felt thatthey usedor y therelatively and that they should replesenta balance
narrow lexical range that they had learnt betweenthe mundaneandthe spalklingly
at more elementarylevels; and that this idiomatic.
adverselyaffected borh their speaking
and their comprchension. However My procedurewas simple: eachday new
"bored" they were with the lexis they items werc inhoduced,while old ones
knew,they nevertheless foundit difficult received a systematicrcvision. Tle
to retain any new vocabulary they were presentations tendedto be fast and to the
"given" in class. point, with a relativelylight degreeol
student involvement and a
When I proposed that we should devotc correspondingly heary emphasis on
part of the course to a consciousand example. This approachwas panly
aelibente approach to vocabulary dictated by time considerations; bul
leaming they agreed with a slightly mainly, and quite ftankly, becalse the
resignedenthusiasm despite- or perhaps only elementapproaching to a "themati-
-
becauseofl n]y warningthat this would linkage between the chose items was lhat
certainlyinvolve considerablc declication I wanted lhe studenls lo lcarn th,nt.
on thcii part. They fully unde$toodthat Controlledoral practice was limited to
the proicclwould eat into time normally the studenls reproducing lhe conlextudl
spcnt on fluency wo{k; and we agreed sentencesthey had been given. There
that a loadof between60 and 80 itcms- was no free practice. It renained to be
whethcr of one or more words sccn whether lhe sluJents \uou.d
individually- would be a satislyingand spontaneously use the new vocabulary
challcngingtargetto aim at over the two during the couNe and in their ftee tirne,
weeksinvolved. despite the apparent "efficicncy" of the

t5
methodsby which I had introduced it to ubiouitous"Mind $e gap!", the new
them. uocibulary,embeddedin is chunksof
pre-formed pbrases, would assulne a
All the students carried pocket-sized familiarity v'hich would ensureits corect
notebooksin which they rccordedthe and appropriateuse.
multiplyingsentcnces - Iirerally dozens-
that aontextualised the chosen items iD The DroiecteDioyed -rtre a panjalsuccess.By
the most "natural" manner possible. Lile the ini of corirse the students'
a dictionary. their notebooks would receptive uoderstand irg oftbe vocabulary
exernpfifu 56th figurative and stylistic was'excellent- Their active production
useswhereverrelevant. was less assuredhowever, with perhaps
onty a third to a half of them able to take
Much time wasspentin reinforcement io that considerable step with an
an attempt to make the students as unselfconsciousconfidence. There was
familiar as possible with these grcvdng seneml acreemenlr}at, given -of the time
chu*s of language. While tie ieeded ioi the recording the phrases.
presentationswele dynamic ald required the approachhad proved more effective
grect concentationon Lhe part of the than ihe more conventionalmethodsthey
Jtudents, the neKt stage provided a had encounteredbefore. The students
relaxed contrast. While I rcpeatedthe also rcportedan unexpectedbonusin that
sentences- at somelength although in a the daily repetitioosbad improvedtheir
varyi-ngorder- thesrudenswouldsimply con-fidence in their listeningand urihng
shuttheir eyes aDd listeD. Further vanery skills, and in their pronunciafon.
was providid by the use of varied forms
of dictation and - now with an emphasls Irterestingly, too, nobody hadbeenbored
on their active production of the items - by the rigorousrepetitionof phrases. nor
on brainstorming sessions al]d association resentful of the lime that had been
games. Every opportuity was taken to diverted ftom fluency basedactivities to
bighlight my own spon-taneous. use of allow it to take place. While I had
choseolansuage;to poml oul Ln class sometimes felt uieasy when teaching
thoseoccasioniwhenlts use worlld have items that I knew might not necessarily
been appropdateeven though it had not fit into subsequentrole plays,the students
been so used; and to note its appeaiance umeservedlyenjoyed acquiring language
in the Dress. The students were which they were conlident would be
encouraged to actively seek out and usefulto themin any case.
report b;ck their own encounterswith
itemsin their lives outsideof classrime JaneyFuterill
My hope wasthat like the Undelgound's September 1995

t6
Usinga Lexical Approachwith Advanced
Students
JayneWcsl

Michael Lervismaintalns that TheLexical Approachto languageteachingensuresthe

marimun communicativepower to the leamer. Hc believesthat misunderstandingis
much more likely to occur as a result of lexical rarherthan g@lmalilal errors. Take
theseexamples:
a) I'vc llrissedthe busyesrerday Gramhalicalenor)
b) I've b$ thebus (Texicalerror).
Clearly rhe gramnatical error hinderscommunicationfar lessthan the lexical enor.

