6.2 - Omaggio - Teaching Lge in Context - Ch. 5

5
Developing Oral Proficiency
In recent years, much of the discussion relating to proficiency-oriented

instruction and testing has focused on the development of oral skills. The
emphasis on speaking proficiency can be attributed to a variety of factors,
many of which are traceable to the widespread popularity of audiolingual
methodologies in the 1960s and the communicative competence move-
ment that began in the 1970s. Yet the legacy of our past is not the only
impetus for a continued interest in oral proficiency. Many language stu-
dents continue to list speaking ability as one of their primary goals of
study, either because they would derive some personal satisfaction from
being able to speak a second language or because they feel it would be
useful in pursuing other interests or career goals. It is clear that oral
proficiency in a second language can be an important asset for anyone
seeking employment in business and industry in the 1980s and the decades
ahead.
As we saw in the last chapter, this emphasis on oral proficiency does
not and should not mean that other skill areas ought to be neglected in
the language curriculum. However, because the ability to function ade-
quately in speaking continues to be an important goal for most second
language learners, it is incumbent upon us as language teachers to identify
some effective strategies for teaching oral skills in the classroom that will
maximize opportunities for the development of useful levels of profi-
ciency.
175
176 Teaching Language in Context
Planning Instruction for the Development of Oral

Proficiency
Appropriate teaching strategies are likely to vary, depending on students'
current level(s) of proficiency and the level envisioned as an instructional
goal. In order to provide optimal speaking practice in a given class, we
need to determine, at least in some global fashion, what range of levels
is likely to be attainable in the course of instruction. The term range is
used here because it is unrealistic to expect that all students in a given
course will be at the same level of oral proficiency at the end of instruction.
Determining an expected range of proficiency upon completion of a course
might best be accomplished experientially through a preliminary assess-
ment of students' oral proficiency at the beginning and end of the course
using the interview procedure described in Chapter 8. After several se-
mesters of testing, an expected range of proficiency should be relatively
easy to identify. One can then begin to reorient instruction toward care-
fully defined goals, derived in part from appropriate level descriptions.
Classroom activities can be selected to correspond to current levels of
proficiency and to those in the next highest range so that opportunities
for progress along the scale can be maximized ..
What types of goals are appropriate for students at the Novice, In-
termediate, and Advanced Levels of speaking proficiency? What kinds of
classroom activities are optimal at each of these levels? A variety of cur-
ricular plans for instruction in oral skills could be derived from an ex-
amination of the ACTFL Guidelines. As was pointed out in the last chapter,
it is important to bear in mind that the guidelines are not a set of goal
statements in and of themselves, but are rather descriptions of typical
competencies (as well as patterns of weakness) of language users in each
of the ranges of proficiency. As Heilenman and Kaplan (1985) observe,
the guidelines are meant to be evaluative in nature, and therefore should
not be used directly and verbatim as course objectives:
Although learners at the Intermediate Level are accurately described as pro-

ducing a majority of utterances containing "fractured syntax and other gram-
1natical errors" and using a vocabulary that is "inadequate to express anything
but the most elementary needs," it is doubtful that any teacher or student would
be willing to work toward that description as a goal. ... A proficiency-based
curriculum ... has to identify positive if limited competencies that will constitute
interim objectives, while not losing sight of the overall goal of proficiency at defined
levels. (pp. 57- 58)
From the proficiency descriptions, appropriate expectations can be

formulated that can be useful in the goal-refinement process when plan-
177 Developing Oral Proficiency
ning curricula. One might consider designing a three-tiered plan, such

as Heilenman and Kaplan suggest, in which function, content, and ac-
curacy goals are stated in terms of whether full, partial, or conceptual
control are expected. A sample page from their three-tiered curriculum
plan for French at the Novice Level is given in Illustration 5.1.
This sample plan represents one possible interpretation of the guide-
lines, and is not meant as an ideal or model to be followed by all language
practitioners. Rather, each group of individuals responsible for designing
a local curriculum will need to consider what the guidelines imply for
their own situation. Although different curricular plans might be roughly
similar, no two groups of classroom teachers or curriculum planners are
likely to come up with identical goal statements, especially since local
conditions and the interests and needs of individual groups of students
differ.
With these caveats in mind, a set of competencies has been derived
from the functional trisection for purposes of illustration (see Illustrations
5.2 through 5.5). This planning guide, adapted from one developed at
the Defense Language Institute in Monterey during the summer of 1984,
can be used as a basis for designing an articulated sequence of instruction
in speaking. This sequence for oral skills parallels those for reading and
listening described in the last chapter and includes a characterization of
the types of content, functions, and accuracy one might expect to be under
full control at each level of proficiency, as well as a list of teaching strategies
that might be appropriate for students in that range. Note that, unlike
the Heilenman and Kaplan Model, this set of competencies is generic
rather than language-specific and is therefore relatively global in nature,
especially with regard to the Accuracy Column. Practitioners wishing to
adapt this model for a particular language would need to further refine
and specify course goals in terms of content, functions, grammatical,
socioliolinguistic, discourse, and lexical f~atures to be treated in the course
of instruction. It might be useful to adopt a three-tiered approach, such
as the one in lllustration 5.1, at this point in the design of the local
curriculum.
With this generic plan as a guide, an instructor can choose and se-
quence various oral practice activities and teaching strategies for de-
veloping speaking skills in the context of the second language classroom.
Strategies for Teaching Speaking Skills

The activities described in this section are organized according to: (1) the
first two working hypotheses, presented in Chapter 1, for designing a
framework of instruction that is proficiency-oriented, and (2) the profi-
ciency level(s) for which the oral practice formats seem best suited (see
note at end of chapter).
Content
Functions Topics Accuracy
Full Making lists Daily life: Basic word order

Control objects Numbers (e.g., 1-20)
Memorized places
materials
col ors Common
Recycling dates adjectives/adverbs
numbers
Question words
etc.
Routine
je, vous
activities
Partial Creating with Everyday Articles in affirmative utterances

Control language survival:
All subject pronouns
Asking/answering food
housing Form and place of common
questions
work adjectives/adverbs
Conducting short public places
Numbers (e.g., 1-100)
routine sports/ •
conversations leisure ii y a
etc. 1nonlmalmes, votre/vos
Describing/
narrating in Familiar
Present tense of common regular
present activities: verbs plus
work
hobbies
et re alter
school faire comprendre
entertainment
pouvoir vouloir
transportation
savoir devoir
etc. Near future
Weather/ time Passe compose of common verbs
ne. . .pas
Conceptual Differentiating What does it Single object pronouns
Control between mean to carry on
Partitive in negative utterances
memorized a conversation?
material and Reflexive verbs past/ present
creating with
language Passe compose a1,oirle1re
Illustration 5.1. A Sample Proficiency-Based Curriculum for French, Novice Level

179 Developing Oral Pro ficiency
~kills
Comprehension Reading Writing Speaking Culture
Understanding Directions Transcribing Surviving Greeting

memorized memorized with Leave-taking
Fixed phrases
material material learned
In: utterances Expressing
Operating in forms Supplying wants
situations aided maps information Attempting
by context signs on forms to create
schedules with
Listing
etc. language
memorized
material
Listening to Common text Writing short Surviving in Using
non memorized types: messages and simple behavior
material for basic notes simple situations learned for
needs/ social memos directions greeting
Asking
conventions cards buying
Recombining questions tipping
Listening for lists words/
etc. Discussing etc.
specific structures to
create simple self
details
utterances Maintaining
conversation
Handling
simple
transactions
Listening for Identifying Filling in Drilling Discussing

syntactical written blanks spoken cultural
markers structural forms concepts
items
Hypothesis 1. Opportunities must be provided for students to prac-

tice using language in a range of contexts likely to be encountered in the
target culture.
In Chapter 3, we saw how important it was to provide context when

teaching the receptive skills. We also presented a rationale for contex-
tualizing oral practice activities, even when they were precommunicative
Level: Novice
Skill: Speaking
Content Functions Accuracy
General topics such as ... Can use limited memorized ma- Generally intelligible when us-
Basic classroom objects terial in simple statement or ing memorized or highly famil-
Colors question form iar material, but unintelligible
Numbers 0-100 Naming/identifying objects, when going beyond learned ut-
Clothing people, places, signs terances (except to teachers, fel-
Telling time Giving name, place of origin, low students, others used to
Dates (month/day/current year) simple personal information dealing with learners of the tar-
Weather/seasons Expressing belonging to orga- get language)·
Family members ni:z:ation, family, institution One- or two-word answers
Self-identification (nationality Expressing minimal courtesy Listing
and profession) Expressing agreement/dis- Enumerating
Simple greetings agreement
Courtesy expressions like please,
thank you, sorry, pardon me, Techniques
etc. Personalized questions
Money denominations Personalized completions
Personalized true/false
Matching
Sentence builders
Word associations
Group puzzles
Surveys and polls
Conversation cards
Forced choice
Slash sentences
Directed dialogue
Logical conclusions
Illustration 5.2.
Novice-Level
Curricular Planning
Guide for Speaking in nature, to help strengthen the links between form and meaning early
on in instruction. If one adopts McLaughlin's (1979) view that language
learning involves a gradual shift from conscious control of the elements
of language to automatic processing, it follows that students who are at
the Novice and even the Intermediate Levels in speaking will need to
pass through a period of 1neaningful, yet structured or heavily monitored
practice in order to move toward the more open-ended or creative com-
munication that is characteristic of the higher proficiency ranges. Ob-
viously, communication of this latter type is by its very nature
contextualized, so our first hypothesis applies automatically to speaking
activities in the Intermediate range and beyond.
The sample formats for oral practice presented in this first section,
therefore, are primarily suitable for the Novice and Intermediate ranges
of proficiency. In designing such practice activities, it is important to
Level: Intermediate
Skill: Speaking
Everyday survival topics such Can create with the language Comprehensible to native
as ... Can make up own sentences not speaker used to dealing with tar·
Personal/biographical informa- limited to very familiar or get-language learners
tion memorized material Some accuracy in basic struc-
Restaurant/foods Can participate in short con- tures
Asking/giving directions versations Uses short sentences
Activities/hobbies Can ask and answer questions Minimal sociolinguistic knowl·
Transportation Can get into, through, and out edge in evidence
Talking on phone of a simple survival situation Very basic vocabulary related
Lodging/living quarters Can transfer current learned to content areas listed
Money matters ·material to new situations/
Health matters contexts
Post office
Numbers 1-1000 Techniques
Customs Personalized questions
Shopping/making purchases Personalized completions
Courtesy/social requirements Personalized true/false
such as ... Sentence builders
Dialogue/story adaptation
Greetings/introductions Create a story with visuals
Making appointments Chain stories
Making meeting arrangements Describing objects/processes
Accepting/refusing invitations Surveys and polls
Polite, formulaic expressions Conversation cards
Paired interviews
Social interaction activities
Group consensus/problem solv-
ing
Story telling
Forced Choice
Role Plays
Slash sentences
Elaboration
Giving definitions
Guided description/narration
Asking related questions
Logical questions
Illustration 5.3. Intermediate-Level Curricular Planning Guide for Speaking

