Listening and Speaking Skills for ESL Students Entering the HCSW Program
Curriculum guideline
The instructor will facilitate, observe, and evaluate students' participation in communicative activities. Whole and small group instruction will be combined with individual assistance and student-directed learning. Students will participate in the setting of goals by identifying their communicative and language development needs.
Listening Skills
Audio scripts and videos will have a health or healthcare focus whenever possible.
Understand brief descriptive and narrative presentations such as short lectures, news reports, health bulletins, informational videos and case studies.
- Use pre-listening strategies: review titles, subtitles, and visuals; predict content based on prior knowledge of topic.
- Identify purpose and/or issue, overall key idea, main ideas, and key details.
- Identify and use discourse markers and patterns of chronological order and sequence, comparison and contrast, and cause and effect to follow information and ideas.
- Identify facts and opinions.
- Use a variety of note-taking techniques.
Understand directions and instructions for tasks and/or procedures.
- Use sequence markers, cohesive devices and other linguistic clues to follow order of steps.
- Infer meaning of unfamiliar words/phrases from context.
Understand one-on-one and small group interactions and discussions such as student-teacher interviews, student project meetings, and interactions among healthcare professionals and clients.
- Identify purpose, main ideas, and details.
- Identify implied meanings.
- Follow discourse markers and cohesive devices signaling cause and effect, condition, and result.
- Understand requests, suggestions, reminders, and complaints.
- Identify language functions used to convey appreciation, disappointment, satisfaction, dissatisfaction, suggestions, and complaints.
- Identify register, situation, and relationship between speakers.
- Identify mood and attitude from tone, intonation and body language.
Determine meaning of unfamiliar words/phrases during listening tasks.
- Refer to pre-listening and reference materials, and use context clues to determine meaning and use of new words/phrases.
Speaking Skills
Speaking tasks will have a health or healthcare focus whenever possible.
Give formal and informal presentations (up to 10 minutes in length).
- Provide necessary information according to assignment.
- Develop and outline introduction, development, and conclusion.
- Use rhetorical styles to show cause/effect, comparison/contrast, and chronological order.
- Integrate multiple pieces of information coherently.
- Use appropriate discourse markers.
- Adapt speaking style and register to different audiences and situations.
- Use pictures and other visuals (simple graphs, charts, and tables) to support presentation.
- Use a range of appropriate nonverbal clues and signals such as eye contact and body language.
Participate in small group discussions and one-on-one interactions.
- Introduce a topic; change topic.
- Request/give opinions, advice, suggestions, or recommendations using appropriate register and tone.
- Agree/disagree using appropriate expressions, register, and tone.
- Ask follow-up questions to keep conversation going.
- Summarize/paraphrase information and ideas to clarify and confirm understanding.
- Paraphrase main points of a contribution by someone else.
- Hold the floor, share the floor, and thank others for their contributions and information.
- Interrupt appropriately.
- Give feedback to other students, such as suggestions, recommendations, and advice.
Give instructions/directions.
- Organize information into appropriate steps.
- Provide necessary information and details.
- Use imperatives correctly.
- Use appropriate sequence markers and intonation.
Participate in social conversations to make/respond to a complaint or express/respond to appreciation, satisfaction, and dissatisfaction.
- Use short expressions to open, close, and extend a conversation.
- Ask follow-up questions to keep a conversation going.
- Change the topic appropriately.
- Confirm comprehension by repeating and/or paraphrasing information.
Participate in brief work-related phone calls.
- Use appropriate expressions to answer the phone, greet the caller, and close the conversation.
- Provide necessary information.
- Clarify and confirm information.
Pronunciation
- Identify and produce basic sounds of English including vowels, consonants, and consonant clusters.
- Identify and use appropriate word, phrase and sentence stress.
- Identify and use appropriate intonation and rhythm.
- Identify personal pronunciation difficulties and practice strategies to make improvements.
Reading and Writing
Read to prepare for, support, and extend listening and speaking skills.
- Follow written assignment instructions.
- Use context clues to determine meanings of unfamiliar words.
- Use readings as background material for listening and speaking tasks.
- Write reflectively.
- Write with a specified level of accuracy to extend speaking skills.
- Write notes, dictations, outlines, interview questions and answers, reports, and summaries.
- Use written materials in listening and speaking tasks (e.g., informal reports).
Accuracy
For explicit instruction and evaluation:
Grammar
- Correctly form and use verb aspect (simple, progressive, perfect) and tense (past, present, future).
