The National Centre for Excellence for Language Pedagogy�(NCELP) �Linking research on language learning and teaching �with classroom practice

Presentation to the Association for Language Learning’s Initial Teacher Education and Training SIG.

2 July 2019. York St. John University.

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Professor Emma Marsden, Director NCELP

University of York

Today’s talk

1. Reasons for NCELP’s beginnings
2. What is NCELP and what is it doing?
3. Approach to pedagogy

Phonics

Vocabulary

Grammar

Meaningful practice

• Where next for NCELP & research into FL pedagogy?

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Part 1: �Some of the reasons behind NCELP’s beginnings

The logic that is driving NCELP’s activities: �Promoting intrinsic motivation

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• Improve pedagogy (something that is within our powers)
• Helps language development
• Gives learners sense of progression, improves self-efficacy
• Increases intrinsic motivation
• Increases numbers studying languages at GCSE

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Percentage of pupils sitting a FL GCSE, 2002-2017

Tinsley & Doležal (2018). Language Trends Survey using data from DfE SFR01.2018 tables S2a and b, S7b, S8b, S9b and LA6

In 1/3 state schools, the majority drop a language aged 13 (starting GCSEs one year earlier)

Just one third 16-year olds achieves at least a Grade 4 (= low pass grade C)

School inspectors’ report (2015): ‘Key Stage 3: The Wasted Years’

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”Achievement was not good enough in just under half of the MFL classes observed, two-fifths of the history classes and one third of the geography classes. It is no surprise, therefore, that there is low take-up in these subjects at GCSE. Some pupils told inspectors that they were not taking these EBacc subjects at Key Stage 4 because they did not enjoy them or had found them difficult at Key Stage 3, particularly MFL. A small number made an explicit link between their choices and the quality of teaching that they had received at Key Stage 3. This is a serious concern given the government’s ambition for all pupils starting Year 7 in September 2015 to take the EBacc subjects when they reach their GCSEs in 2020.”

Premise: poor motivation is due, in part, to poor pedagogy

Some evidence about links between �pedagogy and motivation

• Perceptions of ‘ease’ and sense of ‘achievement following effort’ lead to increased motivation

Graham (2004)

• Just telling learners “FLs are useful” does not influence uptake;
• perceptions of lessons, ‘ease of learning’ and personal relevance count the most

Taylor & Marsden (2014) OASIS summary

• Not being able to ‘sound out’ words is de-motivating

Erler & Macaro (2012) OASIS summary

Articulating a generalizable pedagogy

“teacher cognition” exists and can change

• Classroom practice is not all ‘implicit’ or ‘natural’
• It has a knowledge base
• Research-informed reflection links to professional enrichment

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A role for research in articulating & changing pedagogy

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But research is difficult to:

2. Get hold of (paywalls!)
3. Get time to read!
4. Get training to understand!

Borg, 2010 & 2015; Kasprowicz & Marsden, 2017

Contra Medgyes, 2017

But teachers and teacher educators overwhelming told us they wanted to know about research

(Marsden& Kasprowicz, 2017)

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research-led,�teacher-informed,�co-delivered professional development and resources.

Part 2:

What is NCELP and what is it doing?

NCELP’s beginnings

Teaching Schools Council Report, Nov 2016

Review chaired by Ian Bauckham

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DfE Invitation to Tender for Centre for Excellence, June 2018

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Awarded, September 2018

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Centre began, December 2018

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NCELP team

Director: Prof Emma Marsden (University of York)

Co-Director: Dr Rachel Hawkes (Comberton Academy Trust)

Resource developers

Dr Inge Alferink�Nick Avery

CPD providers

Victoria Hobson�Stephen Owen

Tech team for Gaming Grammar

Andy Wood�Dr Nick Sephton

Tech team, �Resource Portal

Dr Frank Feng�Dr Sebastian Pelucha

Research and CPD specialists�

Prof Suzanne Graham (University of Reading)�KS2-3 transition, literature, meaningful practice��Dr Rowena Kasprowicz (University of Reading)�KS2 knowledge about language, grammar��René Koglbauer (University of Newcastle)�School FL policy, leadership training, CALL��David Shanks (Harris Federation)�School FL policy, CALL, differentiation��Dr Robert Woore (University of Oxford)�Teaching and learning phonics, reading, vocabulary