Level: Advanced
Skill: Speaking
Content widens to include nu- Can narrate and describe m Comprehensible to native
merous topics, generally of a fac- present, past, future time speakers not used to dealing with
tual nature, such as ... Can fully participate in casual foreigners
Current events conversations Sometimes miscommunicates,
Press, media Can give instructions, simple re- though good general vocabu-
Politics ports lary, with some circumlocution
Economics Accent intelligible
Education Can deal with complications in
Leisure, travel, vacations such situations as one might en- Elementary grammar/syntax
Cultural and moral issues counter in living in the target quite accurate
History culture Patterns of error in more com-
Customs and mores Complaints, emergency situa- plex structures
tions, talking one's way out of
trouble, etc. Able to speak in paragraphs
rather than in short sentences
Can make simple comparisons
Techniques
Personalized questions
Personalized true/false
Personalized completions
Dialogue/story adaptation
Chain stories
Group picture stories
Descriptions of objects/pro-
cesses
Surveys/polls
Conversation cards
Paired interviews
Guided narrations
Forced choice
Debates
G~oup consensus/problem solv-
ing
Role plays
Elaboration
Giving definitions
Guided descriptions
Reactions to opinion questions
Situations with complications
Illustration 5.4. Advanced-Level Curricular Planning Guide for Speaking

Level: Superior
Skill: Speaking
Can handle most practical, so- Can hypothesize All the language forms are con-
cial, abstract, and professional Can support opinions, persuade trolled relatively well
topics Occasional (unpatterned) errors
Can describe in detail
Special fields of competence in common structures
Can narrate in detail with pre-
Particular fields of interest cision Some patterns of error in more
complex structures
Techniques Errors rarely disturb the native
speaker or interfere with com-
Agree/disagree
Personalized questions prehension
Surveys/polls Vocabulary broad, through not
Persuasion always idiomatic or precise
Group consensus/problem solv-
ing
Elaboration
Paraphrasing/creative language
use
Sociolinguistic competence-
building activities-func-
tional/notional practice
Description of objects and pro-
cesses (detailed)
Paired interviews
Debates
Levels of speech (style shifting)
Role Plays with complications
Simultaneous interpretation
Vocabulary extension (brain-
storming, vocabulary building
in categories to develop pre-
cision, synonyms and near-
synonyms, study of idioms)
Illustration 5.5.
Superior-Level occasionally introduce material from slightly higher proficiency ranges so
Curricular Planning that sh1dents can become familiar with it (perhaps for partial or conceptual
Guide for Speaking control), thus preparing themselves for future progress along the scale.
It is also important to adhere to certain principles in designing contex-
tualized oral practice activities, such as those sugges ted by Slager (1976):
1. The situation depicted in an oral practice activity should be relevant
and immediately useful to the learner.
2. The content should reflect the level of sophistication of students
and their knowledge of the world.
3. The language is, at all times, natural, respecting the conditions of
elicitation of certain types of structures in natural language use.
4. Answers required of students should have truth value in that stu-

dents are not asked to say in the language classroom something
that they would not want to say in a genuine communicative sit-
uation.
5. Characters used in stories, dialogues, or other short contexts are
realistic in that they have some personality and relate to the learners'
. .
expenence 1n some way.
6. Practice activities respect sociolinguistic norms.
7. The language sample on which the practice acti'(jty is based is short
enough so that students have little difficulty remembering it, but
long enough to provide the necessary context. (pp. 73-78)
With these principles in mind, let us examine a few sample exercise
types that are precommunicative in nature, constituting structured or
monitored practice suitable for building proficiency in the Novice and
Intermediate ranges.
Sample Formats for Oral Practice

Sample 1 (Novice)
Context Ordering foods in a restaurant
Grammar Topic The use.of the partitive article in affirmative sentences and the use of de
alone in negative sentences in French
Student Task Desole. Au restaurant vous commandez le diner. Le serveur (la serveuse) n'a plus
de vos plats et boissons preferes. Jouez les roles avec un(e) camarade.
Modele: Vous: Du poulet, s'il vous plait.
Un(e) ami(e): Je suis desole(e), mais ii n'y a plus de poulet.
1. jambon 2. salade de tomates 3. biere 4. vin rouge 5. omelette aux pommes de
terre 6. veau 7. haricots verts
Etc.
Sorry. You are ordering dinner at the restaurant. The waiter (vvaitress) has no
more of your favorite dishes and beverages. Play the two roles with a classmate.
Model: You: (Some) chicken, please.
Your friend: I'm sorry, but there is no more chicken.
1. ham 2. tomato salad 3. beer 4. red wine 5 . potato omelette 6. veal 7. green
beans
Etc.
Source: Rochester et al., 1983, p. 137
Sample 2 (Intermediate)
Context Discussin g daily schedules, personal events
Grammar Topic Practicing the passato prossimo (a past tense in Italian)
Student Task Simonetta e Graziella sono compagne di camera. Graziella passa ii week-end con
la famiglia e quando ritorna, domanda all'amica: Che hai fatto questo week-end?
Simonetta risponde con una lunga lista.
Esempio: Ascoltare dei dischi
Ho ascoltato dei dischi.
1. visitare un museo 2. pranzare con un amico 3. fare delle compere al centro
4. scrivere agli zii di Chicago 5. leggere una rivista 6. studiare la lezione d'italiano
Simonetta and Graziella are roommates. Graziella spent the weekend with her
family, and when she returned, she asked her friend what she had done this past
weekend. Simonetta answered with a long list.
Example: To listen to some records
I listened to some records.
1. to visit a museum 2. to dine \vith a friend 3. to shop downtown 4. to write to
my aunt and uncle in Chicago 5. to read a magazine 6. to study the Italian lesson
Source: Adapted from Lazzarino, 1980, pp. 93-94
Context Social conventions and rules of behavior
Grammar Topic The imperative in negative and affirmative sentences
Student Task C6digo de conducta para invitados. ,conoce Ud. !as reglas de un juego social muy
extendido-la reuni6n vespertina en la casa de amigos o de conocidos "impor-
tantes"? He aquf una lista de cosas que debe uno hacer o evitar si lo invitan a
una de estas reuniones. Ponga !as reglas de conducta en el imperative, usando
la forma afirmativa o la negativa (familiar), segun su opini6n.
1. llegar a tiempo
2. llegar su perro
3. poner Ios pies encima de los muebles
4. comer todo lo que se le brinde
5. beber rnucho vino
6. estar de buen animo
Etc.
The Code of Conduct for Guests. Do you know the rules of a very widespread social
game-the evening get-together at the home of friends or "important" people of
your acquaintance? Here is a list of things to do or to avoid if one is invited to
one of these gatherings. Put the rules of conduct in the imperative, using the
affirmative or negative (familiar form), according to your opinion.
1. to arrive on time
2. to bring your dog
. 3. to put your feet on the furniture
4. to eat everything offered to you
5. to drink lots of wine
6. to be in a good mood
Etc.
Source: Adapted from Omaggio, 1984, pp. 56-57
Context Travel situation, inquiring about lost objects
Grammar Topic Relativization
Student Task A Deauville. Vous travaillez au bureau des objets trouves de Deauville. Avec un(e)
camarade, imaginez un dialogue avec-les touristes. Suivez le modele.
Modele: Le touriste: Je cherche ma valise.

Vous: Est-ce que c'est la valise que vous cherchez?
Le touriste: Ah oui, voila la valise que je cherche. (Non, ce n'est pas
la valise que je cherche.)
Voici Jes phrases des touristes:
1. Je cherche mes clefs. 2. J'ai perdu ma valise. 3. Avez-vous trouve un sac de
voyage? 4. Avez-vous une grande enveloppe beige? 5. Je cherche mes billets de
train pour Cologne. 6. Avez-vous trouve mes bagages? 7. J'ai perdu mon parapluie.
8. Avez-vous trouve un passeport?
In Deauville. You are working at the lost-and-found in Deauville. With a classmate,
imagine the dialogue with the tourists. Follow the model.
Model: The tourist: I'm looking for my suitcase.

