Nonnative speakers of English may not be fully equipped to communicate effectively through the oral mode. With this in mind, and through English proficiency testing and a needs analysis on oral communication, Iowa State University has developed a training program to prepare graduate students to become English Speaking Consultants.
Speaking and listening, in any language, are inherently purposeful activities. Graduate students and postdoctoral associates are no exception to the rule, as they must be well equipped to communicate their academic and professional contributions through oral communication. However, nonnative speakers of English may not be fully equipped to communicate effectively through the oral mode, leaving an uneven playing field in its wake. Through information gathering on listserv emails, English proficiency testing, and a needs analysis (Basturkmen, 2013; Brown, 1995, 2016; Dudley-Evans & St. John, 1998) on oral communication, Iowa State University’s Center for Communication Excellence has developed a training model and program to prepare graduate students to become English Speaking Consultants (ESC) to help scholars at all levels in the attainment of their academic and professional goals. ESCs engage in both preparatory training and continuous professional development in order to best fulfill their primary responsibilities: providing high-engagement one-on-one English speaking consultations and leading Peer Speaking Practice Groups (PSPG). Both the training and continuous development revolve around a model that encompasses two types of consultations, i.e. the task-specific consultation and the general English development consultation. The focus of this presentation is to share the development of the training course, as well as the continued development of the ESCs and the PSPGs. The current ESC training program uses a blended approach for training, consisting of a 6-week online course, face-to-face observations, and co-consultations. The self-paced online course has six modules: Introduction, Listening, Speaking, Pragmatics, Lexicogrammar, and Pronunciation. Each module consists of teaching scenarios, lectures, additional readings, and resources for developing skill-specific proficiency. Upon completion of the online course, a potential ESC candidate goes through a series of observations and co-consultations, culminating in a supervised individual consultation. Accordingly, ESCs are equipped with theoretical and procedural knowledge to meet the needs of language learners.
