ANDREW POLLARD Australia

Increasing Awareness and Talk Time through Free

or many people, mobile phones are a part of modern life. Although the purpose of this technology revolves around language and F communication, its application to language learning still appears to be underutilized. This is changing, as the widespread use of this handheld technology offers numerous opportunities to use functions that are ideal for exposing learners to communicative interaction on their language- learning journey.

One beneficial function of the is successful messaging app on a global scale its ability to exchange text and multimedia (Yeung 2013). Other popular messaging apps between users, which is a benefit that is on a regional or global scale include ChatON enhanced through the availability of free (web.samsungchaton.com); (www. messaging apps that facilitate the exchanges. tango.me); (www.viber.com); and In order to explore the messaging function of WeChat (www..com/en). and how teachers can employ it to promote spoken communication, this Although these apps are, at their most article will describe ways to use text, audio, fundamental level, free text-messaging and imagery inside and outside the English services, their capabilities extend to group language classroom. text chats and the sharing of photos, audio, and video. In other words, these free To begin, teachers must become familiar messaging apps allow users to communicate with the messaging apps available in their with others in their through text, instructional setting. For example, KakaoTalk voice, imagery, or video. It is worth noting, (www..com/talk/en) is a free though, that the video-sharing capability still messaging app that is part of popular culture appears to have several bugs, so I will not in Korea. Along with (line.naver.jp/en), discuss it in this article. KakaoTalk has witnessed increased popularity in both Taiwan and Japan (Racoma 2012; Yap LEARNING CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND 2012). While these two messaging apps focus on Northeast Asia, many of the features that As smartphones and messaging apps become I will outline in this article are transferable more prevalent, their potential for ready- across messaging apps that are popular in made communicative activities in the numerous other locations, such as WhatsApp classroom should not be overlooked. For (www..com), perhaps the most if the language learner is “attached” to his

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15-20075 FORUM_02_32_ARTICLES.indd 25 2/10/15 8:19 AM or her smartphone, it stands to reason that responses. However, West (1960) suggests instructors can harness that potential to that when a person reads lines aloud—as in a assist learning. script—the language is passing from the eye to the mouth with little learning or cognitive I first experimented with KakaoTalk in a interaction taking place; an improvement university-level English as a foreign language on merely reciting lines is to read the line (EFL) context in 2011 by assigning spoken silently, pause, look up, and then speak homework. This attempt to encourage the line. This small adaption incorporates students to use English outside the classroom recollection, a suggested step that is integral was easy to implement but difficult to to uptake and acquisition, particularly with sustain. I initially had students make respect to vocabulary (Nation 2001). The recordings on the computer and email them KakaoTalk project avoids the pre-scripting to me for feedback. This arrangement did not and recitation of lines by having the work efficiently, as students complained of students attempt to produce speech that is dedicating time to speaking to a computer. spontaneous, or as spontaneous as possible. Personally, I also found it demotivating to dedicate time to sitting in front of a One of the greatest hurdles in setting computer to record my own oral feedback. EFL students on the toward spoken proficiency is overcoming the inherent Overcoming the demotivating and time- passion for accuracy. Language students sapping nature of the computer-based audio frequently require coaching on how to focus recording inspired me to use KakaoTalk on production rather than errors, but such for the same project. The response from efforts are often in vain as the concept of students was more positive, largely due to errors as “natural accidents on the way to the convenience of being able to use their interpersonal communication” (Kramsch smartphones for their homework. Likewise, 1987, 23) is a new one for many. Therefore, I found it much simpler to listen and respond an unrelenting focus on errors leads to a to student assignments in a timely manner. number of students having low functional fluency, even while they maintain impressive Ultimately, the intrinsic beauty of using grammatical accuracy. However, given that KakaoTalk and Line is that in many cases communication is the primary purpose for messaging is a tool that students discovered language, low functional fluency levels can first and it gained popularity and acceptance hinder communication. via their peers. These are not tools that are forced upon students by their teacher for the Many learners therefore need an introduction purpose of study, but tools that form a part to “meaning” as the basis for their spoken of their everyday lives. This factor, together communication. Bygate (2005) suggests with the ease of implementation, was the that group and collaborative learning builds birth of the KakaoTalk project that has since bridges to greater fluency and accuracy. snowballed into a growing compendium of The suggestion is that group work provides activities to facilitate communication, both a scaffolded environment in which the inside and outside the classroom. learners experiment and co-construct their message. Because the learners will have co- GOALS OF THE KAKAOTALK PROJECT constructed—and effectively rehearsed— their message, the final production will often The KakaoTalk project has several overarching have a more refined presentation in terms of goals at its heart. In essence, the goal fluency levels and the overall transmission of is to increase the spoken ability of the the message (Nation 1989). students. When faced with the challenges of producing longer segments of spontaneous While transmission of the intended message speech, many students prefer to script their in a more fluent manner is the primary goal