You: Is this the suitcase you're looking for?
The tourist: Oh, yes, that's the suitcase I'm looking for. (No, that's not
the suitcase I'm looking for.)
Here are the tourists' comments:
1. I'm looking for my keys. 2. I lost my suitcase. 3. Did you find a travel bag? 4.
Do you have a big brown envelope? 5. I'm looking for my train tickets for Cologne.
6. Did you find my luggage? 7. I lost my umbrella. 8. Did you run across a passport?
Source: Rochester et al., 1983, p . 237
These activities represent a few of the possible formats for precom-

municative contextualized oral practice. A summary of generic exercise
types suitable for Novice and Intermediate students follows.
Word Association Students are asked to think of any related words they can give in response
to a stimulus word. This type of exercise is excellent for encouraging the
learning of vocabulary in meaningful clusters, as well as for helping stu-
dents improve their memory for new vocabulary and ultimately increase
their fluency and flexibility.
Sample 1 (Novice)
Context Student dormitory room
Student Task Students are directed to look at sketches of the dormitory rooms of two
Spanish students.
Asociaciones: lQue objetos en !as habitadones de Ana Marla y Jose Luis asocia Ud.
con !as palabras siguientes?
1. Lola Flores 2. Vanidades 3. la ventana 4. los libros 5. la rosa 6. la cama
Associates: What objects in Ana Maria's and Jose Luis' rooms do you associate
with the following words?
1. Lola Flores (singer) 2. Vanidades (magazine) 3. the window 4. books 5. the
rose 6. the bed
In a similar exercise, students are asked to think of activities associated
with various objects in the room, eliciting verbs or short phrases as well
as nouns.
Forced Choice Otherwise known as either/or questions, this type of exercise allows stu-
dents who are not quite ready for open-ended exercises to choose ap-
propriate structures in the question to provide their own answer. Such a
format can easily be personalized as well as meaningful.
Sample (Novice)
Context Leisure-time activities
Student Task A set of forced-choice questions relating to preferences in leisure-time
activities is asked, either in a whole-class instructional format or in smaller
groups. If students are placed in groups of two or three, one student may
be asked to formulate the questions from cues or to read them from cards
while the others answer.
1. Preferisce guardare la televisione o leggere?
2. Preferisce passare le serate con gli amid o in famiglia?
3. Preferisce stare zitto o parlare quando d sono molte persone?
Etc.
1. Do you prefer to watch television or read?
2. Do you prefer to spend the evening with your friends or with your family?
3. Do you prefer to keep quiet or talk when there are a Jot of people?
Etc.
Logical Conclusions In this type of exercise, students read a short statement or series of state-
ments and decide whether or not an additional sentence follows logically.
If it does, students state that the series is logical. If the second sentence
is a nonsequitur, however, students must change it to make it follow from
the first.
Sample (Novice)
Context Activities at the university
Student Task Students react to the sentences by (a) deciding whether or not they form
a logical sequence and (b) creating a new sequence if-necessary.
1. In der Nahe gibt es ein gutes Restaurant. Dort schaue ich mir oft Filme
an.
2. Mittwoch gehe ich nie ins Kino. Mittwoch bleibe ich zu Hause um ein
Buch zu lesen.
3. Als ich jung war, wohnte ich in Hamburg. Freitag gehe ich zum ersten
Mai nach Hamburg.
4. Montags hat Helga keine Klas~en. Heute ist Montag und Helga kommt
zu spat zu ihrer Englischstunde.
5. Spanisch studiere ich gern. !eh freue mich auf meine Spanishchstunde.
Etc.
1. There is a good restaurant in the area. I go there often to see movies.
2. I never go to the movies on Wednesdays. Wednesdays I stay home and
read a book.
3. When I was young, I lived in Hamburg. Friday I'm going to Hamburg for
the first time.
4. Mondays Helga has no classes. Today is Monday and Helga is late for her
English class.
5. I like to study Spanish. I'm looking forward to my Spanish class.
Etc.
Source: Adapted from Omaggio, 1981, pp. 61-62.
Like the forced-choice activity explained earlier, this format permits

students who are not quite ready for more open-ended exercises to use
the structure provided in the model sentences, enabling them to practice
making sequences of statements rather than one-sentence utterances. The
format allows for some creativity on the part of the student, yet limits the
need for such creativity to structures and vocabulary that the Novice can
handle.
Logical Quest.ions This type of exercise encourages students to think of logical questions
that would elicit a particular response. The sample formats provided here
enable students to practice orally the Intermediate Level function of re-
questing information from others. Because of the unusual format in the
second activity, questions to be formulated are more complicated than

those required in the first, and might be best saved for students in the
higher portions of the Intermediate range.
Context Health and fitness
Grammar Topic Interrogative Sentences
Student Task Entrevista telef6nica. Enrique estudia lo mismo que Maria (psicologia y salud: este
contexto es continuaci6n de un ejercicio anterior en la misma secci6n), pero se
interesa mas por el problema del sueflo. Enrique llama por telefono al companero
de cuarto de Ud. y le hace varias preguntas. Naturalmente, Ud. puede oir s6lo
las respuestas. Adivine las preguntas de Enrique. (jHay varias posibilidades!)
1. No, en realidad soy insomne.
2. No, no tomo nada de eso porque tengo miedo de crear dependencia.
3. Si, creo que eso es importante.
4. Sf, de vez en cuando, especialmente cuando he bebido demasiado.
5. Sf, a veces abro la ventana de mi cuarto o duermo sin el pijama.
6. No, en esa epoca me hacfan falta s6lo cuatro horas de sueflo cada noche.
7. Sf, sobre todo cuando tengo un examen al dfa siguiente.
8. Sf, pero quiero tirarlo por la ventana.
A Telephone Interview. Henry is studying the same thing as Mary (psychology and
health: this context follows from a previous exercise in the same section), but he's
more interested in the problem of sleep. He calls your roommate on the phone
and asks him several questions. Of course, you can hear only the responses. Guess
Henry's questions. (There are several possibilities!)
1. No, as a matter of fact, I'm an insomniac.
2. No, I don't take anything like that because I'm afraid I'll become dependent
on it.
3. Yes, I think that's important.
4. Yes, from time to time, especially when I've had too much to drink!
5. Yes, sometimes I open the window in my room or I sleep without my
pyjamas.
6. No, at that time I only needed four hours of sleep a night.
7. Yes, especially when I have an exam the next day.
8. Yes, but I want to throw it out of the window!
Source: Adapted from Omaggio et al., 1984, p. 138
Sa1nple 2 (Intermediate)
Context Health and fitness
Grammar Topic Interrogative Sentences
Student Task Une emission interrompue. Un soir d'orage, vous ecoutez une emission medicale a
la radio. Mais ii y a beaucoup de parasites sur l'antenne et vous n'entendez pas
tous Jes mots. Void quelques extraits de !'emission. Quelles questions doit-on
poser pour savoir ce que l'animateur de radio a dit?
Modele: Lors de noire derniere emission, I/Ill// nous a conseille de faire plus de
marche a pied.
Vous dites: Qui nous a conseille de faire plus de marche a pied? (Qui
est-ce qui nous a conseille de faire plus de marche a pied?)
1. Pour rester en forme, on doit I/Ill//.
2. Pour eviter Jes problemes digestifs, /////// est hautement recommande.
3. Pour echapper aux agressions du monde modeme, nous vous conseillons
de consulter a Paris ///////, un grand specialiste du stress.
4. La nuit, quand on ne peut pas dorrnir, on peut toujours compter sur
I/I/Ill. <;a detend tout de suite.
5. Si on suit un regime trop longtemps, on aura besoin de I/I/Ill.
Etc.
An Interrupted Program. One stormy night, you're listening to a medical program

on the radio. But there's a lot of static and you don't hear all the words. Here are
some extracts from the program. What questions do you have to ask to find out
what the radio announcer said?
Model: During our last program, /////// advised us to do more walking.
You say: Who advised us to do more walking?
1. To stay in shape, you have to l/111///.
2. To avoid digestive problems, /////// is highly recommended.
3. To escape from the pressures of the modem world, we advise you to
consult in Paris I/Ill/I, a great stress specialist.
4. At night, when you can't sleep, you can always count on ///////. It relaxes
you right away.
5. If you stay on a diet too long, you'll need ///////.
Etc.
Source: Omaggio et al, 1984, p . 145
Definitions Students are asked to provide a definition or description of a term for

which they are unlikely to know the foreign language equivalent. This
activity encourages the development of paraphrasing skills, which are
essential at the Intermediate and Advanced Levels, as well as the creative
use of language to get meaning across in spite of gaps in knowledge
(strategic competence).
Sample (Intermediate/Advanced)
Context Health and Fitness
Student Task Imagine that you were out with a group of German friends who do not speak
English. Suddenly, because of all the new foods you have sampled and the beer
you have had, you discover you are not feeling very well. In addition to feeling
uncomfortable, you seem to have twisted your foot! You need to express the
following ideas in German, but you don't have access to a dictionary. How do
you explain what you mean? Using only German, give paraphrases (definitions)
for the following items:
1. a hot water bottle 2. a heating pad 3. a cold compress 4. a nasty headache 5.
heartburn 6. a hangover 7. a mild sprain
Notice that the context of this activity promotes the use of vocabulary
related to health matters, affording some practice in coping in a survival
situation appropriate to the Intermediate range. Once the terms in the
activity have been learned or satisfactorily paraphrased, students can role-
play situations suggested by the scenario or variations on the same theme.
Visually Aided Students describe a drawing, answer questions, or recount some narrative
Exercises using a visual stimulus in their text or drawn from some other source.
Exercises of this type require recall of target-language vocabulary while
encouraging open-ended, creative language use and developing descrip-
tive and narrative functions that are needed to progress to the Advanced
Level.
Sample (Intermediate Level)

Context Eating customs
Student Task Students recount the eating habits of Monsieur Duchene, being sure to
mention the time of day for each phase of the narration. This activity can
be adapted for narration in the past or future simply by asking students
to tell the story as a habitual past action, as a particular set of actions that
happened yesterday, or as actions that will happen tomorrow. One pos-
sible set of narrative statements is provided in the present tense in Illus-
tration 5.6.
In using activities such as those described here and in the following
sections, it is important to remember that sequencing activities for practice
is almost as important as designing contexualized practice in the first
place. It is best to integrate the whole sequence of lesson materials into
a single theme, context, or general situation, at least in designing one
class day's work or unit of study, instead of jumping from one content
or topic to another. The latter practice is the norm in many language
classes in which course materials are not contextually or thematically
organized.
Opportunities for personalized practice should be provided early in
instruction, especially for the development of oral proficiency. This con-
sideration is central to the corollaries to Hypothesis 1, which serve as
organizers for the next set of activity formats.
Pour Monsieur Duchene, vivre c'est manger!
A huit heures, M. Duchene A dix heures et A midi, ii A une heure et

prend son petit demie, ii dejeune. quart, ii fail Ja
dejeuner. mange un sandwich. sieste.
A quatre heures mains A six heures vingt, A huit heures mains A minuit, M. Duchene
le quart, ii ii prend vingt, ii mange encore. ll a
prend le the. un aperitif et des dine. de la chance. . . il est
hors-d'oeuvre. somnambule!
For Mr. Duchene, to live is to eat!

