TESL 0120 Unit 1 Reflection

Unit 1 Reflection: Approaches to Speaking Instruction

 
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While reading the assigned pages from “How to Teach Speaking” by Scott Thornbury, there was one point that really stood out to me. On page 22, Thornbury (2005) writes that “…the 50 most frequent words in spoken English make up nearly 50% of all talk.” This statistic made me think about my personal experiences in learning a foreign language and about the habits of those learning an additional language.

I’ve been studying Japanese for about 10 years now, and I’ve noticed a particularly bad habit that I have when speaking in Japanese; that is, I tend to stick to phrases and words that I know well and feel comfortable with, while unintentionally avoiding newer and less familiar vocabulary. I feel that I’ve reached a level where I can communicate comfortably and effectively and as a result, have been failing to incorporate new words and grammar into my speech. In some ways, it feels like I have entered a rut, where I keep to what I know, and fail to venture into new territory. I even find myself doing this in English; why use the word “juicy”, when the word “succulent” is so much more descriptive? I think it’s important that as teachers, we help our students avoid falling into this rut, and give them plenty of opportunities to actively use new vocabulary,  grammar and expressions, especially those students who have reached a level of proficiency where they feel they know enough. It’s one thing to incorporate new grammar and vocabulary into one’s knowledge, but it’s another thing to be able to actively use them in speaking contexts.
Anyway, that’s one point that really stood out to me during Unit 1. I hope that in the future I can help both myself and my students to reach for new heights throughout their language learning journeys.

References:
Thornbury, S. (2005). How to Teach Speaking, Chapter 2: What Speakers Know[d1], pp. 11-26.              
      Harlow, Essex: Pearson Education Limited     

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