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15-20075 FORUM_02_32_ARTICLES.indd 26 2/10/15 8:19 AM of the project, a complete neglect of form in a conscious manner. The by-product of is unacceptable. Ellis (2008) notes that if coupling consciousness-raising and noticing form is not attended to, a communicative with self-recorded learner production is that plateau may be reached. This is very much learner autonomy is drawn into the equation. the inverse communicative plateau that may For if the learners are made aware that they be reached if attention to form is over- are able to “check” their utterances after the emphasized. It is, therefore, in the interest fact, they are able to continue their language of learners to find the balance between journey beyond the gaze of their teacher— form and fluency. Finding the balance does where responsible and autonomous learners not need to be tricky, and the project I am become more equipped to take control of describing entails ease of access to recording the language (Scharle and Szabo 2000). devices, which makes the matter all the more simple. Learners are able to focus ACTIVITIES FOR FREE MESSAGING APPS on fluency and meaning while recording AND SMARTPHONE TASKS their production before changing hats to focus on form. This method of focusing on Over the course of several years, I have form after the fact employs what has been experimented with smartphones and free coined “noticing,” or “consciousness-raising” messaging apps with my students. These (Schmidt 2001; Thornbury 2005; Ellis 2008). activities have ranged from simple text- messaging and group-chat tasks to the Consciousness-raising is in effect a form more complex simultaneous interpretation of self-monitoring that gives the learner and translation. It would appear that the the opportunity to pay attention to his opportunities are endless, provided that or her utterances in the style of a review. sound pedagogical choices are made. The premise is that in order for language acquisition to take place, attention must be Three of the most successful and easily paid to a specific item or language feature. implemented activities are (1) Spoken However, Ellis (2008) draws on the Noticing Response, (2) Picture Prompt, and Hypothesis to conclude that noticing can be (3) Transcription, Consciousness-Raising, of assistance only if it is done consciously— and Noticing. and actively. This suggests that learners may need explicit coaching in how to perform Spoken Response activity such tasks in order for them to be effective. Having students practice speaking outside the classroom is an activity that is difficult Guided coaching in the art of noticing can to monitor. However, through the use of a be as simple as delayed corrective feedback, messaging app that allows for recording to where the teacher monitors students’ take place, the monitoring bridge can be production during class and makes note of crossed. The basic procedure is to assign utterances that are in need of correction. In students a topic or a question that they must the feedback stage of class, the teacher puts a respond to with a predetermined amount selection of correct and incorrect utterances of detail, or provide a response that fills a on the board and asks students to make predetermined time limit. I have found two suggestions on how they should be corrected, to three minutes to be an optimal length, if at all. In this manner, students effectively as this pushes students to talk about their take charge of their own learning via a form subject in deeper detail than what might of noticing and consciousness-raising. be required in a basic response. (For an abbreviated description, see Pollard 2014.) Delayed corrective feedback is a common and easily implemented technique, and it Topics assigned to the students typically align provides learners with concrete examples of with the overarching syllabus of the course— how their own utterances may be monitored either thematic alignment or grammatical

