In twenty-first-century language teaching, the class should be student-centered and provide learners with skills that empower them in real-life situations. In this regard, it is commonly said that practice makes perfect. It therefore makes sense to ask ourselves how much our listening activities demand from students and to evaluate whether we are getting full benefit from the listening materials we use.

For example, a teacher distributes a handout to the students and tells them that they will listen to a recording several times and write some information on the handout. Afterwards, the teacher checks the students’ work, and that might be the end of the activity. Could more have been done? The students’ role in activities like this one is rather passive, not to mention that limited integration of skills takes place. Finding good listening materials and designing handouts can be time-consuming, and I believe these efforts could be exploited more than they typically are.

This has led me to reflect on my own professional practice as an English teacher and teacher educator and to find innovative, cost-effective ways to fully exploit listening materials, integrate as many linguistic skills as possible, and ultimately foster students’ autonomy and language learning by means of peer assessment. Thus, I created a hybrid task by combining one activity commonly used to teach or test listening—the listening cloze— with another activity commonly used to teach speaking—the information gap (info-gap). In this article I will cover relevant research and then describe how I conceptualized the hybrid activity, how to put it into practice, and what results I have gotten by using it. I will also offer ideas on how to make a listening cloze info-gap activity part of a more complex English lesson.

 

Skills integration in language teaching

Hinkel (2010) states that in the past, the skills of language were taught in a segregated fashion, even though this segregation of skills does not represent real-life communication. All our linguistic skills interact with one another when we communicate. In this regard, Brown (2001, 234) contends that “production and reception are quite simply two sides of the same coin; one cannot split the coin in two.” It is therefore evident that skills integration is something natural and desirable in the language classroom, and if we are to train competent speakers of English as a second or foreign language, we should incorporate that authenticity in our lessons.

Indeed, Oxford (2001) uses the metaphor of a tapestry to refer to skills integration in language teaching. Each linguistic skill is but one of the threads that make up a larger whole, so if students are to get a real sense of English (or any other language), they should see how all these threads complement each other in the social phenomenon that we call “communication.” We can also view language skills as channels through which information can travel, implying that the more routes the language learner takes, the greater his or her language learning can be. As Kumaravadivelu (2003, 228) states, “It is likely that the learning and use of any one skill can trigger cognitive and communicative associations with the others.” 

One way to integrate as many skills as possible is to combine different activities. Integrating skills is simply approaching real life and real language use. In other words, if you want to be a good speaker, you should be a good listener as well, and if you want to be a good writer, you should also be a good reader.

 

Promoting student autonomy and peer assessment

Successful language teaching demands student involvement. According to Dörnyei (2001, 103), “involved students are increasingly autonomous students.” Thus, using tasks that promote independent work and provide students with tools to assess their peers may increase student autonomy. Still, if students are to be involved in the language classroom, they should certainly be supported to play a more active role. According to Zoghi and Dehghan (2012), the promotion of student autonomy implies a fair balance between students’ independence from and dependence on the teacher. Therefore, teachers should take care to equip students with tools so that they know when and how to exert their autonomy.

Of course, the leadership and authority provided by a teacher should be minimal, entailing a change from the teacher’s traditional role toward that of a facilitator, someone who helps students focus their own learning. Jingnan (2011, 28) states that to promote autonomy, students should “take responsibility for their learning, such as setting learning tasks, selecting [the] learning method, and evaluating [the] learning process.” Again, the teacher, as facilitator, guides students and helps them realize the importance of playing an active role in their learning.

To create learner autonomy, Dörnyei (2001, 106) likewise advises “a change in the teacher’s role” in the sense that the teacher and students might share some classroom responsibilities. One such responsibility is assessment. Maíz-Arévalo (2008, 128) argues that peer assessment is “a way to involve students in their own learning experience. By assessing their classmates, students also learn to assess themselves in their future performances.” Thus, peer assessment reduces a teacher’s workload in the classroom while allowing students to become more aware of their language-learning needs and to realize that it is not exclusively the teacher’s job to participate in their language-learning process.

 

Bringing two activities together

When I first thought about combining listening cloze with an info-gap activity, I wanted more student talk, skills integration, and peer assessment to take place in my class; I also wanted my students to assume more responsibility for their own language learning as well as get the most out of listening materials. Before I explain how the combination of the two activities works, I will describe general features of listening cloze and info-gap activities in turn.

 

Listening cloze activity

In listening cloze and gap-fill activities, words are deleted from a text, and the students are expected to write these missing words. However, the listening cloze activity has particular characteristics. First, it is generally done individually. Second, words are typically deleted systematically (Brown 2004); that is, you take the transcript of a recording and delete a certain number of words—for example, every fifth, sixth, or seventh word. A word can be deleted regardless of its lexical category (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and so on). This tends to be the main difference between listening cloze and gap-fill exercises. For instance, if we take the proverb “It is not whether you win or lose; it is how you play the game” and turn it into a very short cloze test by deleting every fifth word, it would look like this: “It is not whether _____ win or lose; it _____ how you play the _____.”

A word of caution is needed here. The smaller the number chosen for the systematic deletion of words, the more challenging the activity becomes; that is because reducing textual context makes deducing or guessing the missing words more difficult. Also, it is advisable not to delete words from the first and last lines of a long transcript (which usually serve as short introductions and conclusions) because they provide students with general ideas about the content of the material, and that helps students predict information they need to complete the activity.

An orthodox systematic deletion of words may produce unexpected results. Let us imagine that a language teacher decides to delete every fifth word from a text as I did above. To his or her surprise, this teacher may realize that only function words (prepositions, articles, and conjunctions) have been deleted, making the exercise not only monotonous but also predictable. Thus, this teacher might modify the pattern in which words are deleted in order to add variety and make this activity more enjoyable and challenging. Harmer (2001, 324) gives clear advice in this sense, saying that words may be deleted systematically, “but the teacher has the option to delete a word to the left or right if the context makes this more sensible.” This approach may allow the students to focus on salient vocabulary words for the objectives of the lesson.

You might also consider the format of a C-test, in which there is a systematic deletion of words as well. This differs from cloze, as every second word in a text is partially deleted (Alderson, Clapham, and Wall 1995). In traditional C-tests, approximately half of every second word is left intact as a guide for students to complete the words, so our previous example would look like this: “It i__ not whet____ you w___ or lo____; it i__ how y____ play t___ game.” Still, a C-test has the same disadvantages as cloze, so being flexible when deleting letters, as advised by Harmer (2001), is helpful.

