1 CALL for Listening and Speaking

As instructed by Deborah and Sandra, I read both articles and found them useful for my teacher training applications. I would like to thank this week’s a very special guest Sueanne who contributed a lot with her ideas and suggestions. Her intriguing questions prompted us to think and question more about the use of technology. Her suggestion of using cell phone to practice speaking and listening skill was great. I also would like to thank my colleagues who shared their opinions and interesting ideas for integrating technology to English classes.

This week, some of my colleagues talked about the role of listening and speaking in SLA. There is no doubt that speaking, listening and pronunciation has been neglected for many years due to the comprehension approach which suggested that teaching of speaking should be delayed until comprehension skills are established and now it is good to see that these three skills deserve their popularity (though pronunciation is still neglected in my country).


Having discussed the importance of speaking and listening skills on Nicenet posts, it is worth mentioning the ways of using technology in these two skills. I totally agree with my colleagues who think that web 2.0 tools allow students to practice listening, pronunciation and speaking skill. I think we should find ways to make use of web 2.0 tools. My suggestion is you can have a look at Nik Peachey’s book “Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers”. Adding multisensory elements, text, sound, pictures, and video can provide meaningful contexts to facilitate comprehension, increasing opportunity to use authentic language suggested by Miller.
That’s all for the time being. Thanks for reading me. Hope to hear your comments.