At 8 o'clock, M. Muchene has breakfast. At 10:30, he has a sandwich. At noon,
he has lunch. At 1:15, he takes a nap. At 3:45, he has tea. At 6:20, he has an
aperitif and appetizers. At 7:40, he has dinner. At midnight, M. Duchene is
still eating. He's lucky ... he's a sleepwalker!
Illustration 5.6. Intermediate-Level visually aided exercise witih possible re-

sponses in the present tense
Source: Muyskens et al., 1982, pp. 181- 182

Students should be encouraged to express their own

Carol/an; 1.
meanlngµ s early-as possible in the course of instruction.
Teaching approaches that emphasize the use of rote imitation, exten-

sive memorization, and exclusively manipulative practice in the beginning
phases of instruction are not as easily adaptable to proficiency goals as
those that encourage personal expression and early creative language use.
The formats presented next have as their goal the eventual d evelopment
of autonomous and creative expression through personalized language
practice. In many cases, the practice is still somewhat s tructured, making
it conducive to early use in class following some con textua lized precom-
municative dril ling (i.e., suitable for Novice and Intermediate Levels). In
o ther cases, the personalized practice is more open-ended. This latter type
of practice is best sequenced after more structured activities have been
tried so that students are not led pre1n aturely into communicative situ-
ations they are no t prepared to handle linguistically. Open-ended per-
sonalized activities are suitable at the Intermediate Level a nd above.
The following types of activities represent some of the formats that
are mosr-conducive to personalized practice.
Personalized In this most familiar format for personalization, students answer questions
questions directed to them as individuals, using the vocabulary and structu res they
have been learning and practicing in other drill sequences. Questions are
normally open-ended, but enough guidance is provided to help shy or
reluctant students to express their point of view in the second language.
Personalized questions can be addressed to individuals vvi thin a whole-
class instructional format or used by students in pairs or small grou ps to
interview one another. If the latter format is used, a follow-up activity,
either oral or written, is useful, especially if answers given are reported
back in the form of a personalized summary. Follow-up activities are useful
for several reasons: (1) they encourage students working in small groups
to be task-oriented; (2) they show students that their answers are of interest
to o thers and are worth remembering; (3) they allow students to transform
answers to the third person, helping then1 to develop the ability to narrate
or report facts, feelings, or preferences-language functions tha t are fea-
tured at the Intermediate Level and beyond.
Satnple 1 (Novice/Intermediate)
Context Daily routine
Grammar Topic Reflexive verb constructions
Student Task Students answer the following questions:

1. i,Prefiere Ud. banarse por la maflana o por la noche?
2. LD6nde le gusta a Ud. sentarse para leer, en un sofa o en la cama?
3. l,Le gusta a Ud. vestirse elegante o informalmente?
4. lA que hora tiene Ud. que levantarse todos los dfas? A que hora se acuesta?
Etc.
1. Do you prefer to take a bath in the morning or at night?
2. Where do you like to sit when you read, on the sofa or in bed?
3. Do you like to dress elegantly or informally?
4. When do you have to get up every day? And when· do you go to bed?
Etc.
Source: I<norre et al., 1981, p. 219
Sample 2 (Intermediate/Advanced)
Context Predictions about the future
Grammar Topic Future tense
Student Task Predizioni Personali. Rispondete oralmente alle seguenti domande:
1. Cosa avra fatto prima di avere cinquant'anni?
2. Avra imparato un'altra lingua straniera prima dilasciare l'universita? Quale
0 (se e ottimista) quali?
3. Che paesi avra visitato prima di raggiungere i sessantacinque anni?
4. Si sara sposato prima dell' an no 1990? Perche o perche no?
Etc.
Personal Predictions. Answer the following questions orally.

1. What will you have done before you're 50 years old?
2. Will you have learned another foreign language before leaving the uni-
versity? Which one, or (if you're an optimist) which ones?
3. What countries will you have visited before reaching the age of 65?
4. Will you be married before 1990? Why or why not?
Etc.
Source: Adapted from Omaggio et al., 1984, p. 239
Sample 3 (Advanced/Superior)
Context Issues for debate (various controversial topics)
Student Task Personalized questions that ask students to give an opinion, support it,
argue with others who oppose it, etc., are appropriate for learners who
are currently at the Advanced Level and are preparing to handle Superior-
Level functions. Here are some personal-viewpoint questions that can

lead to debates and extensive discussion, given in German:
1. Soll das Miidchen bezahlen, wenn sie mit einem Jungen ausgeht?
2. Sollten Zensuren abgeschafft werden?
3. Ist die Euthanasie gerechtfertigt?
4. Sollten auslandische Studenten arbeiten diirfen, wiihrend sie in Amerika
studieren, um ihr Studium zu finanzieren?
Etc.
1. Who should pay for a date, the boy or the girl?
2. Should grades be eliminated?
3. Is euthanasia justified?
4. Should foreign students in the U.S. be allowed to work to finance their
studies
Etc.
Source: Adapted from Kramsch, 1981, p. 57
Kramsch suggests using this type of personalized question as a whole-

group activity in which students practice the functions of supporting and
defending opinions actively and purposefully using appropriate target-
Janguage formulae.
Personalized In this type of format, students complete a series of sentences or restore

Completion an incomplete paragraph according to their own point of view.
Sample 1 (Novice)
Context Making introductions, autobiographical information
Student Task Students use the following incomplete paragraph to introduce themselves
to others.
Retrato. ™su autorretrato.
Me llamo . Soy (una mujer, un hombre, una chica, un
chico). Soy (estudiante, profesor). Soy (nacionalidad). Soy
de (ciudad). Soy amigo/amiga de y _ __
son amigos mfos. Soy , y (adjetivos). Ahora
estoy (lugar).
Portrait. Give a portrait of yourself.

My name i s - - - -· I am a (woman, man, young woman, young
man.) I am a (student, teacher). I am (nationality). I am
from (city). I am 's friend. and - - - -
are my friends. lam _____, _____, and _____ (adjectives). Now

I am (location).
Source: Adapted from Muyskens et al., 1982, p. 49
Context Personality traits
Grammar Topics Reflexive Verbs
Student Task Students are encouraged to think of multiple possibilities to complete each
sentence.
1. Ich schame mich i.iber .. .
2. Ich beeile mich, wenn .. .
3. Ich amusiere mich, wenn ...
4. Ich argere mich, weil . . .
5. Ich kummere mich um . . .
1. I'm ashamed of .. .
2. I hurry when .. .
3. I have a good time when ...
4. I get angry because ...
5. I care about ...
Source: Omaggio, 1981, p. 49
Sample 3 (Advanced/Superior)
Context Energy issues
Grammar Topic Conditional Sentences
Student Task Students at the Advanced range practice the Superior-Level function of
hypothesizing and supporting opinion relating to energy issues in the
following activity in French.
"Si, par hasard . .. " Imaginez que les evenements suivants doivent arriver un de
ces jours, ou que I' on discute ce qu' on aurait fait s'ils etaient arrives a un certain
moment dans le passe. Completez les phrases suivantes selon vos propres opi-
nions. Puis, comparez vos reponses a celles de vos camarades.
1. S'il y a un accident serieux a la centrale nucleaire de ma region .. .
2. Si l'energie solaire devenait tres populaire. ..
3. Si toutes Jes reserves de charbon dans le monde etaient tout a coup epui-
sees. ..
4. Si tout le monde fait construire une maison chauffee a l'atome . . .
5. Si on n'avait jamais fait attention aux dangers de la pollution.. .
Etc.
"If, by chance . .. " Imagine that the following events are to happen one of these
days, or that you're discussing what you would have done if they had happened
in the past. Complete the following sentences according to your own opinion.
Then compare your answers to those of your classmates.
1. If there is a serious accident at the nuclear power plant in my area. . .
2. If solar energy became very popular. . .
3. If all the coal reserves in the world were suddenly depleted...
4. If everyone has a nuclear-heated home built...
5. If we had never paid attention to the dangers of pollution...
Source: Omaggio et al., 1984, p. 270
Sentence Builders By using elements of sentences provided in columns, students make their
own statements, choosing whichever elements they wish to use in order
to express personal meaning. As Birckbichler (1982) points out, the guid-
ance and structure inherent in sentence-builder activities make them es-
pecially useful for Novice learners. Students can feel successful at expressing
quite a number of ideas and original statements within a very limited
grammatical and lexical corpus, as the following example illustrates.
Sample 1 (Novice)
Context Weekend plans
Student Task 1. Give the activities you can do this weekend.
Beispiel: lch kann ins Kino gehen.
(Example: I can go to the movies.)
2. Identify the activities you are not able to do and explain whenever possible.
Beispiel: lch kann keine Freunde einladen, denn . ..
(Example: I can't invite any friends, for . ..)
Wochenendaktivitaten Grande
Basketball spielen ich bin nicht frei
im Restaurant essen ich bin faul
wegfahren meine Mutter ist krank
radfahren meine Eltern wollen das nicht
ins Kino gehen ich.helfe zu Hause
Etc. Etc.
Weekend Activities Reasons
to play basketball I'm not free
to eat in a restaurant I'm lazy
to leave my mother is ill
to ride a bike my parents don't want that
to go to the movies I am helping at home
Etc. Etc.
Imagine you are in a strange city/foreign city and you have to make a telephone call. Use any of the
following fragments to compose a question which you would like to ask a passerby.
Polite Excuse Explanation Question
Excuse me. 1 have to make a phone call. Where is the nearest phone?
Excuse me, sir. I forgot to make an important Where is the phone?
Excuse me, madam. phone call. From where can I call?
Could you help me, please? I must call my wife. Where can I make a phone
May I ask you a question, I must call my husband. call?
please? I have to call my boss right Is there a telephone booth
away. nearby?
? ? ?
ffiustration 5.7. Source: Active Lab, Defense Language Institute, p. 24

