Information
Transfer Use in English Teaching
Information
Transfer Technique: A Variety of Definitions
The Oxford
English
Dictionary
(1997)
includes
the
following
definition
for
the
term
“transfer”. To transfer (information/music,
etc.) is to “copy information, music, an idea, etc from one method of recording
or presenting it to another” or “to be recorded or presented in a different way.” Based on this definition, we see that presenting the same information in two or more different
formats can be described as transferring.
There are several definitions concerning
the Information Transfer Technique. First of all, an Information Transfer
activity “is an activity involving the reproduction of information either from
a diagrammatic or semi-diagrammatic form into a fully linguistic form or vice
verse (Palmer, 1991, p. 79).
A different definition is: “Information
Transfer technique means translating data from one form to another. We move
from the Reading or Listening text to graphic stimuli, or visual like charts,
graphs, diagrams, figures, maps, etc and vice verse” (Storla, 1995, p. 5).
Widdowson (1978) seems to agree when he states that the Information Transfer
technique is the “transformation of instances of discourses from one type into
another but these instances of discourse can also be derived from a non-verbal
mode of communicating” (p. 141).
Finally, Brown (2004) explains Information
Transfer as follows:
The action of comprehending graphics
includes the linguistics performance of oral or written interpretation, comments,
questions, etc. This
implies a process
of Information Transfer from one skill to another: in this case, from
reading verbal and/or non-verbal information to speaking/writing” (p. 210).
Advantages
of Information Transfer Activities
Information Transfer,
as stated above, is a visual kind of information that falls into a variety
of forms such as tables, charts, graphs, outlines, maps, and memos. This kind of data is very common in our daily lives and has many
advantages (Palmer, 1991). The advantages are outlined below:
Authenticity
Firstly, Information Transfer is an authentic task that is often used in an English speaking
environment by native speakers in the
normal course of their everyday lives. Let’s take the train timetables as an example.
The railway clerk
at the enquiries office constantly transfers his own semi-diagrammatic timetable into linguistic
information for people who telephone to ask for train times. These people also
probably note down that information in a semi- schematic way rather than in its
fully linguistic form.
Communicative
Tasks
Information Transfer
activities are also communicative tasks.
When customers book a flight
at the travel agent,
the clerk will interpret the information on the computer
screen for them
and use information transfer in communicating and offering help.
Repetitive
Tasks
Productive
Tasks
An Information Transfer exercise, such as
an information-gap task, usually provides students only with the bare bones of information – they must supply the additional information, often to a partner. Thus, if it is appropriately staged, information
transfer can fit into the free production stage of a lesson. In the example
below (Fig. 1) only the bare bones of information are given to the student. In
order to present on the topic, music, they must add more information to make
sentences. In this kind of exercise students can practice their speaking in
front of the class. This is done during the productive stage of a class that
began with a reading text about music.
Fig. 1 Music Chart
Development
of All Four Language Skills
Ideally an Information Transfer
activity forms a kind of pivot around
which any of the
language skills may revolve (see Fig. 2).
Fig. 2 Development of Language Skills
Self-Access
Information Transfer provides a framework
for useful self-access activities for developing listening and reading skills
because it helps students to check their performance against the “correct”
visual data or objects.
Apparently, the advantage is that
information transfer material is graphic (i.e., it is visual). Because this
type of transfer involves only a few necessary words to get the idea across,
students take on the task of recasting the information in spoken forms, and
then in written forms. This practice is a great benefit to students. Doing this
kind of work helps them gain confidence that they can be articulate on their
own, rather than just repeating or copying the words of others.
Another benefit
to information transfer is that it is open-ended. This kind of data
gives the students a topic and quite a bit of information, but it is always
possible for the students to add their own ideas and interpretation.
Reasons
for Using Information Transfer Activities in the Teaching of Reading
The central
characteristic of communicative language teaching is that it focuses attention
on the abilities to understand and convey informational content. One way to practice
(and test) these
abilities is through Information Transfer activities.
According to Prodromou (1992), information
presented in visual form as a starting-point for practicing the four skills is
another hallmark of the Communicative Approach; therefore, Information Transfer
activities have a major part to play in the class for the following reasons:
- Information in a visual form is
comprehensive whether a student is linguistically gifted or not; visual
information is a kind of universal language.
