Teaching
Group Work: An Exploration of Its Effectiveness in Language Learning
Classroom Research
Abstract
This paper explores issues that arise when teachers do not receive the responses or levels of participation they expect from students. It considers ways in which teachers can develop greater awareness of their students’ learning needs, while also encouraging students to become more aware of their own learning position, responsibilities and objectives.
A particular focus of the research is the use of group work as a means of encouraging students to work collaboratively towards shared language-learning goals. The paper considers how teachers can best support group work within the classroom and, in doing so, encourage students to become more active and increasingly self-directed learners.
Introduction
There is widespread agreement among researchers that cooperative methods can have a positive effect on student achievement (Slavin, 1989). Group work is one pedagogical strategy that promotes participation and interaction between students. By allowing students to participate more actively, teachers can create opportunities for a wider range of ideas and responses to emerge.
Group work can also encourage a deeper and more active learning process. Students are exposed to different approaches, opinions and ways of thinking, while working collaboratively can create a stronger sense of belonging. This may help to reduce the anonymity, isolation and shyness that some students experience within a traditional classroom environment.
Working together also provides students with opportunities to learn from, and teach, one another. Classroom research suggests that students can often learn effectively from their peers because they are able to explain ideas and concepts to one another in ways that may be different from those used by the teacher.
For the language teacher, failing to recognise the potential of the whole class can result in a narrow approach to learning. Teachers can, sometimes unintentionally, create barriers that restrict the development of both themselves and their students. Students may become increasingly removed from the learning process if they are not active participants.
This research therefore aims to explore how group work can strengthen the classroom as a community of active learners. In a one-hour lesson involving twenty learners, for example, the opportunities for each student to use English individually are inevitably limited. Group activities can substantially increase these opportunities by allowing students to communicate with several other learners and use English for meaningful purposes.
More Hands Make Lighter Work
Group assignments can easily be planned or implemented poorly, and when this happens they may fail to produce the intended benefits. However, when group work is carefully designed and appropriately implemented, its benefits within the classroom have been well documented.
The following discussion considers some of the benefits of group learning before examining the conditions necessary for effective group functioning. It then considers practical approaches to using groups in the classroom. If appropriately applied, these approaches can make group work a satisfying and productive experience for students and may even become one of the most valuable elements of a course.
Benefits of Group Learning
The benefits of group learning identified in the literature can broadly be divided into three categories: cognitive gains, affective gains and professional gains.
Cognitive Gains
Michaelson (1983) suggests that group learning can result in students becoming actively involved in the learning process. Students receive immediate feedback, have access to individual help and are given opportunities to work on challenging problems. Group learning has also been associated with the development of higher-level problem-solving skills.
Other researchers have suggested that group work encourages students to take greater ownership of their learning (Bouton & Rice, 1983). This sense of ownership can contribute to a more positive attitude towards education and learning (Slavin, 1989).
Affective Gains
Although the cognitive benefits of group learning are important, the affective benefits should also be considered. Davis (1993), for example, notes that group work can be particularly effective in influencing the attitudes of group members.
Slavin (1989) identifies evidence suggesting that group learning can improve attitudes towards diversity. When students work with people from different racial, ethnic or cultural backgrounds, opportunities arise for them to develop greater understanding, liking and respect for others.
This is particularly relevant to language learning, where communication involves not only the acquisition of linguistic knowledge but also interaction with people who may have different experiences and perspectives.
Professional Gains
The benefits of group learning can also extend beyond the classroom. Millis (1995) suggests that group learning can help prepare students for an increasingly team-oriented and culturally diverse workplace.
Kraft (1985) identified several characteristics that employers desired in college graduates. These included:
- Reasoning and problem-solving abilities.
- The ability to read and interpret written materials.
- The ability to write clearly and concisely.
- Oral communication skills.
- The ability to work effectively with others.
Many of these abilities are directly encouraged through group learning. If one of the purposes of education is to prepare students to function effectively in the workplace, then learning to work collaboratively would appear to be an important part of the classroom experience.
Group work is likely to be most effective when assessment recognises both individual and group contributions, potentially including an element of peer evaluation.
Group discussion can also be strengthened when students recognise that misinformation exists and accept responsibility for questioning and correcting it rather than simply repeating it. Most students do not necessarily want to express their opinions without purpose; they want to leave the classroom feeling that they have learned something from the discussion.
Creating a classroom atmosphere in which students work collectively to discover and evaluate information can therefore shift the focus away from personal disagreement and towards the shared objective of developing better understanding and critical thinking.
Hypothesis: Getting Students Working
Students’ awareness of their learning goals can be questioned, as can their motivation and general attitude towards learning. My hypothesis is that the more aware students become of what they are doing and why they are doing it, the clearer their goals may become. Increased awareness may therefore lead to greater attention and engagement.
Active learning may be particularly important in language classrooms. However, there are several difficulties that need to be considered.
Firstly, where students have little genuine need to communicate in English, communication in the target language may appear artificial or unnecessary. Secondly, where learners share a common culture and are often of a similar age, there may be limited curiosity about what other members of the class think or do. This can reduce the usefulness of activities that depend upon students discovering new information about one another.
Thirdly, there is an interesting paradox in language learning: the more interesting or motivating an activity is, particularly when it contains a competitive element, the more likely students may be to use their mother tongue in order to complete the task successfully or quickly.
Finally, communicating in a foreign language requires greater effort than communicating in one’s mother tongue. Students may therefore naturally revert to their first language when they believe this will enable them to complete a task more efficiently.
Active learning can broadly be understood as anything students do in the classroom beyond passively listening to a teacher’s lecture. It can include listening activities, short writing exercises, responses to teaching material and more complex group activities in which students apply course material to real-life situations or unfamiliar problems.