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15-20075 FORUM_02_32_ARTICLES.indd 27 2/10/15 8:19 AM alignment, or a combination of the two 5. For homework, students practice the (Widdowson 1990). For instance, with an story once more and then record it, elementary-level class that has a proficiency using only the graphic organizer as a level equivalent to A2 of the Common reference, and send the recorded story to European Framework (Council of Europe the teacher. 2001), topics that satisfy grammatical alignment of the syllabus will make use of structures that The most important point to emphasize with are presented during the course. this activity is that the primary objectives are communication and fluency, and not Suppose one unit covers the thematic area grammatical accuracy. It should be made clear of vacation and the vocabulary related to it, to students that they must not devise a script; while another unit covers “–ed” and “–ing” instead, methods such as brainstorming or adjectives. Combining these two units into a noting keywords to keep their thoughts on prompt as simple as “How was your vacation?” track are encouraged. Students will often rely will push the students to be creative and on a preconceived script to speak in deeper descriptive in their responses, as they must detail on a subject, so it is a sound idea to meet the two- to three-minute response demonstrate the use of brainstorming, graphic requirement. An additional example may organizers, and speaking on a topic without combine, for instance, present perfect tense a script in order for students to receive the with superlatives and result in a prompt such greatest benefit (West 1960). An in-class as “What is the most memorable thing you introduction to brainstorming and speaking have done?” It should be noted that it is not without a script as a fluency-based activity can necessary to combine the foci of multiple incorporate the 4-3-2 technique, as described units into one Spoken Response assignment by Nation (1989). The 4-3-2 technique works if you do not feel it is needed. An example on the premise that a student will first speak where the focus needs little adaption is with for four minutes on a topic, followed by an “used to,” as the prompt “Tell me about attempt to convey the same information in your childhood” is often sufficient for a the shorter time of three minutes; a third developed and personalized response from the recitation in two minutes is the final step. student. As is the case in any of the examples Nation (1989) suggests that not only does the listed, the topics should focus on the target 4-3-2 technique affect fluency development, structures encountered in the course while but it can also develop skills in relation to also stimulating the student to personalize and discourse, which is an important factor when expand on the subject. students must speak on a single topic for two to three minutes. A summary of the basic steps that make up this activity follows: The Spoken Response activity does not explicitly call for the level of repetition 1. In class, the teacher writes the topic on seen in the 4-3-2 technique, since only a the board—for example, “What is your single audio recording is the submission most memorable experience?” requirement. However, if you introduce 2. The class then brainstorms ideas, such as the activity in this manner, it will suggest “My first bicycle,” “The birth of my baby to the students that, as with the production sister,” “The time I saw a fire,” and so on. of drafts in a written project, the spoken 3. rehearsal prior to producing a final recording After each student picks a subtopic, the provides them with a greater return on their teacher asks students to design a graphic overall learning. organizer according to “Who,” “What,” “Where,” “When,” and “Why.” There are several options for offering 4. The teacher asks students to tell their feedback to the students. As the primary goal story to a partner. of the Spoken Response activity is to develop

