the accommodating teacher

The Accommodating TeacherChris Ożóg, IH Dubai

The Philosophical Core

Beauty in things/classrooms exists in the mind which contemplates them.

David Hume

ScottishWrote difficult academic textsNo “Scottishisms”!Why?Accommodation

From: http://filosofia.laguia2000.com/filosofia-y-arte/historia-de-la-estetica-xii-el-empirismo-britanico-ii-el-problema-del-gusto

What is Accommodation?

‘accommodation through speech can be regarded as an attempt on the part of the speaker to modify or disguise his persona in order to make it more acceptable to the person addressed’ (Giles, H. and Powesland, P. 1975:158)

Convergence vs Divergence

1. asserting your identity and difference between you and your interlocutor to signal group identity, for example.

2. speaking more like your interlocutor to make yourself understood due to factors such as attractiveness, charisma, higher social status and so forth. As such, it involves a desire for social acceptance, but also for intelligibility.

Divergence

Convergence

Convergence vs Divergence

Convergence – movement towards

Divergence – movement apart

Courtesy of @sandymillin, ELTPics

Courtesy of Martin Eayrs, ELTPics

Meanwhile, in ELF...

English as Lingua FrancaLingua Franca Core

(LFC)“th” /θ/, e.g. “think”

intelligable as /t/ or /f/Other 'teachable' pron.

features Phonological

Accommodation in L-L interaction

We must change what we teach, but perhaps not how we teach it (Walker)

Courtesy of @AnthonyGaughan, ELTPics

Accommodation Reconsidered

...accommodation is to be seen as a multiply-organized and contextually complex set of alternatives, regularly available to communicators in face-to-face talk. It can function to index and achieve solidarity with or dissociation from a conversational partner, reciprocally and dynamically... (Giles & Coupland, 1991: 60-61)

“speech rate, pauses, utterance length, pronunciation and… non-vocal features such as smiling and gaze” (Jenkins, 2000: 169)

Applying these Ideas

???Material Selection

Language Grading

Pronunciation Teaching

Error Correction

RapportTeacher Roles

Assessment

Grammar Selection

Lexis Selection

Teacher TrainingTopics

Activity Types

Courses Offered

Native Speakers and Initial training

???

Language Grading

When is it most important to grade your language in class?

@cgoodey, ELTPics

@sandymillin, ELTPics @Senicko, ELTPics

Transactional Moments of Classroom Interaction

Accommodation and Instructions

The learners' levelFrequency of lexis usedThe learners' L1sComplexity of grammarWhere you stand in the

roomPauses

Use of gestures, mimeModulation of voiceSpeed of delivery'Surround' language No. of words usedUse L1?

CONVERGENCE

Raising Awareness of Intelligibility

Recording candidates

Give a taskDictationsOf learnersFrom RecordingPron notes tasksNote breakdownsLFC?Blogs/ReadingInput sessions

Materials and Convergence?

Materials and Convergence!

It’s 2013 and I’m back in Glasgow... My teaching is all project-based; the course covers topics related to living in the UK, and I set projects for students to work on that focus on these topics. I hardly ever use published ELT materials. Instead, I make up my own... have long stages where the learners generate materials... Occasionally I select a language item in advance that I think the students should know about, but [generally] language focus [is] dictated by the students. The materials I’m using and the discussions they generate are rich sources of language – I try to exploit this by clarifying new language as it comes up. However, it’s the students who decide which items

are actually of use to them.

- Language Selection: An Evolution by Steve Brown

http://stevebrown70.wordpress.com/2013/11/24/language-selection-an-evolution/

Convergence & Learning Context?

What different needs do emigrant learners in Dubai and Scotland have?

How does accommodation relate?

Scotland

Will meet Scottish peopleGreater need to know Scottish cultural

referencesScottish lexisScottish grammar?

Scottish Pronunciation (recognition at least)(Largely) monolingual environment Native speaker teachersLittle knowledge of L1 outside L1 communities

Courtesy of cgoodie, ELTPics

Dubai

Highly multi-nationalELF environmentWhich standard variety?3rd person-s? Really?No need for Scottish anything

Likely non-native teachersHindi, Urdu, Arabic, TagalogMassive L1 communitiesEnglish-speaking environment

Any Place for Divergence?

What about demanding high in teaching?

Or mixing it up a bit?

Or deliberately being linguistically 'provocative'?

Rapport and Accommodation

The non- accommodating teacher builds a wall; the accommodating teacher opens a door.

Me, er, at the weekend

In conclusion

Courtesy of @mubeenfk, ELTPics

Any Questions?

???Thank you for attending!

References

Giles, H. & Coupland, N 1991, Language: Contexts and Consequences. Keynes: Open University Press, cited from Accommodation Theory, D. Thanasoulas, <http://www.tefl.net/esl-articles/accommodation.htmDimitrios>, [30/10/13]

Giles, H and Powesland, P. 1975, Speech Style and Social Evaluation, cited in Edwards, J. Language and Identity, 2009: 31, Cambridge: CUP

Jenkins, J 2000, The Phonology of English as an International Language, Oxford: OUP

Jenkins, J 2006, 'English Pronunciation and Second Language Speaker Identity', in The Sociolinguistics of Identity, eds T. Ominiyi and G. White, Continuum, London, pp. 75 – 91.

Walker, R 2010, Teaching the Pronunciation of English as a Lingua Franca, Oxford: OUP.

The Accommodating TeacherChris Ożóg, IH Dubai

E-mail: chris@ihdubai.comTwitter: @chrisozogBlog: eltreflection.wordpress.com