All about output with Dr. Florencia Henshaw, Part 1

Get ready for the first part of a two-part series all about the fascinating world of output! In episodes 56 and 57 of Growing with Proficiency The Podcast, Dr. Florencia Henshaw is shedding light on what output truly is and how it plays an important role in developing your students’ presentational and interpersonal proficiency.

Remember when Dr. Henshaw shared with us about comprehensible input a few months ago? Listen to part 1 and part 2. Well, part 1 of this series is all about transitioning from that input to output, understanding why it’s essential for your students, and setting the right expectations.

In episode 56, Dr. Henshaw walked us through what constitutes output, what definitely isn’t output, and how output contributes to enhancing your students’ language proficiency. While there’s a common consensus among language educators about input, the same can’t be said for output. It’s a hot topic with plenty of debates, and this conversation is here to provide clarity and answer the many questions you might have.

Dr. Henshaw started off by noting that, as teachers, we end up favoring output at the expense of input. We also have to remember that we cannot expect output if there aren’t enough opportunities to build a system in the first place and if there isn’t enough input in the first place. She also pointed out that, “I completely understand the allure of outputs for the teacher, and for the students, but we still need to make the students understand the incredible value of input.” Listen to episode 40 and 41 for our conversation about input.

What is Output?

First, output is not just production. Dr. Hensahw explains that some might disagree with her definition of output, but she said that she’s all about the building and accessing the system, not working on the mechanics of language. Dr. Henshaw looks at output as expressing meaning and retrieving from your system. Your system might be a lot of memorized chunks, and it’s still a system, but you are retrieving from whatever you have available in your head, as opposed to seeing something written down, seeing the translation of it, and simply reading that phrase. If that’s all you’re doing, it’s not coming from your system, it’s just simply coming from you recognizing that translation.

She also gave us an example;”It would be the equivalent of “Hey, Google Translate, how do you say this?” And then you read it out loud. Is that output? Most teachers are going to tell me no, that is Google Translate output! Well, it’s the same thing with the word wall, if the student is only matching that, “oh, that’s the translation of what I want to say. That is the word I want to say.” So they say it. Just because they said it, it doesn’t mean it’s output, it could still be service input. But it’s not output if it’s not coming from their heads, so to speak. And the reason why I think it’s important to make that distinction is that we want the students to be expressing meaning.

Dr. Henshaw continued, “There’s two reasons why I think it’s so important to talk about the fact that they need to be retrieving from their system. One is because we need them to build a system in the first place. The other one is that if they don’t, then output is not serving the purpose of honing the skill of retrieving from the system which is the function of output. So, input helps to build a system output helps with the skill of accessing the system.”

You Don’t Have to Be in Just One Camp…

One of the important points that Dr. Henshaw made in our conversation is that you don’t have to be in just one camp when it comes to output and input. We need to understand how each of them contributes to language development and what we can expect of input and what we can expect of output. And, that there’s not a direct correlation. Comprehension precedes production. And, comprehension develops faster than production. It is very complicated what our brain does with language to try to build that system and, then, to be able to retrieve it from the system when that is needed. You need to have realistic expectations that just because students are understanding a lot of language, what they can produce might still be two or three levels below.

Novice Classes vs Intermediate Classes

I think input and output, or the amount or the focus of input and output in novice classes are different than in intermediate classes. I asked Dr. Henshaw about this, and this is how she answered.

“I think, no doubt, the first two years should be a lot more input driven. And the input doesn’t have to be just the teacher speaking in the target language all day, that’s not necessarily input. I think we need to just be planning a lot of activities where the goal is input, even when you’re wanting to write a little scene about their family, just have them rearrange sentences and add some details.” “In the beginning, make sure that the students are seeing the importance of input, not just in what you do in class, but also in how they’re being graded. Also, have some output assessments.”

Dr. Henshaw went on to talk about intermediate classes, “Sometimes, unfortunately, the push for output is stronger and sometimes more justified, but we cannot forget that students need input throughout their career as language learners.” “Just because they’re done with the novice stuff, don’t think that input is done, we still need a lot of input. So, still keep up with input. Of course, we can expect more output out of the students.” Listen to episode 56 above as Dr. Henshaw added another key point to remember for your higher level students.

One thing that I do with my students is Calendar Talk. I do this with all my classes. We talk about extracurricular activities, we talk about hobbies, we talk about jobs, we talk about their struggles. It is so important to keep these conversations going, especially in our AP classes. You can check out my Calendar Talk products here in my TpT store. 

Essential Questions About Output

The first question Dr. Henshaw wants us to ask about output activities is, “Can they do it without paying attention to meaning?” The second questions is, “Is the student retrieving from their head or is the student retrieving from an external resource?” In our discussion, she provides an example of these questions. We want students to retrieve all of the language from their head not from the paper you gave them or from whatever you display in your classroom.

Dr. Henshaw also added, “As long as you have realistic expectations of what practice you’re doing, what effect that practice is having, I have no problem with it. Just think about whether the practice you’re doing, such as choral repetition, is really giving you what you’re hoping it gives you. So, if what you’re hoping with core repetition is that their pronunciation improves, think about whether that’s the most effective way to go about it.”

I asked Dr. Henshaw about activities for output. She first stressed that you’re making sure that you’ve really moved from input to output. It has to be relevant to whatever output you are expecting. Another thing she pointed out is that if you know that students like to be saying things in the target language and talking to each other, then that’s okay. For example, at the end of chapter one in her book, they provide an example of framing things as predictions and confirmations. Students make predictions about their classmates’ routine, and then they’re going to ask questions to confirm that part. You can also provide a lot of scaffolding in the form of input. Dr. Henshaw added, “Another thing I think is important is to give novice learners, even intermediate, time to think about what they are going to ask.” Let them take time to write their questions down. That is still output. 

She continued, “In terms of output activities, I would probably say in beginning levels, put more weight on presentational writing than interpersonal speaking. And our personal speaking should be so small and probably very predictable in what they can do. But don’t put so much pressure, presentational writing is output. And to me, it’s actually really good output because the students focus more on what they’re saying. They have more time to think about what they want to say, to notice words, to notice forms that they are retrieving from their system.”

Finally, Dr. Henshaw wanted us to remember that “output should not be language practice.” Episode 56 is packed with insights that will answer many of your questions about output. Listen here.