Management and administration

Ann Mannion, Heather Bradley, Wendy Burns

The Nine Lead Schools

• Dartford Grammar School, Dartford
• Dixons Kings Academy, Bradford
• Presdales School, Ware, Hertfordshire
• Sir William Borlase’s Grammar School, Marlow
• St James’ School, Exeter
• The Broxbourne School, Broxbourne, Hertfordshire
• Archbishop Temple School, Preston
• Blatchington Mill School and Sixth Form, Hove
• Cardinal Hume Catholic School, Gateshead

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Working with 9 Hubs:

9 Lead Schools each with 4 hub schools

Part 3: Approaches to pedagogy

Putting classroom FL learning in context…

In your home language:

17,520 hours exposure by age 4

(Roffwarg et al., 1966, cited in Collins & Muñoz, 2016)

Infants hear 2,000 -15,000 words a DAY! (varies with SES)

(Weisleder & Fernald, 2013)

Have 3,000 - 5,000 spoken words before learn to read

= PRACTICE in understanding, interacting, meaning-making

Foreign language in England:

429 hours in KS3 + KS4 combined (ages 11-16)

Learn 4-10 words an hour

Our expectations are VERY high

short cuts, anyone?!

Conscious learners -> Skill acquisition theory.

General cognitive models of learning

(little reliance on innate linguistic or statistical learning)

DeKeyser, 2015 & 2017

Changing conceptualisations: “skills” and “knowledge”

• Knowledge�Knowledge is what you ‘know and know how to do’

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• Skills�Skill is a performance built on what a person knows … the practice of applying the ‘known’.
• Yet, conceptualisations of skills as Reading, Listening, Speaking, Writing can drive:
• lesson structure, schemes of work, text book units, and tests

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Bachman (1990)

Canale & Swain (1980)

What do we want to teach?

What does it mean to be competent in a language?

NCELP: defining this body of knowledge and providing planned and meaningful practice.

NCELP pedagogy

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• Phonics
• Vocabulary
• Grammar
• Meaningful practice

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Pupils need to gain systematic knowledge of the vocabulary, grammar, and sound and spelling systems (phonics) of their new language, and how these are used by speakers of the language. They need to reinforce this knowledge with extensive planned practice and use it in order to build the skills needed for communication. (MFL Pedagogy Review, p.3)

PHONICS

• selection and order of SSC (symbol-sound correspondences)
• high-frequency ‘source’ words
• staged roll out with more intensive practice activities (and systematic revisiting)
• much more time for French

Erler, L. and Macaro, E. (2012) ‘Decoding Ability in French as a Foreign Language and Language Learning Motivation’. The Modern Language Journal, 95(4): 496-518.

Porter, A.M. (2014) An early start to French literacy: Learning the spoken and written word simultaneously in English primary schools. PhD thesis, University of Southampton.

Woore, R. (2007) ‘“Weisse Maus in Meinem Haus”: Using Poems and Learner Strategies to Help Learners Decode the Sounds of the L2’. Language Learning Journal, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 175-188.

Woore, R. (2009) ‘Beginners’ progress in decoding L2 French: some longitudinal evidence from English Modern Foreign Languages classrooms’. Language Learning Journal, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 3-18.

Woore, R. (2010) ‘Thinking aloud about L2 decoding: an exploration into the strategies used by beginner learners when pronouncing unfamiliar French words’. Language Learning Journal, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 3-17.

Woore, R. (2011) Investigating and developing beginner learners’ decoding proficiency in second language French: an evaluation of two programmes of instruction. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Oxford.

Woore, R. (2014) ‘Beginner learners’ progress in decoding L2 French: transfer effects in typologically similar L1-L2 writing systems’. Writing Systems Research, volume 4(2): 167-189.

