IE Listening

A series of reports about the program (Cummins, 1999; Kikuchi, 2001; Dias and Kikuchi, 2006 & 2008--in press) based on external reviews, extensive student surveys, classroom observation, interviews with IE Listening teachers, and “student focus groups” showed that…

Students are overly passive and sometimes bored during classMost IE Listening classes are too large -- 50+ studentsClass time is not used productively; improvement elusiveMaterial needs to be renewedTeachers often leave out pre- & post-listening tasksMaterials tend to test, rather than teach, listening skillsThere is limited self-access to video material used in classMore exposure to conversational / colloquial English is desiredMany students can not remember anything about the course one year after completing it

Why change?IE Active Listening

Changes that were made over the last few years…

All the video materials were converted to DVD (most “chapters” no more than 5 minutes); new units on music and news addedBetter articulated pre- and post-listening tasks were included to stimulate discussion through information gaps and Internet searches on topics related to student interest At teachers’ orientations, instructors were strongly encouraged to include pair and group work as class activitiesStudents became required to access listening content through the Internet as homework and submitted regular reportsTranscripts were provided for all of the in-class listening materials at the request of teachers and students

Why stop there?

What more is needed?

A system which allows teachers to easily produce new materials based on original and existing public domain content.

solves the problem of…

Materials going out-of-date due to the arduousness of listening material production.

Purposeful classroom activities and real world tasks based on short bits of listening material.

Boredom and the perception that time is wasted or not well utilized.

What else is needed?

An evaluation system that rewards hard work and autonomy by better monitoring the use of self-access materials.

solves the problem of…

The perception that the evaluation system favors students who had good listening comprehension skills at the outset.

Greater differentiation of the 3 skill levels in terms of the difficulty of the content, task and cognitive complexity, as well as the outputs required.

The various levels of IE Listening becoming a blur in the minds of students and insufficient challenges for the higher level students.

If class time is to be used in a constructive way, the role of teachers needs to be better defined.

solves the problem of…

Students wondering why the teacher exists.

Listening content needs to be closer to the interests of students and in line with their learning goals.

The perception that the materials are not varied enough and do not “connect” with them.

Is that all? NO! There’s more.

18 of 28 IE Listening classes have enrol-ments of 50+ students. Large classes will be divided in half; students will alternate between a week of self-access activities, and a week of teacher-orchestrated, task-based instruction.

solves the problem of…

Classes being too large for meaningful, teacher-monitored pair and group work to be carried out.

Another major change…

What do we hope to keep?Some of our better, more popular listening materials that do not appear too dated.Holding the classes in computer labs.The themes, which help us to organize content and allow us to recycle vocabulary items and concepts in the 3 IE courses.

ChildhoodUrban Life

FoodTravel

Changing TimesThe Workplace

GeographyBiography

RelationshipsX-cultural valuesThe Environment

The Media

THEMESIE I, II, III

Cha-cha-cha-changes

IE Listening IE Active Listening

What's in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet

Proposal for a system allowing the easy authoring of self-access materials

It will need to allow…

for existing content on the Internet to be embedded in it. teachers and coordinators to upload new listening materials.user-friendly use through an inviting interface.the recording--and easy access to--evidence of the elapsed time students spend on these materials and sincerity of their efforts.

Let’s see model materials in action.

A singer-songwriter in Tokyo Cornel West and Everyday People

Adopting a more task-based approach

A task is ‘an activity in which: meaning is primary; there is some sort of relationship to the real world; task completion has some priority; and the assessment of task performance is in terms of task outcome’.

Skehan (1996)

Model task for the IE II theme: biography

Students watch a video (available as a podcast and on YouTube) in which the director of a Tokyo International Players’ rendition of “The Elephant Man,” introduces the play.

They are given the task of working on a team that will create a program for the performance. The program must include a synopsis of the play and a profile of its director. As part of the synopsis,

students can be tasked with explaining how the play differs from the film of the same title by David Lynch.

Students imagine they will go to NYC with a partner. As they look at the offerings on Entertainment Link they discuss their options and decide on what to see together.

Changes in the system of student assessment

As the new self-access materials will allow teachers to monitor students’ conscientious application to work outside of the classroom, it will be reflected in the students’ grades.Successful completion of in-class tasks, and effective collaboration with classmates toward common goals, will also be rewarded.If testing will be continued, it would be preferable to move toward performance-based tests that may better reflect what students are doing in the classroom.At the higher levels, student creation of listening materials may also enter into the evaluation process. Techniques for selecting appropriate listening content can be taught and tested at the lowest level.

Spring 2008* Developing self-access material authoring system.

* Creating and piloting new tasks with selected classes.

Timeline toward the implementation of the improved course

June, July 2008* Meetings and CALL orientations with IE Listening teachers.

* Working version of self-access software ready for trial use.

Fall 2008* Initial trials of self-access materials.

* All IE Listening teachers try out new tasks. Feedback from teachers and students is gathered.

January - March 2009* Perfect the self-access authoring system and create a pool of sample materials.

* Articulate tasks for all 12 IE themes through collaboration with teachers.

April 2009:Launch of the new and improved IE Active L

istening course.

Timeline continued…

The beginning…