Standard Presentation (25-minute) Expanding speaking tasks with genre-based approaches more

Sat, Sep 16, 11:50-12:15 Asia/Tokyo

Oral communication classes often focus on a limited number of tasks - namely conversation and presentation. These are important, but in this short workshop the presenter will introduce a three-step approach (modelling and analysis, production, assessment and feedback) which enables teachers and learners to look beyond traditional classroom activities towards a broader range of speaking activities. These include anecdotes, TED talks, news reports and many more. Genres are communicative events, distinguished by communicative purpose, structure, style, content, and intended audience (Swales, 1990). Further more, genres are "structured in predictable ways.... purposeful, socially situated, and culturally sanctioned" (Thornbury, 2005: 121). The genre-based approach suggests explicit modelling of the scripts and behaviours common to language event types, and yet most oral communication classes in Japanese universities focus on a limited number of spoken genres; namely general conversation, and quasi-academic presentation or debate. In this short workshop, the presenter will describe how to expand the range of genres accessed by learners by outlining a three-step cycle for teaching spoken genres. First, in ANALYSIS, the learners examine the purpose and structure of a specific genre, the linguistic (and non-verbal) features which support the achievement of purpose. Next the learners move to the PRODUCTION stage, in which they attempt to replicate an example of the genre, moving from scaffolded production towards independence. The final stage is ASSESSMENT, in which teachers and learners negotiate a rubric to evaluate the level of achievement. The presenter will illustrate the process using 'the anecdote' as an example genre, and will also provide materials for such diverse genres as 'soap opera', 'TED talk', 'instructional video', 'news report', 'job interview' and beyond.