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Kunming College， Kunming Yunnan Province， 650000
Introduction
A great number of researchers have investigated how to improve EFL learners’ sub-skills through various classroom activities. Within this， some research has been specifically conducted on why teachers should help learners enlarge their vocabulary knowledge and to develop their speaking skills through diverse tasks （Thurston， 1997； Marco， 1998； Nation， 2004； Demo， 2001）. One common outcome from the above research indicates that the most productive way for learners to develop speaking and vocabulary learning skills is through different activities rather than for example repeating words； memorizing grammatical rules or simply talking to native speakers whenever learners have the chance. It can be concluded from the previous research that it is essential for teachers to investigate what activities/tasks are appropriate to be utilised in order to help learners develop their sub-skills and vocabulary. This article aims to shed light on two activities which are designed to help EFL learners develop their vocabulary knowledge and speaking skills. These activities are specifically organised for EFL learners to gradually develop their discourse skills. The targeted EFL learners are intermediate learners who are year 12 learners in China. The ultimate goal of the article is to share opinions with EFL teachers about what kinds of activities are efficient and should be adopted in the EFL classroom teaching.
Key Words： English vocabulary； speaking skills； EFL Learners
中图分类号：G623.31
Summary of the tasks and Justifications
Vocabulary activity
As Hu （2009） suggests， no matter which sub-skills EFL learners would like to develop， vocabulary is an indispensable part of a language learning journey. There are a great number of activities structured to help students with developing their knowledge of vocabulary. For instance， Carter （1993） claims that it is useful for learners to read poems or plays to develop knowledge of how to decode the figurative meaning of words and contextual usage. However， Bruner （1990） argues that activities like reading poems or plays should be chosen based on learners’ levels as well their interests and majors.
Many teachers adopt teacher-focused styles to teach vocabulary in China. In other words， teachers explain the new words and explain every words meaning in detail for learners. Then learners are asked to repeat the words and memorise them by heart. This is a traditional approach used in China to teach vocabulary. The activity below however， is a way of teaching vocabulary proposed by the writer， which is different from the traditional way of Chinese teaching. It aims to describe a new way in China to help learners develop vocabulary knowledge and furthermore， expand their discourse skills. According to Bruner （1990）， one way for learners to develop vocabulary skill is through group work. The activity presented in this article mainly relates to group work and the sequence is as follow： firstly， learners are divided into groups of four and are required to read an 800 words passage on a specific topic. For instance， topics may relate to traveling abroad or protection of the environment. When they read the passage they are asked to highlight the words which have relationship to this specific topic. For example， in the topic of traveling， words like “unique scenery， check in， tourist， and safety” can be highlighted by learners. After reading and highlighting the words， learners are required to communicate with the others in their group about which words they have chosen， and what the meanings of these words are. If they find some words that nobody recognizes then they are asked to look at the paragraph where the unknown word appears， and guess the meanings of the word by reading the context again. The next step is that learners exchange ideas with each other regarding what meanings they believe the unknown word/words contain， and what evidence they can find to support their guesses. At this stage they are encouraged to give synonyms if they can. After talking to each other about their guessing they are asked to look the unknown word up in a dictionary to confirm whether their guessing is correct or not. Following the group talk， the teacher checks with learners and makes sure that their understanding is correct. The teacher then gives some examples to help learners with comprehending difficult words but not by explaining every word. Follow-up exercise could include learners doing cloze activities or making sentences which use the new words.
