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Research Notes Issue 56 May 2014 ISSN 1756-509X Research Notes Issue 56 / May 2014 A quarterly publication reporting on learning, teaching and assessment Guest Editor Professor Anne Burns, University of New South Wales Senior Editor and Editor Dr Hanan Khalifa, Head of Research and International Development, Cambridge English Language Assessment Coreen Docherty, Senior Research and Validation Manager, Cambridge English Language Assessment Editorial Board Katherine Brandon, Professional Support and Development Officer, English Australia Dr Fiona Barker, Principal Research and Validation Manager, Cambridge English Language Assessment Dr Nick Saville, Director, Cambridge English Language Assessment Production Team Rachel Rudge, Marketing Project Co-ordinator, Cambridge English Language Assessment John Savage, Publications Assistant, Cambridge English Language Assessment Printed in the United Kingdom by Canon Business Services CAMBRIDgE ENgLISH : RESEARCH NOTES : issue 56 / MAY 2014 | 1 Research Notes Issue 56 May 2014 Contents The english Australia/Cambridge english Action Research in eLiCOs Program: Background and rationale 2 Katherine Brandon ‘systematic inquiry made public’: Teacher reports from a national action research program 4 Anne Burns Preparing students for answering connected speech questions in the Cambridge english Teaching Knowledge Test 7 Martin Dutton and Arizio Sweeting Preparing students for an academic presentation: Maximising class time 16 Emily Mason and Akile Nazim Harnessing formative feedback for oral skills improvement 22 Simon Cosgriff Grammar in speaking: Raising student awareness and encouraging autonomous learning 30 Jennifer Wallace using Web 2.0 technologies to enhance speaking fluency: A journey beyond textbooks 36 Jessica Cobley and Becky Steven using Web 2.0: synchronising technology to improve feedback on spoken academic texts 44 Tim Dodd and Selena Kusaka 2 | CAMBRIDgE ENgLISH : RESEARCH NOTES : issue 56 / MAY 2014 Editorial Welcome to issue 56 of Research Notes, our quarterly spent on speaking practice and increasing learner awareness publication reporting on matters relating to learning, teaching of the assessment criteria. Simon Cosgriff then describes his and assessment within Cambridge English Language action research, which involved the use of feedback to both Assessment. improve speaking skills but also to develop autonomous This issue presents the research undertaken within the learning strategies. He used a range of activities to raise 2013 English Australia/Cambridge English Action Research in students’ awareness of the assessment criteria and to engage ELICOS Program, which supports teachers working in English them in the feedback process. language intensive courses for overseas students (ELICOS) The next three articles report on ways of improving learners’ sector in Australia. speaking skills using online tools. Jennifer Wallace explores The issue begins with Katherine Brandon, the Professional ways of improving learners’ grammatical range and accuracy Support and Development Officer at English Australia, when speaking while also encouraging autonomous learning. describing the background and rationale of the action research Although she tried several different interventions, she found program. Then Professor Anne Burns, the key academic that having students record and analyse their own speech reference person for the program, explains why disseminating samples for grammatical errors was most popular and the participants’ action research via publication, conferences, effective. Her action research project helped raise students’ workshops, etc. is a crucial aspect of the program. awareness of their grammar while speaking, which resulted in Next, six funded projects are presented by the teacher- more self-correction and peer correction. Then, Jessica Cobley researchers who participated in the 2013 program. The first and Becky Steven, the winners of the 2013 Action Research article investigates ways of helping students prepare for the in ELICOS Award, investigate ways of improving their Cambridge English Knowledge About Language module of students’ speaking fluency. They used various online tools to the Teaching Knowledge Test (TKT), which tests a teacher’s measure students’ speech rate and the number of non-lexical understanding of the systems of the English language for the fillers used over time. Students responded positively to the purposes of teaching it. Martin Dutton and Arizio Sweeting intervention and the fluency program developed has been had found that their students were challenged by the section incorporated into other classes within their institution. Finally of the TKT test that focuses on answering questions on Tim Dodd and Selena Kusaka were interested in helping connected speech. They implemented a strategy called their learners improve their ability to both lead and engage in ‘auditory thinking’, which involves hearing the sounds in your academic tutorials. They recorded their students’ academic mind rather than just reading the phonemic transcription. discussions using Audionote, which allowed them to provide Their students were very positive about the intervention oral feedback which students could review as they listened to and felt that engaging in auditory thinking improved their their own speaking performance. Students had a portfolio of performance on the test. their speaking performances that they could review and reflect The rest of the articles in the issue explore different aspects on. Dodd and Kusaka were also able to better monitor the of improving the speaking skills of learners. Emily Mason and type of feedback they were giving and student uptake. Akile Nazim’s action research focuses on preparing students Due to the success of this action research program, for an academic presentation in a limited time period. Cambridge English Language Assessment has recently After conducting surveys and focus groups with teachers launched a similar program with English UK. We hope that and students, the teacher-researchers rewrote the course this issue, along with issues 44, 48 and 53, which also present material, then trialled and evaluated it. Their new course action research, inspires other teachers to become involved included increased amounts of feedback, more class time with research. The English Australia/Cambridge English Action Research in ELICOS Program: Background and rationale KATHERINE BRANDON ENgLISH AUSTRALIA, NEW SOUTH WALES English Australia around the country and range from publicly funded as well English Australia is the professional association for over 100 as private institutions attached to universities, vocational member institutions that offer English language intensive colleges and high schools, to branches of international courses for overseas students (ELICOS) in Australia. Member English language schools through to standalone private colleges are found in major cities as well as regional centres providers. Member colleges offer a wide range of courses, © UCLES 2014 – The contents of this publication may not be reproduced without the written permission of the copyright holder.
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