Intermediate-Level
functional sentence-
builder activity
(Sample 2) Source for sentence-builder activity on p. 197: Adapted from an activity developed by Irmgard
Langacker, Strath Haven High School, Wallingford, Penn. during a workshop sponsored
by ACTFL and funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Haverford, Penn.,
July 11-29, 1983. A booklet entitled Applications of Oral Proficiency Testing to Foreign Language
Instruction, with teaching ideas of this type, prepared by teachers at the institute, is available
from ACTFL, 579 Broadway, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706.
The following two sample sentence-builder activities are designed to

help students practice various polite expressions and functional vocab-
ulary associated with making a phone call. The question marks in each
column of the sentence builder invite students to make up their own
material for the activity.
Context Making a phone call in a strange city using a public telephone
Functions Excusing oneself politely, making explanations, asking questions
Student Task See Illustration 5.7.
Context Taking a phone message
Functions Making polite apologies, giving explanations
Student Task See Illustration 5.8.
Follow-up Students compare messages taken or relay their messages to a third stu-
dent.
You receive a pressing telephone call from a client, but your boss is temporarily out of the office. Take
a message. Use any of the following fragments in your communication with your phone partner.
Polite Apology E"planation Offer to take a Message
Oh, I'm sorry . . . He/she's at a meeting. Could I help you?
I'm sorry. . . He/she's sick today. Could I take a message?
I'm afraid . . . He/she's out of the office right Is there any message?
now.
Sorry, but ... He/she's out of town until . . . Perhaps I could help?
He/she's on vacation till . . . Miss is handling his/
her business calls. Would you
like to speak to her?
? ? ?
Illustration 5.8. Source: Active l.ab, Defense Language Institute, p. 25

Intermediate-Level
functional sentence-
builder activity
(Sample 3)
Personalized True/ Also known as agree/disagree, this adaptation of the true/false format allows
False students to react to controversial statements on a given topic by stating
simply whether they agree or disagree and modifying any statement with
which they disagree to make it congruent with their own views. Besides
encouraging students to process each statement for meaning, this task
allows them to respond in terms of the truth value the statement holds
for them personally. Here are a few sample statements in Spanish relating
to university life that illustrate this format.
Sample (Novice/Intermediate/Advanced)
Context University student life
Student Task Students are asked to agree or disagree with the following statements:
1. Por lo general, los estudiantes nunca estan cansados.
2. El profesor trabaja mucho, pero los estudiantes trabajan mas.
3. Los estudiantes nunca se interesan en los problemas de la comunidad.
Etc.
1. In general, students are never tired.
2. The teacher works a lot, but the students work harder.
3. Students are never interested in community problems.
Etc.
Source: Omaggio, 1981, p. 36
Even at the Novice Level, students can respond to questions of this sort
by restructuring the stimulus sentence in the negative or by substituting
a word or short phrase. At the Intermediate Level, answers might consist
of a restatement with an additional sentence or two to justify the answer.
At the Advanced Level, students can begin to defend their point of view
at greater length, building strategies for supporting their opinions, a Su-
perior-Level function.
The formats mentioned in this section are only a small sampling of
possible personalized language-practice activities. Ideas for this type of
practice abound in the literature of the last fifteen years, and most are
not new to creative language teachers. More and more language textbooks,
particularly at the college level, are including personalized activities in
every chapter. In choosing a textbook for a language program, it is wise
to check for the inclusion of such activities as well as for the frequent use
of contextualized practice throughout the text.
Corollary 2: A proficiency-oriented approach promotes active com-

municative interaction among students.
The use of small-group and paired communicative practice has several

advantages in building oral proficiency. First, such practice allows stu-
dents much more class time for the development of oral skills since every-
one produces language during group work, whereas only one student at
a time can s peak or interact with the teacher in a large-group instructional
format. Secondly, working with peers takes some of the pressure off
students, who often feel intimidated by the need to perform in front of
the whole class. Small-group activities can serve to lower the affective
filter, hypothesized by Krashen (1982) to affect acquisition significantly.
A third reason for using group activities is that they can increase the
quality of communication by creating information gaps that require ef-
fective, naturalistic communication while focusing on the development
of certain language functions at the same time. A few examples of small-
group activities are given below, divided into three categories: (1) group
puzzles, (2) group decision making, and (3) social interaction (mingling).
For a thorough description of eleven games and simulations of this type,
see Omaggio (1982).
Group Puzzles Sample 1 (Novice/Intermediate)

La ville inconnue (Unknown City)
Objective To produce and synthesize multiple clues in the second language in order
to solve a problem.
Context Map reading and giving directions in an unknown city
Functions Giving and understanding directions, interpreting and giving instructions,

describing locations, reading maps
Grammatical Feature Prepositions of place
Student Task Each student in a group of three is given an incomplete map of the
unknown city (see Illustration 5.9) and one of three information cards.
Students must share the information on their cards with one another in
the second language and then synthesize the group's collective infor-
mation to locate the missing places on the map. Here is a sample infor-
mation card:
Card 1. Using the following words and expressions, give the members of your
group the following information in French about locations on the map of la ville
inconnue.
1. The post office is next to the Youth Center and across the street from the
Cafe de la Paix.
2. The restaurant La Tour d' Argent is across the street from the church on
the Avenue du Musee.
3. The movie theater is next to the Maison des Jeunes.
The give-and-take of information necessary for solving the problem

of filling out this city map encourages cooperation and active listening.
It also helps students improve their memory for vocabulary and short
phrases because they are required to retain various facts to complete the
task.
Family of Amnesiacs
Objective To produce and synthesize multiple clues in the second language in order
to solve a problem
Context Family Trees
Functions Identifying people and relationships, sharing biographical information,
making inquiries about family members and biographical facts
Grammatical Interrogative forms and expressions, possessive adjectives in Spanish
Features
Student Task Each student in a group of five receives a drawing of a family tree, Illus-
tration 5.10, showing the place of origin of each family member and
including a blank space for the name, age, and occupation of each person.
No other information is provided on the tree diagram. Each student then
receives a biographical information card that describes himself as well as
other family members in some detail. Students must share the information
Illustration 5. 9.
Student map for "La
ville inconnue"
-
'Z
.... AVENVf:'. Dt) MV.SE:'E.'
~
. <
"'- ""'
1:. ~
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9~
~
....' ~ <
.... ~
...
()
--<>
>I ""':l
~
-"'
<
..J
C>
> ~
£.
«'.•
() ")
...., "'il
-~~
t:l V)
q " q
"
~
~ ~
~~ "'
< "'~ ~
>
_,
UJ
d UJ
..J
~".,., ~
:> 0 ':> i1i" ~
c <:>
co ,A. VE .\ JtJE I>tJ f ARC C!l
La. M..<.rtt .Suge r m a,rch..e Ca.£i <U<. .Rt><.dez ·Vo us

du. )Cl. 'Ff-a n. tJr i K. d lS Cl.,a,"ffcu.rs
"''""di"'•t-
l"\.tl'\.t
••t( IJJJ/l/JllJJ/JJIJJ/(JJJJJIJ/lJIJ/1/J/J
7777 77rn 1 77777777777777 TL777
rrrr~rr1rri-rrrr~~rr rr~r1 >
f 777 77777 r~rJ ~rr~~~FFJ
rr
-
r1•
on their cards with others in the group by introducing themselves and

responding to any questions they might be asked. Group members should
answer "No se" or "Se me olvid6" if asked for information that is not on
their cards.
A sample biographical card is given below. Information on the card
can be given in English or Spanish, depending on whether the teacher
wants students to recall or simply recognize the target language vocabulary
for family relationships.
ESTELLE GONZALES
Age: 67 years
Husband: Jaime Gonzales, age 69
Residence: Madrid
Profession: Retired with husband
One daughter, Mariana, who lives in Toledo
Two sons
As students share the information on their cards, they gradually fill
in the family tree. A completed tree is given in Spanish in Illustration
5.11.
Group Decision Sample (Advanced)

Making Group Picture Story
Objective To create an original story by synthesizing the contributions of all group
members
Functions Telling and listening to stories, recounting events, hypothesizing
Grammatical Interrogative words and expressions, descriptive adjectives, past tenses
Features
Student Task The teacher chooses from magazines several pictures that depict people
in odd situations or show several people in some type of conversation.
The more "interesting" the situation (or the more ambiguous), the better.
The teacher mounts the pictures on construction paper and affixes a sheet
of lined paper to the back.
The teacher then distributes the pictures to groups of three to five
students, one picture to a group. The students look at the picture and
brainstorm for a few minutes to create as many possible questions as the
picture can provoke. A group leader may be chosen to write down the
questions on the lined sheet, or the picture and writing task can be passed
from student to student as each think of a question to ask.
Once the groups have had a chance to generate their set of questions,
the teacher collects them (as well as the pictures to which they are attache.d)
and redistributes them, each one to a different group. Group members
then read the questions associated with their new picture and agree on
a story that will answer all of the questions asked. They must recount
their story in the past, making sure that the narrative is coherent and
complete enough to answer all the questions. A group leader can be
responsible for writing the story down as it unfolds, sharing it later with
the rest of the class.
Social Interaction Sample (Intermediate)

Biographical Bingo
Objective To use the foreign language to locate persons with cetain attributes in
order to solve a problem
Context Biographical information
Functions Inquiring about personal preferences and biographical facts
Grammatical Feature Interrogative words and expressions
Student Task Students receive a sheet such as the one in illustration 5.12 on which is
listed various personal attributes and biographical facts. Students must
circulate (as they would at a party), asking one another questions to find
out who has the attributes described in each of the squares of the grid.
When a student has located someone who has an attribute, he must ask
(MADRID) (MADRID) (M£X1CO CITY) (MEXICO OTY)
Nombre: _ Nombre: _ __
Edad: _ __ Edad: _ __
Edad: _ _ _ Edad: _ __ _
Prof.: _ __ Prof.: _ _ __
(TOLEDO) (MADRID) (MEXICO CITY) (ALBUQUERQUE) (ALBUQUERQUE)

