How 'Say It' supports students
The 'Say It' activity provides three types of support for student output.
1. Emotional support
This is an important factor in language learning. (See the inquiry
A caring and inclusive classroom environment.
)
- Small audience: The students talk in small groups, not in front of the whole class and teacher.
- Chance to practise: The students have several turns at speaking, so it doesn't matter if they don't speak very well the first time.
- Familiar content: The students talk about material they have already become familiar with.
2. Cognitive support
- Known content: The students are working with material they understand because they’ve already explored it in class with their teacher.
- Specific focus: Each speaking task limits the content to one perspective and covers only part of the material.
- Shifting perspectives: Exploring the material from different perspectives, and having several students do each task, widens comprehension of the material.
3. Linguistic support and guidance
This type of activity promotes
noticing
and
hypothesis testing
. These processes are explained in the inquiries
What do students learn from interaction?
,
Learning from talking and writing
and
Helping students notice words and grammar.
Students notice new language items as they search for words and phrases they need in written material or in what other students say. They try out new language and test their hypotheses by observing whether the other students understand them or not.
- Written language items are provided: The students can refer to the written text to find the language they need for their mini role.
- Spoken language items are provided: The students hear other members of the group, and can use some of the language items they hear them use.
- Opportunity to reuse items: The students have several turns at speaking and can improve their fluency as they reuse words and phrases several times.
- Opportunity for feedback: Other group members can ask questions or help out if they don't understand what was said by a student, or want to know more
