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Improving conversational fluency through the use of communication strategies
Author
Lau, Meng Ping
Supervisor
Wong, Siew Koon Philip
Abstract
Interactions with Japanese junior high school students had anecdotally indicated that generally students have problems with conversational fluency in English, in terms of a tendency to have pauses in their conversations. Recent changes to English Language education in Japan would mean that these students would face greater challenges in oral fluency demands in the near future. There was therefore a desire to want to help these students to be more prepared to face such challenges by helping them improve on their conversational fluency.
For these reasons and from reflecting on how to improve on a previous attempt to help students improve their conversational fluency in a previous junior high school, a literature review was made to see what to teach to the students. The reviews led to the discovery of the concept, communication strategy (CS). After discussions with the Japanese Teacher of English, it was decided that we would teach CSs to the students to help them improve their conversational fluency.
This research was undertaken to examine the following research questions regarding the teaching of CSs to the students:
1. Will the teaching of CSs lead to an increase of their usage amongst the students?
2. Does the teaching of CSs help the students improve their conversational fluencies?
3. How receptive are the students towards the CS lessons and the learning of CSs?
Two CSs, Turn-Taking Strategies and Meaning-Negotiation Strategies, were taught to 18 Japanese junior high school students to help them improve on their conversational fluency. Results of this action research indicated that the direct teaching of CSs led to an increase in their usage amongst the students. Although it was also found that the teaching of CSs led to improvement in fluency, it was only for teacher-student conversation pairs and the results need to be interpreted with care due to the fact that other factors might have influenced the improved fluency. Students were also found to be having a somewhat positive attitude towards the CS lessons and the teaching of CSs. This positive attitude was mainly because they found CS lessons and the teaching of CSs to be useful but not because it was easy, interesting or enjoyable. Implications of the results on the teaching of CSs and design of CS lessons were discussed, and further actions to be taken in the future were also planned.
For these reasons and from reflecting on how to improve on a previous attempt to help students improve their conversational fluency in a previous junior high school, a literature review was made to see what to teach to the students. The reviews led to the discovery of the concept, communication strategy (CS). After discussions with the Japanese Teacher of English, it was decided that we would teach CSs to the students to help them improve their conversational fluency.
This research was undertaken to examine the following research questions regarding the teaching of CSs to the students:
1. Will the teaching of CSs lead to an increase of their usage amongst the students?
2. Does the teaching of CSs help the students improve their conversational fluencies?
3. How receptive are the students towards the CS lessons and the learning of CSs?
Two CSs, Turn-Taking Strategies and Meaning-Negotiation Strategies, were taught to 18 Japanese junior high school students to help them improve on their conversational fluency. Results of this action research indicated that the direct teaching of CSs led to an increase in their usage amongst the students. Although it was also found that the teaching of CSs led to improvement in fluency, it was only for teacher-student conversation pairs and the results need to be interpreted with care due to the fact that other factors might have influenced the improved fluency. Students were also found to be having a somewhat positive attitude towards the CS lessons and the teaching of CSs. This positive attitude was mainly because they found CS lessons and the teaching of CSs to be useful but not because it was easy, interesting or enjoyable. Implications of the results on the teaching of CSs and design of CS lessons were discussed, and further actions to be taken in the future were also planned.
Date Issued
2003
Call Number
PE1128 Lau
Date Submitted
2003