 

Info-gap activity

Info-gaps are commonly described as pair-work activities in which students share information that they have about a given topic or situation in order to complete a task together (Bailey 2005; Richards 2006; Thornbury 2005). The handouts used in this kind of activity are usually labeled “Student A” and “Student B,” accordingly. For example, a simple info-gap activity can be based on two pictures with slight differences that students have to describe to each other to find how the pictures differ. A basic real-life communicative function is exchanging information with another person, and info-gap activities do precisely that. Info-gap activities need not use pictures exclusively; for example, look at the following hypothetical short info-gap task.

 

Student A

Instructions: Work together with Student B to complete this woman’s personal information.

Name: __________ Williams

Phone Number: 555-746-201

Email Address: ___________________________

 

Student B

Instructions: Work together with Student A to complete this woman’s personal information.

Name: Cindy _______________

Phone Number: _____________________________

Email Address: cin1979@example.com

 

In this activity, the teacher should provide students with useful questions to ask:

• What is her first/last name?
• What is her phone number?
• How do you spell that?
• Can you repeat that, please?

If modeled appropriately, this kind of activity allows the students to work on their own without much teacher supervision, which is both empowering and motivating. This activity also trains students to deal with information-exchanging situations in real life.

How to put the activity into practice

Following are six steps to combine listening cloze with info-gap activities.

Step 1

Find a recording that is appropriate for your students’ level and that is neither too short nor too long. Radio broadcasts or podcasts are useful for this purpose, and they can be downloaded freely from various websites. You could also use songs of various genres.

Step 2

Transcribe the recording as accurately as possible. You will probably need to listen to the recording and check your transcription several times.

Step 3

Turn the transcript into two separate cloze exercises or handouts (one for Student A and one for Student B). That is, you will delete every nth word systematically (or not, as mentioned above) in a different way in the two handouts. For example, in Student A’s handout, beginning with line two of the transcript, you might delete every seventh word after the first word, and in Student B’s handout, also beginning with line two, you might delete every seventh word after the third word. After that, I recommend numbering the lines or paragraphs of both transcripts equally so that students can locate information easily later on. To illustrate what the two handouts might look like in this activity, I systematically deleted every fifth word in Aesop’s fable “The Hare with Many Friends” to create a listening cloze info-gap exercise. Note that I began the deletions at different places, starting with the third sentence (see the Appendix).

Step 4

When I use this activity in my classes, I first distribute the handouts to my students and tell them to spend a couple of minutes reading the transcripts and trying to guess any of the missing words before they actually listen to the recording. Depending on the topic of the recording, you might also consider pre-teaching difficult vocabulary words or activating your students’ background knowledge. Then, I tell my students that I will play the recording two (or three) times; they listen to it and write the missing words on their transcripts. This is what I call the listening cloze phase. If you cannot play audio in your classroom, you can read the transcript aloud for your students. You may not be a native speaker of English, yet you can still be a good model for your students. 

Step 5

Normally after this phase, the teacher either calls on students to read portions of the transcript to check their listening comprehension or reads the whole transcript for the students to check how many of the missing words they filled in correctly. However, my approach is different. After playing the recording, I tell my students to pair up according to the handout they have (Student A and Student B will sit face-to-face). Then, I tell them that they will be in charge of checking each other’s listening comprehension. I recommend providing students with useful expressions or questions to ask, which may be written on the board or included in the students’ handouts (see the Appendix for sample handouts and useful questions).

Providing students with useful questions is no guarantee that they will use them during the activity, so it is advisable to model them. Your approach to teaching useful language can also be more explicit, and you can instruct your students about negotiation for meaning in communication. Be it in our native or second or foreign language, not everything we say will be completely understood by other people. Whenever we communicate, we negotiate for meaning. That is, we may ask for clarification about something we do not understand, we may need to say something using simpler words, or we may check our interlocutor’s understanding after saying something in a conversation. For instance, you can ask the whole class, “What do you do when you do not know how to say something in English?” and discuss the ideas given by the students. Turn-taking is also important here, so I explain to my students that while doing the activity, they should ask one question at a time. I tell them that the idea is to have a conversation, not an interrogation.

Step 6

After I make sure my students know how to proceed, I tell them to start checking each other’s work; this is what I call the info-gap phase. Since the pattern of deleted words is different in the two handouts, students will be able to correct each other during this phase without the teacher’s help. I, however, walk around the classroom while this activity is taking place and make sure my students are on the right track. I also help them with the pronunciation or meaning of any words if they request or seem to need assistance.

 

Reflecting on the overall experience

The results I have obtained with this activity have been impressive in spite of its apparent simplicity. With appropriate support and supervision, students give each other feedback and maintain fluent conversational exchanges. Indeed, this activity is particularly helpful with beginners. I have also observed a sense of accomplishment in my students at the end of the activity because they are able to do so much on their own. Some students also develop a friendly competition as they challenge each other to correct their pronunciation and spelling during the task.

This hybrid activity does not resolve every issue in English language teaching. Still, it works nicely and produces learning gains. It is a useful addition to any English language teacher’s toolbox, and it might also be incorporated into more complex activities and lessons.

 

Eight ways to make the activity part of a more complex lesson

1.     When implementing the listening cloze info-gap in class, you may consider using the KWL procedure (Shermis and Di Vesta 2011), in which students use a chart with three columns, labeled “What I Know,” “What I Want to Know,” and “What I Learned.” Before you distribute the transcript handouts, give the students a general idea of what the recording will be about. Then, distribute the KWL chart and tell students to write as many ideas as come to their minds about the topic in the “What I Know” column. Next, distribute the Student A and Student B handouts and tell the students to read the transcript and write ideas in the “What I Want to Know” column. Later, the students pair up and do the listening cloze info-gap activity as described above. Then, tell the students to complete the third column, “What I Learned.” Finally, you go over each of the three questions in the KWL chart with the whole class, have your students share what they wrote in each of the columns, discuss the most important ideas learned during the activity, and comment on the overall process.

2.     At the end of the activity, give your students a checklist with can-do statements (such as “I can take turns appropriately,” “I can clarify the meaning of new words,” or “I can speak in English without feeling nervous”) for them to self-assess and reflect on what they did well and where they need more practice. Encourage your students to share their reflections with the whole class, and chances are, new ideas for future lessons will emerge.

3.     If the material you used in the activity has a story, you can have your students do a role play, which is a way to test their comprehension and promote their autonomy. Students are welcome to reinterpret the story in any way they want and give full rein to their creativity.