Cooperative learning represents a particular form of active learning in which students work in groups, often involving three or more learners. Cooperative learning activities are generally more formally structured, with students being given complex tasks such as multi-stage exercises, research projects or presentations.
Collaborative learning is related but can be distinguished from cooperative learning. Collaborative learning places the teacher and students on a more equal footing, with students potentially becoming involved in designing assignments, selecting texts or presenting material to the class.
For the purposes of this research, the focus is primarily on active and cooperative learning techniques that can be incorporated into the existing classroom structure.
The Theory of Group Work
When considering group work, it is important to recognise that a group is more than simply a number of students sitting together. The structure, development, behaviour and relationships within the group can all influence its effectiveness.
The Structural Approach
When establishing the structure of a group, several factors need to be considered:
- The patterns of relationships that appear to exist between members of the group.
- The sub-groups operating within the larger group and the relationships between them.
- Whether members are constrained by the way in which the group has been established or structured.
- Whether a particular model or pattern is influencing the structure of the group.
Processes and Stages
It is also important to consider:
- The stage of development that the group has reached.
- How far the group has progressed towards its objectives.
- Whether the natural lifespan of the group is approaching its conclusion.
Group Behaviour
The behaviour of the group can provide useful information. This includes:
- Changes in group behaviour following the achievement of early objectives.
- Problems arising from interactions between group members.
- Distractions introduced into the group process by one or more members.
- The contributions made by individual members and what these contributions reveal about the roles they have adopted.
Rules and Functions
The teacher should also consider how the group:
- Accepts and operates within the boundaries established for it.
- Develops a hierarchy of members and whether some members have greater influence over existing rules.
- Develops and adapts over time.
- Responds to the need to accept agreed rules and carry out its functions.
- Recognises and fulfils the roles allocated to individual members.
Group Dynamics
The dynamics of the group should also be observed. For example:
- Is one member dominating normal interaction?
- Is the agreed agenda being followed, or is pressure developing to change it?
- Is the group becoming focused on the immediate situation or on what has already happened rather than on its objectives?
- Is there any reduction in the group’s shared sense of purpose?
Interactions
Finally, it is important to consider whether the group is functioning in a way that:
- Keeps interactions directly related to the purpose of the group.
- Encourages functional rather than dysfunctional interaction.
- Allows emotions and thoughts to be expressed.
- Prevents emotions and thoughts from becoming unnecessarily repressed.
Parameters of the Study
For my research, I used a group of intermediate-level students consisting of fourteen learners. There were ten female students and four male students, ranging in age from approximately sixteen to thirty-five.
I taught the group for thirty hours over one term of study. The research reported here focused on approximately ten hours of teaching, covering four lessons over a two-week period within the six-week course.
For the inquiry, I used triangulation, involving a variety of techniques to collect the data required to address my research question (Freeman, Doing Teacher Research, p. 96).
Setting Ground Rules
In many classroom situations, teachers can reduce the likelihood of students making hurtful or inappropriate statements by establishing ground rules at an early stage of the course. This can be particularly important where controversial or sensitive topics may arise.
Ground rules can be introduced during the first days of a course and should provide a framework for discussion that everyone is expected to follow. Students should be given the opportunity to review the rules and contribute to the agreement by clarifying them or suggesting additional guidelines.
When problems arise later in the course, both teachers and students can refer back to the ground rules that were collectively established. Involving students in the creation of these rules also encourages them to consider what constitutes a productive discussion and how a classroom can become a safe environment in which everyone feels able to participate.
Ground rules do more than prevent students from making potentially harmful statements. They can also encourage fruitful discussion and critical thinking. Even when the subject matter is not controversial, such guidelines can help students understand that speaking in class should contribute to learning rather than simply provide an opportunity to express personal opinions.
Establishing a “Zone”
Establishing a safe classroom atmosphere is important in increasing students’ confidence and comfort. As discussed above, this can begin with clear ground rules for controversial, emotional or potentially offensive topics.
Introducing these expectations at the beginning of a course can prevent some problems from developing later. However, there is also a possibility that overly formal rules may inhibit the free flow of ideas. The approach therefore needs to be compatible with the objectives of the course and with the teacher’s personality and teaching style.
The challenge for the teacher is to establish sufficient structure to support productive interaction without creating so many restrictions that students become reluctant to communicate freely.
Research Method
For group work to be successful, there needs to be an environment in which students want to participate and can learn from one another. This became an important focus of my research.
There are many aspects of teaching that require reflection. In my experience, active student involvement in learning can increase what students remember, how effectively information is assimilated and how successfully learning can subsequently be applied in new situations.
When students explain their thoughts about a class topic to their peers, they are required to articulate those thoughts clearly and make them available for examination by others. At the same time, listening to their peers exposes students to different ways of interpreting and applying classroom material.
This can provide students with a wider range of examples of how information can be used. In a course that emphasises the application of knowledge, therefore, participation in classroom discussions can become an important part of learning.
For this reason, I attempted to vary the organisation of the class and move students around so that they had opportunities to work with different people. From my observations, this appeared to be an effective way of gaining students’ attention.
One approach involved the whole class working together as one large group. My perception was that students generally enjoyed working together, and the arrangement allowed them to ask more people for help when they encountered difficulties.
A further approach was to arrange students in a complete circle so that they could see and listen to one another more easily. I also used smaller groups for reading tasks in which students had to identify positive and negative aspects of a text.
While observing the students, I began to recognise that the size of the group was important. If groups became too large, the intended teamwork could be weakened because students might become less directly involved in the discussion.
One method I developed during the second lesson was to nominate one person in each group of four as a secretary. This student was responsible for writing while the other members concentrated on speaking and discussing their ideas.
I felt that this small group arrangement worked well because the students had to ensure that the secretary recorded their information accurately. I also asked all students to speak at the end, so their ideas were represented both verbally and in writing.
