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Integration of Skills in ELT: 21st Century

Mark KrzanowskiPlenary 1

Sultan Qaboos University ELT

Conference 2008: 23-24 April

Muscat, Oman

LSHTM, University of London

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ABSTRACT of PLENARY 1• Abstract (75 words)• The presenter will look at the degree of

integration of skills in teaching English for General, Academic and Specific Purposes in the 21st century and will review the most relevant methods, approaches and techniques in the UK and worldwide. The talk will be divided into five parts, and the speaker will address most of the 23 sub-themes of the Conference with references to his varied and extensive UK and international ELT experience. (70 words)

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SUMMARY of PLENARY• The purpose of the talk is provide a detailed discussion of the

degree to which specific skills are fully or partially integrated in teaching English in various contexts, and how this is achieved via a judicious application of pedagogical methods, approaches and techniques.

• The author will:• examine the merits of integrated-skills teaching in General English

and discrete-skills teaching in English for Academic and Specific Purposes

• offer suggestions how to remedy ‘skills gaps’ in course syllabi or commercially produced materials (with emphasis on materials design and self-produced authentic materials)

• demonstrate how to address the needs for specific language skills among learners with ‘spiky profiles’

• analyse the advances of the ELT learning and teaching environment in the 21st century and how these can be tapped into for successful language skills promotion, integration, and implementation

• enumerate the advantages and shortcomings of integrated-skills and discrete-skills approaches in ELT. (149 words)

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Integration of Skills in Teaching ELT: 21st Century

• 1.Introduction• 2. Historic overview of skills treatment

in ELT• 3. Current Trends and approaches• 4. Other relevant issues• 5. Conclusions & Qs-As session with

Audience

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2. Historic overview of skills treatment in ELT• - the Grammar-Translation Method (1840s –

1940s): language skills subsumed under translation skills; major focus: Reading & Writing; major deficiency: lack of context, skills practised on sentence level

• - the Reform Movement – 1880s onwards: shift of focus; spoken language and speaking skills seen as most important; emergence of phonetics as an independent discipline

• - the Direct Method (late 1860s): emphasis on oral communication skills, and exclusion of L1 from classroom instruction; “ungraded speech”

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• - the Oral Approach & Situation Language Teaching (1930s – 1960s: British applied linguists): skills taught implicitly, new language introduced situationally, oral skills preceding written skills; systematic principles of selection, gradation & presentation

• - the US (1929): the Coleman report: promotion of rapid silent reading (skills)

• - the US (1942): the Army Specialised Training Programme: goal – conversational proficiency / shift of emphasis onto oral skills; the ‘Army Methods’ (10 years of influence)

• - 1939: Michigan – the first English Language Institute; the Oral Approach, the Aural-Oral Approach; the Structural Approach – training in this order of skills: aural, pronunciation, speaking, reading, writing

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• - the Audiolingual method (1964): combination of the above + contrastive analysis & behaviourist psychology; learning language – mechanical habit formation; aural-oral training needed to provide foundation for development of other skills; context finally comes in; skills subsumed under linguistic syllabus promoting syntax, phonology and lexis; order of language skills taught: listening, speaking, reading, writing; grammar as the central component of language; dialogues and drills predominate;

• English 900 & the Lado English Series; outcome – skills transfer: a problem; Chomsky – language is not a set of habits; sentences not learnt by imitation, but from generated from a speaker’s competence; skills acquisition via pattern practice, drilling and memorisation – questioned;

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Other relevant sources• Chapter 2         A “Methodical”

History of Language Teaching• Approach, Method, and Technique• Changing Winds and Shifting Sands• The Grammar Translation Method• Gouin and the Series Method• The Direct Method• The Audiolingual Method• Cognitive Code Learning• “Designer” Methods of the Spirited

Seventies•             Community Language Learning•             Suggestopedia•             The Silent Way•             Total Physical Response•             The Natural Approach• Beyond Method: Notional-Functional

Syllabuses

• Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy (Paperback) by H. Douglas Brown

• (Longman Pearson)

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• - Communicative Language Teaching (from 1960s onwards): the communicative competence – a goal of language teaching, and development of procedures for teaching four skills that acknowledge interdependence of language and communication; a more humanistic approach to teaching;

• - Total Physical Approach (1925) – comprehension skills precede production skills in language learning; skills acquired through listening transfer to other skills;