4.     Students could also reinterpret the story by working in small groups and writing an alternative ending for the story. They can then read their alternative endings, and the whole class can vote for their favorite one.

5.     Students could write a response to the content of the recording, to be discussed with the whole class afterwards, or, if resources are available, you could create a blog where students upload their responses and comment on them. This task extends the lesson beyond the classroom, prolonging the students’ learning experience. Students could also record or videotape their responses using their cell phones. These responses could be uploaded to a website or brought to class as student-made listening material. Your students might even be invited to create their own listening cloze info-gap activity with their recording and prepare handouts for their classmates.

6.     Tell your students to form small groups and write comprehension questions about the transcript on a piece of paper. Then, they can take turns asking other groups their questions and checking answers. Encourage your students to explain when an incorrect answer is given and elicit the right one.

7.     Students can write down all the words they have trouble pronouncing during the activity to produce pronunciation work. Your students could also write sentences in which these difficult words are used and share them with the whole class. These words and sentences could be entered in a vocabulary log with all the new words students learn during the course.

8.     As an additional pronunciation exercise, students may be invited to record the material themselves and upload it to a free podcasting site on the Internet and share it with the world. Students could also compare their recorded version with the original.

 

Conclusion

Throughout my career as an English teacher, I have realized that simplicity is a powerful tool. A hybrid activity that combines listening cloze with info-gap integrates the four macro-skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing, not to mention micro-skills such as vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation. Content is thus processed through various linguistic channels, contributing to greater language learning. This activity is also practical and cost-effective. A successful language lesson does not need to be accompanied with lots of handouts. Allowing students to play a more autonomous role in the class makes a difference.

For those interested in communicative language teaching, I concede that my activity may not resemble real-life situations at first glance. Still, it serves ulterior educational purposes. If you model key language functions and social skills for students and monitor them during the task, this activity fosters students’ ability to negotiate for meaning, engage in turn-taking, monitor an interlocutor’s understanding, and ask for clarification—all skills a competent speaker should master. Finally, promoting peer assessment in the class takes some responsibility away from the teacher and shows students that they can play an active role in their language-learning process. Both students and teachers contribute to the success of any learning process. 

The phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words” indicates that a complex idea can be communicated by a single image. We might spend an hour reading an article about the devastating effects an oil spill has on wildlife ecology. But a photograph of an oil-drenched pelican gasping for air evokes in us an instant emotional response. While both the article and the photograph communicate the magnitude of the damage that oil spills can cause, the power of an image allows us to grasp this message within nanoseconds.

Indeed, cognitive research has shown that the human brain processes images quicker than it processes words, and images are more likely than text to remain in our long-term memory (Levie and Lentz 1982). With the expansion of technology that allows people from all walks of life to create and share photographs with a few clicks, our world seems to value visual media more than ever before.

What if we slow down this image-viewing process to unpack those thousand words that underlie each picture? As language teachers, we may be tempted to focus our attention on the textual demands of instructional material—vocabulary, syntax, discourse, and so on—only glancing at photos as they happen to support text passages. Instead of regarding pictures as simply complementary to text, I suggest that we put images at the forefront of instruction, embracing the possibilities that visual media offer for language learning. Photographs hold potential for eliciting language across all four domains: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Incorporating images in language instruction will appeal to digital native learners, those students who grew up in a world where using smartphones, laptops, and social media is part of everyday life (Prensky 2001).

However, these digital natives are not intuitively adept at analyzing and critiquing images, skills that can be considered part of visual literacy (Brumberger 2011). Knowing how to upload smartphone photographs to Facebook or Instagram does not make someone visually literate. We are too often passive consumers of images in the media, missing out on opportunities to explore underlying messages that the creators may consciously or unconsciously convey.  

Communicative language classrooms are an ideal location to cultivate the visual literacy skills involved in viewing and creating images. In this article, I describe ways to use images to support students’ language skills while honing their abilities to analyze and create messages; sophisticated technology or high-resolution cameras are not required. I first summarize ways educators have defined visual literacy, provide a rationale for connecting visual literacy to the language classroom, and then give examples of instructional techniques with photographs.

 

What is visual literacy?

As archaeologists uncovering hieroglyphics can attest, using images to create and interpret messages has distinguished humans from other living things since the dawn of civilization (Burmark 2002). The term visual literacy, however, did not appear in education literature until 1969, when Debes described the concept as a set of competencies that “a human being can develop by seeing and at the same time having and integrating other sensory experiences” (1969, 27). Debes argued that these visual competencies enable individuals to communicate with others, establishing a clear connection between visual literacy and language education.

Over the past four decades, scholars and practitioners from a variety of fields have conceptualized visual literacy, offering perspectives ranging from theoretical to pragmatic (Schiller 1987).  The absence of a common definition suggests the complexity of the processes involved in interpreting and creating visual messages. For the purposes of this article, I assume a relatively broad definition of the term that reflects seminal concepts from the literature: visual literacy is the competency to make meaning from what we see and to create images that convey implicit and explicit messages to others.

Connecting visual literacy with language learning

Images have played a critical part in my work as an English language teacher and teacher trainer. Pictures are sometimes used to support comprehension, as a scaffolding tool to help students quickly associate unfamiliar words with concepts (Beck, McKeown, and Kucan 2002). However, images also hold the power to stimulate complex language use, pushing students to extend their abilities. Therefore, while visual literacy can be integrated with different content areas, activities with images make an especially effective contribution to language learning.

Meaningful oral interaction

Exploring visual images can stimulate  extended linguistic production. The way we perceive pictures depends on our existing schema, a product of memories and past experiences unique to each of us. Because interpretation of what we see is subjective, analyzing images provides opportunities for meaningful student-to-student interaction. When using images in the English language classroom, challenge students to share the feelings that an image provokes or express why they like or dislike particular photographs. This kind of oral interaction is truly communicative.

Critical thinking skills

Rarely is there only one way to understand an image, and expressing opinions takes infinite forms. Interpreting images requires skills high on Bloom’s (1956) taxonomy, such as evaluating, synthesizing, and analyzing. Often called “critical thinking skills,” Bloom’s higher-order skills are essential when communicating abstract thoughts through language. Visual literacy activities can help students hone these skills. For instance, instructional techniques that foster visual literacy call for open-ended questions, such as those beginning with “Why” and “What if,” that require extended responses and higher-order thinking skills. Justifying why they understand images in particular ways requires students to analyze pieces of the image before producing a response based on evidence from the image. Stating that one “likes” or “does not like” an image is not sufficient for visual literacy; instead, students are challenged to link vocabulary from the visual representations with abstract ideas or past experiences.

