Using Pair Taping
Peter H. Schneider

Introduction
A lack of motivation in learners appears to be the greatest concern of English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers (Nunan, 1993). English as a second language (ESL) learners live in an English-speaking culture, probably desiring entry into that culture, and certainly needing English in their everyday lives, while few EFL learners have yet to experience a personal relevancy for English. Moreover, EFL learners most likely have not started learning English because they wanted to, and can easily be tired of studying it after years of compulsary courses, and subsequently not be motivated. One way to overcome this obstacle to their learning, I propose, is to focus exclusively on fluency, introducing EFL learners to communicating with only their English. Years of study have left them with an extensive vocabulary and knowledge of grammar that they probably have not had much opportunity to use to express themselves. They may believe themselves incapable of speaking English, or feel the hopelessness that many L2 learners suffer (Dornyei, 1994). In having to rely on their latent ability in English, EFL learners can demonstrate to themselves that they can succeed in speaking English. It may also activate in them the prime motivators for language learning (Dornyei, 1994; Crookes and Schmidt, 1991):
They can gain self-confidence concerning their English.
They can discover English has more relevancy for them and holds more interest.
They can feel increased satisfaction from studying it.
I have found that an effective method for getting learners to access their own resources is to let them tape record themselves while speaking in pairs. "Pair taping" allows L2 learners to concentrate on making the output from this accumulated knowledge of English comprehensible (Swain, 1985), something they may do better talking with each other than with native speakers (Doughty and Pica, 1986). Learners speaking together will also teach one another (Pica, 1994), and almost never misinform (Long and Porter, 1985). In addition to helping to motivate EFL learners, pair taping offers solutions to other related problems that teachers face: students not feeling responsibility for learning, or not making much effort, or not speaking English in class, or using the native language. For dealing with these and other common EFL concerns, Nunan (1993) recommends a learner-centered curriculum, one in which L2 learners determine how and when and what they learn. This can be accomplished through pair taping. As learners who do pair-taping are essentially in charge of their language acquisition, they maintain personal accountability for that learning. They have an added incentive to speak continuously in English knowing that the teacher will be monitoring their conversations through listening to the tapes. This article will introduce pair taping and suggest some ways to implement it.
Preliminary results
A study of pair taping was conducted over several years with second year Japanese college students in their eighth or more year of English study. The teacher initially gave an option to two English conversation sections of fifty each: instead of attending their once-a-week class, individuals could utilize the language lab to record conversations in English for an equivalent amount of time spread equally over four days a week. Within this format they could talk about whatever they wanted to, whenever they liked, and with whomever they wished. The only other conditions were that they must speak only English and could not be silent. The results of the first year showed that there were differences between those who elected to pair tape and those who did not, although the reason for this is not necessarily the technique: the groups were not selected randomly, and the personality types of those who would choose to pair tape, for instance, might be more the cause for these differences. This understood, those who did pair taping reported "significantly" more that speaking had become easier and more enjoyable over the year. Both groups had equal increase in listening comprehension despite the fact that the learners doing pair taping had had no time with the teacher. This suggests that improvement in listening comprehension was not adversely effected by learners not having a chance to listen to and occasionally speak to a native speaker teacher in class. The learners who did pair taping were also quite positive about the effectiveness of taping, and appeared to be more relaxed, confident, and enthusiastic than before (Schneider, 1993). This paper will describe where and with what students do pair taping, how they do it, and how their tapes are checked, and then the ways to use the technique to replace a class.
Facilities and equipment
A language laboratory is a suitable location to do pair taping. There are obvious logistical reasons for this, and a sense of community may result when pairs are taping in the same area even if they are not all doing it together. That said, the taping could be done anywhere that students have access to a cassette recorder. Explaining pair taping to students Learners who do pair taping are given the following instructions:
Talk about any topic you wish and change partners any time. False beginners at the college level can be surprisingly capable of carrying on conversations when the content is left up to them. This type