RATE Issues

"Ma’am, thank you for your ‘teach'": Oral Reporting

by Divya John, PhD, Department of English, Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering (SSN College of Engineering), Chennai, India

Keywords: oral reporting, speaking skills, task repetition, vernacular-medium learners

Abstract
Teaching vernacular-medium students (those who have had their mother tongue as the medium of instruction at school) how to speak English is a challenge that teachers face because they know these students would not be able to produce meaningful sentences as they lack vocabulary, grammar and sentence structure. This study was conducted at SSN College of Engineering, Chennai, India, for a batch of 25 vernacular-medium learners who were admitted under a rural scholarship scheme in the academic year 2018-2019. To teach oral reporting, this teacher-researcher (I) designed five activities, and found out by the end of the fifth activity that the learners could take part in them successfully because similar tasks were repeated. An analysis of the spoken data was conducted to measure their success at the functional level. The samples of the spoken transcripts are documented in the paper to show the difficulties the students faced while participating in the activities. This article confirms that in teaching oral reporting to the lower proficiency learners (A1 and A2 levels), three aspects -- the type of task selected; giving enough preparation time for the learners; repeating the given task -- can enhance their confidence.

1. Introduction
After my sessions on oral reporting, a vernacular-medium student approached me with a beaming smile, saying, “Ma’am, thank you for your ‘teach.’” My reaction was obviously sad and happy – sad, because he did not know that he should use ‘teaching’ -- and happy, because he conveyed so much in that sentence. On further enquiry, I found out that he was trying to communicate his excitement to me for being able to speak with confidence during the activities. Subsequently, this paper took shape as an attempt to initiate vernacular-medium learners into the basics of oral reporting. As every day communication involves a great deal of oral reports on visits, incidents, news, laboratory experiments, personal experiences, research and so on, five activities were designed to introduce the students to oral reporting. The study describes what happened during 2 sessions of 2 hours each. The students took part wholeheartedly in the activities and were able to convey their thoughts in English though only at the functional level.

This study was conducted in the academic year 2018-2019 for 25 vernacular-medium students from rural government schools admitted yearly on the basis of merit on scholarship to SSN College of Engineering, Chennai, an autonomous college affiliated to Anna University, Chennai, India. These students have done their 12 years of schooling in their mother tongue; hence referred to here as ‘vernacular-medium’ students and are placed at A1 or A2 level at the time of admission. They are toppers of government-schools from different districts in Tamil Nadu and admitted to different branches of first-year engineering courses. Due to their low economic background, the above-mentioned scholarship supports them with free education and hostel accommodation with wi-fi facilities for all the 4 years. In addition, they are given a bridge course of 20 days in English LSRW skills just before the regular classes begin in order to cope with the English-medium students who are placed between B1 and C2 levels.

2. Research Question
1. What are the problems faced by the vernacular-medium students in speaking?
2. How far did the task repetition of oral reporting activities make the vernacular-medium learners confident in speaking?

3. Literature Review: Task Type, Task Preparation Time, Task Repetition

3. 1. Task Type
Enabling lower-proficiency students to practice casual conversation is the prime responsibility of an ESL teacher. Slade (1997) analyses the different genres that occurred in 27 hours of workplace casual conversation: narrative, anecdote, recount, exemplum (a story with a moral value); observation / comment, opinion, gossip, and joke telling. The four different kinds of storytelling texts are the narrative, anecdote, recount and exemplum (Slade 1997; Eggins & Slade 1997; Joyce & Slade 2000; Goh and Burns 2012). The oral reporting activities were designed for the classroom keeping in mind the different genres of formal and informal conversation.

The four processes that directly contribute to the speech production model are: (1) Conceptual preparation, that is, thinking about what to say, (2) Formulation, that is, how to say it, (3) Articulation, that is, actually saying it aloud, and (4) Self-monitoring, that is, checking one’s speech for accuracy and acceptability (Levelt 1989; Thornbury 2005; Goh & Burns 2012). Goh and Burns (2012) explicate a teaching cycle of seven stages for developing the speaking ability of students: focus the learners’ attention on speaking; provide the input and / or guide planning; conduct speaking tasks; focus on language / discourse / skills / strategies; repeat speaking tasks; direct the learners’ reflection on learning; and facilitate a feedback on learning. Of these 7 stages of the teaching speaking, this teacher-researcher considers ‘repeating the task’ most significant though neglected by teachers for want of time.