As Demo （2001） advocates， it is important for learners to develop vocabulary by associating words/vocabulary within their context. Based on Demo’s （2001） statement， this activity uses a passage so learners can acquire vocabulary knowledge through the process of reading a whole text. Reading through a whole text gives learners varied examples of a words forms and functions. Therefore， the writer would like to argue that teaching vocabulary through reading is useful. Moreover， this is a typical usage of a top-down strategy to help students acquire knowledge of vocabulary， because this activity “includes the learner’s background knowledge of the topic or speech situation at hand” （Celce-Murcia & Olshtain， 2000）. Learners in this activity are encouraged to tap into their existing vocabulary knowledge to assist them to put the new words into categories or their own internal ‘glossary’ （Nation， 2004） so that they can easily relate all the words， including the previous unknown words， to a particular topic or a synonym. By doing so， learners can develop a receptive attitude towards the unknown words. With follow-up exercise of these words the final goal is to ensure that these receptive words become productive words which learners can utilize in the future. Speaking activity
Harmer （2007） states that there are a great deal of principles that teachers think about when planning what activities they will organise to help their learners develop speaking skills. For example， attention may be paid to teaching pronunciation， intonation， stress， or fluency. A discourse related activity might focus on teaching learners about turn-taking， how to speak to specific members within a speech community， overlap； transitional points and so on. Hu （2009） claims that it is important for teachers who teach EFL learners， to emphasise only one or two specific areas in one activity， but not all the different aspects. Therefore， the activity introduced here does not include all of the specific knowledge required by discourse， but tries to develop learners’ speaking skills， especially in making telephone calls.
This activity can mainly be called an interaction activity. One topic （e.g. how to make a telephone call） is chosen before the commencement of the activity and some words/vocabulary， which are related to the topic， are given to learners. It is essential for teachers to relate the first activity to the second one in one lesson. For example， the topic of the second activity involves making a mock or real telephone call. Teachers could encourage learners to make phone calls enquiring about information related to traveling abroad so that learners can use the words or expressions that they have learned in the first activity. Furthermore， some standard telephone opening and closing sequences are introduced for learners to use. Following the introduction a video clip which contains two people talking on their phones can be shown for learners to get a general idea of how to make phone calls. Some useful aspects are picked out from this video clip for learners such as sequences like pre-invitations； pre-requests； pre-offers； or pre-closings etc. After all these preparations， learners are divided into groups of 2 and are required to ‘call’ each other by using the introduced information. Learners are encouraged to ‘call’ their classmates who are in other groups after finishing their phone call with their partner. The final step is that each group presents their conversation in front of the whole class to get constructive feedback and comments.
Celce-Murcia & Olshtain （2000） states that “the most important feature of a classroom speaking activity is to provide an authentic opportunity for the students to get individual meanings across and utilize every area of knowledge they have in the second or foreign language” （Celce-Murcia & Olshtain， 2000， p. 176）. The speaking activity described in this article uses an authentic situation to help learners to develop authentic speaking skills and experience. Authentic here means that learners develop knowledge of how to start and close a telephone conversation. Learners can also develop knowledge of the differences between telephone conversations in eastern and western countries. Moreover， Yule （1995） advocates that the teaching of speaking should shift from a linguistic focused performance to be pragmatically focused. The writer of this article believes that the second activity has a pragmatic focus and it is concerned with the genres of conversation and cultural influences as well. Harmer （2007） declares that “speakers of English – especially where it is a second language – will have to be able to speak in a range of different genres and situations， and they will have to be able to use a range of conversational and conversational repair strategies” （Harmer， 2007， p. 343）. The writer agrees with Harmer and believes that this activity offers learners a way to understand a different genre which is a telephone conversation. Different genres will be introduced in other lessons like interview conversations； doctor – patient conversations； and customer – service conversations. In EFL teaching， Britton & Pellegrini （1990） suggest that teachers should have a clear and well-defined set of principles to guide their work. It is therefore essential for teachers to understand their students’ needs and learning purposes in order to set their own principles. In this article for example， the two activities are conducted mainly for expanding learners’ vocabulary knowledge and improving their speaking skills because these are considered to be the main needs or purposes of the specific group of learners previously discussed.
The two activities in this article are both learner-centered， and they are related to each other to a certain degree. These two activities are not simply imitations of common Chinese teaching practice as Hu （2009） stated that Chinese teachers prefer to choose teacher-centered activities to teach vocabulary. They do not pay much attention to speaking because their main aim is to help their learners pass exams， which do not assess speaking. The two activities are organised mainly according to teaching methodologies carried out in English speaking countries （Harmer， 2007； Britton & Pellegrini， 1990； Celce-Murcia & Olshtain， 2000）. It is essential for both Chinese teachers and learners to get discourse training because Celce-Murcia & Olshtain （2000） advocate that “discourse analytic techniques can help language learners become conscious of the processes that operate to produce the language that they hear and use” （Celce-Murcia & Olshtain， 2000， p.216） and teachers can “have their own constructs about teaching” （Celce-Murcia & Olshtain， 2000， p.217）.