Woore, R (2018) ‘Learners’ pronunciations of familiar and unfamiliar French words: what can they tell us about phonological decoding in an L2?’ The Language Learning Journal, 46(4):456-69.

Woore, R., Graham, S., Porter, A., Courtney, L. and Savory, C. (2018) Foreign Language Education: Unlocking Reading (FLEUR) - A study into the teaching of reading to beginner learners of French in secondary school. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:4b0cb239-72f0-49e4-8f32-3672625884f0

Why teach phonics in a FOREIGN language? �(no ready-made sound system to map to symbols!!)

• without explicit phonics teaching, decoding (letters to sounds) limited (Woore, 2008)
• decoding associated positively with motivation
• helps access new written and spoken language autonomously and accurately
• supports vocabulary learning

https://resources.ncelp.org/

Research on current FL phonics teaching in England by Robert Woore, Alison Porter

dans

X

SFC

a

animal

i

midi

eu

deux

e

je

au

gauche

ou

nous

SFE

timide

a

écrire

en/an

enfant

on

Non!

ê/è

tête

ai

vrai

oi

voir

ch

chercher

c

ici

qu

question

j

jour

tion

Attention!

ien

bien

un

un

ain/in

train

u

tu

X

X

Material licensed as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0�

Stephen Owen

Vocabulary in FL

“Vocabulary to be taught should be informed by frequency of occurrence in the language, and special attention should be paid to common verbs in the early stages... A consequence of not attending to frequency of occurrence in vocabulary choice is pupils realising that they cannot say or understand basic things in the language.”

TSC 2016. Modern Foreign Languages Pedagogy Review. A review of modern foreign languages teaching practice in key stage 3 and key stage 4. (Chair: Ian Bauckham). Teaching Schools Council.

Research by Milton, Meara, Marsden & David, Hacker, Woore on lexical learning in early stages

VOCABULARY

• the frequency principle
• the verb lexicon
• mixed word class vocabulary sets
• developing depth �(e.g. through information gaps)

Davies, M, & Davies, K.H. (2018). A Frequency Dictionary of Spanish: Core Vocabulary for Learners. Routledge.�Häcker, M. (2008). Eleven pets and 20 ways to express one's opinion: the vocabulary learners of German acquire at English secondary schools, The Language Learning Journal, 36:2, 215-226.�Jones, R.L. & Tschirner, E. (2006). A frequency dictionary of German: core vocabulary for learners. Routledge.�Lonsdale, D. & Le Bras, Y. (2009) A Frequency dictionary for French. Routledge.�Marsden, E., & David, A. (2008). Vocabulary use during conversation: a cross-sectional study of development from year 9 to year 13 among learners of Spanish and French. Language Learning Journal, 36(2), 181-198. 

Milton, J. (2006). Language Lite? Learning French Vocabulary in School. Journal of French Language Studies, 16,187-205. �Milton, J. (2009). Measuring second language vocabulary acquisition. Multilingual Matters�Milton, J. (2013). Measuring the contribution of vocabulary knowledge to proficiency in the four skills. Eurosla Monographs Series 2, 57-78.  �http://www.eurosla.org/monographs/EM02/Milton.pdf

Schmitt, N. (2008).  Review Article. Instructed second language vocabulary learning.  Language Teaching Research, 12(3), 329–363. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168808089921�Swan, M. (2008). Talking Sense about Learning Strategies, RELC, Vol 39(2), 262-273.

vocabulary learning and expectations in England

• vocabulary knowledge (breadth alone, not even depth or fluency/automaticity) is most important predictor of outcomes
• across modes (production & comprehension) and modalities (oral & written).
• pre-intermediate learners tend to ‘know’ about 2,000 words

= expected vocabulary size at CEFR Threshold B1 level

• 1772 words on the AQA Spanish Higher Minimal Core Vocabulary list
• excludes cognates and exams MUST test other words.
• only about half on board’s list are in most frequent 2,000 words in Spanish language
• So, to get top marks, learners actually need nearer 3,000 words
• Estimates of how many words pupils have on average at GCSE have been around 1,000 – 2,000
• NCELP is helping teachers to determine:
• Which words learners need to know; How can words be effectively taught and retained

En la ciudad [in town]

Mixing word classes – reducing the need to ‘slot and fill’

Material licensed as CC BY-NC-SA 4.0�

Rachel Hawkes

The ‘grammar debate’ (Should we? How?)