Taking up the basic premise that we vocabularythan usual as well as a

conveymessagesthrough vocabulary(we substantialamount of lexical chunks. A
stress content words, llot glammalical lexical chunk can be defined as ar
words). I started to consider my independenl semanlic unil. Forexampl..
expeience as a language leamer. As aD . by the way
advanccd learner of French I find that . the day after tomorrow
what stops me fiom being fluent is the . evenso.......
fact that I have lbrgotten or am ignorant. I might have known
of vocabulary and lexical expressions. . Comeagain?
'I . Sowhy bother?
he grammatical rules are forever
ingrained in my mind and very easily . sortoflike
recalled. . kind of
. You'vegot to bejoking
Working in Hong Kong really brought My aim wasto tackle theselexicalitem",
home the realisationthat one can survive which fall into the categoryneitherof
on vocabulary. I got by on chunks of vocabularynor of gramrnar.
languageand basicvocabulary: numbers;
prices; basic greetings. The finer details Lexical chunks are often irnctional at
ofclantonesegraDmar escapeme still! advancedlevel and these,along with a
bankof decontextualised vocabulary,can
'lhc
Lcxical Approach to language empowff advanced leamers to
teaching advocates an emphasis on communicate more effectively. I
fluenc), over accuracy. Something as maintain that the majority of advanced
*seminql) is third fcrsnn "s' is studentsalreadyhave a sound basis rn
"inrple grammar. In order to help them to
aoquireclsurprisingly late, so why do we
spendso much time and energy trying to communicateon a Dearnative speaker
make our studentsproduce it correctly? levelI believethat they needexposureto
Would our time not be better enployed chunksoflanguagein contcxt.
trying to incr'ease our students'
vocabulary? It is not sufficient,however,to simply
expose advanced leamcrs to lexical
In attempting lo adapt Lewis's ideas to chunks. To enable students to
my own classroomsituation I dccided to communicatesucccssfully,the teacher
greatly elevate thc importalcc ol should place great emphasis on
vocabulary in my advanced classes, prcnunciation,helping them to say the
rvhich meant teaching far more chunk with the appropriatesentence

t'7
str€ssand intonation. I devoted20% of fwo valuable sourcesfor teachingof
my advancedgeneralEnglish classesto useful lexical chunks are "Conrersatiun
intonation, focusingprimarily on pileh as Gambits" ard the coursebook"l/ortoat
it is easierto masterthanmovement Advanced . The latter provides
(falls,riscs,risc-fa1ls
etc). invaluablehelp with intonation,focusing
particularlyon slrcasmandtact(unit 9)
Tale thiscrample:You nrustbejoking.
Meaning is obviously affected by It is also appropriateto teach lexicai
intonation. One could say this in a chunksat lower levels. In July I had a
sarcastictone (low pitch), in a shocked classof false beginnersand I combined
(high pitch), or in a sympathetictone the teaching of the four skilis and
middlepitch). grarnmarwith input on simple, useful
chunks,for example:
I spent a considerableamount of time
drilling lexicalchuks in differentoilabqs I a) Wouldyou mind helpingne?
to grvc thc sludcnlsmore diversityir b) No, not at all
makingtheirtruefeelingsfelt. 2 a) Do you fancygoingfor a drink?
'l'he b) Yeah,I'dloveto.
drilling was frequentand systematrc,
rcsulting almost in a retum to rote, I focused on meaning rather than form,
phrase-book learning. This proved and the students used thc language
effective becauseafter orfy one month I effectivelyboth inside and outsidethe
had the strong impression that tbe classtoom
studentshad becomesignificantlymore
fluent, more confident and they actually The Lexical Approach requires the
soundedmorelike nativespeakers.More teacherto exposethe studentsto asmuch
than one student was complimented on decontextualised vocabularyas possible.
their very lluent English. I felt tbat due I would recolnmend llorkout Advanced
to all thc new l'unctionallanguage,the asa very lexicallyfriendlycoursebook.
studcnts wcr€ better able to initiatc a
conversation and, more importantly, to The recording and recvcling of
keep it going without embarassing vocabularyis essentialto this approach
moments of hesitation and word and I ensuredthat all my studentshad a
searching. scparatevocabularybook in which they
recordednew words,idioms and chunks
As well as being fluent these students in a nonlinear fomat. Lewis advocates
were also quite accuate (and they had ealoeano! as a way ot increasjng
had very lilrle formal grammarinput in vocabulary:SeeFigure L
class - grarnmar was covered in the
conectionslotsaflerfluencyactivitics).