.
(MEXICO CITY)
Nombre: Nombre: _ _ Nombre:
Edad: Edad: Edad: Edad:

Edad:
Prof.: Prof.: Prof.: Prof.:
(DALLAS)
Edad: _ __
Prof.: _ _ _/
(MEXICO OTY) (MEXICO CITY)
Nombre: _ __ Nombre: _ __
Edad: _ _ __ Edad: _ _ __
Edad; _ __
Prof.: _ _ __ Prof.: _ _ __
Illustration 5.10. Student Diagram for "Family of Amnesiacs"

(MADRID) (MADRID) (MEXICO CITY) (MEXICO CITY)
Nombre: Jajme Nombre: Antonio

Gonzales Sandaval
Gonzales Sandoyal
Edad: 69 Edad: 67 Edad: n
Edad:
Prof.: pensjnnada Prof.: pcnsjonada
Prof.: pen5jonado Prof.: pen5jonado
(TOLEDO) (MADRID) (MEXICO CITY) (MEXICO CITY) (ALBUQUERQUE) (ALBUQUERQUE)

• •
Nombre: )as~ Nombre: Juan

'
~
Nombre: R11th
Nombre: Pablo
Nombre: Carmen
C.onzales C..anzales Gon zales Sandoyal
( Gonzales SandoyaJ
u~-- Edad: 37 Edad: 35 Edad: ,..41..__ _
Edad: .. Edad: 34 Edad: ,,3s.,____
Prof.: dectista Prof.: pmfesoc de Prof.: peluq1Jera
Prof.: bj6!aga
mgles
/
(DALLAS)
Nombre: Marla
Sandoyal
Edad: ,.22~---
(MEXl CO CITY) (MEXICO CITY)

(MEXICO CITY)
Nombre: Pablita Nombre: Carlos

Nombre: Antooja
Ct0nzale5 Gonzales
Gan rates
Edad: ...,__ __ Edad: ,.___ __
Edad:..__ _ _
Prof.: esh1djante Prof.: ---~-----
Prof.:=--: - -- -
Illustration 5-11- Completed Diagram for "Family of Amnesiacs"

that person to sign the square on his description sheet. Students must
ask at least one follow-up question relating to that fact or attribute and
jot down the additional information next to the signature. When a student
has obtained five different signatures in adjacent boxes forming a straight
line (as in bingo), he or she wins the game. Studenti not speaking the
target language during the course of play are disqualified from the com-
petition.
Source: Adapted from Otero and Webb, 1981
Other Small Group These games and group activities provide a small sampling of formats
and Paired that increase opportunities for communicative interaction among students
Activities in the classroom. Many good suggestions for creating activities for group
practice are available in the literature of the last fifteen years. Two other
activities that have been particularly popular among classroom teachers
are (1) interviews and conversation cards and (2) situational role-plays.
Interviews and Conversation Cards (Novice through Superior): In this
type of activity, students usually interview one another in pairs: one
student asks questions provided either in the text or by the teacher (through
indirect translation cues or directed dialogue) while the second student
answers according to his or her own thoughts or preferences. Students
then can exchange roles, with the second student asking questions and
the first answering them. Teachers often have students take brief notes
on their partners' responses, or invite several students to report back
interesting answers at the end of the interview process.
Bonin and Birckbichler (1975) introduced the concept of the conver-
sation card- structured interview cards that can help promote conversation
among beginning and intermediate students. Their ideas have led to a
variety of adaptations that have proved extremely useful in achieving a
blend of communication with a concern for accuracy. The format is ex-
tremely flexible: one can use cards with target language questions of a
very simple nature for Novice-Level learners; one can provide native-
language question cues for Intermediate learners and above, including
questions on virtually any topic in any time frame; or one can adapt the
personalized questions discussed earlier in this section for practice at the
Advanced or Superior Levels, incorporating controversial topics and is-
sues that require students to support and defend their opinions.
The interview cards in the following sample illustrate how three stu-
dents can be involved in a conversation that is self-monitoring. The stu-
dents holding Cards 1 and 2 ask each other questions according to the
cues on their cards, as well as any additional follow-up questions they
can think of that will keep the conversation flowing. The student holding
Card 3 is responsible for checking the accuracy of the questions asked,
as well as for helping group members when they are unable to formulate
their questions. This third student, therefore, serves as a group monitor
and may also be asked to record his or her classmates' answers for a
Biographical Bingo
has brother can name Italian parent has can prepare an has read an
studying Italian fashion designer travelled to Italy antipasto Italian novel
likes tortellini knows a second has an Italian knows an Italian has an Italian
foreign language cookbook family sweater
family has Italian lives near non-· has brother or has travelled to wants to visit
car English-speaking sister who Europe Italy
family speaks another
language
has bought has a relative can name 2 has relative who has seen an
Italian chocolate who can speak Italian politicians has lived in Italy Italian opera
Italian fluently
has relative with has been to can name an has an imported has eaten Italian
Italian name Toronto Italian composer camera pastry
Illustration 5.12.
Student game sheet for
report-back phase later in the class hour. By making students responsible
"Biographical Bingo"
for helping their peers ask accurate questions, the accuracy goal can be
fostered in a depressurized atmosphere where communication is also
taking place.
Sample (Novice/Intermediate)
Context University life, biographical information
Student Task The questions are in the native language, requiring students to formulate
the questions in their own words in the target language.
Card 1. Ask your partner. ..
what town he/she is from
if he/she lives at the university
if he/she prefers to study at the library or in the dorm
if he/she likes to eat at the university cafeteria
Card 2. Ask your partner...

if he/she plays a musical instrument
if he/she goes to concerts often
what type of music he/she enjoys
if he/she has a lot of records
Card 3. Help your classmates ask their interview questions by using the cues
below. Be careful to correct your partners if they are wrong, but you should accept
questions using inversion, est-ce que, or intonation. Take notes on the answers
you hear.
Student 1: De quelle ville es-tu? (De quelle ville est-ce que tu es? De quelle ville
viens-tu?)
Habites-tu a la cite universitaire? (Habites-tu sur le campus? Est-ce
que tu habites a l'universite?)
Preferes-tu etudier ala bibliotheque OU ala cite universitaire? (. . .dans
ta chambre? ...au dortoir?) .
Airnes-tu manger a la cafeteria universitaire? (...au restaurant univer·
sitaire?)
Student 2: Joues-tu d'un instrument musical?
Vas-tu souvent aux concerts?
Quelle sorte de musique preferes-tu? (.. .aimes-tu?)
As-tu beaucoup de disques?
During this interview activity, students should be encouraged to seek

help from the teacher, who is circulating among the groups working
simultaneously on their cards, whenever they need additional vocabulary
or have questions about the acceptability of either questions or responses.
This particular interview technique has been used very successfully at all
levels of instruction at many institutions, and students have repeatedly
mentioned this activity format in very positive terms in course evaluations
at the end of the semester.
Situational Role-Plays. Some excellent ideas for using role-plays are found
in Zelson (1978) and in the literature relating to the proficiency movement
of recent years (see, for example, Bragger, 1985). In role-plays, a situation
is presented to a small group of students who may prepare their parts,
if necessary, and then act them out for the rest of the class or record them
on videotape for playback later. Role-plays might easily be based on
videotaped exchanges between native speakers in common survival sit-
uations, such as those described in Chapter 4, with students adapting
the dialogue they have observed to their own situations or purposes.
Role-plays can be used effectively at virtually any proficiency level.

For students at the Novice Level, highly structured role-play cards can
be designed, with vocabulary hints or partial dialogues supplied, based
either on material already covered in class or on the simplest survival
situations. Intermediate learners can practice role-plays designed around
typical survival situations, such as those used in the oral proficiency
interview (discussed in detail in Chapter 8). At higher levels of proficiency,
the role-play can introduce a conflict situation in which someone must
persuade someone else to act in a certain way, or talk his or her way out
of trouble, or make a complaint. Zelson (1978) gives the following example:
Your family and another family have gone on vacation together and rented
a cottage. As might be expected, your friendship has been subjected to somewhat
of a strain after two weeks of togetherness. At last it is over. Complain to and
about each other: i.e., eating habits, housework, children, etc. (p. 52)
Other good examples of conflict situations can be found in Kramsch

(1981) and the materials prepared by ACTFL following the Haverford
Institute in 1983 (see Applications of Oral Proficiency Testing to Foreign Lan-
guage Instruction, 1985). Two examples from this latter source, suitable for
high school students, are:
You are the parent of a 15-year-old girl. She has been asked to a party by a
boy you don't like. Tell your daughter why you don't like the boy and why she
can't go to the party. (p.22)
It is the night of the senior prom and as you arrive to pick up your date (with
flowers in hand to match her dress), you see her sneaking out the back door with
a guy she used to date. Her 1nother (who always liked you better than the old
boyfriend) notices at the same time and calls out to her. Pick up the action there
as Date, Girl, Old Boyfriend, Mother. (p.23)
Role-plays such as these can be derived from lesson themes and

structured around a few grammar points or they can be more open-ended.
To succeed in helping students build proficiency, teachers should be
careful to present role-play situations that are at an appropriate level of
difficulty for students.
Corollary 3. Creative language practice (as opposed to exclusively

manipulative or convergent practice) must be encouraged in the profi-
ciency-oriented classroom.
One of the hallmarks of language users in the Intermediate range and

beyond is that they can create with the language. In order to develop this
ability, students must have opportunities to learn to paraphrase, think
divergently, and let their imaginations and creativity function as fully as
possible. Birckbichler (1982) has compiled an extremely valuable set of
suggestions for creative language practice. Basing her definition of crea-
tivity on Guilford's (1959) Structure-of-Intellect Model, she proposes four
types of divergent-production factors that relate to the development of
creativity in language use. These factors are (1) fluency, or the ability to
produce a large number of ideas in a given period of time, (2) flexibility,
or the ability to produce a diversity of ideas belonging"to different classes,
(3) elaboration, or the ability to add to or to embellish a given idea or set
of ideas; and (4) originality, or the ability to produce uncommon, uncon-
ventional, or clever ideas. Drawing on sources from various fields of
research on creativity, Birckbichler presents 64 classroom-activity formats
related to these four factors. Some ideas that are suitable for several
proficiency ranges are presented below.
Fluency Sample (Intermediate) •