In this article two activities are introduced in order to help EFL learners in China， who are year 12 learners， to expand their vocabulary knowledge， and to develop their speaking skills. The aim of introducing these two activities is to share ideas of how to organise classroom activities with EFL teachers and finally， to explain how learners’ discourse skills can be developed though these classroom activities. Both activities are learner-centered and organised to help learners continue to develop their discourse skills. Furthermore， the writer believes that both EFL teachers and learners in China should be getting more discourse training so that they can develop a deeper understanding of how to teach/learn efficiently through classroom activities.
References
[1]Britton， K.， & Pellegrini， D. （1990）. Narrative thought and narrative language. Hillsdale， NJ： Erlbaum [2]Bruner， J. （1990）. Acts of meaning. Cambridge， MA： Harvard University Press
[3]Carter， K. （1993）. The place of story in the study of teaching and teacher education. Educational Researcher， 22（3）， 5-12
[4]Celce-Murcia， M.， & Olshtain， E. （2000）. Discourse and Context in Language Teaching. Cambridge： Cambridge University Press
[5]Demo， A. （2001）. Discourse analysis for language teachers. Retrieved Sep 4， 2009 from http： www.cal.org/resources/Digest/digest
[6]Harmer， J. （2007）. The practice of English language teaching. Edinburgh Gate， Pearson Education Limited
[7]Hu， J. （2009）. Teaching activities in EFL classrooms. Chinese Teaching and Education Journal Article， 38（4）， 38-52
[8]Marco， L. （1998）. Procedural vocabulary as a device to organize meaning and discourse. Australian review of applied linguistics， 21（1）， 57-70
[9]Nation， P. （2004）. Vocabulary learning and intensive teaching. EA journal， 21（2）， 20-29
[10]Thurston， J. （1997）. Using concordances for the contextual teaching of vocabulary. EA journal， 15（2）， 29-3
[11]Yule， G. （1995）. Principles and practice in applied linguistics. Oxford： Oxford University Press
Introduction
A great number of researchers have investigated how to improve EFL learners’ sub-skills through various classroom activities. Within this， some research has been specifically conducted on why teachers should help learners enlarge their vocabulary knowledge and to develop their speaking skills through diverse tasks （Thurston， 1997； Marco， 1998； Nation， 2004； Demo， 2001）. One common outcome from the above research indicates that the most productive way for learners to develop speaking and vocabulary learning skills is through different activities rather than for example repeating words； memorizing grammatical rules or simply talking to native speakers whenever learners have the chance. It can be concluded from the previous research that it is essential for teachers to investigate what activities/tasks are appropriate to be utilised in order to help learners develop their sub-skills and vocabulary. This article aims to shed light on two activities which are designed to help EFL learners develop their vocabulary knowledge and speaking skills. These activities are specifically organised for EFL learners to gradually develop their discourse skills. The targeted EFL learners are intermediate learners who are year 12 learners in China. The ultimate goal of the article is to share opinions with EFL teachers about what kinds of activities are efficient and should be adopted in the EFL classroom teaching.
Key Words： English vocabulary； speaking skills； EFL Learners
中图分类号：G623.31
Summary of the tasks and Justifications
Vocabulary activity
As Hu （2009） suggests， no matter which sub-skills EFL learners would like to develop， vocabulary is an indispensable part of a language learning journey. There are a great number of activities structured to help students with developing their knowledge of vocabulary. For instance， Carter （1993） claims that it is useful for learners to read poems or plays to develop knowledge of how to decode the figurative meaning of words and contextual usage. However， Bruner （1990） argues that activities like reading poems or plays should be chosen based on learners’ levels as well their interests and majors.