- Review form, meaning, and use of basic reported speech including tense rules and questions.
- Correctly form and use basic modals to make requests and suggestions and express advice, obligation, preference, and possibility.
- Correctly form and use adverb clauses (time, purpose, condition, reason) and relative/adjective clauses.
- Expand the range of discourse markers/connectors to join ideas.
- Identify and correct errors in word order.
Vocabulary
- Appropriately use a range of idiomatic language, cultural references, and figures of speech.
- Identify and correct errors in word forms (nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs).
Register
- Identify and use a range of different styles and registers appropriate for formal and informal academic and professional audiences and situations.
Self-monitor for accuracy:
- Apply knowledge of parts of speech, word choice, register, sentence elements, specified sentence types, and mechanics as specified for this level to identify and correct errors.
- Show improvement in self-monitoring for accuracy during presentations and discussions.
Study/Classroom Skills
Use study skills
- Use notes to complete assignments and prepare for formal evaluations.
- Learn and memorize content and vocabulary from class materials.
- Use myDouglas and/or Blackboard for communication and coursework purposes.
Take responsibility for
- attendance and punctuality.
- class work and assignments.
- participation and teamwork.
- proper classroom etiquette.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
Listening
- Understand extended (up to 15 minutes) informal descriptive or narrative presentations or talks (with visuals) on topics related to health or healthcare (CLB L 7-IV-ii).
- Understand requests, reminders, suggestions, and recommendations in situations related to health or healthcare (CLB L 7-III).
- Understand multistep (up to 12 steps) directions and instructions for tasks and/or procedures related to health or healthcare (CLB L 7-II).
- Understand short group interactions and discussions on topics related to health or healthcare (CLB L 7-IV-i).
- Understand moderately complex social exchanges such as expressions of and responses to appreciation, complaints, disappointment, satisfaction, dissatisfaction, approval, and disapproval (CLB L 7-I).
Speaking
- Give presentations (up to about 10 minutes) about complex processes or to describe, compare, and contrast in detail two procedures related to health or healthcare (CLB S 7-IV-ii).
- Give warnings, suggestions, recommendations, or advice using appropriate register and tone (CLB S 7-III).
- Give instructions and/or directions for technical and non-technical tasks, procedures, and processes related to health or healthcare (CLB S 7-II).
- Give detailed information; express and qualify opinions and feelings; express approval, disapproval, possibilities and probabilities in one-on-one interactions or small group discussions using appropriate tone and register (CLB S 7-IV-i).
- Express and respond to complaints, approval, disapproval, satisfaction, and dissatisfaction using appropriate tone and register (CLB S 7-I-i).
- Participate in brief work-related phone calls (CLB S 7-I-ii).
- Monitor and apply strategies to a specified level of accuracy in grammar, sentence structure, word choice, and pronunciation.
Pronunciation
- Accurately identify and produce English sounds in isolation and in combination in communicative situations.
- Accurately identify and use English word and sentence stress, intonation, and rhythm patterns in communicative situations.
- Identify personal pronunciation difficulties and use strategies and techniques to improve these areas.
- Speak with comprehensible pronunciation in short conversations or presentations, and in less predicatble communicative situations.
Classroom Skills
- Assess own progress.
- Participate effectively in a college classroom.
Student achievement will be assessed using the Mastery-grading system in accordance with College policy. Evaluation will be based on CLB and instructor specified criteria. Mastery will be granted to students who achieve an average of 70% on the following portfolio items for both listening and speaking. For final evaluation at the end of term, student portfolios will contain at least six listening tasks and six speaking tasks; some tasks may be a combination of both skills.
Evaluation will include, but may not be limited to, the following tasks.
Listening
Listen to and understand at least two descriptive or narrative presentations or talks (up to 15 minutes; with visuals) on topics related to health or healthcare. Assessment criteria may include, but are not limited to, the ability to:
- Identify purpose and/or issue, overall key idea, main ideas, and key details.
- Identify discourse markers and patterns of chronological order and sequence, comparison and contrast, and cause and effect.
- Identify facts and opinions.
- Take notes.
Listen to and understand at least one short announcement, report or conversation in which the speakers are making or responding to a request, suggestion, or recommendation related to health or healthcare. Assessment criteria may include, but are not limited to, the ability to:
- Identify purpose, main ideas, and details.
- Identify implied meanings.
- Identify requests, suggestions, reminders, and complaints.