- Because
the Information Transfer
technique is applicable to all four skills, different
learning
styles are catered for.
- Charts and diagrams
lend themselves to information-gap activities in which language
is used
for a communicative purpose.
- Information can be distributed in such a way that less confident
students may receive more
support in their task than more confident
students.
- Students
can often work together to complete a task, thus encouraging an open and sharing atmosphere among students with a range of
talents and personalities.
The
Case for Using the Information Transfer Technique in reading classes in Vietnam
In the context of teaching reading
at Vietnamese Upper
Secondary schools, there
are three reasons why introducing Information
Transfer activities could be advantageous: it diversifies the techniques used;
it helps students read
the whole;
and it
helps with real
life communication.
Diversifying
the techniques for teaching reading in Vietnam
Teaching English
reading skills has been considered the most important part to develop.
In
the
research by Truong Vien (1999) on techniques for teaching reading, the common
ones frequently used at many Upper Secondary schools for content studying are
as follows:
- Question-answer
- Finding synonyms/antonyms
-
Gap-filling
- True-False
Among the four techniques above, the
question-answer technique seems to be most frequently used in classes. These
four techniques can be employed after the language teacher explains vocabulary and structure. These techniques to some extent have satisfied
the purposes of teaching reading because they help students
understand and master the ideas in the reading texts. However, if these
techniques are repeatedly applied in any reading class, what will happen?
Students may feel bored and less interested in the lesson. The Information
Transfer technique with its advantages will bring a new cycle into the teaching
process. Information Transfer could help make the activities fresher and more
competitive at the same time encouraging students’ involvement in the lessons.
As a result of using the technique students may feel excited by the challenging
and creative activities; therefore, the atmosphere of the class will be more attractive and effervescent. Then this may lead to a more successful
reading lesson for the teacher.
Helping
students understand the whole reading text
The techniques mentioned above focus on
assisting students’ comprehension of separate ideas or parts of the reading text. In this way, students
cannot know how each idea connects with the
other ideas and thus it is hard to get the overall
idea of the text. Of course, those techniques cannot be absent from the
reading lesson but that is not enough for the purpose of content exploitation
since a reading lesson is expected to help students with the details as well as the overall ideas. One solution
is that some teachers use the summary
technique to fulfill the aim of content study. This solution seems not to be successful because
students’ writing skills are not as good as desired,
while their summary
skills are also very limited.
By using the Information
Transfer technique to transfer the main information of a reading text into charts, graphs and tables will be a useful
tool for teachers and students to deal with content of the text at both the
general and specific level.
Practicing
real life communication
One advantage
of the Information Transfer technique
is that it is a communicative task. In
daily life, for example, we can see most
information is presented in visual and symbolic form. In an office, for
instance, we also notice that from the system of organization, timetables,
memos, plans, etc.
are not purely
in linguistic forms
but they are
in forms of
outline, diagrams, charts or tables. As we travel, we often deal with
forms such as a tourist brochure and map, immigration and application forms, accommodation and restaurant information, most of which are both in
linguistic and symbolic forms that aim to catch our attention or facilitate our
reading. So, if language teachers can apply this technique in class, this will
be a wonderful preparation for students later. Students should be encouraged to
practice and get acquainted with these types of reading text while they are
still at school. In so doing, students can develop the ability to decode
information from visual and diagrammatic texts at the same time with the ability
to transfer information from linguistic forms into a kind of symbolic
form. This is extremely necessary for students in their future daily
communication.
how to use information transfer:
how to use information transfer:
References
Brown,
H. D. (2004). Language assessment principles and classroom practices. New York:
Pearson Education.
Oxford English Dictionary (1997). Oxford:
Oxford University Press
Palmer, D. (1991). Information transfer for reading and listening.
China: Thomas Nelson and
Son.
Prodromou, L. (1992). Mixed ability
classes. London: Macmillan.
Storla,
S. (1993, April).
Writing for critical
thinking: Problem solving
and information transfer. Paper presented at the 27th Annual Meeting of the Teachers of English to Speakers
of Other Languages, Atlanta, GA.
Truong, V. (1999). An application of the
information-transfer technique in teaching reading comprehension in Vietnamese secondary school classrooms of English. Journal
of science and education.
Hue: Hue University, College of Education.
Widdowson,
H.G. (1978). Teaching language as communication. London: Oxford University
Press.