3. 2. Task Preparation Time
This study is based on the theory of Goh & Burns (2012) that says a significant motivation for speaking is giving the learners more planning time during the preparation stage so that they would be able to perform well during the articulation stage. Thus, the learners get more time to conceptualize and formulate their messages before moving on to the production stage (Goh & Burns 2012).

3. 3. Task Repetition
Repeating the task is definitely possible in smaller groups. By repeating the same or similar tasks, the learners might be able to improve upon what they know. This would save the time to conceptualize what to speak, formulate words, and articulate in a more efficient, effective and accurate manner (Bygate 2001; Goh & Burns 2012; Ahmadian 2012). Bygate (2001) documents the effects of task repetition, that is, repeating the same or slightly altered task a large number of times over a short period of time. In “Task repetition in ELT,” Ahmadian (2012) records the positive findings of task repetition on the fluency and accuracy of the learners’ oral production. Saeedi & Rahimi Kazerooni (2014) cite an empirical study that shows that the task repetition of narrative tasks (loosely structured and tightly structured) contributes to the learner’s oral performance. The task repetition of a tightly structured narrative task brings about gains in complexity, fluency as well as accuracy. Hsu (2017) examines the combined effect of task repetition and post-task transcribing on L2 speaking complexity, accuracy and fluency and affirms that the combined effect leads to a more accurate oral production. Hu (2018) also asserts that task repetition results in greater accuracy and affects fluency measures.

This teacher-researcher recommends three crucial aspects to inculcate the teaching of speaking in the lower proficiency learners. They are: the type of task selected; giving the learners enough preparation time; and repeating the given task. The teacher’s assistance is required at all the three stages for the optimum performance of the students.

4. The Methodology and the Procedure Followed in the Classroom

The data was collected and analysed by the teacher-researcher as follows: observing classroom performance, transcribing the students’ spoken language, and collecting the students’ written feedback and notes taken.

The study was carried out on 2 days, 2 hours each and the students were divided into 6 groups for the discussion and each group reported their findings to the whole class. As already stated, five activities were designed to introduce oral reporting. At the outset, the teacher-researcher described oral reporting as the talking account of an event in the past or of a sequence of events in the past reported in the chronological order. The students were also made aware of the need to use the past tense in oral reporting because it is the account of a completed event. The teacher-researcher discussed common verbs used for reporting like “say, tell, decide, agree, suggest, invite, recommend, insist,” and a few sentence structures.

After the first activity was conducted, the students learnt the structure of an oral report which comprises the introduction, body and conclusion. The common phrases for structuring a report were also discussed:
How to begin a talk: For example: “I’m going to report the discussion in our group . . . “
How to arrange ideas in 3 or 5 points: For example: “First; second; third; . . .”
How to arrive at a conclusion: For example: “To sum up; in conclusion; finally; . . .”

The remaining four activities were conducted and their spoken transcripts recorded by the teacher. The written notes were collected from the students. After the fifth activity, a written feedback was taken from the students based on the following questions:
1. What did you gain from the oral reporting activities?
2. What were the problems faced during the oral reporting activities?

5. The Activities Designed for Oral Reporting
The 25 vernacular-medium students were divided into 6 groups of 4 each; Group 1 had 5 members.
Activity 1 - Inviting a Celebrity for the College Day
Every member in the groups chooses the name of a celebrity to be invited for the college day, giving the reason for the choice. Out of the 4 names suggested in a group, the students arrive at a common choice. Then one person from each group gives an oral report of the choices made within the group.
Activity 2 - Newspaper Reporting
Everyone in the groups reports a topic of their choice from a recent newspaper. Then, one from each group reports all the 4 news-items narrated in the group.
Activity 3 - Your Pleasant Childhood Memory
Each one in the groups narrates a pleasant memorable childhood incident. Then, one person from each group reports the 4 memories narrated in the group.
Activity 4 - Your Favourite Movie
The members in the groups suggest the name of a Tamil movie they would recommend to a friend from another state, giving the reason for the choice. Then, one from each group gives an oral report of the 4 movies suggested within the group.
Activity 5 - The Invention you Like Best
The members of all the groups suggest the invention they like best, giving the reason for the selection. Then, one from each group reports on the 4 inventions suggested in the groups.

6. The Transcripts of the Spoken Samples
Some samples of the transcripts are recorded here because oral reporting was done as a speaking activity. The names of the students are abbreviated here for obvious reasons.