The size of the group appeared to be particularly important. With four students, there was sufficient opportunity for everyone to contribute without the group becoming too large.
Getting the group to speak also meant that other students could hear different points of view and question them. Their ideas were therefore expressed twice: first within the smaller group and then to the whole class. I regarded this as a useful test of participation because it provided each student with an opportunity to speak.
I also observed some students negotiating over who would speak first. I interpreted this as evidence that the activity presented them with a genuine challenge and required them to take responsibility for their contribution.
Student Responses
The students’ comments were critical to this inquiry because they provided an opportunity to compare my observations with their own perceptions of group work.
When I questioned the students about the group format, there was strong agreement that group work was an effective form of learning. Most students identified group work as a useful way to share ideas and opinions, including opportunities to develop an understanding of new vocabulary.
For me, an important aspect of this was the opportunity for students to share their English and demonstrate their ability within the class in response to the tasks set by the teacher.
Only one student specifically identified enjoyment as a benefit. However, I believe that enjoyment has an important place within learning. Students may be physically present in groups, but if they are not interested in the activity, they may be less willing to engage with the task.
A lack of interest may also affect students who are susceptible to peer pressure, potentially preventing some learners from participating fully.
My observations also highlighted the importance of the physical arrangement of the classroom. For example, I noticed that Steve recognised the value of a group format but did not arrange the students in a circle. As a result, students were not always facing one another, which may have reduced opportunities for communication and made it more difficult to hear other speakers.
In one group, I observed a student writing the answers while another student appeared to lose interest. This reinforced my view that the physical organisation of a group can influence participation.
I also concluded that students need clear and precise instructions. During Steve’s introduction to one activity, students were asked to write about cars, but the initial explanation was not sufficiently clear. Individual students appeared to be trying to interpret what they were expected to do and several were uncertain about where to begin.
Steve recognised this difficulty and rephrased the task, eventually writing on the board: “What do you use a car for?” At this point, the students began producing the expected material.
In retrospect, I felt that this activity could also have been introduced through group work, allowing students to help one another understand the task. Approximately five or six minutes passed before the students became fully engaged in the learning activity.
This observation reinforced my view that group work can be a valuable element of teaching, but that it requires careful planning. The students appeared to value groups partly because they provided opportunities to meet other people, exchange ideas and use language collaboratively.
Evaluation of Results
One effective format appeared to be arranging students in a complete circle so that they could listen to one another more easily. I also used groups for a reading task in which students were asked to identify positive and negative aspects of an email.
Initially, I noticed that the students were largely working individually, with their heads down and focused on their own work. This led me to question whether the group was too large or whether the task itself was sufficiently collaborative.
This observation reinforced my belief that large groups can sometimes hamper effective teamwork. In response, I used the secretary system described above, with one student responsible for writing while the other members concentrated on discussion.
The group of four appeared to work effectively because students needed to communicate their ideas clearly enough for the secretary to record them accurately. I then asked all students to contribute verbally so that the information was communicated both through writing and speech.
Again, the relatively small size of the group appeared to support participation. Asking students to present their ideas also provided an opportunity for others to hear and question their points of view.
The ideas were therefore communicated first within the group and subsequently to the wider class. This gave students repeated opportunities to use the language they had been learning.
Group Awareness
Sample Lesson Plan
Aims
By the end of these stages, students will have developed an awareness of direct and indirect questions through a series of activities.
Materials
Sentence strips.
Stage 1
The teacher asks students to examine a series of questions and identify what makes the questions polite.
The teacher then explains the difference between direct and indirect questions and checks whether students can identify the differences between the two forms.
Stage 2
Students change direct questions into indirect questions.
Stage 3
The teacher provides students with questions and asks them to interview five friends. The activity is then followed by whole-class feedback.
Stage 4
The teacher explains that students are going to take part in a general knowledge quiz and provides several examples, such as:
- Could you tell me who the President of the United States is?
- Do you know which team won the Premier League in England this season?
- Do you know how much one pound is worth in Thailand?
Stage 5
The teacher divides the students into two groups. Each group is asked to develop questions and then ask them to the other group.
Evaluation of Results
My initial view was that group work could be an effective way of supporting learning, but I wanted to examine the students’ data to determine whether their responses supported my observations.
Rather than focusing on one specific question, such as which seating arrangement students preferred, I examined the responses to all six questions that I asked the students.
I organised the data into two categories: “ways of understanding” and “problems”. I placed these headings at the top of the page and organised the responses beneath them.
When reviewing the data, I found that students frequently referred to group work as a “way of understanding”. Responses included comments such as “some people to help me” and “I like debating”. These responses appeared to emphasise the value of having more people with whom to use language and discuss ideas.
This was particularly evident during the fourth and final lesson, when I was teaching indirect questions.
Initially, we worked through how the sentences were formed, and the students changed five direct questions into indirect questions. This was a relatively steady progression through the grammar point.
I then gave the students sentence strips containing indirect questions. Once the students were given the opportunity to stand up and use the questions with their peers, I was struck by the change in their reaction.
The students appeared relieved to be standing and actively using the language. The whole class was initially working together, before naturally developing into smaller groups and pairs. This created a much more active classroom environment.
I felt that the activity was successful because the students appeared enthusiastic about communicating with one another. They became absorbed in the task and began asking me questions about how particular questions should be answered.
This suggested to me that their learning and language acquisition were becoming active processes rather than simply something they received from the teacher.
It could be argued that some of the students’ reaction resulted from the simple fact that they were no longer sitting down. However, I believe that the previous grammatical preparation was also important. Once the groundwork had been established, the students were given an opportunity to experiment with and use their new language.
Again, the central theme was the whole class working together as a group, while also allowing students to move between smaller groups and pairs.
