ELT News Think Tank

This Month's Think Tank Panel

Marc Helgesen

Peter Viney

Chuck Sandy

Panelists: Marc | Peter | Chuck
Date: December 2001

Topic: "What are some ways to increase language input inside and outside the classroom?"

(The flip side to this article, where our authors and teachers discuss output, is January's article. -ed.)

Marc Helgesen

In addition to the expected input suggestions (readers, music, video, CDs), I'd like to mention an easy and underused resource: get the students to talk to themselves.

No, I'm not talking about the socially inappropriate behavior you occasionally notice on big city streets and from guys you really wish were not sitting next to you on the train. Rather, I am talking about making use of the students' innervoice. Innervoice is based on the idea that every time you are having a conversation, you are really having two: one with the person you are speaking to and one with yourself. We all do this naturally in our first language. It can be a useful and interesting tool which gets our students thinking more about what they are saying and, mentally, increasing their input and intake (language they are actually processing).

One of the easiest ways to introduce innervoice is with the dialogs found in most textbooks. I often start out by having two students (or one student and myself) perform the dialog and getting the rest of the class to suggest the characters' innervoice - that is, they say what the characters are thinking. Here's an example, based on a fairly typical Unit 1 (Introductions) dialog.
Situation: Pat is having a party. You are meeting someone for the first time.

Man: Nice party, isn't it.
Woman: Yes, it is. By the way, I'm Mari.
Man: Nice to meet you. I'm John.

Before you read what I wrote next, ask yourself: What are they really thinking?
Here's one possibility:
Man's innervoice: Hey, who's this? I'd like to meet her. I wonder if she's here alone.
Woman's innervoice: Hmm. He's kind of cute.

The conversation continues:
Woman: How do you know Pat?
Man: We play tennis together. Do you play?
Woman: I love tennis.

Again, what are they really thinking?
Man's innervoice: Hmm. Let her know right away that I'm an athletic type.
Woman's innervoice: Oh, something we have in common.

The dialog goes on:
Man: So how do you know Pat?
Woman: We go out together.
Man: Oh.

What are their innervoices saying now?

As you can see, having the student take time to think about what the characters are thinking can greatly increase the amount of language they are processing. Also, it gets them thinking more deeply about the language they are running into. One problem with dialogs is that students are often just practicing someone else's words. This kind of exercise gets them thinking about it at a deeper level (notice that in our example, the innervoice conversation had very little to do with the actual conversation. This is not at all unusual.)

Once students understand the idea of innervoice, they can create the conversations on their own. I often have them do this in pairs, writing the innervoice in their textbook next to the dialog. Then they share what they've written with other pair.

It may seem unusual call this input when no one is actually reading or hearing anything. But they are hearing something. It is just internal. And since many of our students are false beginners who have studied English for years, their own innervoices can be a useful source.

Innervoice is not limited to in-class activities. Many of my students come to school by train or bus. I encourage them, when they are lucky enough to get a seat, to look out the window and "mentally narrate" what they see. For example, they might be thinking, "There's an old man walking across the street. He's carrying a black dog. And there's a woman on a bicycle. She's wearing a gray coat. She isn't watching where she is going."

Once they are get used to the technique, they can do it with anything. They can close their eyes and mentally "replay" the TV show they watched last night, narrating the "movie in their mind." They can do the same thing with topics they are preparing to talk about in their next English class.

I've been doing quite a bit with innervoice in my own classes and have led some workshops on the topic. If you are interested in more ideas, have a look at my Innervoice, time, planing and practice handout.
(Link no longer available - ed.)

Innervoice is much more than just talking to yourself. But who knows, even that might have benefits. To borrow an example I read somewhere on the web, if while riding a crowded train, you get sort of maniacal expression on your face and say in a strange tone of voice, "I must find a more suitable host body", you just might you have the whole seat to yourself.

Panelists: Marc | Peter | Chuck

Marc Helgesen, Miyagi Gakuin Women's College

Co-author of English Firsthand and Active Listening

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