Global perspectives

Images provide a means for students to interact with phenomena from across the world; observing images from different perspectives occurs in seconds and can be done by learners of all language levels. And perspective taking, or seeing phenomena from a point of view other than one’s own, is associated with language acquisition and development (MacWhinney 2005); in fact, MacWhinney argues that “perspective taking is at the very core of language structure” (198). Photographs compel the viewer to observe objects by the way in which the camera frames them. Comparing different photographs of the same image reinforces students’ recognition that an object can be shown in different ways, not unlike the way a concept can be expressed using different languages. Images enable students to perceive objects not only from varying spatial perspectives, but also to explore visual stimuli from different global perspectives.

Potential for scaffolding

Using images can serve as a type of instructional scaffolding, the construct described by Bruner (1975) as specialized support that facilitates learning tasks that are beyond the independent capacity of the student. Images can be used as an intermediary support for students who have not yet mastered particular vocabulary or sentence structures. For instance, teachers might refer to photographs or icons when introducing new topics or vocabulary so that students quickly grasp the meaning of new terms. Using graphic organizers to spatially represent conceptual relationships is another example of support in language activities. Research shows that students who utilize these kinds of visual aids perform better on language tasks than those who do not (Baratta and Jones 2008; Nunan 1999). Importantly, though, scaffolding mechanisms are by definition temporary; the supports should eventually be removed as students gain more proficiency and are able to complete tasks independently. The goal is not to eliminate visual elements from instruction, but instead to change gradually the ways students use images as supports. For instance, beginning language learners might move from making single word utterances to labeling items in a photograph to forming complex sentences that make inferences about the context of the photograph.

Linking content with language

Visual literacy activities also provide an opportunity to link language to content (e.g., science, math, social studies). Language researchers have long called for language education to be linked to content, whether it be through a structured instructional program, such as Content and Language Integrated Learning (Coyle, Hood, and Marsh 2010) or Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (Echevarría, Vogt, and Short 2012), or simply by using thematic topics that are meaningful for students. Using images in the classroom is one way to enhance the content so that students interact with language to communicate about a particular concept rather than memorizing grammar or vocabulary in ways that may seem arbitrary.  Images are a form of authentic material. Just as educators intentionally choose texts they use in the classroom, they should also strategically select images to complement content learning goals. Content material can be integrated into any of the strategies described in this article, thereby transforming a language lesson into one that meets the goals of the content classroom as well.

Next, I describe four strategies for integrating visual literacy into language instruction. The only required materials for the activities are photographs.

 

Instructional strategies using visual images

Strategy 1: Photo Analysis

The practice of photo analysis facilitates students’ observation skills while challenging them to identify and use language that is part of the photograph. This activity, which is adapted from an online lesson at the National Archives and Records Administration (www.archives.gov/education/lessons), works best when students work in groups of four.

Preparation

For each group of students, select one photograph of an event that is familiar or relevant to your students. All groups can work with the same image, or you can distribute a different photograph to each group. If possible, print copies of the photograph so that each student has his or her own copy. In addition, students will need a three-column chart with the headings “People,” “Things,” and “Actions.” They can make this chart themselves, or you can create one for them.

Step 1. Discuss the overall impression

Student groups discuss their initial impression of the photograph. To guide discussion, you can ask questions such as:

·      What is going on?

·      What is this photograph about?

·      How does this photograph make you feel?

For instance, a photograph of a crowd waving signs and flags outside a government building may be an example of democracy-in-action with peaceful protestors, evoking feelings of patriotism or excitement among some students. On the other hand, a photograph of a nearly empty city alley with a seemingly poor person next to a tourist may be about urban poverty and evoke feelings of sadness. Because students will return to these initial ideas later in the activity, they should make notes of their ideas or jot down words they associate with the photograph. Depending on the group and the photograph, students might have different and even contrasting opinions. For example, some students may associate the photograph of the crowd of people with dangerous subversion rather than patriotism. Encourage groups to jot down all representative ideas. Forming a holistic impression does not need to take longer than five minutes, but discussing the photograph as a whole ensures that students have a clear context of the photograph before they focus on details.

Step 2. Observe closely

Divide the photograph into four quadrants. Assign one student in each group to a quadrant. Students might cover up the other parts of the photograph with a blank piece of        paper so they can focus on their assigned quadrant.

Step 3. List

Students use the three-column chart to list people, things, and actions they see in their quadrant. Challenge them to list as many items as they can.

Step 4. Share

Students share the items on their list with their group members. Because each student observes a separate quadrant of the photograph, the lists will be different.

Step 5. Compare parts to the whole

Students then return to their initial impressions. They discuss how their lists support (or do not support) these impressions. Instruct students to “identify items on your list,” “support your initial impression,” or “use your list to tell why you had your initial impression.” Viewing an image holistically and then moving to an examination of details gives students opportunities to defend ideas with examples and to practice critical thinking skills. For instance, students might justify that the photograph of the demonstrators made them feel patriotic because it shows people waving flags. Or they might say that they knew one of the people in the city alley image was a tourist because he had a camera around his neck. Alternately, students might use the details to challenge their initial impressions. Perhaps they originally assumed that one of the people in the city alley was a beggar, but upon closer inspection realized that while the person next to the tourist was wearing tattered clothing, he was not actually asking for anything.

Step 6. Make inferences

Using the compiled lists and initial impressions, students in each group agree on three inferences they can make about the photograph. Each inference must include justification based on the people, things, or actions they observed in the photograph. This means students will use the vocabulary they noted on their three-column list. This is an opportunity to help students understand how to infer and what an inference is. Make sure students understand these terms by explicitly pointing out that making overall impressions based on details is an example of inferring. Explain that inferences are based on observable facts (e.g., items on their lists) but can also involve invisible assumptions. For instance, students might infer that people are demonstrating for a political cause in one of the photographs because gathering in crowds with signs and flags—an observation from the photograph—is in many countries a means for expressing dissent to the government, a fact that may be part of students’ background knowledge.

Step 7. Pose questions

Lastly, students extend their thinking by listing open-ended questions that the photograph raises. These should be questions that are not easily answered by looking at the photograph, but instead require additional investigation about the context of the photograph. Such questions might begin with “Why … ” or “What if … .” For the photograph with the crowds of people, students might ask, “Why are they demonstrating?”

Adaptations and supports

·      Vary the items that students write on their three-column list to match the content of the photograph or class-wide language-learning objectives. For instance, rather than listing people, things, and actions, a class that is focusing on descriptive words might list colors, shapes, and textures.

