Academic Skills in English Summer School 2014:

Communication Skills in English for Academic Purposes

Ruben Comadina GransonUniversity of Groningen Language Centre

Masaryk University, Brno23-27 June 2014

Communication Skills in EAP

Classroom communicationChallengeStrategiesA classroom situationThis interactive seminar focuses on communication skills in academic work and study with particular reference to the most frequent forms; such as lectures, seminars, workshops and tutorials.

Classroom Communication

LanguageModality ?Cultural identityEmotional and physical influences

Effective Classroom Communication

It facilitates learningGoals are more likely to be metOpportunities emerge for expanding learningMore positive perceptions influence the overall college experience

The Challenge

“To create a classroom environment where communication issues are openly recognized and managed in a way that promotes learning.” (Glomo-Narzoles 2013)

The Strategies

Assessing and developing own communication skills and knowledge

Language proficiencyIntercultural communication skills

Learning more about student communication

Student language proficiencyCultural background

A Few Case Studies

The quiet oneThe distracter

What challenges do you see in this situation?In what ways can this student provide a valuable contribution to this course?How would you respond to this situation?

A Few Case Studies

Describe two ways you can develop professionally to become more skilled with communication diversity in the classroom1:

2:???

Discussion ScenariosCommunication skills are not acquired by practising language structures alone. Speech should not be forced. It emerges naturally after a silent period. Silent periods may last an hour or a year. Language lessons do not need to be sequenced grammatically. Students do not need to master present tense before being introduced to past or future tenses.Language is best acquired in low anxiety environments. Excessive error correction causes high anxiety.

What is an effective classroom?

How digital and interactive is your classroom?

Is (y)our teaching style passé?

Which social media tools are being used by your students outside class time?

How many VLE (e.g., Moodle) tools can you use?

Your students will be competing for international jobs with the digital natives referred to in this film

Social Media in Education

Brawn, R. & Trahar S. (2003). Supporting in the learning teacher in changing higher education. In Sutherland, R. & Claxton, G. (Eds): Learning and teaching where worldviews meet. (pp. 245-254) Stoke on Trent: Trentham.

Glom0-Narzoles, D.T. (2013). Classroom Communication Climate and Communicative Linguistic Competence of EFL learners. In: Theory and Practice in Language Studies, Vol. 3, No. 3 (pp. 404-410). Retrieved May 30, 2014 from http://ojs.academypublisher.com/index.php/tpls/article/viewFile/tpls0303404410/6587

Krashen, S. (1987). Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition, Prentice-Hall Internationl.

Wilkinson, R. (2005). The impact of language on teaching content: views from the content teacher. Retrieved April 24, 2012, from http://www.palmenia.helsinki.fi/congress/bilingual2005/presentations/wilkinson.pdf.

References