Activity 1 - Inviting a Celebrity for the College Day
The following is the written record of the spoken transcript of Activity 1 by Group 1:
Good afternoon everyone.
In my opinion, I like to invite Mr. Ajithkumar because he is handsome. He performed well. He handle his problem very well.
Next our team member, SM, like to invite Kamal Hasan because he speaks very well. He like him very much. He is a very simple person.
Our team member, RT, like to invite actress, Nasriya. She is very beautiful. She acts well. She is a kindly person.
Next, SS, like to invite Siva Karthikeyan because he is very smart. He is a middle-class man. He is a famous actor and introduced first “Attu, ittu, enthu” program in Vijay TV.
Finally, our team member, KMK, like to invite Mr Shiv Nadar who is the founder of --- College. He grown up from his hard work. He is from village but now he is the great businessman. He helps the poor student. Finally, we agree with KMK. We will like to invite Mr Shiv Nadar to our college.
Activity 2 - Newspaper Reporting
The following is the written record of the spoken transcript of Activity 2 by Group 2:
Firstly, my team member, SA, read about cricket news. India won the match England 3-0 won the series.
Second, my team member, TS, read about DNA test being used to reunite children with parents.
Third, my team member read about heavy rain in Mumbai city. So, Mumbai people are injured.
Finally, I read about Natesan park is being renovated solar-powered charging system. Solar panels of 1kv capacity have been sourced at a cost of ₹80000.
Activity 3 - Your Pleasant Childhood Memory
The following is the written record of the spoken transcript of Activity 3 by Group 3:
When KS studied in 6th Standard, she participated in a drawing competition. The teacher insulted her and her drawing. But she studied in 7th Std., she participate the state level drawing competition and got a first prize and got a medal. It was her most memorable moment in her life.
When VV was 5 years old, her parents were admitting her to the 1st Standard. She didn't want to go to school and she was crying. Everyday then her school headmaster bought her a chocolate. After that she started going to the school.
When LS was studying first Standard, his school had conducted the running race competition. He won the first prize, and his village president congratulated and gave cash award.
The most memorable day in RS life when she got an admit to her secondary school. This made her parents proud of happy.
Activity 4 - Your Favourite Movie
The following is the written record of the spoken transcript of Activity 4 by Group 4:
Firstly, my team member, RSS, suggested "Thiruppachi" movie. This movie tells about the relationship between brother and sister, because she love her brother very much.
Secondly, my team member, GL, suggested "Saatai" movie, because this movie tell about the relationship between teachers and students in school.
Thirdly my team member, AS, suggested "Santhiramugi" movie, because in this movie five famous Tamil actors were act, and all songs were composed well.
Finally, I suggested "Theri" movie because this movie tells about a critical life of policeman.
Activity 5 - The Invention you Like Best
The following is the written record of the spoken transcript of Activity 5 by Group 5:
The invention KR suggested is solar system. The system is nature and it not create the pollution.
The invention AA suggested is satellite. India launched many satellite in the space and we get many information for the satellite ex weather, flood famine.
The invention I suggest is smart phone. World is in our hand. We improved our knowledge. We watched many movies.
The invention NV suggested is washing machine. It is very useful for women to save time save energy, dress are very clean and brightness.

7. Discussion and Analysis
The students did show some progress in learning. For example, they could organize their ideas using connectors like, “First; second; third;” They could also conclude the report using phrases like, “Finally.”

In Activity 2, “Newspaper Reporting,” the students were allowed to use the Internet. Yet, they had difficulty in reporting the news. They just noted down a few sentences here and there from the Internet, and read it out instead of reporting the news in their own words. So, the sentences seemed disconnected.

In Activity 3, “Your Pleasant Childhood Memory,” all the team members were expected to speak about their memorable moment in life and one team member was to speak about it. But what actually happened in the class was that the team members wrote down their experience and one member read that aloud. So, the speaking activity turned out to be a read aloud activity. In fact, some members wrote in the third person itself to help the performing student to read it out easily. It would have been better if each one had personally spoken about the event.

Many students did not know how to use the verb “suggest.” The teacher-researcher explained it and gave examples of its usage. Similarly, the pronouns “he” and “she” were used wrongly in a number of places. A few students requested the teacher to provide them with the introductory sentence for oral reporting. Some of them appeared unsure of subject-verb concord too. For example, at one instance, a student used, “He sing well,” and in the very same report he changed to, “He sings well” not aware of what to use.

