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No. 39  Apr. 2019
 
   
   
   
   

 

 

編輯報告
EDITOR'S REPORT

本期範文賞析(SPOTLIGHT),邀請政大英文系的林欣潔老師撰文,談論其如何運用教學策略與課堂活動安排,來誘發學生的學習動機,提升英文口說訓練課的學習效能。本期教師專訪(STAR OF THE MONTH)為劉美德老師,暢談她在走進校園任教之前,如何於非政府組織以及國際媒體集團,潛心修煉文字藝術。讀者園地(PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS)節錄中心演講「克服演說恐懼『心』秘技」的精華摘要,供讀者一覽臨床心理師的專業見解,剖析上台演講的恐懼成因與對策。
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省思醒語
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
 
 

"April is the cruellest month, breeding

Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing

Memory and desire, stirring

Dull roots with spring rain."

-- The Waste Land

by T.S. Eliot

 
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範文賞析
SPOTLIGHT

 

林欣潔老師 撰文 (Written by Hsin-Chieh Lin, Lecturer at Department of English, NCCU)

Establishing College Students' Self-Motivation in ESL Class: My Experience of Facilitating Classroom Activities in Business English Oral Training Class

 

How to inspire and maintain learners' motivation has long been a core issue for teachers. Ideally, learners should be self-motivated and self-disciplined, as learning is "for their own good." However, an introspective teacher would confess with sheer honesty that learners' motivation is tightly connected with the learning context. As Dörnyei (2005) argued, "...learners will not automatically take ownership of their motivational disposition but need to be supported in this process" (pp. 111-112), it takes mutual efforts --of both the learner and the teacher -- to create and maintain learners' motivation. This article will analyze some strategies adopted in an oral training class that kept the learners' drive. The course is considered an appropriate example as it receives 97 % of satisfaction from 76% of the students of the class, and 65% of the students agree that "the teacher increased their learning motivation."

The class in discussion was an 18-week elective Business English oral training course designed for 26 junior and senior college students. The purpose of the class was both to equip the students with basic work-place English and business English, and to facilitate appropriate language use in context. As a result, the course contained 3 role-play activities, along with other small in-class discussions. Each role-play activity comprised 3 stages: preparation, discussion, and reflection. In the preparation stage, the teacher carefully chose the tasks relevant to the students' daily life, such as negotiation and sales pitch (promoting ideas). For each activity, students were divided into 6 groups of 4 to 5 people. The teacher used power-point, pictures and textbook audio tracks to depict the background of the role-play story, and stressed how the task might relate to the students' life and career. Next, the teacher randomly assigned the students with different roles, and each role received a character card and a mission card, which were not to be exposed to students of other roles. Then the students of the same role gathered together to discuss their missions. The teacher would walk around in the classroom to take questions. Later, when the students returned to their own group, the teacher showed them a detailed rubric sheet about how students would be scored. While explaining, the teacher emphasized how to succeed in the mission, rather than how to avoid failure, with some clear examples. The teacher asserted that, while the students' mission might conflict with one another, each group had to work cooperatively to reach the final success. Lastly, a detailed time table that broke down the task into different stages was shown on the board to specify the time students were given to accomplish each mission.

When the discussion started, the teacher timed the students with a timer and gave a 3-minute-notice before each mission ended. During discussion, the teacher walked around the classroom to observe and note down each student's performance without making eye-contact or talking to students. After the discussion, students were given a sheet to note down other team-members' and their own good performance. Later on, they were asked to share their observation. After the reflection period, the teacher gave instant feedback on how each group performed, with emphasis on the successful parts. When pointing out the room for improvement, the teacher gave very specific instructions on how to improve. In case of students' complaint or disagreement, the teacher would ask the students to stay after the activity for a direct talk.

What makes these activities successful in inducing the students' motivation? Dörnyei (2005) proposed a 4-dimensional framework that developed a motivational teaching practice: creating the basic motivational conditions, generating initial student motivation, maintaining and protecting motivation, and encouraging positive retrospective self-evaluation (p. 111).

Source: Dörnyei

Zoltán. "Motivation and 'Self-Motivation' ." The Psychology of the Language Learner: Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition, Lawrence Erlbaum Associate, Inc., 2005, pp. 112

Dörnyei includes some specific conditions that fulfill each dimension in the chart. With a close examination, I would like to propose 6 key elements of creating a motivational teaching environment and analyze how the operation of activities of the Business English oral training class acted in accordance with the model, thereby successfully constructing and maintaining the students' learning motivation:

1. Establishing a trusting and cooperative environment.

2. Drawing connections between students and tasks.

3. Setting clear goals.

4. Increasing learners' expectancy for success.

5. Securing positive image and creating autonomy.

6. Providing motivational feedback.

First, the teacher was committed to creating a pleasant and supportive classroom atmosphere by promoting group collaboration, creating rapport within the groups. Second, the teacher did choose tasks that were relevant to students' life and emphasized this connection, making the task relevant to the students. Moreover, with a clear and specific rubric, time table and timer, the students had clear goals in mind. The technique of setting time constraints also kept the students motivated with a sense of urgency. Also, when the teacher stressed how to succeed with clear examples, the learners' expectancy of success was increased. In addition, the students' autonomy was secured as the teacher avoided interrupting their discussion and empowered them to evaluate themselves and other members. When students were granted the power to evaluate their own performance, they tended to take the responsibility of improving their own performance. Moreover, focusing on positive performance also contributed to securing the students' positive images. Lastly, providing specific ways or improvement serves to provide motivational feedback for the future, helping create a basic incentive for the next task.