Summary of Results
The data collected showed that 12 out of the 14 students questioned identified group work as their favourite approach to learning.
The students’ responses also indicated that group work was valued as a way of sharing ideas, receiving help from others, debating and developing an understanding of new vocabulary.
The findings therefore broadly supported my initial observations that group work could increase opportunities for communication and encourage students to become more active participants in the learning process.
Discussion
The findings from this research have encouraged me to think more carefully about what happens when students are given responsibility for communicating with one another.
My observations suggest that group work does not automatically produce effective learning simply because students are placed together. The size of the group, the physical arrangement of the classroom, the clarity of instructions and the structure of the task all appear to influence the extent to which students participate.
The use of smaller groups, particularly groups of four, appeared to provide a useful balance between having enough students to generate ideas and keeping the group small enough for everyone to participate.
The role of the secretary was particularly useful because it separated the processes of writing and speaking. This encouraged the other students to concentrate on communication rather than spending much of the activity writing individually.
The research also demonstrated the importance of movement and classroom organisation. When students were able to stand, move around and speak to different classmates, their level of apparent engagement increased.
This was particularly noticeable during the indirect-question activity. The students appeared to enjoy the opportunity to use the language they had been practising in a more natural and communicative situation.
However, the research also showed that group work needs to be carefully supported by the teacher. Clear instructions are essential. Where instructions are unclear, valuable learning time can be lost while students try to establish what they are supposed to do.
The teacher therefore has an important role, not necessarily as the person who provides all the information, but as the person who creates the conditions in which students can learn from one another.
Conclusion
To conclude, the weeks I spent working in the classroom and analysing the data have given me a clearer perspective on many aspects of teaching and learning. In particular, the research has changed the way I think about students’ acquisition of language.
I have come to understand the students to a much greater extent. Before undertaking this research, it was possible for me, as a teacher, to become absorbed in delivering a lesson and consequently lose sight of how students were actually acquiring the language.
This research has reminded me that teaching should not simply be about delivering the planned lesson. Students need opportunities to be tested, challenged and, importantly, to enjoy their learning without being unnecessarily restricted by the teacher.
The teacher needs to be there to support students and to act as a means of facilitating their acquisition of a second language. I have also come to recognise that the teacher needs to remain relaxed and responsive.
Although lesson planning and objectives remain important, I believe that the teacher should not become so concerned with delivering the lesson perfectly that they lose sight of the students’ actual learning.
The most important lesson I have taken from this research is that teaching involves paying attention to the students as much as to the lesson itself. There are many different aspects to teaching, and I recognise that I am still developing my understanding of the wider teaching process.
This research has, however, opened up many possibilities for further investigation. I would like to continue researching group work because every class is different, teaching methods continue to change, and students themselves bring different needs, experiences and expectations to the classroom.
For me, this is perhaps the most important conclusion from the research: effective teaching requires the teacher to remain observant, reflective and willing to adapt. Group work has shown me that students can contribute significantly to one another’s learning when the classroom environment gives them the opportunity to do so.
Classroom-Based Research Project Aspects of Language Acquisition
(8591 Words)
For this project, I have focused my inquiry on the way students acquire language. The question that I would like answered is: How do students acquire language in the classroom environment and what best techniques fit their style of learning? This includes styles that I think do/did not fit in the classroom environment and could actually hamper students’ learning and their acquisition of a language. The classroom data that I used for this essay comes from the teacher (me) and the students that I was teaching. To add to this data in the inquiry, I also observed another teacher, who for one period taught the same class of students. For this essay, I wanted to work out, through analysis, how certain commands such as asking the students to do tasks, either work or not. A few subset questions came to mind such as: how do the teacher’s concise instructions alter students’ concentration or understanding in the acquisition of their language? In what way does the lesson move ahead through controlled teaching? What gives students that drive to a better understanding? I would like, through analysis, to delve deeper into the teaching methods and come to realize for myself, that much more, how the students’ minds work. This better understanding means that my methods of teaching, hopefully, make those students speak more fluently, without hesitation, or worry about their mistakes and aids their learning. I have, through this essay, tried to equally use my thoughts as well as the students. I hope that this essay gives a clearer picture for the reader, as well as myself, on helping students acquire language.
I would just like to add that, apart from studying/researching the class, the most intriguing and challenging part of this classroom research for me, was the research that occurred in the privacy of the staff room. There was a lot of material to be sifted through and connections to be made. This made me make sure that the students provided me with the best possible information untainted by fears of evaluation and embarrassment. I had to analyze the information I received: “How were they thinking about this subject? Why? What shall I do next?” Classroom research for me was intellectually very demanding and at times, quite perplexing. Also, I had to take criticism from some of the tasks that maybe didn’t work in class. The advantages for me as a teacher of using self-evaluation for this research are hugely beneficial for my deeper understanding of the students’ acquisition of language. The scrutinizing of a teacher’s instructions and seeing their students’ reaction to extra instruction, where it is realized that the students don’t get the meaning, is enlightening in respect to the analysis of the teacher’s methods. A teacher can often see their mistakes with a bit more thought. I found that it made me think more about my techniques.
I also think for many reasons my students benefited immensely from my research. Firstly in the act of self-assessment, I think the students developed some knowledge/abilities to see themselves more clearly as learners in relation to their course objectives. Secondly, students who were in small group discussions got to compare and contrast their experiences with others and through large group discussion they developed a sense of the whole class learning and where it’s moving. Thirdly, I not only got insights into how this group of students were doing, but it also opened up channels of collaboration for me to work with individual students on their progress in the course. I think for the students, in hearing what their peers thought, students were able to overcome the isolated, individual student/teacher relationship. They could see themselves as part of a group (including myself) that was marked not by competition, but by solidarity in a common enterprise of understanding and using the subject matter with competence and confidence. For me, I think the students were not used to evaluating their learning or the teacher’s teaching, so it was an enlightening experience, I think for us both. And a process I will continue with the same students as I feel we have a better understanding, now.