- Identify language functions used to convey requests, suggestions, and recommendations.
- Identify register, situation, and relationship between speakers.
- Identify mood and attitude from tone, intonation and body language.
Listen to and understand at least one set of multistep (up to 12 steps) directions and instructions for simple tasks and/or procedures related to health or healthcare. Assessment criteria may include, but are not limited to, the ability to:
- Use sequence markers, cohesive devices and other linguistic clues to follow order of steps.
- Infer meaning of unfamiliar words/phrases from context.
Listen to and understand at least one short discussion such as a TV or radio interview or a study group meeting on topics related to health or healthcare. Assessment criteria may include, but are not limited to, the ability to:
- Identify purpose, main ideas, and details.
- Identify implied meanings.
- Follow discourse markers and cohesive devices signaling cause and effect, condition, and result.
- Identify register, situation, and relationship between speakers.
- Identify mood and attitude from tone, intonation and body language.
Listen to and understand at least one moderately complex exchange between a patient and a healthcare professional in which the speakers are expressing and/or responding to appreciation, a complaint, disappointment, satisfaction, or dissatisfaction. Assessment criteria may include, but are not limited to, the ability to:
- Identify purpose, main ideas, and details.
- Identify implied meanings.
- Identify language functions used to convey appreciation, disappointment, satisfaction, dissatisfaction, and complaints.
- Identify register, situation, and relationship between speakers.
- Identify mood and attitude from tone, intonation and body language.
Speaking
Give at least one short presentation (up to about 10 minutes) about a complex process or to describe, compare, and contrast in detail two procedures related to health or healthcare. Assessment criteria may include, but are not limited to, the ability to:
- Provide necessary information according to the assignment.
- Use appropriate introduction, development, and conclusion.
- Use rhetorical styles to show cause/effect, comparison/contrast, and/or chronological order based on assignment.
- Integrate multiple pieces of information coherently.
- Use appropriate discourse markers.
- Adapt speaking style and register to suit audience and situation.
- Use pictures and other visuals (simple graphs, charts, and tables) to support presentations.
- Use a range of appropriate nonverbal clues and signals such as eye contact and body language.
Give at least two sets of instructions and/or directions for technical or non-technical tasks, procedures, or processes related to health or healthcare. Assessment criteria may include, but are not limited to, the ability to:
- Provide all necessary information and details in clearly organized manner.
- Use appropriate sequence markers and intonation.
- Use imperatives correctly.
Participate effectively in at least two small group discussions and/or one-on-one interactions such as role-plays and interviews on a topic related to health or healthcare. Assessment criteria may include, but are not limited to, the ability to:
- Introduce a topic; change topic.
- Request/give opinions, advice, suggestions, or recommendations using appropriate register, tone, and body language.
- Agree/disagree using appropriate expressions, register, tone and body language.
- Ask follow-up questions to keep conversation going.
- Summarize/paraphrase information and ideas to clarify and confirm understanding.
- Paraphrase main points of a contribution by someone else.
- Hold the floor, share the floor, and thank others for their contributions and information.
- Interrupt appropriately.
- Give feedback to other students which can include suggestions, recommendations, and advice.
Participate in at least one social conversation to make/respond to a complaint or express/respond to appreciation, satisfaction, and dissatisfaction. Assessment criteria may include, but are not limited to, the ability to:
- Use short expressions to open, close, and extend a conversation.
- Ask follow-up questions to keep a conversation going.
- Change the topic appropriately.
- Confirm comprehension by repeating and/or paraphrasing information.
- Use appropriate tone, register, and body language while expressing and/or responding to complaints, satisfaction and dissatisfaction.
Participate effectively in at least one brief academic/work-related phone call such as leaving a message for an instructor/employer regarding an absence or clarifying a homework/work assignment. Assessment criteria may include, but are not limited to, the ability to:
- Use appropriate expressions to answer the phone, greet the caller, and close the conversation.
- Provide necessary information.
- Clarify and confirm information appropriately.
Students may also be required to give short impromptu talks to a small group on a topic or issue related to health or healthcare.
Pronunciation
Complete at least two pronunciation quizzes which focus on the English sound system, word and sentence stress, intonation, and rhythm patterns.
Classroom skills
Complete at least one self-assessment of learning strategies, progress, strengths, weaknesses, and classroom skills to be discussed with the instructor.
Students may be required to purchase textbooks for this course.
A minimum of CLB 6 in both listening and speaking
None
ELLA 0703