Abstracts for Presentations by Jill Robbins
These presentations can be adjusted to the time allowed at a particular conference or venue. In general, papers are 45 minutes in length and lecture format; demonstrations are somewhat participatory and last roughly an hour, and workshops are a mixture of lecture and participant-centered activities, and can last from two to three hours.
Approaches to Learner Autonomy (paper)Creating Listening Activities from Authentic Materials (demonstration)
Making Friends in English - From 'Hello'
to 'See you Later' (paper)
Predict! Elaborate! Teaching Learning Strategies
Through Play In Elementary Classrooms (workshop)
Strategies to Link Authentic Listening and Speaking (workshop)
Strategies for Real World Listening and Speaking (commercial presentation)
Teaching Learning Strategies - CALLA Style (workshop)
Predict! Elaborate! Teaching Learning Strategies Through Play In Elementary Classrooms
Handout in HTML
Handout as RTF document
Presenters introduce the learning strategies that children develop through play activities. This session demonstrates how to incorporate strategies into existing language learning curricula through enjoyable games and the use of toys to enhance language learning. Participants take part in demonstration lessons on teaching learning strategies through play. (2-3 hour workshop)
Strategies to link authentic listening and speaking Presented with Andrew J. MacNeill
Short Summary:
Listening tasks using authentic material are made more meaningful through elaboration in subsequent speaking tasks. This demonstration shows an approach to the development of both listening and speaking strategies in conjunction with the use of materials derived from authentic conversations. Handouts include examples of interactive activities for ãfalse beginnerä learners.
Strategies to link authentic listening and speaking - longer abstract:
Most EFL professionals see the tremendous learning
potential in using authentic texts in the classroom. These materials are
motivating to learners, who want to tackle authentic tasks, but they can
also be overwhelming and frustrating because of the vast amount of input
from raw authentic samples. EFL students want and need skills that
will allow them to function and be successful in processing and using the
English they encounter in the ãreal world.ä
One approach to using authentic materials is to scaffold them, making them more comprehensible to the students. The presenters share their experiences with training students in the use of listening strategies as the tools they need to build success. Having a repertoire of listening strategies is valuable because it gives learners control over the listening process, and provides the resources for managing the authentic input.
The presentation focuses on the integration of listening
and speaking skills as a means of giving learners a way to become more engaged
with authentic materials within the safety of a structured learning environment.
The presenters demonstrate how this engagement leads to comprehension at
a deeper, more meaningful level. Activities linking listening and speaking
tasks in response to materials derived from authentic conversations are also
presented. Handouts include examples of these interactive activities for
ãfalse beginnerä learners.
Approaches to Learner Autonomy
Article
Learner autonomy is a new concept for EFL classrooms
in Japan, and both Western and Japanese teachers have begun the process of
guiding their students toward that ideal. This movement to foster independent
learning questions the traditional educational approach with its emphases
on the teachersâ authority and extrinsic motivation for language learning.
This is a report on a qualitative study that investigated the beliefs about
learner autonomy held by Japanese and Western EFL teachers in Japan. Through
structured interviews, the teachers described their successes and difficulties
with teaching language learning strategies and fostering learner autonomy.
They described their views of learner and teacher roles and shared their
insights into the reasons why some strategies work better than others for
their students. Differences will be discussed in the ways these two groups
of teachers work with the same population of students toward similar goals.
Making friends in English - from Hello to See You Later
Summary
How do learners get beyond that first hello? We all
know that the first time we converse is crucial to the development of a
friendship -- and that engaging in face-to-face conversations is crucial
to gaining fluency in a second language. Yet, for Japanese learners
of English, the first chance to meet and converse with a native speaker is
often fraught with fear and difficulty. Learners in this situation need to
use all the linguistic and psychological resources they can command to break
the ice and develop an interpersonal relationship. This research project
asked the question, "What strategies are the most useful to Japanese students
in these initial conversations with native speakers of English?"
The presenter will describe how Japanese college students
learned to negotiate conversations in English as a result of an 8-month
program of language exchange. The students were each paired with a
native speaker of English and met regularly as conversation partners. Their
initial conversations were videotaped and shown to each partner to prompt
their explanations of their problems and thoughts during the conversation.
(this was a think-aloud protocol)
Videotapes of conversation segments and think-alouds
will be used to illustrate strategies use by the students. Significant and
effective pragmatic devices used in the process of 'making friends,' such
as self-disclosure, will be discussed. Applications for classroom teaching
will be suggested by the presenter.
Teaching Language Learning Strategies - CALLA Style
Short SummaryThis workshop focuses on teaching listening and speaking strategies in second/foreign language classrooms, using a method based on the Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA), which promotes metacognitive control by learners. Participants experience a think aloud activity to gain a deeper understanding of learning strategies, then create a lesson plan adapting the CALLA method to their studentsâ levels and needs.
Teaching Learning Strategies CALLA Style
Handout
This is a workshop for teachers who want to teach language learning strategies for improving speaking and listening skills. The workshop represents the result of a search for ways in which individual learning styles can be encouraged within cooperative classroom activities.
The presenter demonstrates her adaptation of the Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA) to second/foreign language classroom environments. CALLA uses a metacognitive model of learning strategies instruction to give learners more control over the learning process. This model was originally developed at Georgetown University by Anna Uhl Chamot and colleagues for U.S. foreign language learners. It is based on a problem-solving process model of comprehension and production. The approach promotes cooperative learning, alternative assessment, and independent learning.
Participants will be guided through an introspective verbal report (think-aloud) in order to examine their own strategies and to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges that students face. The workshop will culminate in creation of a lesson plan that adapts the CALLA model of learning strategies instruction to the participantsâ classes.
Strategies for Real World Listening and Speaking
Listening materials which have the features of authentic conversation pose a challenge for EFL learners. A set of listening strategies can help to make these materials more easily understood. This presentation explains how the new textbook series, IMPACT Listening, incorporates authentic features in conversations and provides practice in applying listening strategies. ãReal World Listeningä conversations and exercises are shown, followed by interaction activities that expand from the listening skills to develop speaking skills.Creating Listening Activities from Authentic Materials
Handout
Presented with Andrew J. MacNeillShort summary
This demonstration presents ways of gathering authentic and culturally varied materials from native speakers and developing listening activities. The demonstration focuses on developing the listening materials and constructing listening practice opportunities using specific listening strategies. Examples of conversations and classroom activities are shown.
Creating Listening Activities from Authentic Materials - longer abstract
Finding authentic listening materials in a foreign language context can be difficult and frustrating. Teachers of EFL often settle for commercially-prepared materials that are not stimulating to their students and have limited vocabulary and no dialectal variety. This demonstration will present ways of gathering authentic and culturally varied materials from native speakers and developing listening activities that will be challenging and stimulating to young adults and university students.
The presenters will describe their methods for soliciting recordings of conversations from native speakers of English in the same age group as the students. Then, the demonstration will focus on developing the listening materials and constructing listening practice opportunities using specific listening strategies. Examples of conversations and classroom activities will be shown.
This demonstration will help university and young adult EFL instructors to integrate more authentic listening tasks into their daily classroom activities. The presentation and integration of learning strategies instruction for listening in a second language is an important aspect of this demonstration.