Running Head: TEACHING SPEAKING AND LISTENING

TEACHING SPEAKING AND LISTENING

Joanna Aviles-Jawhari

ELL 500 - English Language Learners

Colorado State University – Global Campus

Dr. Edith Esparza – Young

February 27, 2020

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Your Name: Joanna Aviles-Jawhari CSU-G Course: ELL 500

Subject / Course: English

Topic: Listening and Speaking
Lesson Title: Listening and Speaking
Level: 9th Grade Lesson Duration: 90 minutes

Support your choices throughout every phase of the lesson with research that supports its effectiveness.

Common Core or State Standard(s):

WIDA Performance Standard – English Language Development - #1
English Language Learners communicate for Social and Instructional purposes within the school
setting in the Social and Instructional language.

Learning Target (Objectives, Student Set Goals, and/or Essential Questions):

Students will interview a peer student based on the topic on the card. Each student will conduct an
interview with their peer classmate using a topic card that will contain 5-6 questions. Each student
will listen closely to the questions and reply using formal language as cohesively and concisely as
possible; organizing ideas while using strong vocabulary words. The aim is for each student to
learn how to conduct and have a continuous conversation through asking a series of questions and
listen to their peer’s answer.

Student Population/ELL Considerations:

26 EFL Students

Lesson Materials:
Topic Cards – Containing topic and questions
Peer Grading Rubric
Teacher Grading Rubric

Methods and Procedures:

Approach
This activity involves both skills of speaking and listening by performing an interview scenario
between students. “These two skills are inseparable and therefore the teaching and the learning of
speaking cannot be separated from that of listening. We can imagine when speaking is done
without a listener” ( Lumettu & Runtuwene, 2018).
Interaction will not take place and therefore it is not a communication in a real sense. This listening
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and speaking activity poses both processes - top-down and bottom-up. Students will be introduced
to the content and objective of the lesson. Each student will be given one topic card (a total of 10
topics). Each topic card will have 5-6 questions to be asked to the other student. The student being
asked the questions must listen carefully to answer the question. Once the questions have been
asked and answered, the roles are switched.

Method
The teacher will provide an explanation and demonstration of how the interview will be conducted.
“It is critical for English learners to have instructions presented in a step-by-step manner,
preferably modeled or demonstrated for them” (Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, p. 99). Students will be
paired together according to proficiency for the activity. The student is required to keep the
conversation going for 2-3 minutes. The student answering the questions must answer the
questions cohesively, providing enough details while using a variety of vocabulary words and
sentences. A peer evaluation rubric will be filled out by the student interviewing the student.

Once the first student has completed answering the questions, the roles are then switched. The
student hands over the topic card to their partner and he/she will ask 5-6 questions to their partner.
The process is repeated and the interviewing student will fill out a peer evaluation rubric.
Strategy

The strategy for this speaking and listening activity is cooperative-learning; for students to develop
self-confidence, speaking and listening skills.

Technique

The technique is students will listen and answer a series of questions in an interview scenario.

Feedback Strategy (Frequent checks for understanding):

The teacher will rotate around the classroom to monitor and listen to students conducting the
interview - posing questions and answering questions.

Summative Assessment (Collect student data):

There will be a formative assessment based on a peer-evaluation rubric. In addition, the teacher
will conduct an interview the student using a grading rubric as the summative assessment.

You will complete the following sections in Module 6, after the lesson has been taught.

Self-Reflection for Continuous Improvement: Explain what went well in the implementation of your
lesson. What changes would you make to improve based on student achievement data and/or evidence? A
visual display of the student achievement data must be included (i.e., table, graph, chart, etc.). What are
the next steps for the students in your class, a group of students, and/or an individual student to ensure
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EVERY student is proficient? What are the next steps for you in refining your strategy for teaching listening
and speaking in language-driven, content-driven, or sheltered instructional context? Use research
(Module readings from the course text and 1-2 articles from the CSU Virtual Library) to support your
choices and ideas.