For my research, I used a group of intermediate-level students. There were fourteen in the class. There were ten girls/ladies and four men. Their ages ranged from about sixteen to thirty-five. I had them for thirty hours, which is one term of study. This report was focused on ten hours (four lessons) during two weeks of the six-week period. For the inquiry, I used a method of triangulation, which involved using various techniques to acquire the required data to answer my research question.
To begin with, I followed a plan of noting all the instructions and activities I did during the class. I drew up a report form which had headings such as instruction, time, my understanding of students learning, fluency, visual images, classroom setting and extra instruction. The extra instruction, I thought would be a good idea as I have noticed that sometimes I can give an instruction, only to have to repeat it or show it in another way. This exercise I did for each of the parts/stages of the lesson. This plan of my instructions was also a great focus for me as I come to realize after; how I could have done certain stages of the lesson better. For example, I used some yes/no questions after a reading stage about the ‘Internet’ that finished the lesson off just before the break. The questions were about ‘e-mail’. I got the two groups I had formed earlier to ask each other four questions. I helped them form the questions to ask and wrote them on the whiteboard, but I used ‘do you’ questions. Thus, when it came to the answers, there were answers like ‘most students in our group use e-mail and none use the postal mail’. I wrote under the heading of ‘fluency for the students’ in my plan that I realized that this task was hampered by the closed questions. I noted that the process was over quickly and the students’ deeper thoughts were not exercised and the mundane ‘question – answers’ relay had happened. The process seemed to be over very quickly and I didn’t have a chance to listen to many people speak in their groups. I think more information could have been gotten from the students with an open question such as ‘Why do you think your results are like this?’ I would also have got the students’ to give examples. I think these students I was teaching had the ability to use difficult questions/answers, but if the teacher makes it easy with ‘yes/no’ questions it seems to be nondescript.
To add, I also had a scenario in my fourth lesson where I asked some basic questions that for the Intermediate students did not test them to their fullest. There was a picture of a child and a parent and I asked ‘what is their relationship?’ and ‘How is their relationship?’ This was an easy task for the students to do but didn’t actually tax their minds. I was highlighted to this by a student’s comments in the questionnaire, I gave, that ‘it was easy looking’ and all four pictures had ‘parent/child’. This opens another chain of thought for me that of testing the students’ English skills and knowledge. If they are not tested to a certain degree they will become bored and feel as though it is easy and they are not learning. My fourth lesson about the Internet certainly gave the students a harder task. I asked two groups, one group for each subject to write about the advantages and disadvantages of the Internet. This generated a lot of language in their group. I wrote in my plan that they were getting a good understanding of the subject in their group. I had the chance to sit with the students, help them and get more vocabulary. This made some students a little nervous that I was there, but it was hands on and got them working. I told them also that they would have to explain their examples to the other group. I had two students stand up and show their examples that they had written on the board and explain them. I sat in the middle of the two groups and helped proceeding along. I also wrote on the board ‘I don’t understand’, ‘can you speak louder?’, ‘can you explain more?’. I think these questions helped the process work. I mentioned in my notes that they were having fun with the questions, even getting the students to speak more. I noted in my plan that the whole process gave the students chance to speak while also getting more language/vocabulary.
Apart from the hands-on plan, I did for my teaching, I also drew out a questionnaire form for the students to answer. This had each stage of the lesson on it giving an example of what we had done. There were questions about each stage and an example answer for the students to help them. I did this because feel sometimes they don’t answer questions, as a questioner would like them to. I have found that they give an answer about their general idea of their English; for this report, I wanted specific information about the lesson and how it helped them acquire language. I got the students to do the process in the class; I helped this along with the students in a half-circle, around me in the middle. This created an environment where the students could hear each other’s questions and answers which made for some positive feedback.
Additionally, I thought for a good idea to help this report, I would take a look at the group of students from their point of view. For this, I observed my students for one lesson. This was the first lesson; the start of my research. I sat with a group of students, but I could also view the rest of the class. The teacher I observed happened to be new to our school (for the purpose of this essay I will call him Steve). Steve was a little inexperienced to English language teaching methods, especially my teaching methods, although this to me seemed an ideal opportunity, as I could get a picture of the students from a completely different angle. The observing of the teacher was great for me because I could see their reactions to certain situations and commands which were a focus for me. Their reactions were some of the data I was looking for in my research. I was looking for structure, meaning, objectives and mainly the students proving they are learning and understanding with the teacher’s help. My main focus was on the students and their reactions to the teacher. I could see the way students were receiving Steve’s instructions. I observed the class for two and half hours and took notes for myself about the reactions from the students when they were told to do some activity. I also checked for the time of each activity.