Figrre I
nad

a holiday breaktasl
luncn
2aftzy
a nightmarc dlnncr the bcnd
\.o"n,r
wild
n haircut rvhisky
a massage collcc

r8 :
The sourcesof most of the vocabulaw exam, The mock exan resultsfot the
and chunks\ ere lapesand texs. Lewis CAE examborewitnessto the success of
speaksirboullhe importanceof receotive a lexical approachin giving students
skills in teaching lexis. Much of incrcasedconfidenceaDdfluency. In the
languageleamels produce comes from a mock oral (carried out by an exDerienced
process of assimilating language CAE examiner) their scores were way
"received" liom outside, and is therefore aboveavemge,somescoringl91201
basedon receptive(not productive)skilis.
Adoptinga lexical approachto teaching
When teachingwriting skills I chose advanced studentsand qilnessingtheif
tasksv/hich involved the use of chunks increasedvocabulary and subsequent
which couldalsobe usedwhenspeaking improvementin fluency, I am more
for example(with filmAook reviews): convincedthaneverthal it is moreuseful
. the most intcrestingthing about lt to vie\.! ldnguaAeas $1nnmaltla]j;qrl
1S,,._.. lcals ratirerthin lixiculisei gta-t-r"r.
o r.vhar
I reallyliked aboutit was....
.IayneWest
This proved particuiarly eft'ectivewith June1995
'l
my CAE class. hey useda lot of these
chunksliom thcir writing tasksin the oral

l9
 What's the Team-Teaching
Difference?
Dominiquc
Vouillemin

My Vision

On recentNLP tnining I havegreatlyenjoyedthe experienceof doubleinduction-

where two trainers work together. fwo voices, two teachingtraining styles,
complemeDt eachother in a holisticfusion- a joini tuning-into groupand individual
leamingneeds. lnstinctively trainersusing this forum are able to display their
individualstreDgths which are thusavailableandaccessible to a groupwhich is then
invitedto co-createthe leamingprocesswith the l|ainers. Trainees/participants may
uselullyresonate more stronglywith one or otherEainerand for all involvedthereis
rvider choice and potential for leaming. Two fuseas one and that one is far greater
than two. I wished to explore the polential of running an Executiveciassin this wcy
and to build upon the successof tearn teachingexpeienceswith Exec. Centre
coileagues :rnd,beforethat,in GeneralEnglishandstatesectorcontexts.I aisolooked
forward to discovcringwhat the ,106differencewas - what was the essenceof
excellent teaching at 106 Piccadilly which could usefuily be harnessedand
incorporated in the way I work at Execs?With this in mind I teamedup with Deri
Hulahes for tu'o weeks.

'Ihe
Group

Our group was open to adventue, 10 Dialoguein front ofteachers

ieaming and to change. Five young
male executives: a neuro-surgeon, a
clcan room technologist, a banking
account manager, a managcment
colbuhaul xnd a humcn rcsourcr"
specialist. They were committed to the
successof lhe project from lhe slan.
Inxnediately they seemed to recognise
the added value of two teachers,and, as
thecorrrsedeveloped.thel beccmebetter
ard bencrat resorrrcing us and directing
their o*tt leaming. They welcomed us
as equals in discussionsand role plays
while rncling lullesr use as languagc
resource 'expe s".
Native speaker(NS) demonstations
of hteractiveskills
Tutorialwith Tl while T2 teaches
Different NS input on a particular
topic
Differentsimultaneous feedback
Contemporaryexploitation of the
sametopic.
D).oarnic/ logistics / movement/
posrtlons
Joint meditatioD,/attunement
to task
T1 feedbackto T2 andviceversa
The dynamic crcatcdby the simple
statementand commitnent "Let's
tearnteach"