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15-20075 FORUM_02_32_ARTICLES.indd 28 2/10/15 8:19 AM fluency, it would be counterproductive to the activity is similar to that of the Spoken over-correct the grammar of a student’s Response activity in the sense that students recording, due to the demotivating effects are required to speak on a single topic that may occur as a result. If you feel that for an extended period of time, with the corrective feedback must be given, it is transmission of a message being the initial safer to offer corrective feedback focusing focus. The major difference between a on organization, much in the way that is Picture Prompt and a Spoken Response suggested with feedback for written work assignment is that the picture-based prompt (Boramy 2010). Through experimentation is a visual one that may not be as easily with these assignments, I would suggest personalized. As a result, the Picture Prompt that a productive method is to provide activity may appear at first glance to be two or three grammatical or word-choice more objective in nature. However, it has corrections per two minutes of audio. In the potential to offer more flexibility and lieu of corrective feedback, feedback on adaptability, depending on your context. content tends to work well with lower-level students. In particular, if you can discover One area where the Picture Prompt activity common interests and familiar topics, and may provide greater classroom discourse is then provide feedback on content within through a small adaptation where students that realm, the opportunity to develop work in pairs or small groups in order to rapport with the students is often enhanced. provide an in-depth description of the image. Likewise, it appears that offering oral It is through this collaborative process that feedback via an audio message helps to personalization and genuine communication develop rapport with students. often arise (Bygate 2005). Generally, the images used in this activity would be photos Picture Prompt activity either taken by the teacher and sent to the The speaking portion of the Test of English students or taken by the students themselves. for International Communication (TOEIC) All images used would ideally be tied to (Educational Testing Service 2014) has a the thematic properties of the syllabus and picture description task, which is an easily therefore act as a freer communication adaptable activity that seems custom-made activity for the class (Widdowson 1990). for smartphones and messaging apps. The fact that these messaging apps send and For an example of appropriate images that receive images allows students to have varied are directly associated with the syllabus, and interesting topics at their disposal. consider a unit that focuses on people’s The basic activity is the same as the TOEIC appearance and personality, together with a task: to describe a picture in detail with unit on the relative clause. An appropriate a range of grammatical structures and image in this instance may be a group of vocabulary, while maintaining cohesion. people in a café or a similar setting. Images More specifically, Question 3 of TOEIC of this nature offer the opportunity to Speaking stipulates that 30 seconds of objectively describe the setting, as per the preparation is permitted before a 45-second appearance aspect, and also allow the student description must be produced (Educational to speculate on other aspects of the image, Testing Service 2014). Because the Picture such as the possible personality traits of Prompt activity is used in a classroom setting the individuals. An alternative is to have and not as part of a rigid testing procedure, students produce an oral story to accompany flexibility is an option. As in the Spoken the image. A unit on the modal verbs of Response assignment, I would suggest that speculation—might, may, could, can’t, and students take a minute or so to make notes must—would be particularly suitable as or brainstorm keywords relating to the task students could be asked to conjecture or before producing a finished product of two tell a story. Images including a group of to three minutes. The overall structure of people in the midst of powerful or emotive

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15-20075 FORUM_02_32_ARTICLES.indd 29 2/10/15 8:19 AM expressions of body language are sound 4. Students listen to their recordings, and if choices as prompts, as the students are able they are happy with their attempt, they to speculate or construct a story that relates send it to the teacher. If they are unhappy to the image quite openly while also having with it, students are free to attempt it an opportunity to expand and include their once more. The reason for only allowing personal twist or interpretation. one more attempt is to prevent faster- finishing students from being left As is the case with any classroom activity, it without a task. is important for teachers to be selective and use discretion. However, if you want to allow 5. The teacher listens to the student the students to take greater control of their recordings outside of class time and own learning, you can extend this activity by offers feedback. Feedback should be having them send pictures, preferably ones based on organization and content that they have collected themselves, to their and should not be over-corrective. peers for verbal description or as storytelling Oral feedback via audio recording is prompts. Taking this further step of using preferable to written feedback. student-collected material as a prompt also assists in making the communicative 6. An optional follow-up is to have students objectives of this activity more explicit make transcriptions of their recordings, to the students. An additional step could and to edit and revise their work in have the students work in a group setting line with consciousness-raising and to co-construct a more creative, complete, noticing, as detailed in the Transcription, and in-depth oral story in relation to the Consciousness-Raising, and Noticing shared images; the happy by-product of this activity that follows. group-based task is that students negotiate and communicate in the target language It is worth noting that while I have throughout the planning, development, and introduced Picture Prompt as an in-class revision of their oral recording. activity, it can be extended to an out- of-class assignment where students find A suggested step-by-step summary of the something of interest to photograph with Picture Prompt activity in pair or small their smartphones. With their self-selected group work follows: image, they produce an oral recording that meets the two- to three-minute guideline, as 1. The teacher places students in pairs or detailed. The major difference with Picture small groups and sends them a photo, or Prompt as a homework assignment rather selection of photos, via picture message. than an in-class activity is that the students must submit the photo in addition to the 2. Students are given a brief period of audio recording to the teacher. time—two to three minutes—to brainstorm their ideas; they can use Transcription, Consciousness-Raising, and their dictionaries as required for needed Noticing activity vocabulary. The two previous activities stand on their own as pedagogically sound initiatives; 3. Students then describe their photo(s) however, a twist I like to incorporate is to and record themselves doing so via their combine transcribing with consciousness- smartphones. A suggested length of time raising and noticing. Having students listen is three minutes, depending on students’ to the audio recordings they produced for speaking ability. Students can record the Spoken Response or Picture Prompt themselves individually, or they may co- assignment and then make transcriptions construct a recording within their pair or moves the primary focus from speaking group. skills onto listening, noticing, and