• - the Silent Way (1960s) – dealt primarily with the basic level of aural/oral proficiency;

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• - the Natural Approach / the Direct Method (1977): claims to be communicative; emphasis on structure learnt via the ‘I + 1’ model (influence of Krashen); aims to develop ‘basic communication skills’ at low levels

• - Suggestopedia (1970s) – harnessing non-rational and non-conscious influences to optimise learning; typical lesson – 3 parts: (a) oral review session; (b) new material presented and discussed; (c) the séance or concert session; skills taught indirectly;

• Source: Richards & Rogers “Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching” (Cambridge University Press)

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3. Integrated-skills teaching in ELT: Current Trends and Approaches

• - language learning – holistic; all 4 skills should not be separated in learning and teaching

• - implications for materials design: current books – equal emphasis on 4 skills duly integrated in multi-level books designed at 4 or 5 levels

• - offered normally in General English classes• - taught predominantly by one teacher (able to control

development of all students’ skills and subskills)• - materials provide a cohesive and progressive approach

to language learning in a naturalistic manner• - integrated-skills books reflect holistic learning better (cf

the importance of “affect”)

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OUP ELT – Headway: 6 levels Plus 1• Beginner• Elementary• Pre-Intermediate• Intermediate• Upper Intermediate• Advanced

‘Plus’: here - academic

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OUP ELT – other multi-level courses

3 levels 1 level 5 levels

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CUP ELT – multi-level courses

5-level course

4-level course

4-level course

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Longman Pearson - multi-level courses

4-level course 6-level course5-level course

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Macmillan - multi-level courses

5 levels 3 levels2 levels: FCE + CPE

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Garnet Education – ESPone book, a range of levels + multi-skills model

Another productive model for skills integration: in ESP books where a single book caters for a range of levels

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• - the I-S approach: predominant in General English classes

• - emulation of the model in General Business English coursebooks (e.g. Market Leader or Intelligent Business); difference – topics; methodology; the same/similar

• - overt inclusion of pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary (taught explicitly)

• - Exceptions to the rule: some EAP or ESP books following the I-S approach (e.g. EAP Now!)

• - streamed testing & assessment of skills in commercially produced coursebooks

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Exceptions to the rule

A highly successful attempt to use the integrated-skills approach to an EAP book

Longman Pearson

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• - I-S classes lend themselves to being taught by one teacher or to being team-taught by 2 tutors (e.g. even and odd chapters in books); more difficult if a larger team of teachers involved

• - I-S coursebooks and materials tend to offer a reasonable level of coverage of relevant sub-skills, macro-skills and micro-skills

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Discrete skills – current trends and approaches (EAP & ESP)

• - claims that GE classes do not go into sufficient details to address the specifics of productive and receptive skills

• - teaching materials for ESP focus on discrete skills – as demonstrated in classic EAP and ESP books

• - such materials or books offer an opportunity to provide in-depth training in a particular skill (e.g. academic writing or presentation skills)

• - there are situations where the teaching of a discrete skill is of utmost importance, and this needs to be recognised

• - practical examples of how successful ESP & EAP textbooks approach a discrete-skills approach (e.g. Garnet Education, CUP and Pearsons books)

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• - promotion of sets of skills depending on a specific need (e.g. listening and speaking in Aviation)

• - covert inclusion of grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary (taught implicitly)

• -Exceptions to the rule: some GE books following the D-S approach (e.g. CUP books)

• - D-S coursebooks and materials tend to offer an extensive or exceptional level of coverage of relevant sub-skills, macro-skills and micro-skills

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Examples of EAP and ESP books designed in a discrete-skill mode: Garnet Education books

A highly successful series of 7 (seven) EAP books devoted to a specific EAP ‘skill’ (reading, writing, speaking, listening, pronunciation, research skills, vocabulary)

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Semi-integrated approaches to skills delivery

• - commonly held view: certain skills go together or are almost inseparable (e.g. reading & writing or listening & speaking)

• - probably a good solution to skills delivery; a sound compromise

• - alternative practices: reading and listening? speaking and reading? listening & writing?