While the teacher-researcher was going around during the activity, giving help whenever needed, some written notes were corrected. What the performing students did was just a read-aloud, and so there were no mistakes at the production stage. The scripts that were not corrected had errors. It would have been better if the teacher-researcher had corrected the mistakes before the activity was presented in which case fossilization of the errors would not have taken place. It so happened because the teacher was trying to find out the problems of students while performing the activities.

8. Problems Faced by the Students
The students were instructed to use simple sentences to avoid mistakes. Yet their spoken language showed several problems regarding tense, subject-verb agreement, sentence structure, constructing meaningful sentence, articles, prepositions, number, vocabulary, spelling, and so on. A few examples are given below.

Examples of error in tense from the spoken transcript:
“We are discussed about the event.”
“His family planned to went to Kodaikanal.”
“I was participated in singing competition.”
“. . . because in this movie five famous Tamil actors were act.”

Examples of error in subject-verb agreement from the spoken transcript:
“He handle his problem very well.”
“. . . because this movie tell about the relationship . . .”
“. . . they admires most.”
“She rescue the child from terrorist.”

Examples of error in sentence structures from the spoken transcript:
“We are invited any actor in our college day function.”
“We are suggest to invite Kamal Hasan.”
“Logeswaran says that invite a person MS Dhoni.”
“Me and my team member Rajalakshmi told to suggested to Vijay Sir.”

Examples of error in constructing meaningful sentence from the spoken transcript:
“All the sweet memories freeze one copy.”
“His speech motivating student and get inspiration to follow it.”
“He Agaram foundation successfully running.”

Examples of error in articles from the spoken transcript:
“It had a unbelievable fight scenes.”
“She is a inspiring women.”
“Because he is world famous cricketer.”
“We can go to the anywhere and anytime.”

Examples of error in prepositions from the spoken transcript:
“So I proud to that.”
“She tried find her family.”
“He developed India last four year very well.”

Examples of error in numbers from the spoken transcript:
“Many company launched in India.”
“India launched many satellite in the space.”

Examples of error in vocabulary from the spoken transcript:
“He is a good comedy” Instead of “he is a good comedian.”
“This made her parents proud of happy.”

Examples of error in spelling from the written transcript:
‘Partisepited’ for ‘participated’; ‘anvel day’ for ‘annual day’; ‘celeberation’ and ‘celleberation’ for celebration’; ‘hunsom’ for ‘handsome’; ‘issude’ for ‘issued’; ‘stituvation’ for ‘situation’; ‘captensy’ for ‘captaincy’; ‘askar’ for ‘oscar’; ‘desition’ for ‘decision’; ‘deddy bear’ for ‘teddy bear.’

9. What the Students Gained from the Activities
The activities increased the students’ confidence. In fact, they were reluctant to participate when the first activity was introduced to them. Gradually they were made conscious of the need to perform in order to improve their oral proficiency. At the end of the five activities, they became confident about using the English language despite the several errors they made in sentence construction, grammar, pronunciation, etc. During the last activity, they performed with ease. This clearly shows that the repetition of the task is the secret behind the confidence. One of them from Group 3 commented, “It gives me more confidence.” Another from Group 4 remarked, “It improved our confident level.”

The students were unwilling to take part in the tasks because of fear and stage fright. That combined with a lack of the spoken language prevented them from participating in the activities in the beginning. One of the students said, “We had some stage fear before these activities. But after we corrected it.” Another student noted, “We are relieved the stage fear.” Yet another observed, “At the class time we are faced stage fear and shy feel.” There is no gainsaying the fact that the repetition of the task may have been the cause for the courage.

The activities enabled the students to think and act on their own. Some of them felt that they used their brains to think. The verdict of a member from Group 1 meant almost the same, “The activities made us well speaker in English (sic).”

As the activities progressed, the students began grasping the directions given by the teacher. One of them from Group 2 pointed out their difficulty in following the teacher’s language: “First she came the classroom did not understand your language.” Another from Group 4 opined, “First we don't understand your language. You speak slowly than next time we are understand ma'am. We are enjoyed in your class ma'am. Please come again ma'am. We are waiting many.” The gratitude of the students was obvious from their attitude to the teacher more than the words they could pronounce. They thanked the teacher for the practice given to them thus, “First of all thank you ma'am. Because you have many time to practise lot of activities.” There is no doubt that the repetitive practice helped them to perform in the manner they possibly could.