The Research 2 . Which activities only need one

I teacher
Inspiredbr :!n article Deri gcvc mc orl
action research, I found that the
following spccific questions which I
thoughrmight or nrght not gel ans\ ereJ
in thc course ol the project. These
rcprcscnt r brainstorming of my
thoughts and are not carved in stone or
onhodox,y.
l. Which activitics are only possible
rvith two tcachc$?
contcnt-basedclassroom activities
(videos/listenings)
Student-leddiscussions/ jigsaw /
workinggroups
Brainwrites
Projcct research / sell'-access/
homeworkl
Autonomouslearning- (No teacherl)

2t
3 . Whichactivitiescouldbe enrichedby expectation(among others). Ihe ego
havingtwo teachers? took a batteringand Deri's willingness
Mnemonic devices i.e.: spellings to listen was a great gift. Thank you
strategies / qrammar / rules / Deri!
vocabularyteaching
Corebelieisaboutleaming/ teaching The word that cameto me at the end of
/ communication / potential/ what is lhe two \\eeks wrs brutclised'-
possible/creatility somehowI hadbrutalisedmyselfandmy
Poolingwaysof makingieamingfun expe enceand not been able to enjoy
and casy (thoughawareof lcamingso much)what
Creative/memorable grammar hadclearlybeena marvellouscoursefor
leamlng the students. out of somekind of fear of
Watching a colleague exploit failure, of letting peopledo*n, and of
materials losingface.\\rhata weirdo!
Mini-developnental outcomes i.e.:
trying a new unit / techniques/ What the Client Sarv
approach / topic
Exploiting/,exploringsharedinterests A = neulosutgeon
B = cleanroomtechnologist
4. Which activitiesdid thc studentsgct C = banlingaccountmanager
mostliom? D: management consultant
E = humanresources speciaiist
Team-teaching. individualsessions or
self-direotedactivities Il/hat,Jor you. have beenthe advantages
Questionnaires to evaluate and assess oJ haring tv,oteachert?
this
A Moreinte.activediscussion
) . Whatmight a tcacheroperating alone B It's easierto createa teamof students
leam liom the tcam-teaching andleamcrstogether
differcnce? C More intense education. a much
higher"addedvalue"lbr me
Explorenew roles/new personae/new D More dynamic, interesting and
teachingstyles diversifiedteaching
Offer new perspectives - go out of Bettcrfecdback
charactcr' Activeteaching
Observecolieagues' strengths- modei E I paidmoreattention
andmaptheirsuccess strategies- take We hadmorefiu
whatyou needliom it I improvedmorefrom this goodteam
Coachvour pcrsonalteaml
l|/hut,Jbr yall, lldre heenthe
As the quostionsbeganto fomulate, dre disad','antages of having fivo IeacheN?
keyquestion thalDeri andThad lbcused
upon "\lhat's thc team-tcaching None
diflerencel clariied furlhcr for mc rnd B None
becamc: C Nonc - nraybc you could add that if
you continue with education
What dilference daes team-teaching consistingof two teachersit can only
make to effecti|e language learning improve as the teachers become
and teaching? more aware of ald cxperiencedwith
cachotber
My Process D No disadvantagein my case.
May be incfficient ifstudents' oral
Ihe twn rrqrls proved a pouerlutl skills are bad!
lr:rrnirrgpr"erss for mc. working besiJ. Fl -
rr Iriglrll r.,prriencedtca(hcrirnLlIrainct
lbr irn extended period. I was able to Ilhat could vc do better nei time?
obsen,e and experience my issues of
junlr,'1. le:rr, comperilion .rnLl A More excrciscs