Making Up Questions
Students are asked to generate as many questions as possible that they
might use in an interview. They may be given a few stimulus questions
first and then asked to develop in a brainstorming session some follow-
up questions for each one of the original questions. For example:
Two foreign exchange students are going to visit your class tomorrow. In-
dividually, or with another student, prepare a list of questions that you would
like to ask your visitors. You might include items about their impressions of life
in the United States, what schools are like in their country, what they like to do
on weekends, etc. (Derived from Birckbichler, 1982, p. 26)
Flexibility Sample B (Advanced)

Change the Story
Students listen to or read a short story in the target language and are
asked to create a new story by changing it in some way. They may tell
the story from the point of view of one of the characters, change the time
frame to that of another era, imagine a different ending, etc. In doing
this, students have an opportunity to be creative with the language while
practicing the Advanced-Level function of narration in the past.
Elaboration Sample (Advanced)

Cue Insertion
This activity, based on an original composition written by the student,
can be done orally or in writing. If the activity is done in writing, students
can be asked to present their new compositions to the class orally during
the next class period. The activity requires that students expand each
sentence of their original composition by adding more information when-
ever they see an asterisk.
The following example in English illustrates this technique. The teacher
asks a student to use relative clauses to elaborate on a fictitious story he
wrote about his vacation. She encourages him to use his imagination,
adding details that are serious, funny, mysterious, or sinister, according
to his own wishes. The student reworks the composition at home, and
presents it to the class orally during the next period.
Make the story you wrote more interesting by adding a relative clause each time
you see an asterisk. For example, you wrote: "I spent my vacation in a hotel."
Embellish this by adding a clause, such as the following: "I spent my vacation in
a hotel that was really mysterious! (...whose inhabitants were old;...where
famous people had stayed; ...that my brother had recommended; ...where ghosts
had been seen!)"
Student's original composition with cues inserted:
I spent my vacation in a hotel•. The hotel is located on a little street•. The
concierge• was really quiet. He only talked to his wife•. Their garden• was very
tranquil and looked out on the street. I often sat on a bench• and looked at the
people•. . . . (Etc.)
Source: Adapted from Omaggio, 1981, p. 56
Originality . Sample (Intermediate/Advanced)

Inventing Machines
Using a sentence-builder format, students develop creative and unusual
questions, which others then answer or use as a basis for creating a group
story.
Example
Why did the.. . put (a/an) ... in his/her/the ...
1. general 1. five francs 1. pocket
2. president 2. cat 2. motor
3. concierge 3. tiger 3. drawer
4. dancer 4. kilo of sugar 4. suitcase
5. bandit 5. pistol 5. purse
6. singer 6. billiard ball 6. trunk
7. policeman 7. hard-boiled egg 7. satchel
8. beggar 8. bottle 8. refrigerator
9. plumber 9. hammer 9. tool box
10. teacher 10. pair of gloves 10. violin case
Source: Debyser and Laitenberger, 1976, cited in Birckbichler, 1982, p. 73
Students can either create their own questions by combining elements

from the three columns or draw three numbers to determine their ques-
tion. For example, the number 249 would generate the question: "Why
did the president put a kilo of sugar in the tool box?" Students working
in pairs or small groups can create a reasonable explanation or short
narrative to answer this unusual query. Birckbichler warns that teachers
must use such "verbal play" activities with some caution, and only on
occasion. "Some students may find playing with language to be an in-
teresting and challenging aspect to second language learning, whereas
others who tend to view language solely as an expression of reality will
be frustrated by verbal play activities" (p. 74).
Many creative writing and guided description activities can be used
to encourage autonomous expression in the target language. Students can
be asked to generate a context from a list of words, a picture or series of
pictures that may or may not be related to one another, or from a group
of random objects. In an activity called "Geshicten aus dem Sack," (Stories
out of a bag) Schmidt (1977) suggests that a paper bag be filled with un-
related objects, which students select one at a time for the purpose of
generating a group story, incorporating each of the objects drawn out of
the bag into the plot as the story unfolds. Rivers et al. (1976) suggest an
activity called "Gossip," in which students are given a sheet of paper
containing a series of questions with space after each for writing answers.
Each student answers one question. He or she then hides the answer by
folding the paper back and passes the sheet on to the next student. After
the last question has been answered, the story, which is often quite
amusing, is read to the class. These and other similar formats have been
used by classroom teachers to help students create with the language in
a structured, yet open-ended way and are excellent for developing oral
skills beyond the Novice Level.
Hypothesis 2 Opportunities should be provided for students to prac-

tice carrying out a range of functions (or tasks) likely to be necessary in
dealing with others in the target culture.
As we saw in Chapter 2, students need to be able to carry out a variety

of language functions or tasks in order to develop proficiency beyond the
Novice Level (see pages 48-49 and Illustration 2.9 for a list of some basic
tasks for each proficiency level). For example, students at the Intermediate
Level need to be able to make inquiries and obtain information from others;
students at the Advanced Level need to be able to narrate and provide
extensive descriptions; and students at the Superior Level, need to be
able to hypothesize, support opinion, argue, persuade, defend their point
of view, and carry out similar, more complicated tasks.
The term function, as it has been used in the proficiency descriptions,

refers to a set of generic tasks that language users must be able to perform
at a given level of proficiency. In addition to these basic tasks, one can
list many specific language functions that s tudents might learn to carry
out in the target language. Functions in this sense refer to the hundreds
of purposes for which people communicate, either orally or in writing.
The Council of Europe has compiled comprehensive catalogues of lan-
guage functions in various languages, used as resource documents for
developing language courses for specific purposes. In such catalogues,
functions are often subsumed under general category headings such as
"imparting or seeking factual information," "expressing and finding out
intellectual attitudes," "getting things done (suasion)," "socializing," etc.
Wilkins (1976) lists six types of language functions:
1. Judgment and evaluation (approving, disapproving, blaming, etc.)
2. Suasion (inducement, compulsion, prediction, warning, menacing,
threatening, suggestion, advising)
3. Argument (informing, asserting, denying, agreeing)
4. Rational inquiry and exposition (drawing conclusions, making con-
ditions, comparing and contrasting, defining, explaining reasons
and purposes, conjecturing, verifying)
5. Personal emotions (loving, hating, despising, liking)
6. Emotional relations (greetings, expressing sympathy, gratitude,
flattery, cursing)
The first six categories of the functions catalog in Illustration 5.13, de-
veloped for a Greek basic course at the Defense Language Institute, are
based on the six major categories of functions identified by Van Ek (1975).
The Greek course catalogue is one example·of an American adaptation of
the functionally based approach to language teaching used by the Council
of Europe. (Appendix B contains a specific list of contents from the Greek
basic course functions catalog.)
How can students be taught to handle these various functions in the
target language? Guntermann and Phillips (1982) suggest that teachers
adapt existing textbook materials to incorporate functional language prac-
tice. After reviewing the literature on functional-notional approaches to
language teaching-approaches in which functions (tasks) and notions
(content categories) form the core of the instructional syllabus, replacing
grammatical structures as the organizing principle for instruction-
Guntermann and Phillips conclude that it is not feasible to place functions
at the center of courses and materials on a wide scale, at least in foreign
language teaching:
Since a great deal of testing of functional-notional approaches has still to be

done, it does not yet appear to be feasible to place functions at the center of courses
and materials for wide use in schools and colleges. Nevertheless, it is possible to
convert structure-based courses to a functional orientation, and textbook writers
are seeking systematic means to provide functional practice with grammatical
features. (p. ll)
Guntermann and Phillips outline a process by which functional prac-

tice·can be incorporated using existing materials. The stages are:
1. Select from the text materials the essential grammar and vocabulary
that are to be emphasized in intensive communicative practice.
2. Select and sequence the meanings that are expressed through the
forms chosen in Stage 1.
3. Select and sequence the purposes for practice.
4. Apply appropriate activities to carry out the functions or purposes
of Stage 3, using the grammar and vocabulary of Stage 1 to express
meanings in Stage 2. (p. 12)
In order to help teachers identify the purposes for practice mentioned
in Stage 3, Guntermann and Phillips list some common purposes of lan-
guage use in all four skill modalities. In speaking and listening, for ex-
ample, they list such functions or tasks (purposes for using language) as
socializing, establishing and maintaining closer relationships, placing bar-
riers between oneself and others, influencing others' actions, giving and
responding to feedback, arguing, talking one's way out of trouble, re-
questing, reporting, receiving and processing information, and commu-
nicating on the phone. For each of these main functions, they provide an
inventory of subfunctions related to them. Similar functional inventories
are provided elsewhere in the literature of the last decade (see specifically
Wilkins, 1976, for a framework for developing a communicative syllabus
based on functions and notions and Kramsch, 1981, for applications of
discourse analysis to the second language classroom).
Many language educators and researchers have suggested in recent
years that curricula and syllabi be arranged around functions and notions
rather than around grammatical structures. Guntermann and Phillips ar-
gue that there are a number of unsolved problems relating to the use of
functions as the organizer, or center, for language course design. The
following questions address some of these problems.
1. If functions and/or notions are to be placed at the center of courses,
on what basis should they be selected and sequenced?
2. Isn't it pedagogically unsound to present grammatical structures
to students without regard to the order of difficulty of such struc-
tures?
3. While some linguistic theorists maintain that it is unnatural to
separate a language into its smallest parts and then ask learners
Illustration 5.13.
Greek Basic Course Ft Imparting and Seeking Factual Information
Functions Catalog- F2 Expressing and Determining Intellectual Attitudes
General List of F3 Expressing and Inquiring About Emotional Attitudes
Contents
F4 Expressing and Determining Moral Attitudes
FS Expressing and Inquiring About Getting Things Done (Suasion)
F6 Socializing (Engaging in Social Activities)
F7 Managing Communication
F8 Telephone Behavior
to build it up again (Newmark and Reibel, 1968), isn't this what

