Doreen Ewert
About
Doreen Ewert is Professor in the Department of Rhetoric & Language at the University of San Francisco, and Director of the Academic English for Multilingual Students Program. Her areas of research include SL/FL literacy development and assessment, vocabulary development, Extensive Reading, and fluency development.Sessions
All levels ER and Fluency more
Wed, Aug 9, 14:00-14:50 Asia/Tokyo
For many language teachers and most language students, fluency means the state in which you are able to use the language you have been given or chosen accurately and appropriately in any situation in which you find yourself. This general or broad definition conflates fluency with proficiency (Lennon, 1990), but fluency is also understood by language teachers and researchers as an aspect of the complex construct of proficiency along with accuracy and complexity. As such, fluency refers to those elements of language production that include speed, smoothness, and effortlessness (Chambers, 1997). It is easy to see how the accomplishment of accuracy has been the main driver of language classroom curricula in spite of attempts to shift focus to meaningful language use. Usage-based theories of language learning suggest, however, that building fluency should have a more prominent role in language curricula from the very beginning (Ellis, N. 2005), and in all four skills (Nation, 2007). Gaining proficiency in each of the skills necessitates efficient (automatic and stable) processing of low-level processes, which are unconscious, unintentional, and involuntary (Olkonnen, et al. 2020). For reading fluency, these processes include phonological processing (grapho-)phonemic discrimination, word recognition, syntactic parsing and linking grammatical forms with meanings (Grabe, 2010). One of the claims of those who research the benefits of ER is its impact on the development of reading fluency (Al-Hamoud & Schmitt, 2009; Beglar, Hunt, & Kite, 2012; Bui & Macalister, 2021; Mclean & Roualt, 2021), but in Nation and Waring’s “four strands” curricular scheme (2020), ER is not included as a fluency building activity. What then is fluency-building and how do we support its development in the classroom with or without ER?
All levels Empowering Learners: Building fluency in the classroom to support ER and EL more
Thu, Aug 10, 15:30-16:50 Asia/Tokyo
A common understanding of the term 'fluency' is the ability to use speak a language you have been given or chosen to learn without thinking about it, to do just what needs to be done with language in any situation. For most people, this means accurate and appropriate use of language, which whether they realize it or not, includes many aspects of linguistic knowledge: syntax, morphology, phonology, phonetics, semantics, and socio-pragmatics. Fluency, however, is just one component of the construct of language proficiency, which also includes complexity, accuracy, and lexis (Skehan, 1998). More precisely, fluency is the component of proficiency which reflects the learners' ability to spontaneously access implicit knowledge to express their ideas and exchange information quickly and continuously (Lennon, 1990; Olkonnen & Mutta, 2020; Segalowitz, 2003, 2010; Skehan, 2009). Nation (2000) claims that fluency building activity should make up 25% of a balanced language curriculum since no matter what you know, you should be able to produce it fluently. Unlike accuracy, complexity, and lexis, however, fluency has been largely ignored as a focus of classroom-based language learning, of language teacher training, of published instructional materials, and of curricular design. In this workshop, after a brief review of the research-based rationale for including fluency development activity in the ESL curriculum, participants will engage in a variety of fluency-building activities for reading and listening that will support ER, EL, and language learning, in general. Principles for choosing and designing tasks for fluency development will be used to evaluate the activities as well as help participants design practical ways in which they can include fluency development activity in their current course or curricula.
All levels ERWC6 Final Panel more
Thu, Aug 10, 18:00-18:50 Asia/Tokyo
The plenary speakers will share their observations on the major concerns they noticed concerning the future of extensive reading and extensive listening. Time permitting, questions will be taken from the audience.