·      When instructing students to make inferences, require that they use the words they compiled in complete sentences. If necessary, provide sentence stems such as, “I infer __________ because I see __________ and __________.”

·      To help students grasp the concept of inference, provide a graphic. One example is a math equation: the word inference equals an icon of a pair of eyes, to represent observable items, plus an icon of a thought bubble, to represent background knowledge.

·      As a follow-up to this activity, students can postulate answers to their questions or brainstorm ways to find the answers.

 

Strategy 2: Mystery Photo

In this activity, the instructor obscures a photograph and gradually reveals parts of it for students to guess the image. Like the Photo Analysis activity, Mystery Photo elicits descriptive language. This activity also engages students in inductive reasoning, providing an element of suspense that involves the language of prediction.

Preparation

Select a photograph. Photographs with multiple items, colors, or people work well because one section of a photograph may be completely different from another. For instance, famous landmarks pictured from a distance show perspectives that are not usually captured in guidebooks. Alternately, zoomed photographs, in which a relatively small item fills the space, are also effective because identifying the image is difficult without being able to perceive it as a whole.

Once a photograph has been selected, prepare five to eight pieces of paper that completely cover the photograph. If a computer and projector are available, consider using PowerPoint by inserting a digital photograph, placing opaque text boxes on top of it, and then animating the boxes so that they can disappear one at a time.

Step 1. Obscure the photograph

Show students the photograph completely covered by pieces of paper, like puzzle pieces.

Step 2. Uncover the photograph

Students gradually uncover the photograph by selecting pieces of paper to remove. You might number the pieces covering the photograph so that students can easily identify the pieces they want to remove. If you are conducting this activity with the entire class, establish a procedure for selecting students to uncover each square. One strategy is to write students’ names on pieces of paper, then draw a name randomly. After students understand the procedure, they might engage in this activity in groups of four to six students. Each group has a separate photograph, and students take turns uncovering it.

Step 3. Make guesses

As each section of the photograph is revealed, students describe what they see. Students then hypothesize about what the full image may entail. As more pieces are revealed, not only will students use the description of each section to make their hypotheses, but they will also need to connect to the prior pieces. In making these guesses, students practice using the language of prediction (e.g., “I predict that it will be … ” or “I think it will be … ”) as well as vocabulary associated with the photograph. With a large class, rather than calling on only one or two students to share, ask students to talk with a neighboring student about their predictions. Such pair work ensures that all students are engaged and using the predictive language.

Step 4. Debrief

After the final reveal of the image, students talk about the process of guessing what the photograph might be. This kind of discussion involves metacognition, as students articulate how they were able to connect pieces of the image to form the full image. To facilitate this discussion, ask questions such as, “Were you surprised about the photograph?” Or “At what point could you identify the photograph’s content?” Or “Which part of the photograph gave it away?” A debriefing conversation also allows students to discuss how seeing only a piece of a picture often gives different connotations and perspectives than seeing the photograph in its entirety. When I used a photograph of a saltwater fish tank with colorful coral formations, students said they first thought the photograph showed a high-end handbag store in the mall. It was not until I uncovered bubbles in a top corner that they realized the photograph was under water. 

Adaptations and support

·      When describing pieces of the photograph, students with beginning English proficiency may use one- or two-word utterances; more advanced students can be challenged to use complex sentences.

·      Students might also move from describing concrete objects in the photograph to expressing subjective impressions of each part, such as feelings or memories that the images provoke.

·      As an extension, students might work in groups to develop their own mystery images and facilitate the activity with peers. To enhance language use, students can give hints about the photo to help their peers identify the full image.

·      This activity might work well as a warm-up, especially once students are familiar with the procedure. Select a photograph that is pertinent to an upcoming topic as a way to introduce students to the new content and pique their interest. For example, I used this activity when teaching about habitats. At the beginning of each unit, I selected a mystery photograph of the particular habitat we were studying (grassland, rainforest, etc.). Students not only engaged in inductive thinking, but they also previewed concepts and vocabulary associated with the upcoming lesson.

 

Strategy 3: Collaborative Stories

As its name suggests, Collaborative Stories involves storytelling by a group of students and reinforces narrative structures, a concept required in content-area literature classes. Using images as prompts, students work together to produce a story with a beginning, middle, and end.

Preparation

Select three photographs. The photographs could have a common theme or setting and should include people or animals. A current or recently studied topic might connect the photographs. The activity also works well if the images share no discernible theme. In fact, dissimilar photographs offer an additional cognitive challenge for students, as they will have to create their own links.

Step 1. Group students

Arrange students in groups of three. Explain that each group will work together to create a story based on a series of three photographs. To focus on writing skills, require that students write the narrative of the story as they create it. Students in each group count off from one to three.

Step 2. Display the first photograph

This photograph might be the same for the entire class or different for each group. The students assigned number one create the beginning of a story based on the people or events shown in the photograph. Instruct students to describe the main character and setting, and to introduce a problem for their story. While the first student is speaking, the other students in the group listen, as they will soon need to continue the story. Instruct students to include as many details as possible connected to the photograph while also creating a narrative story.

Step 3. Display the second photograph

Students assigned number two will continue the story but bring in details from the second photograph. This process challenges students to make connections to the beginning of the story while also integrating details from the second photograph. The second part of the story should expand on the problem introduced by the first student.

Step 4. Display the third photograph

Students assigned number three use details from the third photograph to conclude the story that their group members started. Remind students that the conclusion should involve the resolution of the problem introduced and described by the first and second students.

Step 5. Share completed stories

Students in each group review all three photographs and retell their story. If you have time, each group can share its completed story with the class. Discuss how the same photographs elicited different stories from all groups of students.  

Adaptations and supports

·      If students struggle to think of a story, ask them to consider questions such as, “Who is the person in the photograph?”; “What is the person doing?”; “Why is the person doing this?”; and “What happened right before this photo was taken?”

·      Provide supportive scaffolds by giving story-starter prompts such as, “Once upon a time there was … ” or sequencing terms such as, “First,” “Next,” “Then,” and “Finally.” Another way to support students is to provide vocabulary words or phrases related to the photograph.

·      Create a graphic organizer showing the elements involved in the beginning, middle, and end of stories. See Table 1 for an example.

·      To facilitate fluency and speed, limit the time allotted for students to describe the photograph. Select photographs that elicit target vocabulary or sentence structures, or photographs that include themes from content-area classes, such as photographs of historical events that students may be studying in their history classes.

