Academic Skills in English Summer School 2014:
Communication Skills in English for Academic
Purposes
Masaryk University, Brno
23-27 June 2014
Ruben Comadina Granson
University of Groningen
Language Centre
Communication Skills in EAP
Classroom communication
Challenge
Strategies
A classroom situation
This interactive seminar focuses on communication
skills in academic work and study with particular
reference to the most frequent forms; such as
lectures, seminars, workshops and tutorials.
Classroom Communication
Language
Modality ?
Cultural identity
Emotional and physical influences
Effective Classroom Communication
It facilitates learning
Goals are more likely to be met
Opportunities emerge for expanding learning
More positive perceptions influence the overall
college experience
The Challenge
“To create a classroom environment where
communication issues are openly recognized and
managed in a way that promotes learning.”
(Glomo-Narzoles 2013)
The Strategies
Assessing and developing own communication
skills and knowledge
Language proficiency
Intercultural communication skills
Learning more about student communication
Student language proficiency
Cultural background
A Few Case Studies
The quiet one
The distracter
What challenges do you see in this situation?
In what ways can this student provide a valuable
contribution to this course?
How would you respond to this situation?
A Few Case Studies
Describe two ways you can develop professionally
to become more skilled with communication
diversity in the classroom
1:
2:
???
Discussion Scenarios
Communication skills are not acquired by practising language
structures alone.
Speech should not be forced. It emerges naturally after a silent
period. Silent periods may last an hour or a year.
Language lessons do not need to be sequenced grammatically.
Students do not need to master present tense before being
introduced to past or future tenses.
Language is best acquired in low anxiety environments.
Excessive error correction causes high anxiety.
Social Media in Education
What is an effective classroom?
How digital and interactive is your classroom?
Is (y)our teaching style passé?
Which social media tools are being used by your students outside
class time?
How many VLE (e.g., Moodle) tools can you use?
Your students will be competing for international jobs with the
digital natives referred to in this film
References
Brawn, R. & Trahar S. (2003). Supporting in the learning teacher in changing higher education.
In Sutherland, R. & Claxton, G. (Eds): Learning and teaching where worldviews meet. (pp. 245254) Stoke on Trent: Trentham.
Glom0-Narzoles, D.T. (2013). Classroom Communication Climate and Communicative Linguistic
Competence of EFL learners. In: Theory and Practice in Language Studies, Vol. 3, No. 3 (pp. 404410). Retrieved May 30, 2014 from
http://ojs.academypublisher.com/index.php/tpls/article/viewFile/tpls0303404410/6587
Krashen, S. (1987). Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition, Prentice-Hall
Internationl.
Wilkinson, R. (2005). The impact of language on teaching content: views from the content
teacher. Retrieved April 24, 2012, from
http://www.palmenia.helsinki.fi/congress/bilingual2005/presentations/wilkinson.pdf.