22
B More driil - more feedback
C ofmaterialsin sucha shorttime
D -Better timc management, avoid
redundanciesby better assigningthc
rolc as wcil as better use of
teircher_s
team building techniques- team work
altemating with individual
assigrunentsand one to one exercises
and feedback
E Continuethat way
What,.[orrcu, nade the leam-teaching
dificrenc/'
A More inlensivecotrlsc
B -
C Dillerent opinions about things I do
rvrong in talking and witing English
D The
'l leachersthcmsclves
hc students
E I didn t iocus only on one pe$on
Dunng "nuh octir)t!ic.t
diLl)ruul.cl vo..
Repetitionof corrections
B Discussion
l'resenlaho11
lrccdhacksheet
Prcsentationand feedback
D Presentations
L)iscussions
Prcscntetions -1
Nes,rtirtions | ., ^,
Liscussrons T Jll oI lllcm
Lorecltons I team-teechingcrn be much nrore
What I loved about and learnt from
Deri
The sheerimpressivenessof watching
a professionalat work
lhe privilege of sha"ringhis creativc
'lhe
eleqince and effectivenessof his
facilitation ofgames with the group
SeeingDcri usc material that I usc in
vcry dillerent u,ays
I)eri's excitementat execteaching
llis immediate acceptance of thc
invitation to the party
The strongsenseofbrotherhoodwhen
De was at the helm - a glimpsointo
a man's rvorld
New ruld stimulating (lbr me risky)
topics and perspectives on gcncral
and globaiissues
23
- His astonishinglevel of productivity
- Hrs presentallonof m:rteriels
mountedcards,enlaigedversionsof
ke) texts, trimrned edgcs,coloued
paper,italic pens- it wasa treatl
- His stillness and prosencein the
classroom
- His willingnessto ask students"was
that useful?" and a11irmthe reply
- His gentle voice, movementarourd
the classroomand skill in facilities
affectivelearning
Guidelincsfor Term-terching
aka TheThingsI Neededb Know
- Considerthe aims of the teachels
involved(includingthe openfrzuneof
having none and simply going with
thellow)
- Hear and honour each odrer's
outcolnes
- Seek creative ways of achieving a
win/win outcomefor all involved
- Obsene ard get to know eachotheis
styles and strcngths as much as you
can before beginning to team-teach
- Build-in hours ibr planning and
debriefing
- If there are restmints, bo preparedto
let go and let happen
- Let the studentsguide you as to how
besl to use you both/all
- Allow for an evolving timetable;
intensive than going solo, so ground
can be coveredmore rapidly
- Allow each othcr unconditional time
out oftho classroom
- Allow a forum for saying how you're
feeling - or leave messagesl
- I-et each othcr shine - each do what
you do bcct- no nccdtn cumprornisr.
Bibliography
Johrson B/Madejski B, Spring 1990 ,1
Fresh Look al Team Teaching Te&her
Trainet
Plumb K and Davis P, 1987 fea,e?
Teaching Teacher Development SIG
Newsletter
Dominiquc Vouillcmin
Septcmberl995.
 Informafion Update
I
l. Did you know...

A huge number ofthe most well-known language teaching textbooks were

written bv staff from acrossthc IH World Organisation past and present, These
arc just some of them (we haven't includednon-IH co-authols!) :

LT coursebooks

'I
hc Head\\'a)'serics (JohnandLiz Soars)
'Ihe
tt: Choiceserics (SueMoharnned & Richard Acldam)
The Matlers Series (RogerGower)
EI
Think liirst Ceflificatc (JonNaunton)
'fhink
fl -,\headto I.irst Cerrificare (JonNaunton)
,fl
igl
Look r\head ,1 (JonNaunton)
Fountain (RogerHunt)
'fruc
*l to Life (RuthGaims)
ry
tr.
BBCIBcginncrs
Flying Colouls
(JudyGarton-Sprengcr)
(JudyGarton-Sprenger)
lnglish Aloud (Brita Haycraft)

m
Fi

m
g
lasos - .\1r.iriJ, Co?rr".rebook

Rctoks./irTeachers
Series (MartynEllis)

ffi
F
An Introductionto English Language1'eaching (JohnHaycraft)
ffi Working \\.ith Words (RuthGairns)
ffi
,* Tasks1br LanguageTeachers (Ma in Parott)
rs The ]'racriccofELT (JeremyFlarmer)
fi Sound!oundations (AdrianUnderhill)
c
ffi LearningI caching
The EI- l Nlanager'sHandbook
(Jim Scrivencr)
(GrahamImpcy)
# 'l
The cachirg PracticeHandbook (RogerGower)
&. 'lhe
E 'Il'te
A-Z of English Gnmmar (BenitaCruickshank)
il PronunciationBook (Tim Bowen& Jonathan Marks)