Many teachers adopt teacher-focused styles to teach vocabulary in China. In other words， teachers explain the new words and explain every words meaning in detail for learners. Then learners are asked to repeat the words and memorise them by heart. This is a traditional approach used in China to teach vocabulary. The activity below however， is a way of teaching vocabulary proposed by the writer， which is different from the traditional way of Chinese teaching. It aims to describe a new way in China to help learners develop vocabulary knowledge and furthermore， expand their discourse skills. According to Bruner （1990）， one way for learners to develop vocabulary skill is through group work. The activity presented in this article mainly relates to group work and the sequence is as follow： firstly， learners are divided into groups of four and are required to read an 800 words passage on a specific topic. For instance， topics may relate to traveling abroad or protection of the environment. When they read the passage they are asked to highlight the words which have relationship to this specific topic. For example， in the topic of traveling， words like “unique scenery， check in， tourist， and safety” can be highlighted by learners. After reading and highlighting the words， learners are required to communicate with the others in their group about which words they have chosen， and what the meanings of these words are. If they find some words that nobody recognizes then they are asked to look at the paragraph where the unknown word appears， and guess the meanings of the word by reading the context again. The next step is that learners exchange ideas with each other regarding what meanings they believe the unknown word/words contain， and what evidence they can find to support their guesses. At this stage they are encouraged to give synonyms if they can. After talking to each other about their guessing they are asked to look the unknown word up in a dictionary to confirm whether their guessing is correct or not. Following the group talk， the teacher checks with learners and makes sure that their understanding is correct. The teacher then gives some examples to help learners with comprehending difficult words but not by explaining every word. Follow-up exercise could include learners doing cloze activities or making sentences which use the new words.
As Demo （2001） advocates， it is important for learners to develop vocabulary by associating words/vocabulary within their context. Based on Demo’s （2001） statement， this activity uses a passage so learners can acquire vocabulary knowledge through the process of reading a whole text. Reading through a whole text gives learners varied examples of a words forms and functions. Therefore， the writer would like to argue that teaching vocabulary through reading is useful. Moreover， this is a typical usage of a top-down strategy to help students acquire knowledge of vocabulary， because this activity “includes the learner’s background knowledge of the topic or speech situation at hand” （Celce-Murcia & Olshtain， 2000）. Learners in this activity are encouraged to tap into their existing vocabulary knowledge to assist them to put the new words into categories or their own internal ‘glossary’ （Nation， 2004） so that they can easily relate all the words， including the previous unknown words， to a particular topic or a synonym. By doing so， learners can develop a receptive attitude towards the unknown words. With follow-up exercise of these words the final goal is to ensure that these receptive words become productive words which learners can utilize in the future. Speaking activity
Harmer （2007） states that there are a great deal of principles that teachers think about when planning what activities they will organise to help their learners develop speaking skills. For example， attention may be paid to teaching pronunciation， intonation， stress， or fluency. A discourse related activity might focus on teaching learners about turn-taking， how to speak to specific members within a speech community， overlap； transitional points and so on. Hu （2009） claims that it is important for teachers who teach EFL learners， to emphasise only one or two specific areas in one activity， but not all the different aspects. Therefore， the activity introduced here does not include all of the specific knowledge required by discourse， but tries to develop learners’ speaking skills， especially in making telephone calls.
This activity can mainly be called an interaction activity. One topic （e.g. how to make a telephone call） is chosen before the commencement of the activity and some words/vocabulary， which are related to the topic， are given to learners. It is essential for teachers to relate the first activity to the second one in one lesson. For example， the topic of the second activity involves making a mock or real telephone call. Teachers could encourage learners to make phone calls enquiring about information related to traveling abroad so that learners can use the words or expressions that they have learned in the first activity. Furthermore， some standard telephone opening and closing sequences are introduced for learners to use. Following the introduction a video clip which contains two people talking on their phones can be shown for learners to get a general idea of how to make phone calls. Some useful aspects are picked out from this video clip for learners such as sequences like pre-invitations； pre-requests； pre-offers； or pre-closings etc. After all these preparations， learners are divided into groups of 2 and are required to ‘call’ each other by using the introduced information. Learners are encouraged to ‘call’ their classmates who are in other groups after finishing their phone call with their partner. The final step is that each group presents their conversation in front of the whole class to get constructive feedback and comments.