·      During this activity, two students have the task of listening to one speaker. If students complete this activity as a writing task, rather than a speaking task, then potentially two students will be idle while one student writes. To engage all students simultaneously, distribute the three photographs at once: give a different picture to each student. Everyone will write a beginning based on his or her photograph, then rotate the photographs so that the image one student used to write the beginning will be the image the next student in the group uses to write the middle, and so on. This way, all students will be writing—or reading each other’s stories—at the same time. By the end of the activity, each group will have produced three distinct stories using the same three photographs, but in different sequences.

·      Students might also work collaboratively. Partners or small groups could write or tell a story about an image together. Groups could approach the story holistically, writing a story with a beginning, middle, and end, and then tell or read their story to the class.

 

Beginning	Middle	End
Sequencing phrases to develop story
In the beginning …   A long time ago …   Once upon a time …	After that …   Then …   Next …   A little while later …	Finally…   At last …   In the end …
Question prompts to provide story ideas
Who are the main characters?   Where is the setting?   What is the problem?	Tell more about the problem.   What happens to the characters?   How do the characters try to solve the problem?	What is the solution to the problem?   What happens to the characters?   How are things different at the end than they were at the beginning?

Table 1. Graphic organizer for Collaborative Stories

 

Strategy 4: Selfies

The Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2013 was selfie—a photograph of oneself taken by oneself. In today’s culture of smartphones and webcams, selfies are growing in popularity. Educators can exploit this trend to motivate students, integrating the concept into language instruction. Using selfies gives students a sense of ownership in their learning, as they are not only interpreting photographs, but also creating them. Rather than describing a step-by-step procedure for the selfie activities, I provide a general description of how to apply selfies to three established instructional strategies that are familiar to many language teachers.

1. Information Gap

In information gap activities, students have different pieces of information and must communicate with each other to complete a task. Long noted as an effective technique in communicative classrooms (e.g., Doughty and Pica 1986), information gaps engage students in authentic conversations that require asking and answering referential questions. For example, students receive different parts of a map and are instructed to talk with each other to complete their map, literally filling in the gaps. Teachers can adapt this activity using images so that only one student in a pair has an image and the other student must ask questions in order to recreate the image. Using selfies is a way to personalize the activity. Unlike random photographs, selfies involve language beyond basic description of the photograph, as students engage in narrative stories to tell background contexts that only personal photographs can elicit.

2. Speech Bubbles

One instructional technique in language classrooms is to use cartoons with speech bubbles. Teachers can delete the words in the speech bubbles and ask students to provide language based on the cartoon images. As an adaptation using selfies, students write in speech bubbles to tell what they are thinking in the selfie. Putting words to their photographs adds an element of self-reflection. Moreover, the limited space of a thought bubble requires precision in language, a high-level skill. Students can complete this activity using their own selfie, or they may exchange selfies and guess what their peers are thinking or saying in the photograph. To engage in creative thinking, students can brainstorm multiple options for the speech bubble. Students with advanced language skills might develop a selfie with a speech bubble into a story, describing what happened before and after the selfie was taken. You can activate oral language use by arranging students in pairs or small groups so that they need to talk with each other to determine the best option for the speech bubble.

3. Selfie Story

Teachers often provide opportunities for students to share details about their lives outside the class. For instance, students might describe what they did over the weekend or bring in an artifact from their home and tell why it is important to them. Selfies can enhance the traditional sharing activities. If students have access to cameras, they can take selfies as a homework assignment. You might assign students to take photos of themselves at their favorite places. This activity works particularly well during extended breaks when students have time to go different places. Students then use their selfies to tell stories about what they did outside school. Collaborative student groups and pairs work well; students use their selfie as a springboard to share with each other about what they did. You can require students in the audience to ask the speaker meaningful questions as a way for students to practice active listening skills. To integrate literacy skills, ask students to write a story about their activities. 

Sources for photographs

Locating photographs to use in the classroom should not pose a problem for teachers with Internet access. In fact, the challenge may be selecting the appropriate photograph, as a Google Images search might populate thousands of instantly available images. As with selecting any teaching materials, it is important to be purposeful and systematic when choosing photographs to use in instruction. Consider the possibilities to link content to instruction by choosing photographs that include themes from other courses that students are taking. At the same time, think about photographs that would capture students’ attention or appeal to their interests in order to heighten motivation. Before applying the instructional activities with particular photographs, “try out” the activity as a student using different possible photographs. By previewing the activity from a student perspective, you can identify the vocabulary and sentence structures that the photograph might elicit. You will also be able to anticipate challenges students may encounter and be prepared to offer support.

Perhaps the best sources of photographs are you and your students. Make a habit of taking along your camera (or camera phone) during special events or travels, as well as in your daily life, so you can capture unexpected phenomena that you come across. Students are often interested in learning about their teachers as people outside the classroom, and your photographs allow you to share selected details about your personal life in an instructional way. Furthermore, you know the circumstances in which you took your photos, and this background context can be used to enhance conversations about the images.

Likewise, not only can students take selfies, but they can also snap photos of places and people they encounter inside and outside school. Depending on the age and background of your students, though, you might need to teach students about camera etiquette, such as when it is and is not appropriate to take photos. You need to instruct students to ask permission before taking photographs of people’s faces. In addition, remind students about appropriate content for school. What is considered appropriate will vary from school to school depending on local and national context. Refer to standards at your institution and provide clear parameters for students’ photographs. 

Other sources of photographs are media, such as newspapers and magazines. While these sources do not offer the personalization that your own photographs do, they open opportunities for discussing or critiquing mass media, and students can discuss underlying political or social messages. For instance, you might ask students to contrast how magazines or websites with different political affiliations portray the same individual. You might also use magazine photographs to facilitate discussions about digitally altered photographs, helping students become critical viewers rather than passive consumers. Have students look for photographs in advertisements and calendars, and on photo-rich websites such as the National Geographic site (photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography).

Internet resources

The Internet not only provides sources for photographs, but it also offers interactive websites for students to manipulate photographs as part of language activities. Internet access is not a necessary condition for applying any of the instructional strategies described in this article; however, for teachers and students who have access to computers with Internet connections, online tools can be used to enhance the activities. Table 2 provides a non-exhaustive annotated list of websites for visual literacy activities that have the potential to elicit language use. You can refer to these websites as resources for ideas to adapt your own lesson plans or use the direct links for student activities. Note that the website links listed may change or be deleted at any time. Likewise, educators and scholars are regularly creating new websites, so it is a good idea to conduct your own Internet searches for websites. While many photographs on the Internet are protected by copyright, educators can use them freely under the Classroom Use Exemption if they use the material in an instructional setting (e.g., classroom), provide face-to-face or in-person teaching, and work at a nonprofit educational institution. If you do not qualify for the Classroom Use Exemption, you might email the website publisher to explain your situation and ask for written permission to use the material. 

