Teaching speaking, listening and writing

1 EDUCATIONAL PRACTICES SERIES-14 INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY OF EDUCATIONINTERNATIONAL BUREAU OF EDUCATIONT eachingspeaking, listening and writingBy Trudy Wallace, Winifred E. Starihaand Herbert J. WalbergIBEPRATICE N 14 10/01/05 15:55 Page 22 The International Academy of Education-IAEThe International Academy of Education (IAE) is a not-for-profitscientific association that promotes educational research, itsdissemination, and the implementation of its in 1986, the Academy is dedicated to strengthening thecontributions of research, solving critical educational problemsthroughout the world, and providing better communicationamong policy makers, researchers and practitioners. The seat ofthe Academy is at the Royal Academy of Science, Literature andArts in Brussels, Belgium, and its co-ordinating centre is atCurtin University of Technology in Perth, general aim of the IAE is to foster scholarly excellence inall fields of education.

2 Towards this end, the Academy providestimely syntheses of research-based evidence of internationalimportance. The Academy also provides critiques of research, itsevidentiary basis, and its application to members of the Board of Directors of the Academy are: Erik De Corte, University of Leuven, Belgium (President) Herbert Walberg, University of Illinois at Chicago, UnitedStates of America Barry Fraser, Curtin University of Technology, Australia(Executive Director) Jacques Hallak, Paris, France Michael Kirst, Stanford University, United States of America Ulrich Teichler, University of Kassel, N 14 10/01/05 15:55 Page 33 PrefaceAs suggested by the title, this booklet is about the Teaching ofspeaking, listening and writing .

3 It complements previous bookletson promoting pre-school language, reading and Teaching additionallanguages. It has been prepared for inclusion in the EducationalPractices Series developed by the International Academy ofEducation and distributed by the International Bureau of Educationand the Academy. As part of its mission, the Academy providestimely syntheses of research on educational topics of internationalimportance. This booklet is the fourteenth in the series oneducational practices that generally improve first and second contributors to the planning and writing ofthis booklet are distinguished educators and scholars. Trudy Wallacetaught secondary school English and graduate-level writing . Sheconducted research on eminent women writers, which she presented atOxford University in the United Kingdom, the University of CapeTown in South Africa and in Caracas, Venezuela.

4 She serves as editoron the International journal of educational development, and currentlyserves as Director of Gifted, Talented, and Enriched Academics forChicago Public E. Stariha is a teacher at the Near North SpecialEducation Center in Chicago. She taught regular, bilingual andspecial education students and reading, writing , and other languageskills to adult non-native English speakers from many parts of theworld. She has conducted research on notable women artists andmusicians and presented her work at international conferences in theCzech Republic, Spain, South Africa, Finland, the United Kingdomand Assistant Professor of Education at HarvardUniversity, Herbert Walberg is Principal Investigator at the Mid-Atlantic Laboratory for Student Success, a University Scholar andEmeritus Research Professor of Education and Psychology at theUniversity of Illinois at Chicago, and Distinguished Visiting Fellowat Stanford University.

5 An editor or author of more than fifty books,he has contributed more than 300 papers to peer-reviewedpsychology and education journals, and he has written extensivelyfor educators and policy makers. He currently editor of this series ofbooklets. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association,the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and theRoyal Statistical N 14 10/01/05 15:55 Page 44 The officers of the International Academy of Education areaware that this booklet is based on research carried out primarilyin economically advanced countries. The booklet, however,focuses on aspects of language skills that appear universal. Thepractices presented here are likely to be generally applicablethroughout the world.

6 Even so, the principles should be assessedwith reference to local conditions and adapted accordingly. In anyschool, suggestions for practice require sensitive and sensibleapplication, and continuing J. WALBERG,Editor, IAE Educational Practices SeriesPRATICE N 14 10/01/05 15:55 Page 55 Previous titles in the Educational practices series :1. Teaching by Jere Parents and learning by Sam Effective educational practices by Herbert J. Walberg and SusanJ. Improving student achievement in mathematics by Douglas and Kristin J. Tutoring by Keith Teaching additional languages by Elliot L. Judd, Lihua Tan andHerbert J. How children learn by Stella Preventing behaviour problems: what works by SharonL. Foster, Patricia Brennan, Anthony Biglan, Linna Wangand Suad Preventing HIV/AIDS in schools, by Inon I.

7 Schenker and JennyM. Motivation to learn by Monique Academic and social emotional learning, by Maurice J. Teaching reading by Elizabeth S. Pang, Angaluki Muaka,Elizabeth B. Bernhardt and Michael L. Promoting pre-school language by John Lybolt and titles can be downloaded from the websites of the IEA( ) or of the IBE( ) orpaper copies can be requested from: IBE, Publications Unit, Box 199,1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland. Please note that several titles are already outof print, but can be downloaded from the IEA and IBE N 14 10/01/05 15:55 Page 66 Table of contentsIntroduction, page 71. Learning time, page 82. Variety of lessons, page 93. Speaking practice, page 104. Speaking skills, page 115. Reducing speaking fears, page 126.

8 Improving listening skills, page 137. Frequent collaboration, page 148. writing skills, page 159. Great writers, page 16 Conclusion, page 17 References and further reading, page 18 This publication has been produced in 2004 by the InternationalAcademy of Education (IAE), Palais des Acad mies, 1, rue Ducale, 1000 Brussels, Belgium, and the International Bureau of Education (IBE), Box 199, 1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland. It is available free ofcharge and may be freely reproduced and translated into otherlanguages. Please send a copy of any publication that reproduces thistext in whole or in part to the IAE and the IBE. This publication is alsoavailable on the Internet. See the Publications section, EducationalPractices Series page at: authors are responsible for the choice and presentation of the factscontained in this publication and for the opinions expressed therein,which are not necessarily those of UNESCO/IBE and do not commit theorganization.

9 The designations employed and the presentation of thematerial in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinionwhatsoever on the part of UNESCO/IBE concerning the legal status ofany country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning thedelimitation of its frontiers or in France by TYPHON, N 14 10/01/05 15:55 Page 77 IntroductionWriting, speaking and listening are communication skills that areimportant in all subject areas in the curriculum. Hence, literacyshould have a central position in the curriculum. Even so,differences between students levels of literacy mean that somestudents fail to acquire the verbal foundations for learning. Forthis reason, increasing numbers of students fall short ofproficiency as they proceed through the school.

10 This bookletresponds to calls for principles and Teaching practices that addressthe worldwide problem of increasing literacy skills. It draws oneducational research and extensive experience with classroompractices to explain important principles for increasing contrast to reading, less definitive scientific research isavailable on the other three language skills discussed in thisbooklet. For this reason, the limited research is supplemented herewith the insights of experts and educators with long and variedexperience in the Teaching of language N 14 10/01/05 15:55 Page 881. Learning time Provide extensive amounts of time for language learning. Although the Teaching principles that follow this section promoteskills in writing , speaking and listening , they are not completesubstitutes for extensive exposure to good language usage andpractice in its use.