Q: When using an authentic audio or video it is important to use only ‘native speakers’. Do you agree or disagree? Give reasons.
A: I disagree, and don't think I can give any better reasons and support for it than Phil already has! (Thanks, Phil!).
I would just add that I think the 'awareness raising' aspect is really key. And not ONLY if it's true that learners will, in fact, be constantly exposed to different English speakers and varieties. There's basically intrinsic value in the diversity of voices that share the space.
This question also made me think about another issue, perhaps smaller on a planetary level but looming large in certain quarters - English "native speakers" listening well to non-native English users. Having taught back in the US for my previous 6 years, this was a big deal. I was sometimes the only person around who could easily understand the English spoken by any number of people, and the only person who could respond and interact strategically, offering affordances for both building understanding and requesting clarification.
So, I wanted to share this amazing resource related to this specific issue, but I think that it's not only full of food for thought and strategies for NSs but also an NNS-NNS ELF cross-cultural contexts like, say, a campus full of international students.
Here: http://www.cornell.edu/video/playlist/improving-communication-with-non-native-speakers
http://www.cornell.edu/video/playlist/improving-communication-with-non-native-speakers
That's a great point Matthew. I get to listen to a lot of conference calls for needs analyses and it's almost always an attendee from North America, the UK or Australia who struggles with understanding what's being said on a call with a cross-border team and interestingly participants with a lower proficiency in English seem to have many more strategies for coping with a breakdown of communication - I tend to find that Europeans are particularly adept at this.
ReplyDeleteGood observations to share from ESL contexts and thanks for the resource. Europeans and non-native speakers tend to be better at communicating with a range of other speakers, too, compared to monolinguals.
ReplyDeleteSweet. A link to a mini course-like guide.
ReplyDeleteThank you.