Conclusion

Educators have long emphasized the importance of authentic learning experiences for English learners. Activities in the language class are effective if they replicate the kinds of interactions that students encounter outside the classroom. In today’s world of smartphone cameras and Instagram and Facebook applications, images play a central role in our students’ lives, whether they are young learners or adults. Photographs should thus be part of the authentic learning experiences we strive to create. We can draw upon images to elicit communicative language from students through activities such as those described in this article. As students become familiar with ways to talk about images, visual literacy can be integrated into daily classroom routines. Rather than a stand-alone lesson, discussions about photographs can occur regularly to enhance other learning.

To conclude, I return to the opening quote from Ansel Adams, a prominent American photographer: “A photograph is usually looked at—seldom looked into.” Adams recognized the potential that photographs have to elicit meaningful conversation. While images are often touted as a means to communicate messages faster than words can, I suggest that we take Adams’ implicit advice to linger on photographs, exploring the layered understandings that each photograph contains. The activities described in this article cultivate reflective students who are able to “look into” photographs by eliciting deep thinking, creativity, and sophisticated language. Along with trying out these activities, I challenge us as educators to hone our own observation skills, searching for ways to take advantage of the language-use possibilities that lie within images we—and our students—encounter every day. 

This week’s teaching tip demonstrates how to use a combination of student choice, friendly competition, a visual display with a fun theme, and rewards to motivate students to read more in English. 

Students choose English language materials to read from a class library, a school library, or teacher-suggested Internet resources; students can read items during extensive/free-reading periods in class or on their own time outside of class.  Students then write short summaries about and personal responses to what they have read.  Student reading responses are captured on forms containing a train car-shaped outline.  Each contribution is posted on the wall, making an addition to an ever-growing class “reading train.”  The reading train serves as a visual symbol that recognizes students’ effort and progress toward becoming avid readers.  To motivate students to read in their free time, teachers can conduct a competition and offer small rewards to students who contribute the most “cars” to the reading train in a given time period.

 Level

Upper beginner and above

• The example in this teaching tip is designed for younger learners, but the concept can be adapted for older students by creating a “reading chain” that uses forms with plain circles or squares to capture reading responses instead of train cars.
   
• Teachers can increase the activity’s difficulty by adapting the reading response forms to include more advanced reporting, analysis, and personal response items.

 Goals

Generate student enthusiasm about reading by: 

• Encouraging them to read and respond in a level-appropriate way to materials they choose.
• Encouraging them to engage in extensive reading during class and in their free time.

 Associated Motivation factors

Instructional design and promoting learner autonomy: incorporating student choice; encouraging self-directed learning

Creating a positive classroom environment: creating healthy competition and using a reward system; recognizing/celebrating student progress with a classroom display and reward ceremonies

Teacher behavior and knowledge: conveying enthusiasm about reading in English as you explain and manage the reading train

 Materials

• Teacher:
  • Whiteboard or chalkboard
  • Markers or chalk
  • Level-appropriate English language reading materials
  • Reading train engine printout (example provided)
• Students:
  • Pencils or pens
  • Crayons or markers (optional)
  • Reading train” response forms (example provided)

 Preparation

• If you don’t already have a classroom library from which students can borrow materials, create or curate a set of English language reading materials that are age- and level-appropriate for your students.  Considering seeking help from your school librarians, who may be able to provide a list of available English language materials; the librarians may also be able to order or locate resources for you, if needed.  If your students have access to the Internet in the classroom, in the school library, in a computer lab, or at home, you can create a list of acceptable online reading resources for them.  Be sure to review the American English website for free e-reading materials to include on this list.   
• Adapt the reading train response form if needed. You can use the example form provided with this teaching tip, or you can create a similar form that is tailored to your reading objectives and learner level.  Print several copies of the form; keep a stack of them available near the classroom library or in a folder in a known location in the classroom.  If copying forms isn't possible, create a master form to display in the classroom and let students draw the train outline and copy the form content onto their own paper.

• Prepare the area on the wall that will feature the reading train.  You can print, color, and post the train engine (provided with the example response form) to be the front of the train.  Post a few blank response train car forms behind the engine to illustrate how the train will look as it grows.
   
• Decide the reading train contest rules, timeline, and rewards:  Each car on the reading train is worth one point.  Pick a minimum number of points students must have in a given timeframe. (Example rules: all students must earn two points per month by reporting on two books read during in-class extensive reading time; students who read more than the minimum number collect more points. At the end of the month, the three students with the most points get a small reward such as extra points on a quiz, a homework pass, their name displayed on a “Reading Superstars” board, candy, etc.). You can also offer a cumulative reward if desired (the top reader for the term gets a new book, set of pencils, etc.).   
   
• Prepare to draw or electronically display a large version of a blank response form on the board as you explain the idea to the class. (Procedures – Step 3)

 Procedures

1. To get students excited about reading, explain that you are going to work together to build a “reading train” over the course of the term.  Direct them to look in the area in the room where you have posted the train engine and example cars.  Tell them that while the train looks very small right now with just an engine and a few cars, all of the students in the class are going to help it grow as part of a reading contest.
2. Explain that each time students read an English language book outside of class or during free reading/extensive reading time in class, they can add a car to the reading train by completing a response form. 
3. Display a large version of the response form on the board (example form shown here; adapt as needed for your students):
4. Demonstrate how to complete the form: explain each field on the form and work together with students to write in the needed information for a book the class has all read (a book you have read aloud, an assigned book from earlier in the course, etc.).  Tell students they can decorate their train cars with crayons or markers before they turn them in for review.
5. Explain the contest rules you set during the preparation phase:  tell students that each car on the train (each book read) gives the reader a point; set the minimum number of points required for each reader in the given timeframe; explain how to earn more points; and explain the contest rewards.
6. Explain where students can find acceptable reading materials (class library, school library English language books, approved online e-books, etc.).  Emphasize that they can choose any book from acceptable sources that seems interesting or exciting.  The goal is to have fun and read a lot!
7. Show students where blank response forms will be kept (or how to make their own form if you are using that option).  Tell students where and when they should turn in completed forms for you to review and post on the wall.
8. Answer any questions students have about the contest.  
9. As the contest progresses, review and post student submissions on a regular basis.  To keep students engaged, be sure to occasionally direct their attention to the reading train:  praise the class for how it is growing, ask students to talk about the books they’ve read, give updates on which students are in the lead, and encourage others to make an effort to add to the train before this round of the competition ends.