fi As well as thcse,there arc rvorkbooksand supplementarymaterialsbooksby IH

ffi
fr authors.We lvill be featuringsom€ofthesein our nextissue,

tr
gl

. CTEI'LA st:rtisticsin 93/94rvere:

fr
lfl
RS-{ILiCLESTotal 7538 candidates 622 courses
IH Toral 1903caididates 144courses (bd lll Pdh & lHtalma)

ffi
&
RSA/IJCI,I]S
III I;K
LJK

RSA(ICLDSNon UK
4600candidates
1301candidatcs
29311candidates
354courses
91 courscs
268courses

ffi
ffi
lH Non UK 602 candidates 53 courses

Notc: '95 statislicswill be pubiishedin thc l1extissuc.

(barlll Pais & lrl I'alna)

25
#
 ..
1
. 'fhe
followinglH speakerswere at IATEFL UK 1996,at the Universityof Keele: :.
',i
!,
AlastairBanton(London) Talk: Live listeningfor beginners
SusanBarduhn(London) Workshop:Dcvclopingcrosscuituaalawareness
in monolingualclasses tt:.
RodncyBlakeston(London) Talk: Theinfantilization ofadulteducalion I
Tim Bowen(Hasimgs) Workshop:Therole of imageryin vocabulary f
lcarnlng t:
Allan Bramall(Hastings) Workshop:Stickymoments t:
KateEvans(Hastings) Workshop:Writtenon sandor carvedin stone?
Brita Haycraft(London) Workshop:Cheerfulpromrnciation - what ,.|J

slLrdentsneednost I
;
JohnHaycraft,(l-ondon) Workshop:EnglishthroLrgh drama- l:

InternationalHouse,i 962-95
t
t
al
PeterMoor ([:ondon) Talk: Is theworld readyfor a task-based e
I.
approach? ea
(Hastings)
Vic fu chardson Talk: Continuous enrolmcntandcducational t:
t:
excellence? Don't dc daft!
ScottThornbury(Barcelona) Talk: Mind thegap: tasksthal promote
"noticing" L
Ad anUnderhill(Hastings) Workshop:Gettingcloserto whcretheteaching t+
actuallyhappens
{.:
. The following IH speakers lvcrc at LAURELS Brazil 1995' at IH Recife. 0'
i:.
t,
RodneyBlakcston(London) Course:Language andLanguageTeaching fi
&
BenilaCruickshank(London Course:Teachersupervision {:
TonyDuff (DirectorGeneral) Talk: ThePuIeGoodofTheory andSystems 1
t
Thinking i
RogerHunt (London) Course:GrammarandDiscourse
{
Jim Scivener(Hastings) Course:Tellingthetruth
t_
i

2 . Notableup-comingconferences il
!
$,
TheIntemationalHouseDirectors'Conl'erence, May 12 - 16 i996
Barcelona,
IH/ARELSBusincssEnglishDay,I-ondon,JuneI :
t.
'l Vienna,September26 - 28 1996.
hc IA I EFL JoirltSIG Symposium, it.
TheIntemationalHouseYoungetLeamels'Conference, November1996
International London,November1996
FlouseExecutiveCentreConferencc, j
lntemationalHouseDirectorsof Str.rdies London,January1997
Conference,
:
you know of, nationalor local,so we
Note: Pieasefax us aboutany otherconferences
cankeepa tally. :
i.

26
i. Look ont tor

t Trrr t,, iil. lnlertkediale.RuthGairnsand StuartRedman.CllP 1996

. l.,.ti i ,.iil otc (iolr/: RichardAcklam'Longman1996
. lru)exof f l T Marerials complledb,vltichard r\cklam,
Thc-r[l :rcir. rri.rlatedRet,isecl
In!lr':rL,,rrri!{orts. Pubiications I996

4 . \ r lr r ,L, , \ , , , l

'f .\. : rrL,l, :Irpreciatcil ilYolr $ould:

. t , , ,l .1 cr1 paper you Prescnt.or are going to prescnt.al a co[t'ercnce,and

. r 'ir ! orLhavepublished.(n aregoingto publish'so \lc cankcepa

we couldusefullypuh)iciseon
I r,' i,l tir'rleifthcre erc locirlconletences

)1