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15-20075 FORUM_02_32_ARTICLES.indd 30 2/10/15 8:19 AM consciousness-raising. When students most memorable thing you have done?”— transcribe their audio recordings, they create covers present perfect plus the superlative, a written text, with which they are able to allowing the students to explicitly focus their switch hats and transition into the realm of attention on these aspects. consciousness-raising and noticing; these are effectively aspects of self-monitoring In addition to grammatical accuracy, (Schmidt 2001; Thornbury 2005; Ellis 2008). however, other areas of accuracy may be the This transition also draws attention onto primary focus of your students. For instance, reading skills and a more explicit focus on lexical selection may be a core issue in your form. class or for specific students. If this is the case, you may suggest that students pay The primary intention of noticing is to attention to the correct word choice during raise the awareness of students in respect to the noticing activities. Likewise, if your class their own spoken production and have them has paid attention to intonation or connected monitor areas for improvement. Utilizing speech, students have the opportunity to noticing also allows the fluency–accuracy focus on these aspects in their recorded continuum to be partially balanced, as per production. One way to implement this Ellis’s (2008) suggestion. It is worth stating focus is to have students note the stress or that noticing is effectively performed as intonation contours of their utterances from a review activity where students access their audio recordings. For example, they the recordings that they have produced can notice whether they are successfully previously, either from another class or from using a rising intonation when listing items an earlier part of the current class. In this present in a Picture Prompt recording. The instance, the activity utilizes the messaging important thing here is to set goals and app and smartphone as a personal listening tasks that are aligned to the class syllabus device rather than a recording device, which (Widdowson 1990). posits that students may also require a pair of headphones for personal use. Students CONCLUSION dictate their recorded speech and perform the noticing activities on the transcription The activities outlined above are relatively they have created, thereby engaging in a simple to set up and appear to provide student-controlled and -maintained form of motivation to the language learner, along delayed corrective feedback. with introducing and developing the notion of learner autonomy. If our students are Depending on the objectives and direction aware that they need not be in the classroom of your classes, it may be beneficial to give in order to practice their English, then that is further guidance to your students with a step along the path to language proficiency. respect to the areas where they should be paying extra attention. The main premise Spoken assignments through free messaging of noticing is a focus on grammatical apps may not be the answer for every teacher accuracy. For example, the first Spoken and learner. As is the case with all learning Response prompt I listed—“How was your situations, the teacher must make a judgment vacation?”—covered the thematic area of about the suitability of an activity. While I vacation combined with “–ed” and “–ing” suggest that audio assignments are motivating adjectives. Therefore, the focus for the and assist with building autonomy, they may noticing activity when the students inspect also have the opposite effect if the particular their written transcriptions would explicitly teaching context does not offer equality or be the usage of “–ed” and “–ing” adjectives. inclusivity. In the context of Korea, it is rare However, if the students notice any other to encounter a student without a smartphone errors, they are free to suggest corrections. that has unlimited data transfer capabilities, The second prompt I listed—“What is the or an iPod Touch with a wi-fi connection.