Reason 1) Aims for expressing self-identity, communication, and engaging with culture

• rote-learned formulae can be quick win – “il faut que je puisse”

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Reason 2) (Mis?) interpretation of communicative teaching and functional syllabuses

• hiding a thread of grammar & vocabulary progression, behind ‘topics’

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Reason 3) Little access to findings from research on grammar pedagogy

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Reason 4) Little top-down direction about ‘what & how’ of grammar pedagogy

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“many teachers tend to be uncertain about the place of grammar and its relationship to communication … teachers’ insecurity and confusion about grammar teaching led to them adopting diverse and idiosyncratic policy interpretations and practices”

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(Dobson, 2018) (drawing on and citing Liviero 2017 & McClelland, 2018).

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Allez 1 (p. 46)

Pupils told:

“This means ‘My best friend is called X. I have known her for Y years’.

Write it down and learn it with the other phrases for the test next week”

After 29 weeks = 43 hours of French instruction

plus a few hours at primary school for some children

Pupils were shown two written sentences, with open slots for “friend’s name” and “number of years”

After about 15 hours of teaching…

Then, the final task, just add ‘s’…

Grammar in FL

Key recommendations from Pedagogy Review

• Provide an explicit but succinct description of the grammatical feature to be taught
• Provide practice of the grammar point in ‘input language’ (reading / listening)
• Provide practice in productive use of the features being taught
• Practice productive use in free writing and speech in a range of contexts
• Utilise standard grammatical terminology
• Build on knowledge developed at key stage 2

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GRAMMAR

• verb paradigms (staging / minimal pairs)
• input processing
• output activities (trapping the forms)

DeKeyser, R. (2005). What makes second-language grammar learning difficult? A review of issues. Language Learning, 55, 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0023-8333.2005.00294.x

DeKeyser, R. (2015). Skill acquisition theory. In B. VanPatten & J. Williams (Eds.), Theories in second language acquisition: An introduction (pp. 94–112). London, UK: Routledge.

DeKeyser, R., & Prieto Botana, G. (2015). The effectiveness of processing instruction in L2 grammar acquisition: A narrative review. Applied Linguistics, 36, 290–305.�Ellis, N. (2006). Selective attention, and transfer phenomena in L2 acquisition: Contingency, cue competition, salience, interference, overshadowing, blocking, and perceptual learning. Applied Linguistics, 27(2), 164-194.�Lichtman, K. (2016). Age and learning environment: Are children implicit second language learners? Journal of Child Language, 43, 707-730. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000915000598�Marsden, E. (2006). Exploring input processing in the classroom: An experimental comparison of processing instruction and enriched input. Language Learning, 56, 507–566.�Norris, J. & Ortega, L. (2001). Does type of instruction make a difference? Substantive findings from a meta-analytic review. Language Learning, 51, 157-213. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-1770.2001.tb00017.x �VanPatten, B. (2002). Processing instruction: An update. Language Learning, 52(4), 755-803.

Practice of the grammar point in ‘input language’

Example: French 1^st person present versus past tense with avoir (je vs. j’ai)

Listen to these people talking about what they normally do at the weekend and what they did last weekend. You will hear each sentence twice.

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You will hear the whole sentence but the only clue is whether you hear “je” (something happens regularly) or “j’ai” (past).

�1. Normalement Le weekend dernier�2. Normalement Le weekend dernier�3. Normalement Le weekend dernier

4. Normalement Le weekend dernier�5. Normalement Le weekend dernier�

Removed temporal adverb

and

kept main verb constant

(no phonemic difference between present tense and past participle, e.g. fais vs. fait)

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→ Use presence/absence of auxiliary and connect to meaning to identify the tense

(Marsden, 2006)

Meaningful practice

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Planned (SoW!)