• - examination of how the above approaches are offered in coursebooks

• Skills extension, e.g. Study Skills

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Semi-integrated approaches to skills delivery – specimen books

CUP OUP LongmanDestination Grammar and Vocabulary Series

Macmillan

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Skills extension – Study Skills

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- how to remedy ‘skills gaps’ in course syllabi or commercially produced materials (with emphasis on materials design

and self-produced authentic materials)• - commercially produced books may not address all

the skills needed by students on a course• - importance of skills audit (on the basis of pre-

course questionnaires and needs analyses)• - skills supplementation via cut-and-paste additions

from other books, adapted materials and in-house custom-designed materials

• - reasons for inadequate skills provision in commercial materials (e.g. insufficient range of authentic materials)

• - significance of promotion of process syllabus (tweaking skills delivery as and when required)

• - D-S classes ideal to being taught by one tutor responsible for a particular skills (e.g. insessional EAP courses in the UK)

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- demonstrate how to address the needs for specific language skills among learners with ‘spiky

profiles’• - teaching skills to EFL and ESOL students (UK

terminology)• - importance of literacy skills in L1 for successful

skills acquisition in L2• - UK: EFL learners: homogenous; impact on testing

and assessment (e.g. Cambridge examinations: FCE, CAE & PCE)

• - UK: ESOL learners: often heterogeneous (historically disadvantaged) & with ‘spiky profiles’ (cf the article ‘Citizens in Search of a Voice’)

• - implications for testing and assessment – ESOL assessment bodies & registration of ESOL learners depending on their profile

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Specimen ESOL publications

UK ESOL materials and publications have successfully embraced the issue of students with ‘spiky profiles’

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- analyse the advances of the ELT learning and teaching environment in the 21st century and how these can be tapped into for successful language skills promotion,

integration, and implementation

• A modified approach to skills delivery can be offered owing to:

• - greater access to an exceptionally wide range of ELT resources

• - emergence of challengers and competitors: the ‘Arctic Monkeys’ phenomenon

• - ever-growing importance of ELT materials in non-English and non-traditional countries.

• - importance of the Internet, globalisation & internationalisation: the world is a small place; productive skills of speaking (e.g. SKYPE) and writing (e.g. email) are more important than ever before

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• - skills development often vested in the learner him-/herself: learner autonomy, learner independence, blended learning, distance education, self-access

Skills enlargement:• (a) traditional skills: speaking, listening,

writing, reading• (b) extended mix (e.g. in EAP): four of the

above + study skills + communication skills + critical thinking skills OR + translation skills OR cultural skills

• - debunking stereotypes: listening & reading previously taught to be passive/receptive; can be ‘active’ depending on methodological approaches

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enumerate the advantages and shortcomings of

integrated-skills and discrete-skills approaches in ELT • Integrated skills: • Advantages: • - promote holistic learning• - capable of replicating real life situations more

faithfully than D-S approaches• - offer variety and vibrancy to the classroom• - enable the learner to ‘shine’ in the sub-skills they

are best at• - offer choices to an ELT practitioners• Shortcomings:• - can unintentionally or ‘unwittingly’ ignore ‘deeper’

aspects of a particular skill

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Discrete skills• Advantages:

• - promote learning linked to exploration and mastery of a relevant skill, sub-skill, macro-skill and/or micro-skill

• - offer teachers an opportunity to specialise in a certain range of skills (e.g. Academic Writing)

• - provide a focused context to a student

• Shortcomings:• - may unintentionally or ‘unwittingly’ ignore the

wider context, or an interdependence of one skill on another skill / on other skills

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Other skills or concepts closely connected with English language skills

Transferable academic skills (e.g. ‘TASK’ – Garnet Education:

•Key Foundation Skills

•Academic Culture Skills

•Seminar Skills

•Team Working Skills

•Problem-Solving Skills

•Critical Thinking Skills

•IT Skills

•Essay Writing Skills

•Scientific Writing Skills

•Research and Referencing Skills

•Presentation Skills

•Examination Technique Skills

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Other skills or concepts closely connected with English language skills

• Essential skills• http://www.essu.org/

What are Essential Skills?The ability to read, write and speak in English / Welsh and to use mathematics at a level necessary to function and progress at work and in society in general.

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Other skills or concepts closely connected with English language skills

• http://www.ceg.org.uk/nq/core/frm-000.htm• Core Skills

The five Core Skills are: 1. Communication

This has two component parts:Oral Communication – listening and talking

Written Communication – reading and writing.

