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| 2018年度 異文化言語教育評価論 |
Introduction
In
this course, I picked up a research paper reporting the influence of language
contact on the speaking performance of Japanese Students for my presentation
task. The main theme of my doctor’s research is also the relationship between
reading and speaking and thus this paper gave me many suggestions on my
research. In this report, I will first summarize two papers including the one I
reported in this course and both relating to the influence of reading on the
speaking performance. Then I will finalize my opinions and thoughts.
1.
The Influence of Language Contact and Vocabulary Knowledge on the Speaking
Performance of Japanese Students of English (Oya, Manalo, and Greenwood, 2009)
Summary
This
study examined the influence of language contact and vocabulary knowledge on
the speaking performance of Japanese students in English language schools in
New Zealand. The main purpose of this study
was to find out whether there are any relationships between the English oral
performance of intermediate level Japanese students learning English in New
Zealand and (i) their language contact outside the classroom, and (ii) their
vocabulary knowledge.
The results
revealed that vocabulary knowledge correlated with fluency, accuracy,
complexity, and global impression aspects of speaking performance. Below table
8 summarizes the findings of this study and depicts the different aspects of
oral performance that vocabulary knowledge and the language contact factors
examined in this study seem to benefit.
Table 8 Vocabulary Knowledge and Language Contact
Factors, and the Aspects of Oral Performance they Appear to Positively
Influence
The implications
for second language teaching and learning appear quite clear: that to improve
speaking performance, vocabulary development and getting plenty of actual
speaking practice are paramount.
The summary of
findings also suggests that reading – although an activity that does not
provide actual speaking practice – should be encouraged as it can contribute to
the development of both fluency and complexity in speaking.
2. Developing
Speaking Skills through Reading (Mart, 2012)
Summary
This report discusses
relationship between reading and speaking skills using existing books and
research papers. The author states that “there is no question that people who
develop large reading vocabularies tend to develop large speaking
vocabularies.” The author also mentions that the word knowledge is very
important for reading skills and also facilitates speaking skills. For effective
speech production, connected speech such as connecting two or more words when
you speak (I’d’ve gone, etc.), expressive devices such as volume, speed, and
intonation, lexis and grammar, and negotiation and language are the necessary
elements.
On the other hand,
reading requires the ability to draw information from what you read and combine
the information with knowledge the reader already has. There are six component
skills of reading that influence speaking achievement:
1) automatic
recognition skills,
2) vocabulary and
structural knowledge,
3) formal
discourse structure knowledge,
4) content/world
background knowledge,
5) synthesis and
evaluation skills/strategies, and,
6) metacognitive
knowledge and skills monitoring.
Vocabulary and
grammar are essential factors that influence speaking performance. Through
reading, learners not only gain these knowledge but also learn words fit
together.
The author finalizes
that “one of the most useful ways to improve communication skills is extensive
reading”. Vocabulary size can be enlarged through extensive reading. Extensive
reading also helps developing grammar skills. In Conclusion, the author emphasizes
that if learners develop stronger reading skills, they can be more
sophisticated speakers.
Discussion
From the first
paper, I could learn that the vocabulary knowledge is deeply related to one’s
speaking performance in terms of fluency, accuracy and complexity. If you have
enough vocabulary knowledge, you can find right words in a short time (relates
to fluency) to describe what you want to say. With the right words, you can
express yourself more accurately. In addition, more complex sentences can be
constructed by more exact vocabulary.
We can also learn
from this paper that reading also correlates with oral performances. In this
paper, authors suggest, “time spent on reading is beneficial towards both
fluency and complexity of speaking performance”, and “reading practice provides
more opportunities to reflect on and learn not only new words but also better
and more complex sentence construction in English.” Authors said that the
listening activity, which is also considered as a passive activity, provides
far less opportunities for learning new words, as well as helping to construct
more complex sentences. Reading may not be completely passive activity as the learner
looks up the dictionary for unknown words, considered as an active work, and
think deeply of sentences that cannot be understood. With reading, learners can
take more time to look up the grammar book or other information than listening.
However, exact mechanism of how reading relates to speaking is not clearly explained.
The second paper lacks
analytical data to back up the author’s idea of “there is no question that
people who develop large reading vocabularies tend to develop large speaking
vocabularies.” Instead, the author supports his ideas from existing books and
research papers. Different from the first paper, this paper suggests a way of
improving one’s speaking skills through reading. He cites Hedge (1985, p.77) to
emphasize that extensive reading helps advance learners’ guessing ability of
unknown words and phrases, leading to comprehend the context and improve their
vocabulary, which are effective for becoming fluent speakers. The author also
cites the idea of Peacock (1997) “that using authentic texts has a positive
effect on learning the target language by developing communicative competence”.
From these citing, a learner may develop his/her speaking skills by reading extensive
authentic texts. However, effective levels and contents of texts and quantity should
be investigated further.
Conclusion
In summary, among
four skills of English (reading, writing, listening, and speaking), reading and
listening are known as receptive skills and writing and speaking are known as
productive skills and connections between reading (receptive) and writing
(productive), and listening (receptive) and speaking (productive), have been
widely studied. However, there are few studies on the connection between
reading and speaking, or listening and writing. These two papers have some
implications of how a receptive skill such as reading influences a productive
skill such as speaking. Based on these papers, I would like to further
investigate how these two skills connect each other with experimental data and find
a mechanism of the connections with evidence.
References
C.T.
Mart (2012). Developing Speaking Skills through Reading. International
Journal of English Linguistics, 2, 91-96.
Hedge,
T. (1985). Using Readers in Language Teaching. London: Macmillan
Publishers Ltd.
Oya, T., Manalo, E., & Greenwood, J.
(2009). The Influence of Language Contact and Vocabulary Knowledge on the
Speaking Performance of Japanese Students of English. The Open applied
Linguistics Journal, 2, 11-21.
Peacock,
M. (1997). The Effect of Authentic Materials on the Motivation of EFL Learners.
ELT Journal, 51(2) 144-156.