Revisited (SoW!)

Making language ‘task essential’

connect grammar in input & production to function

making listening essential during pairwork

Practice in different modalities and modes

Integrating ‘skills’ (dictogloss)

Using, adapting and creating challenging texts, e.g. literature

https://ncelp.org/

https://resources/ncelp.org/

OASIS: https://oasis-database.org

Open Accessible Summaries in Language Studies

among many others

One page, non-technical, openly accessible summaries of high quality peer-reviewed, international research

Want to be alerted about NEW summaries every month?

Sign up in 10 seconds at https://tinyurl.com/oasisalerts

Next steps for NCELP:

Summer 2019

Schemes of Work

Full day hubs, each with 10 extra schools

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Autumn term 2019

Autumn Residential (Oxford)

Motivations to learn

Online grammar digital game, with individualized feedback

Using rich and challenging texts – literature

Use of the target language

Technology for learning vocabulary, especially for differentiation

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Spring term 2020

Error correction

KS2-3 transition

Knowledge of grammar brought from primary school

Research needed

Current DfE success criteria:

• Effects on uptake (motivation)
• Developing teacher confidence following engagement with research
• Teacher’s perceptions of usefulness of NCELP resources

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2. What words do children really need to know?
• Our understanding of which words are useful currently has to be based on word frequencies taken from first language (largely adult) corpora
• (formality, register appropriate?)
3. Drawing on knowledge of English brought from primary school
4. Establishing a ‘test to teach to’ (Ofqual) for oral production
5. Data on learning of phonics, vocab. & grammar

References (for those without links to OASIS summaries)

Bachman, L. (1990) Communicative language ability in Bachman, L. Fundamental Considerations in Language Testing, Cambridge University Press, chapter 4, pp. 81-109

Canale, M. & Swain, M. (1980). Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics, 1, 1-44.

Collins, L., & Muñoz, C. (2016). The foreign language classroom:Current perspectives and future considerations. The Modern Language Journal, 100(1), 133-147.

DeKeyser, R. (2015). Skill acquisition theory. In B. VanPatten & J. Williams (Eds.), Theories in second language acquisition: An introduction (pp. 94-112). London: Routledge.

DeKeyser, R. (2017). Knowledge and skill in ISLA. In S. Loewen and M. Sato (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Instructed Second Language Acquisition (pp. 15–32). London: Routledge.

Graham, S. J. (2004) Giving up on modern foreign languages? Students' perceptions of learning French. The Modern Language Journal, 88 (2). pp. 171-191

Maley, A. 2016. ‘“More research is needed”—a mantra too far?’. Humanising Language Teaching 18/3. Available at http://www.hltmag.co.uk/jun16/mart01. htm#C12 (accessed on 15 May 2017).

Medgyes, P., 2017. The (ir)relevance of academic research for the language teacher. ELT Journal, 71(4), pp.491-498.

Roffwarg, H. P., Muzio, J. N., & Dement, W. C. (1966). Ontogenetic development of the human sleep dream cycle. Science, 152, 604–618.

Weisleder, A & Fernald, A. (2013) Talking to children matters: Early language experience strengthens processing and builds vocabulary. Psychological Science 24 i11, 2143-2152

Foreign languages at GCSE … for all ?

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Regional and socio-economic inequality of language learning

Improving social mobility through education:

“Unlocking talent; Fulfilling potential” (Government policy paper, Dec 2017)

“Ensure that disadvantaged pupils can access the core academic subjects that unlock opportunity … In particular, we will make it our mission to improve access to high quality modern foreign languages subject teaching, particularly for disadvantaged pupils, drawing on the findings of the Teaching Schools Council review by Ian Bauckham – building expert hubs to share best practice, targeted in disadvantaged areas.”

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Tinsley, T. & Doležal, N. (2018). Language Trends Survey

Teaching and Learning Council (2016) Modern Foreign Language Pedagogy Review �