2. Numeracy 3. Problem Solving

4. Information Technology (IT) 5. Working with Others

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Other skills or concepts closely connected with English language skills

• Academic Literacy and Oracy SkillsAcademic Literacy and Oracy

“The Institute offers a range of insessional courses to assist its students in developing their academic literacy and oracy skills.” http://ioewebserver.ioe.ac.uk/ioe/cms/get.asp?cid=13871&13871_0=13898

“The place of academic oracy in comparison to academic literacy” in: ACADEMICALLY SPEAKING: NEWIDENTITIES OR OLD REALITIES? By Alex Barthelhttp://learning.uow.edu.au/LAS2001/unrefereed/barthel.pdf

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Other skills or concepts closely connected with English language skills

• Soft skills• http://discovery.bits-pilani.ac.in/Other/fs_seminar.html• International Conference on Soft Skills Development

Strategies: Corporate and Academia perspectives                       at BITS, Pilani from September 19 - 20, 2008

• Definition of soft skills: non-technical skills as opposed to ‘hard skills’ (related, for example to one’s knowledge of a specialist subject)

• The Soft Skills of Business English (Goeran Nieragden): http://www.eltnewsletter.com/back/September2000/art282000.htm, e.g.: Communication: listening skills & presentation skills

• BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6311161.stm

“Many graduates 'lack soft skills”: ‘candidates are normally academically proficient but lacking in soft skills such as communication as well as verbal and numerical reasoning.’

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Sub-skills, macroskills and microskills in ELT: examples of professional use / terminology

• “The other thing is that I believe there are certain activities we can use in each of the different intelligence areas that can actually be used to help learners to develop skills that maybe are not that well developed yet. So, for example, the visual skill. One sub-skill is the ability to be able to focus on pictures. If we give learners discovery pictures that you can use for all kinds of language purposes, and at the same time focus their attention and concentration, this is important for two reasons. First of all there are studies that show that children's concentration span seems to be becoming shorter - this has a lot to do with the fact that our children live in a world of visual overload and fast-moving pictures have a certain effect on their concentration span. So, if you give them an activity like a picture with a number of animals hidden and half hidden and ask, "How many lions, snakes etc. are there?", from the language teaching point of view it's plural nouns plus revision of animal vocabulary and numbers. From the point of view of developing their visual intelligence, it's all about helping them to focus their attention, which is a cognitive skill that forms the foundation for a number of other more sophisticated cognitive skills.”

Herbert Puchta http://www.cambridge.org.br/site/articles/interviews.php?id=2450

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Sub-skills, macroskills and microskills in ELT: examples of professional use / terminology

• Translation in the Context of EFL - The Fifth Macroskill? (Stuart Campbell, School of Language and Linguistics University of Western Sydney)

• Abstract: EFL teaching methods often ignore the first language altogether and as a consequence ignore the potential of translation in language learning. Four factors that undermine the lack on integration of translation and EFL are 1) a strong anti-translation bias in EFL teaching methodology; 2) lack of recognition of translation in EFL publishing industry; 3) obstacles stemming from the demographics of EFL; 4) lack of interest from translation scholars. This paper argues that there are advantages of incorporating translation into ESL teaching.

• http://www.malang.ac.id/jurnal/fs/teflin/2003a.htm

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Sub-skills, macroskills and microskills in ELT: examples of professional use / terminology

• English for Academic Study: Writing: Course Book (English for Academic Study S.) Anne Pallant

• Format: Paperback, 2nd Revised edition Edition• Author: Anne Pallant

Publisher: Garnet Publishing Ltd, 1 August 2006ISBN: 185964838X EAN: 9781859648384Country of Publication: United Kingdom

• Table of Contents• 1. Academic achievement Microskills: Planning & Introductions 2.

Early human development Microskills: organising your ideas & paragraph leaders 3. Mobile telephones 4. Statistics without tears Microskills: organising your ideas, concluding sentences & conclusions 5. Human activity & climate change Microskills: definitions & exemplification & support 6. The global village Microskills: organising essays of cause and effect 7. The new linguistic order Microskills: organising essays: situation, problem, solution, implications, evaluation

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Sub-skills, macroskills and microskills in ELT: examples of professional use / terminology

• ‘The fifth language skill?’With many more courses available in intercultural

communication, should all teachers be trained in it? (Barry Tomalin, EL Gazette, EL teaching Matters, March 2008)

“We teach listening, speaking, reading, writing skills in English. Should we also be teaching cultural skills as a subset of skills on its own?