would be done if students were to learn the language using a
functional approach? There is no evidence to suggest that learners
can deal with material organized solely by function.
4. If it is necessary to sequence both functions and grammatical struc-
tures, how can the two be integrated systematically?
5. To what extent is it reasonable to practice the various sociolinguistic
elements of communication? If all the circumstances of a speech
act are specified (e.g., participants' roles, relative ages, sex, power,
attitudes and values, the delicacy or intimacy of the topic, etc.),
do we not run the risk of overburdening learners with detail, lim-
iting creativity, limiting practice to ungeneralizable material, and
overgeneralizing rules of social behavior?
6. How can material be articulated so that it does not appear to be a
string of unrelated functions?
7. Will learners acquire language more efficiently and completely
through a functional-notional approach?
8. Even if all these questions could be resolved satisfactorily for spe-
cial-purpose courses, can the same be done for global courses, in
which the learners' future communication needs may be unknown,
varied, or even negligible? (pp. 9-10)
These questions are worthy of careful consideration by those foreign
language educators advocating the abandonment of a grammatical core
syllabus for a strictly functional-notional one. The issues might be most
relevant for designing courses suitable for Novice- and Intermediate-Level
students; students at the Advanced Level may well profit from a syllabus
that is essentially oriented around functional-notional categories, since
much of the grammar of the language is in place by that level. Perhaps
the best solution is a blend of several types of syllabi along the course of
instruction.
Teachers can also incorporate functional practice into basic language

courses by adapting survival situations, such as those used to test for
Intermediate and Advanced proficiency in oral skills, for classroom prac-
tice. Situation cards, such as those used in oral interviews (see Chapter
8), can be developed quite easily for role-plays and simulations to be
carried out either in small groups in the classroom or recorded on video-
tape. At the NEH Summer Institute at Haverford, Pennsylvania, in 1983
(ACTFL, 1985), such role-plays were by far the most frequently chosen
activity for text adaptation among the participants. The role-plays created
by the teachers at the institute ranged from fairly highly structured, short
exchanges to longer, more open-ended ones. They were tied to themes
and structures being studied in the text, yet offered opportunities for
functional practice that went beyond the book. Here are two examples:
Your friend has a date with an AFS student from Geneva. Ask your friend:
a. the student's name
b. whether he/she speaks English
c. with whom he/she is living
d. whether he/she is a good dancer (p. 19)
Sample 2 (Advanced)
Applying for a job, you speak with an interviewer.
a. Greet the interviewer.
b. Explain that you saw an ad in yesterday' s Figaro for a job as a
waiter/waitress.
c. Explain you are interested in this type of work and would like to
apply.
d. Ask if the position is full- or part-time.
e. Ask what days you would be working.
f. Ask about the salary and what you might expect to earn.
g. Ask when you would begin the job.
h. Ask if he/she needs references or additional information about
you.
1. Tell him/her you are interested and ask when you might hear if
the job will be offered to you.
J· Thank him/her. (p. 20)
The ideas presented in this chapter for encouraging oral practice represent
only a small sampling of those that have been suggested in the professional
literature in recent years. The reader is encouraged to explore some of
the sources in the references at the end of the chapter for more ideas for
activities and practice formats.
One of the important issues relating to oral practice that has not been
addressed in this chapter is error correction-why, when, and how it
should be done, what errors should be selected for correction, and related
issues. These questions are treated in detail in Chapter 7, "The Accuracy
Issue," which deals more specifically with Hypothesis 3. Techniques for
the correction of written language are also provided in that chapter, as
well as in our next chapter, which explores the teaching of writing.
Note:
This section of the chapter is a revised and expanded version of material
that appeared in a chapter written for the ACTFL Foreign Language Ed-
ucation Series entitled "The Proficiency-Oriented Classroom." See
Omaggio, 1984, in the references to this chapter for the full bibliographic
citation.
Activities for Review and Discussion

1. The following terms refer to categories of activities or exercises that
can be used to practice oral skills. For each term, give a brief
definition and an appropriate sample exercise or activity format.
a. Precommunicative practice
b. Forced-choice questions
c. Logical conclusions
d. Visually-aided exercises
e. Personalized completions
f. Sentence-builders
g. Elaboration activities
h. Conversation cards
.
1. Situational role-plays
2. List some of the advantages of using small-group or paired activities
for building oral skills. Then list some potential problems or dis-
advantages in using this type of instructional format. How can
such problems be handled or avoided? What are some important
considerations to bear in mind when planning small-group work?
3. Give a brief definition of the term function (a) as it is used in the
ACTFL Guidelines and (b) as it is used by the Council of Europe.
Then, using the Greek Basic Functions Catalog in Appendix B as
a guide, select ten of the language functions you consider most
important to stress in a beginning language course. Give a rationale
for your choices
4. Examine various language textbooks and evaluate them in terms

of their potential for fostering the development of oral skills. Begin
your evaluation by listing various criteria that you >vould consider
important in textbook materials that are proficiency-oriented. Then
compare several texts on the basis of your list of criteria.
5. Review the group puzzles, group decision-making activities, and
social interaction games that accompany the discussion of Corollary
2 (pp. 200-209). Using these activities as a guide, design a simple
communication game that could be used with beginning or inter-
mediate students. Be sure to state your objec;tive(s), the context
used, the function(s) practiced, and any grammatical features or
lexical items highlighted in the activity.
References
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Applications of Oral Proficiency Testing to Foreign Language Instruction. Hast-
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Birckbichler, Diane W. Creative Activities for the Second-Language Classroom,
Language in Education: Theory and Practice Series, no. 48. Washington,
D.C.: Center for Applied Linguistics, 1982.
Bonin, Therese, and D. Birckbichler. "Real Communication through Con-
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Bragger, Jeannette D. "The Development of Oral Proficiency." In A.
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6.2 - Omaggio - Teaching Lge in Context - Ch. 5

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5

Developing Oral Proficiency

In recent years, much of the discussion relating to proficiency-oriented

Planning Instruction for the Development of Oral

Although learners at the Intermediate Level are accurately described as pro-

From the proficiency descriptions, appropriate expectations can be

ning curricula. One might consider designing a three-tiered plan, such

Strategies for Teaching Speaking Skills

Full Making lists Daily life: Basic word order

Partial Creating with Everyday Articles in affirmative utterances

Illustration 5.1. A Sample Proficiency-Based Curriculum for French, Novice Level

Understanding Directions Transcribing Surviving Greeting

Listening for Identifying Filling in Drilling Discussing

Hypothesis 1. Opportunities must be provided for students to prac-

In Chapter 3, we saw how important it was to provide context when

Illustration 5.3. Intermediate-Level Curricular Planning Guide for Speaking

Illustration 5.4. Advanced-Level Curricular Planning Guide for Speaking

4. Answers required of students should have truth value in that stu-

Sample Formats for Oral Practice

Modele: Le touriste: Je cherche ma valise.

Model: The tourist: I'm looking for my suitcase.

These activities represent a few of the possible formats for precom-

Like the forced-choice activity explained earlier, this format permits

second activity, questions to be formulated are more complicated than

An Interrupted Program. One stormy night, you're listening to a medical program

Definitions Students are asked to provide a definition or description of a term for

Sample (Intermediate Level)

Pour Monsieur Duchene, vivre c'est manger!

A huit heures, M. Duchene A dix heures et A midi, ii A une heure et

For Mr. Duchene, to live is to eat!

Illustration 5.6. Intermediate-Level visually aided exercise witih possible re-

Source: Muyskens et al., 1982, pp. 181- 182

Students should be encouraged to express their own

Teaching approaches that emphasize the use of rote imitation, exten-

Student Task Students answer the following questions:

Personal Predictions. Answer the following questions orally.

Level functions. Here are some personal-viewpoint questions that can

Kramsch suggests using this type of personalized question as a whole-

Personalized In this type of format, students complete a series of sentences or restore

Portrait. Give a portrait of yourself.

are my friends. lam _____, _____, and _____ (adjectives). Now

ffiustration 5.7. Source: Active Lab, Defense Language Institute, p. 24

The following two sample sentence-builder activities are designed to

Illustration 5.8. Source: Active l.ab, Defense Language Institute, p. 25

Corollary 2: A proficiency-oriented approach promotes active com-

The use of small-group and paired communicative practice has several

Group Puzzles Sample 1 (Novice/Intermediate)

Functions Giving and understanding directions, interpreting and giving instructions,

The give-and-take of information necessary for solving the problem

La. M..<.rtt .Suge r m a,rch..e Ca.£i <U<. .Rt><.dez ·Vo us

on their cards with others in the group by introducing themselves and

Group Decision Sample (Advanced)

Social Interaction Sample (Intermediate)

(MADRID) (MADRID) (M£X1CO CITY) (MEXICO OTY)

(TOLEDO) (MADRID) (MEXICO CITY) (ALBUQUERQUE) (ALBUQUERQUE)

Nombre: Nombre: _ _ Nombre:

Edad: Edad: Edad: Edad:

Illustration 5.10. Student Diagram for "Family of Amnesiacs"

(MADRID) (MADRID) (MEXICO CITY) (MEXICO CITY)

Nombre: Jajme Nombre: Antonio

(TOLEDO) (MADRID) (MEXICO CITY) (MEXICO CITY) (ALBUQUERQUE) (ALBUQUERQUE)

Nombre: )as~ Nombre: Juan

(MEXl CO CITY) (MEXICO CITY)

Nombre: Pablita Nombre: Carlos

are my friends. lam ___, _, and ___ (adjectives). Now