10. Limitations of the Study and Future Implications of the Research
The study was planned enthusiastically, but unfortunately the teacher-researcher was not able to correct all the written notes, and so the other scripts had errors. If the teacher had stopped after the first activity, corrected the mistakes before the activity was presented, and then made them repeat the task, the result would have been much better. In fact, “task repetition” after the teacher’s correction would have made the students’ oral production better.

The first 3 activities were meant to be spoken but the students wrote down complete sentences during the preparation stage and converted the tasks into “read aloud” activities. During the preparation stage of the last two activities, the teacher insisted on noting down points instead of full sentences. However, during the production stage, only some of them could convert their points into complete sentences. Out of the two sessions spent on oral reporting, the teacher could have allotted sufficient time for a detailed feedback on the spoken language and written notes.

This study provides a scope for further studies too. Most of the studies conducted on task repetition highlights the positive effects of task repetition, particularly, increasing the fluency and accuracy of the students’ spoken language. What this teacher-researcher personally observed from the study is that “task repetition” enhances not only the fluency and accuracy of the students’ spoken language but also their confidence level in emerging from their sheltered cocoons to speak out boldly and confidently.

11. Conclusion
This study, conducted for a class of 25 vernacular-medium learners in the academic year 2018-2019, is based on the teacher-researcher’s recommendation that the teaching of speaking can be inculcated in the lower-proficiency learners by adhering to three crucial aspects of teaching – the type of task selected; giving enough preparation time for the learners; and repeating a given task. The study describes teaching oral reporting for 2 hours each on 2 days. Five oral reporting activities were designed for the students. An analysis of the data was conducted to find out how successful they were in playing their part in the activities. The teacher noticed that the students committed errors in tense, subject-verb agreement, sentence structure, constructing meaningful sentence, articles, prepositions, number, vocabulary, spelling, and so on. The teacher-research concludes that task selection, task repetition, preparation time plus teacher-assistance whenever needed will enable the learners to formulate and conceptualize their message, and in turn improve upon their confidence and performance.

References
Ahmadian, M. J. 2012. ‘Task repetition in ELT.’ ELT Journal 66/3: 380-382.
Bygate, M. 2001. ‘Effects of task repetition on the structure and control of oral language’ in M. Bygate, P. Skehan and M. Swain (eds.). Researching Pedagogic Tasks: Second Language Learning, Teaching and Testing. Harlow: Pearson education / Longman, 23-48.
Eggins, S. and D. Slade. 1997. Analysing casual conversation. London: Cassell.
Goh, C. C. M. and A. Burns. 2012. Teaching speaking: A holistic approach. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Hsu, H. 2017. ‘The combined effect of task repetition and post-task transcribing on L2 speaking complexity, accuracy, and fluency.’ The Language Learning Journal, DOI: 10.1080/09571736.2016.1255773.
Hu, X. 2018. ‘Effects of task type, task-type repetition, and performance criteria on L2 oral production’ in M. Bygate (ed.). Learning Language through Task Repetition. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Joyce, H. and D. Slade. 2000. ‘The nature of casual conversation: implications for teaching’ in H. de Silva Joyce (ed.). Teachers’ voices 6: Teaching Casual Conversation (pp. viii-xv). Sydney: NCELTR Macquarie University.
Slade, D. 1997. ‘Chunks and chats, stories and gossip in English: The macro-structure of casual talk.’ Prospect, 21/2: 43-71.
Saeedi, M. and Rahimi Kazerooni, S. 2014. ‘The influence of task repetition and task structure on EFL learners' oral narrative retellings.’ Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 8/2: 116-131, DOI: 10.1080/17501229.2013.770860.

 Biodata:

Divya John, PhD, is now serving as Assistant Professor, Department of English, SSN College of Engineering, Chennai. She has presented 27 papers in national and international conferences on ELT and published 15 papers in journals like Modern English Teacher, TESOL-SPAIN Newsletter, Voices, the IATEFL Newsletter, The IATEFL ESP SIG Journal, MEXTESOL Journal, ARTESOL ESP Journal, HLT, Teaching English with Technology, The Teacher Trainer, The Journal of Asia TEFL, The Journal of English Language Teaching [India], The English Classroom and Fortell.