Celce-Murcia & Olshtain （2000） states that “the most important feature of a classroom speaking activity is to provide an authentic opportunity for the students to get individual meanings across and utilize every area of knowledge they have in the second or foreign language” （Celce-Murcia & Olshtain， 2000， p. 176）. The speaking activity described in this article uses an authentic situation to help learners to develop authentic speaking skills and experience. Authentic here means that learners develop knowledge of how to start and close a telephone conversation. Learners can also develop knowledge of the differences between telephone conversations in eastern and western countries. Moreover， Yule （1995） advocates that the teaching of speaking should shift from a linguistic focused performance to be pragmatically focused. The writer of this article believes that the second activity has a pragmatic focus and it is concerned with the genres of conversation and cultural influences as well. Harmer （2007） declares that “speakers of English – especially where it is a second language – will have to be able to speak in a range of different genres and situations， and they will have to be able to use a range of conversational and conversational repair strategies” （Harmer， 2007， p. 343）. The writer agrees with Harmer and believes that this activity offers learners a way to understand a different genre which is a telephone conversation. Different genres will be introduced in other lessons like interview conversations； doctor – patient conversations； and customer – service conversations. In EFL teaching， Britton & Pellegrini （1990） suggest that teachers should have a clear and well-defined set of principles to guide their work. It is therefore essential for teachers to understand their students’ needs and learning purposes in order to set their own principles. In this article for example， the two activities are conducted mainly for expanding learners’ vocabulary knowledge and improving their speaking skills because these are considered to be the main needs or purposes of the specific group of learners previously discussed.
The two activities in this article are both learner-centered， and they are related to each other to a certain degree. These two activities are not simply imitations of common Chinese teaching practice as Hu （2009） stated that Chinese teachers prefer to choose teacher-centered activities to teach vocabulary. They do not pay much attention to speaking because their main aim is to help their learners pass exams， which do not assess speaking. The two activities are organised mainly according to teaching methodologies carried out in English speaking countries （Harmer， 2007； Britton & Pellegrini， 1990； Celce-Murcia & Olshtain， 2000）. It is essential for both Chinese teachers and learners to get discourse training because Celce-Murcia & Olshtain （2000） advocate that “discourse analytic techniques can help language learners become conscious of the processes that operate to produce the language that they hear and use” （Celce-Murcia & Olshtain， 2000， p.216） and teachers can “have their own constructs about teaching” （Celce-Murcia & Olshtain， 2000， p.217）.
In this article two activities are introduced in order to help EFL learners in China， who are year 12 learners， to expand their vocabulary knowledge， and to develop their speaking skills. The aim of introducing these two activities is to share ideas of how to organise classroom activities with EFL teachers and finally， to explain how learners’ discourse skills can be developed though these classroom activities. Both activities are learner-centered and organised to help learners continue to develop their discourse skills. Furthermore， the writer believes that both EFL teachers and learners in China should be getting more discourse training so that they can develop a deeper understanding of how to teach/learn efficiently through classroom activities.
References
[1]Britton， K.， & Pellegrini， D. （1990）. Narrative thought and narrative language. Hillsdale， NJ： Erlbaum [2]Bruner， J. （1990）. Acts of meaning. Cambridge， MA： Harvard University Press
[3]Carter， K. （1993）. The place of story in the study of teaching and teacher education. Educational Researcher， 22（3）， 5-12
[4]Celce-Murcia， M.， & Olshtain， E. （2000）. Discourse and Context in Language Teaching. Cambridge： Cambridge University Press
[5]Demo， A. （2001）. Discourse analysis for language teachers. Retrieved Sep 4， 2009 from http： www.cal.org/resources/Digest/digest
[6]Harmer， J. （2007）. The practice of English language teaching. Edinburgh Gate， Pearson Education Limited
[7]Hu， J. （2009）. Teaching activities in EFL classrooms. Chinese Teaching and Education Journal Article， 38（4）， 38-52
[8]Marco， L. （1998）. Procedural vocabulary as a device to organize meaning and discourse. Australian review of applied linguistics， 21（1）， 57-70
[9]Nation， P. （2004）. Vocabulary learning and intensive teaching. EA journal， 21（2）， 20-29
[10]Thurston， J. （1997）. Using concordances for the contextual teaching of vocabulary. EA journal， 15（2）， 29-3
[11]Yule， G. （1995）. Principles and practice in applied linguistics. Oxford： Oxford University Press