The lesson Steve took was about technology. He walked in all calm. I thought he greeted the students well. I must say though, normally once I get started, I like to write the subject on the board to help the students. I feel it is a starting point. Steve did not do this. Steve’s methods even from the start contradicted mine. I was already getting valuable data for myself. The subject for the day, ‘technology /cars’ was clearly not mentioned at the start of Steve’s class. I am sure he said so, but it was embedded in between a lot of other talk. I think the students were not focused at the start of the lesson when the teacher wanted them to understand he was going to talk about ‘cars’. The showing of the subject of the lesson, I noted, would have told the students what the next few hours were going to be about. I feel it would have been better to also ask some concept-checking questions on the subject, which could have made sure Steve did not teach too fast. I felt that the students were not sure if he was talking or giving instructions. I feel a teacher should make sure all students are with them when they are highlighting a point. Steve’s instruction carried on. I think the talk and instructions were too much to be said and a few simple words or questions written on the board could have made it easier for the students to understand. I think this would not have taxed the students too much as there was more to come. I wrote down that the students seemed confused. The girl sitting next to me started talking to her friend. It was a sign that they would wait until someone understood or started doing something and then ask them in their own language ‘What are we doing?’ At the time I felt as though he should start with a title on the board, even getting them to repeat it as a way of focusing their attention. Then, Steve could have done a game with A to Z written on the board where two teams try and write as many names of cars from A to Z. This would get them thinking about cars. I think also it could be a way to get them warmed up but also thinking about the subject of the lesson. Then, once they finished sit them down and write on the board or say “do you/does your father have a car” and get them to ask their partner. Then, get them to ask ‘what do you/does he use it for?’ Steve could have done a model answer to aid their understanding. I feel this is a good lead in to the lesson. Anyway Steve’s instructions were long-winded and he actually had to rephrase his instructions to make sure the students knew what to do. He said the same instructions using different vocabulary. A lot of time was wasted where students didn’t understand. This was still followed by more talk then finally he wrote on the board ‘what do you use your car for?’ I calculated that he spent about six minutes performing this task until the students finally started to do something productive. This actually got them started; this simple question gave them a focus and off they went. I knew this because I was sitting next to a group of girls. I presume from my observations that without a subject and focus question the students are just writing without a true path to follow. I say this because one girl thought she knew what she was doing and proceeded to write something. There was one girl who I would say was a stronger student, said to the teacher what she thought Steve wanted them to do. She was close to the mark. I wrote down at the time that if he was unsure everybody didn’t understand Steve could have used this student to let the other students understand with her. It is good to have all the students with you from the start or they could be lost all the way through and start disturbing the class.
The real scenario I noticed in the class is that the students are very willing and follow the instructions from the teacher. Even if they are confused the students will actually write something instead of checking properly with the teacher. This is where I always notice a certain unwillingness from some students to ask the teacher even though they are not sure. I think one of the reasons is that they are shy. This is not always the case. I say this because I saw some students in Steve’s class start writing at times when I was confused about what Steve had actually told them what to do. This has to be the teacher’s priority to get the whole class to understand. I must add here though for the three lessons I taught I asked my students ‘what was the most important thing you learned today?’ Half of the students actually said in their answers to the questionnaire that the subject of the lesson was the most important thing for them. I know there was a lot of material that went around the main subject, but it goes to show that by putting up the title of the lesson certainly gives the students a focus. I think also that keeping within that subject allows the students to hone in. I think this helps their acquisition, as the new vocabulary can be used within the limits of the subject. That doesn’t mean to say no other conversations are allowed, just that in building the lesson through stages, the teacher would like to hear the students saying the words and talking about the subject towards the end of the lesson. This gives the teacher the satisfaction of knowing he/she has succeeded in getting the students to speak their new language/vocabulary.
In my second class about ‘communication’ after establishing the title and checking the student’s understanding, I wrote two examples in a spider web with ‘communication’ as the title in the middle on the web. I then said to the student I want everybody to write one word about communication. I gave the whiteboard pens out and stood back. I wrote in my notes ‘ I think when the teacher gives a few examples the students get the meaning’. This also got the whole class moving. I also added some more examples myself just to expand their vocabulary. To finish this little exercise, I went through the words and made sure that every student understood. If they did not understand I got the students who wrote the word to explain while I helped if they needed it. I feel we should not move on if some students have any problems. I indeed added the subject theory to my inquiry and thought about the effect of using it to start. The answers I got were all on the theme of an understanding of the title and of what they realize is to follow. Nearly all students used the words ‘it helps’, which was positive. It is this understanding I want to get across as not to confuse the students from the start. The lesson can change direction but a teacher still wants to end up highlighting their original subject and using that at the end with the new language, they must stick to a fairly straight path. For example, my third class on relationships and communication (the title for that lesson), ended up doing a role-play about families and them communicating together. This role-play used all the material in that class. The role-play was great for me because I could look at their role-plays to check they focused on material learnt in that class. If I did not think they were using the vocabulary or they were losing the meaning I got them to think more about it by using concept-checking questions. For example, for ‘relationship’ we talked about stress and the important words in a conversation. I reminded them when I saw their conversation and asked them ‘how is this person feeling?’ to emphasize the emotion in their voice. This I noted made the students’ practice their lines more’ and created a livelier atmosphere.