To conclude, it takes two parties to establish and sustain learners' self-motivation. Holding the power of designing the course and administering the class operation, teachers certainly have an upper hand to facilitate an aggressive learning environment that creates self-motivating students.

 

Work Cited:

Dörnyei, Zoltán. The Psychology of the Language Learner: Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition. Lawrence Erlbaum Associate, Inc., 2005.

 
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教師專訪
STAR OF THE MONTH

受訪老師: 劉美德老師 (Interviewee: Dana Liu, Adjunct Lecturer of AWEC)

 

Dana Liu has taught various English courses, including writing, storytelling and oral presentation, at NTU for seven years. Prior to teaching, Dana worked as a researcher, writer and analyst at NGOs such as the World Bank, and as a writer and editor in the research and analysis division of The Economist Group, building up her strength in forming a strong connection between the writer and the public. After stepping onto campus, Dana tirelessly shares her passion with students from all disciplines. Recognizing that "human connection" is something most students pursue intuitively, Dana utilizes a wide range of stylistic strategies–including metaphor, analogy, anecdote, case study, and storytelling–to help students analyze their most persuasive approach for an ever-wider readership to promote the significance of their research ideas.

Many may not know that she is a writer of fiction and poetry. In her free time, Dana enjoys playing with narrative form to imaginatively retell history. She loves reading both for literary enjoyment and the study of craft. Her most recent preferred genre is magical realism. The following resources are works of literature and writers Dana would like to share with the reader, using the craft of writing from a marginalized vantage point to tell a story. A good writer must have the perseverance to create, through language, a structure out of nothing. The hardest task is also the most rewarding: to capture, beyond surface beauty in language, the complex meaning underneath.

1. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov: Bulgakov wrote this satirical dark comedy between 1928 and 1940 in the Soviet Union during Stalin's regime. In this retelling of Goethe's Faust, the devil visits the officially atheist Soviet Union. I love how work playfully explores tensions between state-sanctioned writers and the creativity of the Russian soul, among other things. It is an excellent example of samizdat literature, passed underground from reader to reader.

2. The Book of Night Women by Marlon James: He is a brilliant writer who made the top 100 most influential people of 2019. His latest work, Black Leopard, Red Wolf, is described by Salmon Rushdie as: "the first volume of a promised trilogy, a fabulist reimagining of Africa, with inevitable echoes of Tolkien, George R.R. Martin and Black Panther, but highly original, its language surging with power, its imagination all-encompassing."

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讀者園地
PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS

講題:克服演說恐懼「心」秘技

講者:陳基榮 先生

主持:柯凱彣 老師

日期:2019/03/19 13:30~15:00

整理:魏妤庭

倫敦時報讀者調查,恐懼演說為第一名。陳基榮先生說明,「面對緊張」是克服緊張最好的辦法。嘗試在害怕時,試著放下情緒,安頓自己,面對眼前的問題,並靜下準備。

【了解上台緊張的原因】

無論練習多少遍,在台前時,仍感到一片空白。究竟為何會產生焦慮呢? 可能的原因大約可分為: 缺少公開演說經驗、不熟悉聽眾和環境、沒準備、過去失敗的經驗、缺乏自信、害怕被批評、覺得自己沒準備好、腎上腺素大量分泌。

愈逃會愈怕,愈逃愈強化,並在心中產生惡性循環(the stage fright cycle)。當壓力產生,逃避不去面對會獲得紓壓的感覺。因此身體記住了逃避放鬆的舒適感,開始迷戀上逃避,這就是所謂逃避的惡性循環。

面對這樣的惡性循環,提供幾點對策:

1. 焦慮是自然反應,了解人人都會有上台焦慮。

遇見焦慮時,不可能忽視它。辨識和感受自己的負向情緒,說出原因後才會啟動理智大腦,能將情緒降到可控制範圍。不去想它並不會讓焦慮得到緩解。

2. 面對與處理,才能克服。

問問自己,講不好會怎麼樣呢?其實到頭來,也就是一次經驗。唯有敢去講,才可能獲得信心,也才可能逐步降低自己的懼怕。

3. 要成功,一定要做好準備。

對於報告內容與設計皆要準備恰當,並事前做好準備。

4. 專心在對的事情,也就是你的報告內容。

準備再好、技能再好,但在當下,影響你演說最核心的議題是你「當下在意」的是什麼?應專注於自己的演說,而非聚焦於觀眾,才能將演說發揮良好。

【演說報告的準備】

1. 知道報告演說的目標與內容,若不知道自己主要的演說重點,將必死無疑。需了解:

  • 為何要做這報告呢?
  • 聽眾是誰? 他們關心什麼議題?
  • 自己想讓聽眾了解什麼?

