Research Notes
  Issue 56
  May 2014
  ISSN 1756-509X
      Research Notes
      Issue 56 / May 2014
      A quarterly publication reporting on learning, teaching and assessment
      Guest Editor
      Professor Anne Burns, University of New South Wales
      Senior Editor and Editor
      Dr Hanan Khalifa, Head of Research and International Development, Cambridge English Language 
      Assessment
      Coreen Docherty, Senior Research and Validation Manager, Cambridge English Language Assessment
      Editorial Board
      Katherine Brandon, Professional Support and Development Officer, English Australia
      Dr Fiona Barker, Principal Research and Validation Manager, Cambridge English Language Assessment
      Dr Nick Saville, Director, Cambridge English Language Assessment
      Production Team
      Rachel Rudge, Marketing Project Co-ordinator, Cambridge English Language Assessment
      John Savage, Publications Assistant, Cambridge English Language Assessment
      Printed in the United Kingdom by Canon Business Services
                                                                             CAMBRIDgE ENgLISH : RESEARCH NOTES : issue 56 / MAY 2014    |    1
                                               Research Notes
                                               Issue 56
                                               May 2014
                                               Contents
                                                The english Australia/Cambridge english Action Research in eLiCOs Program: 
                                                Background and rationale                                                                     2 
                                                Katherine Brandon
                                                ‘systematic inquiry made public’: Teacher reports from a national action research program    4 
                                                Anne Burns
                                                Preparing students for answering connected speech questions in the Cambridge 
                                                english Teaching Knowledge Test                                                              7 
                                                Martin Dutton and Arizio Sweeting
                                                Preparing students for an academic presentation: Maximising class time                      16 
                                                Emily Mason and Akile Nazim
                                                Harnessing formative feedback for oral skills improvement                                   22 
                                                Simon Cosgriff
                                                Grammar in speaking: Raising student awareness and encouraging autonomous learning          30 
                                                Jennifer Wallace
                                                using Web 2.0 technologies to enhance speaking fluency: A journey beyond textbooks          36 
                                                Jessica Cobley and Becky Steven
                                                using Web 2.0: synchronising technology to improve feedback on spoken academic texts        44 
                                                Tim Dodd and Selena Kusaka
              2    |    CAMBRIDgE ENgLISH : RESEARCH NOTES : issue 56 / MAY 2014
              Editorial
              Welcome to issue 56 of Research Notes, our quarterly                             spent on speaking practice and increasing learner awareness 
              publication reporting on matters relating to learning, teaching                  of the assessment criteria. Simon Cosgriff then describes his 
              and assessment within Cambridge English Language                                 action research, which involved the use of feedback to both 
              Assessment.                                                                      improve speaking skills but also to develop autonomous 
                This issue presents the research undertaken within the                         learning strategies. He used a range of activities to raise 
              2013 English Australia/Cambridge English Action Research in                      students’ awareness of the assessment criteria and to engage 
              ELICOS Program, which supports teachers working in English                       them in the feedback process. 
              language intensive courses for overseas students (ELICOS)                           The next three articles report on ways of improving learners’ 
              sector in Australia.                                                             speaking skills using online tools. Jennifer Wallace explores 
                The issue begins with Katherine Brandon, the Professional                      ways of improving learners’ grammatical range and accuracy 
              Support and Development Officer at English Australia,                            when speaking while also encouraging autonomous learning. 
              describing the background and rationale of the action research                   Although she tried several different interventions, she found 
              program. Then Professor Anne Burns, the key academic                             that having students record and analyse their own speech 
              reference person for the program, explains why disseminating                     samples for grammatical errors was most popular and 
              the participants’ action research via publication, conferences,                  effective. Her action research project helped raise students’ 
              workshops, etc. is a crucial aspect of the program.                              awareness of their grammar while speaking, which resulted in 
                Next, six funded projects are presented by the teacher-                        more self-correction and peer correction. Then, Jessica Cobley 
              researchers who participated in the 2013 program. The first                      and Becky Steven, the winners of the 2013 Action Research 
              article investigates ways of helping students prepare for the                    in ELICOS Award, investigate ways of improving their 
              Cambridge English Knowledge About Language module of                             students’ speaking fluency. They used various online tools to 
              the Teaching Knowledge Test (TKT), which tests a teacher’s                       measure students’ speech rate and the number of non-lexical 
              understanding of the systems of the English language for the                     fillers used over time. Students responded positively to the 
              purposes of teaching it. Martin Dutton and Arizio Sweeting                       intervention and the fluency program developed has been 
              had found that their students were challenged by the section                     incorporated into other classes within their institution. Finally 
              of the TKT test that focuses on answering questions on                           Tim Dodd and Selena Kusaka were interested in helping 
              connected speech. They implemented a strategy called                             their learners improve their ability to both lead and engage in 
              ‘auditory thinking’, which involves hearing the sounds in your                   academic tutorials. They recorded their students’ academic 
              mind rather than just reading the phonemic transcription.                        discussions using Audionote, which allowed them to provide 
              Their students were very positive about the intervention                         oral feedback which students could review as they listened to 
              and felt that engaging in auditory thinking improved their                       their own speaking performance. Students had a portfolio of 
              performance on the test.                                                         their speaking performances that they could review and reflect 
                The rest of the articles in the issue explore different aspects                on. Dodd and Kusaka were also able to better monitor the 
              of improving the speaking skills of learners. Emily Mason and                    type of feedback they were giving and student uptake.
              Akile Nazim’s action research focuses on preparing students                         Due to the success of this action research program, 
              for an academic presentation in a limited time period.                           Cambridge English Language Assessment has recently 
              After conducting surveys and focus groups with teachers                          launched a similar program with English UK. We hope that 
              and students, the teacher-researchers rewrote the course                         this issue, along with issues 44, 48 and 53, which also present 
              material, then trialled and evaluated it. Their new course                       action research, inspires other teachers to become involved 
              included increased amounts of feedback, more class time                          with research.
              The English Australia/Cambridge English Action 
              Research in ELICOS Program: Background and 
              rationale 
              KATHERINE BRANDON ENgLISH AUSTRALIA, NEW SOUTH WALES
              English Australia                                                                around the country and range from publicly funded as well 
              English Australia is the professional association for over 100                   as private institutions attached to universities, vocational 
              member institutions that offer English language intensive                        colleges and high schools, to branches of international 
              courses for overseas students (ELICOS) in Australia. Member                      English language schools through to standalone private 
              colleges are found in major cities as well as regional centres                   providers. Member colleges offer a wide range of courses, 
              © UCLES 2014 – The contents of this publication may not be reproduced without the written permission of the copyright holder.