TESOL 01 - Teaching and researching listening (state of the art review)

[@meddena]

thank you for this video, this way I can study while I'm doing my dishes :D

[@ericsmartin3214]

This is very interesting! Could I ask which reading-while-listening articles that you are referring to in this presentation?

[@keithfolse4068]

Excellent video. Yes, L2 research here is very clear that vocabulary REALLY matters in a big way. I have a question about your comments around 4:10 about teaching pronunciation issues based on L1 issues. My question is not about tailoring instruction to L1 issues; I think this has been grossly overlooked in L2 teaching, particularly in ESL in ESL contexts because we've been told for too long that L1 is bad when learning L2. My question is about using pronunciation issues with listening. Is there research to support this? For example, I'm learning German now, and though I can't pronounce the German CH consistently, I almost know know what it is when I hear it. When someone says Milch, I have no problem listening to and comprehending the word, but I also already know this word. What I find especially helpful in teaching ESL (and it matches what I'd like to have in German/GFL now) is chunks or phrases that are especially common in spoken L2. I may know the individual words or most of them, but I have not heard them in that chunk. Examples in English would include "first of all" and "all of a sudden," but then I would also contend that these are in fact new vocabulary items that happen to be multiword. So many of these vocabulary figures in L2, such as "4,000 word families are very common in spoken English," fail to take into account lexical chunks or idiomatic expressions. Almost all of my lower level ESL students know BLUE and OUT and certainly THE and OF, but they don't know OUT OF THE BLUE, yet "blue" in OUT OF THE BLUE in word is usually not classified/counted any differently than "blue" in HE HAS A BLUE CAR. --- GREAT VIDEO! I will tell my graduate students and colleagues about your channel. :-)

[@KazuyaL2Lab]

Keith, thanks a lot for your comments, and I really like your L2 German experience. There are a lot of theoretical debates about whether perception precedes production OR these two dimensions co-develop. Thus, there are two methods of training (auditory vs. articulatory) to help L2 learners perceive and produce L2 sounds in a complementary fashion. Saito, K., & Plonsky, L. (2019). Effects of second language pronunciation teaching revisited: A proposed measurement framework and meta-analysis. Language Learning. doi.org/10.1111/lang.12345 (you can download from my website as well). By the way, I totally echo you in terms of teaching chunks rather than individual words. Recently, SLA scholars have begun to use corpus tools to re-think what it means by "chunks" and how to categorise them especially for teaching purposes. In essence, this topic is still ongoing (a perfect topic for MA/PhD dissertations). My MA student just published a study of this kind. doi.org/10.1177/0267658320988055 (open access thanks to UCL). I also recently found this study to be extremely interesting. To my knowledge, this is a first attempt to teach certain types of chunks and see its impact on L2 speaking. www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0024384121000449

[@ОмарОмар-л9о]

Really informative!

[@beeplums722]

Is there a place to buy the 'Starting Point' textbook you refer to for teaching pronunciation to Japanese learners of English?

[@KazuyaL2Lab]

There are some textbooks, but they likely feature all English pronunciation rules (very overwhelming to both students & teachers). There is no ranking-based textbook. I am in touch with a publisher. Hopefully we can publish it soon.

[@JudoHighlights2015]

As a native speaker of English, I don't even talk this fast haha

[@KazuyaL2Lab]

This video was edited a lot! By the way I admit that I exaggerated a bit. I carefully looked at the existing literature. Here is an estimate of articulation rate (syllables per sec): 2-3 for inexperienced (no immersion experience), 3-4 for experienced (immersion > 1 year), and 4+ for Canadians. This figure may change according to different tasks and speakers' individual profiles (e.g., personality). Very importantly, research has also shown that the link between articulation rate and listeners' perception of "optimal speed" (comfortably fast) is NOT linear. That is, faster is better up to certain point (e.g., 4 syllables per sec). Then, speaking too fast is detrimental. (1) Saito, K., Ilkan, M., Magne, V., Tran, M. N., & Suzuki, S. (2018). Acoustic characteristics and learner profiles of low-, mid-and high-level second language fluency. Applied Psycholinguistics, 39(3), 593-617. (2) Munro, M. J., & Derwing, T. M. (2001). Modeling perceptions of the accentedness and comprehensibility of L2 speech: The role of speaking rate. Studies in second language acquisition, 451-468.

[@wanfaizatulazirahismayatim3802]

@@KazuyaL2Lab Hi Dr Kazuya, I just wanna share my experience as a speaker of Malay who went to Chinese primary school when I was a child. I realized that until today I tend to use mandarin whenever I calculate or solve any math operations/questions. I find that my brain works faster when I use mandarin, perhaps it is due to the shorter syllable of mandarin numbers. or maybe because I was trained to think and calculate in Mandarin. Interesting sharing from you Dr. Kazuya, and keep up the excellent work!