Students need to speak their newly acquired language which helps them to express themselves more in the classroom without worry. The teacher gets a clearer picture of the stage of language development. I feel once the teacher allows the students to express themselves he can be a sounding board instead of doing most of the talking. I say this to refer to Steve’s class. I found that in his lesson, it was peppered with him finding new words and then spending five minutes explaining to the students who were already doing something. He also made sure they were all listening when he was talking; making a point of dragging some away from their work he had already set. At one time he drew this great drawing, for five minutes, of a 4×4 car just to explain ‘four-wheel drive’ to the students. I noted that it ‘did not assist the class’ in their English acquisition that much and made the lesson drag a little. It was a waste of time and I think more time could have been spent helping each group with what he had set in the first place. I also noted in my data about Steve’s class that if the teacher has given the students a task he ‘should stick to it’. I watched the students and once he had finished all his talking about a single word they just carried on as if nothing had really happened. I think with specific instructions the students can get on with the task. I think leaving them to get on with the task is important because they are concentrating on it. For example, in the third lesson, I gave the students three questions to ask their partner, each separately. “Do you have a close friend?’ then ‘What do you like about him/her? ‘And Why?’ Before I let the students start I modeled the answers myself to give the students an example of the sort of language needed without using short boring answers. These questions, I then sporadically asked some students. I let pairs of students go with the questions and walked around monitoring the students. For the last question, after letting the students talk for four minutes I got them to go around and ask five people the same questions. I then got the students to write the words up on the whiteboard, words they used to describe their close friends. I monitored these to make sure they were the kind of answers I wanted. Once everybody had written something, we checked the words and I added a few more, to expand their vocabulary a little. I made a point of saying all the words and checking pronunciation. I think this helps with their acquisition. Once we established all the vocabulary on the board and the students understood, I then asked what all these words for characters/personalities meant. I asked them “is there a category for these words?’ Once we established these were ‘qualities’ I went on to say there were good and bad qualities. I think all of this teaching was an example of sticking to the task. I gave them an example of my friend being honest but he is sometimes late for meetings. For this exercise, I was trying to open up their thoughts, showing that people are not perfect. My line of thinking and a fact I noted was that sometimes students will just give short answers. This is because in their mind they have completed the task, so in a way the teacher cannot argue, they have done what he said. Some students do not show initiative to speak as much as they can. Actually, for my example, a few students agreed with me. I think they had friends like that. I was trying to get them to understand all that was on the whiteboard. These were the positive and negative aspects of character. I then gave each student some new ‘character/quality’ words. Each of these words was written on paper using a computer. I asked the students to look at the words and write them on the board as either good or bad under the heading. Once we finished I got all the students to check to see if they thought these words were in the right column. We then checked through the words while establishing verbs to go with them. I then got the students into three groups. I followed this by telling the three groups that for every positive quality there was an opposite negative quality and got them to match the words. I watched the groups working together in a positive and very focused manner in what they were doing. The other positive aspect was I could hear them using the words which were part of the lesson. The acquisition process was working as I felt they were happily using these words like they knew them. I tried to circle the groups to check any problems, but I found them working hard together. I think this was good exercise an example of my theory of keeping within the boundaries of the subject.
The availability of the teacher is another focal point in the students’ acquisition. I got a few remarks in my questionnaire about certain parts of the class. I noticed a theme of the students making comments about ‘native speakers’ and how they do not understand them. I think these comments I got from the students certainly put my inquiry into a different perspective. I feel as though in this essay I am trying to make my teaching better through better instruction. I must say though If I do not help the students by personally showing myself more as a natural speaker than just a teacher who tells instructions I will lose their interest because that is why they come to learn English. English is a lot more than just doing exercises from a student’s book. They come to learn English to speak like the native speaker. The teacher being interactive with the students helps this. I scanned through my data and read each comment from the students. After reading each of the student’s comments I wrote a word on the right-hand side of the paper, opposite the comment, that I thought best described what the students had said. After going through the data I noticed a pattern that involved problems with getting the same voice as the native speaker. Looking from a different perspective, I now come to realize that some students know a lot about English but have never had the chance to actually get down and really listen and understand a native speaker. One student’s comment was ‘I need more times to listening from original speaker’. Apart from the grammar in the answer, I understood what she meant. Also, I found a lot of answers to do with their listening which I noted through the answers as the word ‘clear’. I think here, explaining ‘clear’, it means that the students want the native speaker to show them how the words should be said so they are sure. Also, another point that I caught onto through my scanning was culture. I found that quite a few students were a bit worried about how they were saying the words and what was appropriate or not in certain countries. I think this goes back to what I said about the teacher just saying his instructions and being stand-offish with the students that do not allow the students to feel a connection. Through my data, I noticed in a few lessons that the more I got into the lesson, the more feedback and comments from the students, I got. I mean that I think the students like it when the teacher is in with them helping their learning and not just giving instructions and letting the students get on with it. I take this from one student who mentioned that the teacher ‘could have checked their role play’. Maybe I was letting them get on with their writing but all the same, the students still deserve to have their teacher give them some advice and help.
For my threes classes, I wanted to create an environment where students wanted to participate so they could learn from each other. This was a focus of mine. I had a lot of aspects of my teaching to reflect on. I know as a teacher an active involvement from students in the learning increases what is remembered by them, how well it is assimilated, and how the learning is used in new situations. In making statements to peers about their own thoughts on a class topic, students must articulate those thoughts and also submit them to (hopefully constructive) examination by others. In listening to their peers, students hear many different ways of interpreting and applying class material, and thus are able to integrate many examples of how to use the information. Especially in a course that stresses the application of material, extensive participation in class discussions is an essential element of students’ learning. For this reason, I try to vary my class, which involves moving the students around, so they get to work with others. From my observation, this seems a good way of getting attention. This involves pairs, individual, group work and all the class working as one. From the data I collected, it was found that twelve of the fourteen students questioned said that group work was their favorite. My perception of this is that students like to work together. This actually allows them to ask more people when they have a problem. I normally like to have the students round in a complete circle to be able to listen to each other speak. In the fourth class, I had a group of six students working together and it was a reading task. They had to find the positive and negative aspects of e-mail in the text. I did notice that they all had their heads down doing their own work. I guess it was obvious what the students might do but it dawned on me that maybe the group was too big. It makes me think that if the groups are too big it actually hampers the teamwork scenario. One way I thought of creating teamwork was during one of the parts of my second lesson, I used one person from the four in the group, as a secretary. This one person was the only one writing. This made the others in the group speak instead of using their time spent with writing. I think this small group of four worked well as the group because they had to make sure the secretary wrote their information correctly. I think this is a positive arrangement as I made all students speak at the end so their information was written as well as spoken. Also, I think the number was not too big in the group. Getting the group to speak leads to others being able to hear their point of view and maybe question it. Their ideas were actually spoken twice, once to the group then to the class. This is a good test as I see the students all having a chance to speak. I observed the students fussing about who was speaking first. I feel this shows that it is a challenge to them.