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15-20075 FORUM_02_32_ARTICLES.indd 31 2/10/15 8:19 AM However, in other contexts this is likely not Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. www.coe. to be the norm. It is a serious issue in need int/t/dg4/linguistic/Source/Framework_EN.pdf of consideration, although there are ways of Educational Testing Service. 2014. Test content. TOEIC. getting around the challenge with the use of www.ets.org/toeic/speaking_writing/about/ content an ordinary . Ellis, R. 2008. The study of second language acquisition. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. A typical mobile phone still has voice Kramsch, C. J. 1987. Interactive discourse in small and recording capabilities, and many have large groups. In Interactive language teaching, ed. W. M. the capability to receive a photo as a Rivers, 17–30. Cambridge: Cambridge University message. Therefore, students will still Press. have the opportunity to record their audio Nation, I. S. P. 2001. Learning vocabulary in another assignments, as in the Spoken Response and language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Picture Prompt activities, and to receive a Nation, P. 1989. Improving speaking fluency. System 17 photograph, as in the Picture Prompt. They (3): 377–384. will also have the opportunity to perform Pollard, A. 2014. Free messaging apps in the classroom. transcription and noticing exercises. The The Language Teacher 38 (1): 23–24. Racoma, J. A. 2012. Korean cross-platform messaging major caveat would be not requiring students app KakaoTalk heavily promoting in Japan. e27.co/ to return their responses to you, as the korean-cross-platform-messaging-app-- costs involved could lead to a demotivating heavily-promoting-in-japan association with English education. Scharle, A., and A. Szabo. 2000. Learner autonomy: A guide to developing learner responsibility. Cambridge: Bearing this in mind, however, language Cambridge University Press. learners often wish to improve their spoken Schmidt, R. 2001. Attention. In Cognition and proficiency ahead of the other skills. They second language instruction, ed. P. Robinson, 3–32. may not be aware, though, that they can Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. revise their speaking in similar ways as Thornbury, S. 2005. Uncovering grammar: How to help they are trained to revise their writing. grammar emerge. Oxford: Macmillan Education. Therefore, if your classroom context permits West, M. 1960. Teaching English in difficult circumstances. London: Longman. you to attempt spoken assignments of this Widdowson, H. G. 1990. Aspects of language teaching. nature, then you have the ability to offer Oxford: Oxford University Press. your students one of the keys to language Yap, J. 2012. Taiwan Mobile revamps messaging development in a fun and friendly manner. app to fend off rivals. ZDNet. www.zdnet.com/ At the end of the day, the more motivation taiwan-mobile-revamps-messaging-app-to-fend-off- and opportunity we can offer our students rivals-7000009115 to communicate in English outside the Yeung, K. 2013. WhatsApp processed a whopping classroom, the more we have succeeded in (record) 18 billion on the last day facilitating their aspirations of developing of 2012. The Next Web. thenextweb.com/ their English proficiency. insider/2013/01/02/whatsapp-processed-record- 18-billion-messages-on-last-day-of-2012

REFERENCES Andrew Pollard is currently attached to the School Boramy, S. 2010. Using directive and facilitative of Education at Curtin University. Andrew’s research feedback to improve student writing: A case study interests primarily lie in English as a lingua franca, with of a higher education setting in Cambodia. Language an emphasis on prosodic and paralinguistic features Education in Asia 1 (1): 23–47. of English varieties and their effects on listening Bygate, M. 2005. Structuring learning within the flux comprehension. of communication: A role for constructive repetition in oral language pedagogy. In New dimensions in the teaching of oral communication, ed. J. A. Foley, 70–90. Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre. Council of Europe. 2001. Common European framework of reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment.

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