At the end of each contest timeframe (monthly, end of term, etc.), celebrate the winners in front of the class by having a brief ceremony to announce/display their names and hand out rewards.  Remind students that reading is its own reward (so everyone wins!), and challenge them to participate in the next round of the contest. 

This week's teaching tip illustrates how to use beginning-of-course questionnaires to encourage students to think about these motivation-related questions:

• Why are they learning English, and how does it relate to their goals and interests beyond the classroom?
• What do they hope to gain from this course?
• What topics and learning approaches appeal to them?
• What can the teacher do to support their learning and build their motivation?

This questionnaire activity can be conducted after the teacher has presented an overview of the course goals and objectives. 

LEVEL

Intermediate and above. The example questionnaire provided with this teaching tip can be adapted to suit other students by adjusting the language level, the number of questions, and the ratio of multiple choice/"tick the box" options to free-text, open-ended responses.

GOALS

• Teachers will have a collection of student-generated data to inform motivation-oriented decisions related to instructional design, building learner autonomy, creating a positive classroom community, and their own classroom behavior.
• Students will increase their awareness of what motivates them to study English; this awareness can help them make choices about their learning and can be used as part of goal-oriented self-motivation strategies.

ASSOCIATED MOTIVATION FACTORS

Instructional design: incorporating student interests and learning preferences; personalizing learning
Promoting learner autonomy: encouraging goal setting and reflection; encouraging learner self-awareness; developing self-motivation strategies
Creating a positive classroom environment: understanding learner preferences about grouping styles and cooperative learning
Teacher knowledge and behavior: understanding student perceptions and preferences about teacher behavior

MATERIALS

Teacher:

• Whiteboard or chalkboard
• Markers or chalk

Students:

• Pencils or pens
• Questionnaires (an example questionnaire is provided)

PREPARATION

• Adapt and modify the example questionnaire to suit your student's needs, culture, and course content.  The example questionnaire is designed for an upper intermediate, secondary integrated skills class. 
• Print or photocopy the questionnaire, preparing enough copies for each student.  If possible, prepare two-sided copies to save paper.  

PROCEDURES

1. Write "motivation" on the board.  Ask student volunteers to define this word, giving prompts and asking clarifying questions if needed.  (Example definitions: what makes us try to do something; something that makes us work to achieve a goal).
2. Tell students they are going to think about what motivates them to study English, their overall and course learning goals, topics they might want to see in course materials, and how they like to learn.  Explain that they will use a questionnaire (survey) to complete this process.
3. Ask a student volunteer to pass out the questionnaires.  Ask students to write their names at the top of the page.  Tell students to wait to write their responses until after you explain the questionnaire's content.
4. Direct students' attention to the "Goals and Motivation" section at the top of the questionnaire.  Tell students they will set some general goals today using the questionnaire. Explain that setting goals and thinking about them can help motivate students when they face difficulties or challenges while learning English.  Explain that you will collect and keep the questionnaires so students can review and think about their goals halfway through the course and at the end of the course.
• Explain that Item A (Overall, I study English because…) relates to long-term goals and reasons they study English.   Ask students to share a few example answers to Item A, and write them on the board (for instance: …I want to study at a university in an English-speaking country, …I want to be a travel agent and I need to be able to speak to foreign customers at my job, etc.).  
• Tell students that thinking about answers to Item B (Learning English helps me/will help me…) can help motivate them because it connects what they learn in the classroom to their everyday lives.  Again, ask a few students to share example answers and write them on the board, reminding the class that answers can relate to both fun and more serious things you can do with English skills (for instance: play online games with English-speaking friends and understand English popular music; communicate with people on the internet and get a good job after I graduate).
• Explain that Items C & D relate to setting shorter-term goals for the current course.  Remind them to think about the course content and objectives when they answer Item D (During this course I want to learn…)
5. Direct students to the next section related to student interests.  Explain that you plan to incorporate topics and themes that interest your students (as your curriculum permits) in some activities during the course.  Tell students that this section of the questionnaire will help you determine which topics are most interesting to a majority of the class.  Ask students to select the three topics they are most interested in, point out that they can add an original topic where the worksheet says "Other", and ask them to give specific topic examples, if desired. (Reminder: asking students for input about their learning and connecting student interests to course content are great motivational strategies for teachers to use!)
6. Direct students to the questionnaire's final section related to learning preferences.  Explain that it is important for all learners to take time to think about how they like to learn and how they learn effectively.  Tell them that you recognize that the way activities are set up and teacher qualities are important factors in how students learn.  Explain that it is helpful to you to understand their individual and whole-class preferences in these areas.
7. Give students a few minutes to quietly reflect on the items in the questionnaire with their pencils and pens down.  Then ask students to complete the questionnaire.  Collect the questionnaires when students are done.
8. After class, review and tabulate the student responses. Make notes about the data you collect: Do you notice any patterns or trends?  Are there some individuals with unique preferences and interests? 
• Revisit and consider this data as you make instructional and classroom management decisions during the course.  Think about how to use the information to increase student motivation.
• Mention the data you collected to students so they know you took their goals, ideas, and opinions into account; doing this can be inherently motivational! (Examples:  In our start-of-course questionnaire many of you mentioned….that you want to improve your confidence in speaking, so today we are going to do [activity X.]/ …that you prefer to work alone; however, we also need to build teamwork and cooperation skills in language class because…/ …that you like to learn through games, so today we are going to work in teams to play a game that will help us practice [grammar topic X].).
• Be sure to return the questionnaires to students at the course midpoint and toward the end of the course.  Ask them to reflect on their goals and motivations:  Has anything changed?  What progress are they making toward meeting their goals?  What challenges do they face? How can they overcome them?  How do they use their goals to self-motivate in these challenging situations?  If desired, turn this reflection process into a short writing assignment. (Again, encouraging reflection, self-assessing progress, and considering strategies to overcome roadblocks are all motivation-building activities.)

EXTENSION ACTIVITY

Talking about goals and motivation
After students complete the questionnaires, put them into pairs or small groups and ask them to share and compare their goals and motivations for studying English and the course.  This brief discussion activity can help students get to know one another and create a sense of shared purpose, both of which contribute to creating a positive class environment -- another motivational strategy!