KOTESOL International Conference 2016
(Concurrent Session)
Kevin Patrick Garvey, Kanda University of International Studies
An Interactive Workshop on Designing and Managing a Conversation-Based Activity
Abstract
Communicative language learning draws one of its greatest strengths from its requirement that students produce their own novel and creative language during conversation-based activities. However, conversation-based lessons can sometimes lose focus. How can the teacher ensure that target forms are being produced? When is a task supposed to stop? How does task complexity relate to task duration, and how can a teacher measure task complexity? Using the example task of "giving directions", this workshop has three parts: how to design "flexibly complex" tasks, how to monitor students' comprehension of a task, and how to bring students' creative language into the task. In addition to this, classroom management techniques will be demonstrated throughout the workshop.
Biographicals
Kevin Patrick Garvey is currently an English Language Lecturer at Kanda University of International Studies located in Chiba, Japan. He has been teaching since 2008, and has experience with learners of all ages and levels of English proficiency. He completed an M.A. in Applied Linguistics and TESOL from the University of Chicago Illinois in 2013. His research interests include CALL, willingness to communicate (WTC), task complexity, teacher empathy and teacher noticing. Of particular interest to him are the combined topics of CALL and WTC, as applied directly to classroom teaching.
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