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Other ‘language’ skills• Citizenship language and cultural awareness skills• ESOL Entry level 3• The Citizenship Materials for ESOL learners project was

led by NIACE and LLU+ at London South Bank University. The initiative is part of the new Government strategy to make becoming a UK citizen a more meaningful event. From November 2005, there are two routes to naturalisation. Applicants with sufficient English language skills can take an online, multiple choice citizenship test, Life in the UK, at any of the 90 Life in the UK Test centres. Applicants who need to improve their English language skills can follow an ESOL course, using the new Citizenship Materials for ESOL learners pack.

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4. Other relevant issues: comments on Conference sub-themes

4. How improvement in one skill can affect the development of other skills

• Positive washback effect • http://www.cambridge.org/elt/ces/methodology/fourskills.htm• each and every skills is important• in EAP, academic writing used to be over-emphasised to the

detriment of other skills; the balance redressed these days

5. Practical ideas for helping teachers to integrate language skill • A need for alternative practices• Going beyond coursebooks – a condition sine qua non• Is one coursebook sufficient?• Why not experiment with skills – reading & speaking

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9. The  implementation of an integrated skills approach • May vary from one group of students to another• Quality assurance: identical educational experience – a goal;

reality?• Avoid binary oppositions• Instances when skills need to be separated or semi-

integrated10. Challenges and opportunities in developing materials for

integrated skills• Clear benchmarking for levels (e.g. the Council of Europe

specifications)• Current trend – five levels• Mats – commissioned from item writers or taken from real

sources• Team work or individual approach? 5 levels & 4 skills – who

writes what; practical dilemmas

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11. The use of authentic materials in the integrated skills approach

• The issue of copyright: authenticity of material or authenticity of purpose?

12. The integration of skills in the ELT classroom and its effects on student’s motivation

• Degree of integration depends on skills audit and the nature of course (EFL/ESOL, EAP, ESP, tailor-made)

13. Creative methodology within integrated skills approach

• 21st century – enlightened eclecticism; Communicative Language Teaching + judicious touches of other methods and approaches

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18. The place of grammar in the  integrated skills approach 19. The integrated skills approach and vocabulary

acquisition • Grammar and vocabulary – prominent position in

curricula, syllabi and schemes of work; taught explicitly or implicitly

22. Methods for assessing integrated skills 23. Challenges in the assessment of integrated skills • Well-established testing and assessment frameworks for

classic / traditional EFL or ESOL examinations (Cambridge/UCLES, Trinity or City & Guilds or LCCI); IELTS; TOEFL; TOIEC;

• Variations - autonomy of the university sector: challenge; are university teachers exam item writers? importance of consistency and benchmarking; scope for creativity.

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5A. ConclusionsThe survey of integration of skills in the first decade of the 21st

century seems to demonstrate that ELT practitioners (publishers, coursebook writers, teachers) have been applying a vast range of approaches.

The degree of integration varies, ranging from classic applications of integrated skills aimed at promotion of holistic learning, via semi-integrated skills paradigms geared towards combining certain skills for a more thorough study, to a specific focus on a discrete skill for in-depth examination, and more comprehensive learning of that discrete skill.

I believe that an experienced ELT practitioner is left with a choice, and ultimately makes an informed decision based on specific variables. I feel that we need to avoid binary oppositions, and should not say that one approach is better than the other. A complementary and inclusive attitude may well be the answer.

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Thanks & AcknowledgementsI would like to thank all the colleagues from the following

publishers for supporting me, and for furnishing me with copies of a wide range of titles so that I could examine them and make the content of my talk more informed:

• Cambridge University Press (ELT)• Garnet Education• Macmillan and Palgrave Macmillan• Longman Pearson (ELT)• Oxford University Press (ELT).All these publishers continue to offer an exceptionally wide

range of skills books which cater for all the needs of the discerning ELT learner of the 21st century.

Mark Krzanowski

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5B. Qs-As session with Audience

• Thank you for your attention.

• Questions?

• Mark Krzanowski

• markkski2@gmail.com