Asian learners typically expect their teachers to provide information to them to memorize or learn. Many Asians who study English in their native country therefore possess a strong conceptual understanding of the grammatical structure of English, but they lack the ability to speak English fluently or understand it when it is spoken by native speakers. While it is important for teachers of English to be sensitive to this learning style to avoid causing anxiety among Asian students, it is also important to help them expand their comfort levels so that they can engage in the kind of participatory learning that will help them to better speak and understand conversational English.
Expose students to media that combine audio and visual to help them contextualize conversational English in ways that will make it easier for them to learn it. Showing brief television shows with captions, for example, allows students to connect the conversational English they hear with written words they understand and with visual cues that will help them better understand how English works in conversational contexts.
Provide casual opportunities for students to actively participate in conversational English within a safe and controlled environment. For example, playing language-oriented games that allow students to work in teams allows them to practice communicating with each other in a fun and goal-directed context, which often results in a more natural acquisition of conversational communication. Games including Pictionary or Charades that ask students to determine an English word or phrase based upon visually expressed clues work well because they facilitate conversation and provide a connection between verbal and visual communication.
Develop brief writing assignments that ask students to reflect on the English language learning activities in which they have participated. Writing about challenges they are experiencing or successes they have achieved will encourage them to think deeply about the process of learning English and help them see connections between written and conversational English, both of which will helps them develop long-lasting and balanced understandings of how English works in theory and how to better use it in practice.