One of the big challenges that we face as ESL educators is that often students’ engagement with English is limited to our classrooms, especially when it comes to listening and speaking. Once they leave the class, they often use their native language to communicate with family, friends, and coworkers.
In “Beyond the Classroom: The Role of Self-Guided Learning in Second Language Listening and Speaking Practice,” Marion Davis attempts to analyze this issue and determine how guided learning can improve the opportunities for students to learn outside of the classroom.
Through reviewing several articles on the topic, Davis comes to the conclusion that if we give students specific instructions and tasks with clear goals that need to be completed outside the classroom, they will spend more time practicing listening and speaking. Davis suggests that class time is used to direct the students on what they need to do to complete the task and allow the students to prepare for the tasks and ask any questions that they might have. Their time outside of class can then be used to complete the tasks and reach their goals.
This is very similar in practice to the activity posted in the last blog post!
If you’d like to read the entire article, click here!