2. 懂得鋪陳演說內容,規劃報告演說結構。須主題明確、內容充實、重點聚焦。

  • 開頭:一個吸引人的開頭

a) 可以加入戲劇性的元素,自然引入主線。

b) 提出有趣的議題或想法,激發觀眾對此議題的興趣。

c) 播放影片吸引注意。

d) 拋出一個懸念,讓觀眾好奇。

  • 主體:用證據支持論點

關鍵字用明顯的顏色標記,加深觀眾印象,並能順便提醒自己。

  • 結尾:再次強調重點

3. 演講時間分配。

           比例分配:開頭:主體:結尾 = 1:8:1

           如果時間過太快,可以拋一些問題給學生,帶動群體思考與對話。

【演講的技巧】

1. 肢體語言:強化內容的情緒渲染力,也可以降低自己的壓力。

2. 和聽眾互動:別拋出太難的問題,而是要傳遞更好的IDEA,建立與聽眾間的聯繫。

3. 別過度依賴簡報:才不會忽略與觀眾的交流,且語言需精煉。

4. 幽默:如果能讓聽眾發笑,聽眾會最喜歡這場演講。

5. 停頓:可以讓觀眾聚焦在你將要接著說的話,也能用於自己忘記後面所要說 的話時,趁機思考。

【因應上台焦慮】

1. 反覆練習是成功演說的必要條件。

可以嘗試事前和人練習、準備講稿、提早到現場、自己練習時錄影。

2. 周全的準備工作,更安心:

  • CHECK LIST:檢查須帶的設備、道具與資料。
  • 備份:以備不時之需,並存不同格式,以避免格式不相容。
  • 提前到場:提早20分鐘,試播簡報及影音檔,熟悉設備和環境。
  • 安排暗樁:先套好招,讓演講更順暢,也讓自己安定。

3. 前一晚須有充足的睡眠與清淡的飲食。

4. 控制上台前的焦慮。

須避免空腹、嘗試腹式呼吸(深吸4秒,憋氣7秒,再緩緩吐氣8秒)、利用肢體伸展與肌肉來放鬆、吃口香糖能提升注意力、喝水保持潤喉,或在上台時與台下認識的朋友眼神交會,來降低緊張情緒。

5. 用第三人稱對自己說話,給與自己鼓勵和安慰。

6. 自我激勵。

【上台的突發狀況與處理】

1. 緊張的生理反應

別一直看自己在抖的手或腳,不去注意它,更不要拿讓自己的晃動會更明顯的紙或筆。緊張時,嘗試大聲講話,能增加自己的肺活量,並讓呼吸變慢。也可以以停頓、放慢說話速度與緩慢步伐,調整自己。記得千萬不要提醒自己「你在緊張」,不然會讓自己更沒自信。

2. 腦袋卡住/忘詞

有時候自己卡住,別人不一定會發現!停頓不是問題,不要總是想以發聲填滿每一秒鐘。優秀講者能利用時間間隔讓演說更動人、精采。當頭腦當機時,先不要嚇自己,可以用以下方式來解決:看PowerPoint的提示功能、中途插話法(例:詢問同學剛剛自己提到哪些重點)、跳躍銜接法(例:跳過自己忘記的部分)、向聽眾互動(例:轉移提問,創造思考空間)。

3. 台下觀眾的目光/表情

聽眾的表情或眼神回覆,常會讓我們覺得在評價我們的表達內容。但演說時,視線需要有規律的運動,因此此時仍須保持視線的移動,但以看聽眾的頭頂代替目光相接。切記,避免過度往上看,會無法建立信任感。

4. 口誤

口誤時,大家不一定會發現,因此先別慌!

→以正改錯:感謝指正,肯定聽眾有專心聽。

→順水推舟:承諾錯誤,回頭再補正,針對修正部分特別提醒。

5. 觀眾的挑戰與發問

允許他們自由供該討論他們的感覺。

認可他們的感受。

反問提問者與其他學員的意見。(借力使力,請問其他聽眾的看法)

請他們暫時停止發問,至你講完一個段落或簡報結束後,再一併回答。

雖然上台讓人害怕,但面對上台的恐懼,才能夠檢驗自己努力準備的成果。接受自己的緊張,別被自己的焦慮帶著跑。試著放下對於結果地預期,專注在好好地演說上,才能打破對害怕講不好的魔咒。相信自己,其實你比你想像中還要強大。

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