The TESOL 2017 conference has over 800 concurrent sessions planned. Areas that I am interested in that are being presented on at the conference include instruction in pronunciation and feedback to students on their writing.
Specifically with regard to pronunciation, concurrent sessions cover issues such as anxiety among international graduate students because of pronunciation challenges, singing activities that are designed to improve pronunciation, online courses for training pronunciation teachers, project-based pronunciation practice, and integrating Reader’s Theater into a pronunciation class (TESOL 2017 Accepted Proposals, 2016). I highlighted these sessions because they feature innovative methods of teaching pronunciation. For example, I had never thought of singing as a way of teaching students how to pronounce words and phrases correctly. Moreover, I have never considered the possibility of an online course for teaching pronunciation. Finally, a project-based course in teaching pronunciation means that students complete a project and, through, their efforts, improve their pronunciation. I am very intrigued by such an approach.
One session in particular that intrigued me is called “Essentials in Haptic Pronunciation Teaching.” I was not at all clear what the term haptic meant. In looking it up, I found the website of the presenter, Michael Burri. Burri explains that haptic-integrated pronunciation instruction involves a kinesthetic approach to teaching pronunciation (Burri, 2014). He notes that approach involves movement and touch and is “applicable to high beginning language learners and above.” I had never considered pronunciation and physical movement to be related.
In terms of providing feedback to students on their writing, some concurrent sessions include indirect feedback to students on their writing, written comments on students’ writing and how students and teachers view them, electronic feedback in course chats, and simultaneous oral-written feedback (SOWF). I was not familiar with indirect feedback or with SOWF.
In looking up indirect feedback, I found that, when using direct feedback, the teacher often corrects an error. However, when using indirect feedback, the teacher might circle the error and mention that it is an error. The teacher then expects the student to correct the error. I have worked informally with people whose first language was not English to help them with their writing. In doing so, I have always simply told them what was wrong with their words and sentences. I have never considered anything like indirect feedback.
I found that simultaneous oral-written feedback (SOWF) refers to a method of providing feedback in which the instructor meets with the student and marks up the paper while talking over the paper with the student (Hu, J., 2016). In other words, the teacher does not mark up the paper first and then meet with the student to discuss the marks. The teacher meets with the student with the paper unmarked and talks through the marks as he or she writes on the paper. I have never considered whether feedback had to be concurrent with speaking to the student.
Overall, while I have extensive experience in helping non-native speakers and writers of English improve both their oral and written fluency, perusing the TESOL 2017 website and concurrent sessions exposed me to concepts and developments in the field that I was not aware of. While I don’t have the time or money to go to TESOL 2017 in March, I do plan on becoming a member of TESOL and taking advantage of its resources.
References
Burri, Michael (2014). What is haptic pronunciation teaching? Retrieved from http://michaelburri.weebly.com/blog/what-is-haptic-pronunciation-teaching
Hu, J. (2016). Simultaneous oral-written feedback on ESL academic writing through conferencing. Retrieved from https://learningatinterculturalinte2015.sched.org/event/2KkW/simultaneous-oral-written-feedback-on-esl-academic-writing-through-conferencing
TESOL 2017 international convention & English language expo. (2016). Retrieved from http://www.tesol.org/convention2017
TESOL 2017 accepted proposals. (2016). Retrieved from http://www.tesol.org/convention2017/education-sessions/speaker-presenter-information
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