Students were paired up and given the task of having a continuous conversation for a minimum
of 3 minutes. Each student was given a topic card. The topic card contains the topic for
conversation along with 5 questions to be asked. “Top-down processing goals and exercises
include working on getting the “gist” or main idea, recognizing the topic, finding main ideas and
supporting details, and using knowledge of the topic to predict the content of the text. Interacting
processing exercises include making inferences about the text and using speech features to
recognize whether a statement is formal or informal” (CSU-GC, Module 6, 2020). Contingent on
the topic, students will carefully listen and respond to questions using formal language and do their
best to eliminate slang language or social language in the conversation. Student’s answers will be
based on their background knowledge and experience. The topics and questions do not require that
a student has a vast amount of knowledge about the topic, but asked to provide examples and
elaborate on the answers to the best of their ability.
“Listening is an active process requiring participation on the part of the listener” (Rost, 1991).
Idrissova, Smagulova, & Tussupbekova. (2015) stated, “when someone listens to a speaker, he/she
processes the information mentally in order to construct an answer. During the listening process
the listener is actively engaged. In learning a foreign language, it is important to listen to what is
transmitted with a great deal of attention because this helps the listener to reproduce exactly, or
almost exactly, what he/she hears. Therefore listening is not an isolated skill; we listen in order to
understand what has been heard. Moreover the speaker and the listener must be interacting in a
social context. If a student understands the speech of a speaker, it gives him/her an opportunity to
be involved in the process of communication.” I still am not sure if the lack of listening skills of
my students is a cultural dilemma or if it is their age of selective hearing or their minds just tune
out. To add, the school program does not have enough listening activities or exercises for the
students. I conduct listening exams for the IGCSE 9th grade students, and many of them have a
difficult time understanding the British accent. They are not yet tuned their hearing to listening to
the British accent.
The speaking and listening activity gives students the opportunity to intently listen to each other
and prompt different questions other than the ones posed on the card. Scott (1978) reveals that
“speaking can be typified as an activity involving two or more people in whom the participants are
both hearers and speakers having to react to what they hear and make their contribution.” Listening
to another person speak requires concentration and understanding, so that a response can be made.

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Testing the students’ ability to respond accurately and concisely displays the students’ listening
and comprehending skills; while the responses signify the students’ ability to process the
information and format their responses in an organized and meaningful manner.

50%
9 60%
90-100%
8 70%
7 80%
80% 90-100%
6
5
4 70%
3
2 60%
1
0 50%
Speaking

Graph 1: Student speaking assessment results. The total score of the assessment was 30 points. 9
students out of 26 students received 70 percent; 8 students – 80 percent; 6 students - 90 percent; 1
student – 60 percent; 1 student – 50 percent.

According to Graph 1, 17 students’ assessment results ranged in the 70-80%, which is more

than half of the class; only 6 students achieved above 90%. The performance of my student’s

assessment displays the above average listening skills of my students.

In conclusion, listening skills is important for EFL students to develop to learn the English

language. I see the need for my students to continue to progress in their listening skills; there is a

need to perform more classroom listening and speaking activities.

Evidence of Implementation: Attach student work, photos of the lesson in progress demonstrating
student motivation/engagement and/or any other evidence as proof of implementation. Remember to
maintain student confidentiality (e.g., names removed, etc.) and follow school policies around student
photos, etc.

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Topic Card: Each student received

one topic card.
Rubric: Listening assessment rubric

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 Rubric: Peer Assessment Listening
rubric
Teaching Speaking and Listening 7

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References

References: The descriptions and strategies in your lesson plan should be research-based and cite at least
four sources.

Echevarria, J., Vogt, M. E., & Short, D. (2014). Making content comprehensible for Elementary

English language learners: The SIOP model. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Idrissova, M., Smagulova, B., & Tussupbekova, M. (2015). Improving Listening and Speaking

Skills in Mixed Level Groups (on the Material of New English File). Procedia - Social and

Behavioral Sciences, 199, 276–284. doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.07.517

Lumettu, A., & Runtuwene, T. L. (2018). Developing the Students’ English Speaking Ability

Through Impromptu Speaking Method. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 953, 012035.

doi: 10.1088/1742-6596/953/1/012035