From my viewpoint on group work that is one where I think the process works, I wanted to focus on the data from the students to see if they agreed with my thoughts. I chose two categories to think about while I checked through the data. This wasn’t just a specific question about what seating arrangement they liked or something like that. This was a focus on the answers given through the whole of the six questions I asked the students. The two categories were ‘ways of understanding’ and ‘problems’. I wrote these two headings at the top of the page and had two columns down the page. And to continue on the theme of group work, as above, I mostly found when scanning the data that in the class, they mentioned group work as a ‘way of understanding’. I also found examples like ‘some people to help me’, ‘I like debating’. This all seemed to focus around using more people to use their language with during the class. I must add here, concerning group work, at a certain stage in my fourth and last lesson where I had been teaching about indirect questions. We went through how the sentence is formed and the students changed five direct sentences into indirect ones. It was a steady plod through the grammar point. To follow this I gave them some sentence strips with an indirect question on them. Once I gave the students these sentence strips with indirect questions, and they stood up to ask their peers, I was amazed at the reaction. The students were in a way relieved to be standing and using the language. This was the whole class working as one group and the students getting into their own little groups and pairs. It made me feel good that the task was working. I think the students loved the chance to talk to each other and basically speak without worry. They got into the task. Many of the students queried me about some of the questions such as how to answer them properly. I felt as though their learning and ‘acquisitional powers’ were working. You could say it was a reaction to them being sat down, but I think after having the groundwork done it was a good chance to try and use the new language. Again the theme was the whole class working together as a group.
Furthermore, the other category I analyzed was ‘problems. This was interesting as I found that students, as what was mentioned earlier, were expressing their need to listen to foreigners. Such things as ‘hearing clearly’, ‘can’t understand native speaker’, even ‘emotion in language’. I am sure they have never had enough practice with the language although they have learned it from a young age. One big problem is the CD where students forever have problems. I had many comments like ‘it is so difficult. I checked the results of my listening questions from one questionnaire to which the question read ‘Was the listening difficult? Why? Why not? I found that thirteen out of the fourteen students found it complicated. Although they said they found the actual exercise tough going, there were varying answers to do with actual understanding of the listening, ranging from ‘I didn’t understand at all’ to ‘I could get the concept but not all the sentences’. From these results, it makes me feel that a lot can be made of these listening tasks such as practicing new vocabulary beforehand, giving questions during and after, showing the dialogue then letting the students practice the conversation emphasizing intonation. It may seem long-winded, but I have noted the students’ comments.
The students’ comments were critical to this inquiry. I questioned the students about the group format. There was a resounding agreement from the students I questioned that group work is the best form of learning. I found most students thought so. For me, I would hope that this was a way of sharing their English and using this to prove their worth in the class as regards to what is set them by the teacher. Most students said that group work was a good way to share ideas and get opinions. This included understanding new vocabulary. Only one student actually said it was more enjoyable. I must agree with this student’s thought because enjoyment has to come into the class. It is all right for students to be in groups, but if they are not interested they will not want to do specific tasks set and be a bit lackadaisical. This will hold back some students who sometimes bow to peer pressure. From my observations, I noticed with Steve, was that he acknowledged a group format but didn’t actually make them get into a circle that would have had them facing each other. This would have given them more chance to communicate and less bending of their necks to hear the other person. I noticed that one student wrote the answers in one group and because the group format was not in a circle another student lost a little interest. I think also students should be given clear instructions on what to do. I noticed that with Steve’s opening to the class, he just waffled on and said that the students should write about cars. Each student was individually trying to understand but having problems. I noted that the students were a bit lost where to start. They started writing and trying things out. Steve noticed this and rephrased his starting speech which went on until he wrote on the board “what do you use a car for?’. This is when the students started writing the correct material. This could have been done in a group format, and the students at least could have helped each other to understand. This I thought was a long time to be messing around I calculated that it was nearly five or six minutes before the students actually were into the pattern of learning and creating. I think that the group format is an interesting part for the students and an aspect of teaching that was acknowledged by me from my research. The students have good reason to like groups which were to meet new people and share ideas.
I also asked in the questionnaire. Did the students have enough time to complete the tasks? This included ‘what more information would they have needed?’ Now myself as a teacher, I try and have a good lesson plan and make sure that the students have enough chances to speak. There is a point in every lesson where I must go through the student book because they bought them. This means that at times they are studying instead of using their language. To refer back to the question which asked the students about time. I had seven out of the fourteen saying that they had enough time and no more information was needed but they just wanted to be speaking and listening more. I think that there should be time to let the students focus on their learning goals during the lesson. If the teacher has set a specific task then they should give the students a certain amount of time and should keep to that time. It does help students if they are given a specific time because if no time is given they will take longer than is actually needed. My focus as a teacher is to be there to help. I write on the board questions like ‘what does this mean/” ‘I don’t understand ‘to provoke the students to ask me questions. I think these questions highlight a certain way the students learn. I have students who use talking dictionaries or ask their friends when they don’t know. I think this doesn’t work as much as it could because their friends or dictionaries explain it in their language. I would prefer them to ask me to get into the method of querying me about words and grammar. One student did mention that a sheet I had used had some words she did not understand. As a teacher, I feel it was my job to go through all the words but all the same, I should have highlighted that students should be prepared to tell the teacher when they do not understand. The teacher sometimes cannot get around all the class. Maybe here I feel as though the start of the first lesson of a term should be taken up with a synopsis of the term and goals to be set as well as classroom talk including what questions to ask if you do not understand.
Time is always a factor in the classroom so it was good to hear that there was a resounding agreement with the question about time. The students all seemed to be happy with their learning with regard to the time allowed for them to understand. I think this is okay but although they understand there is sometimes when I have a certain feeling with the students that it could be too much for them to ask a question. They might feel a little nervous to ask. They might feel scared they are slowing the class down. This is where the peer group is good, but all the same, it does not get them to enquire with the native speaker. This questioning is as much to the fore as the simple language they learn. Myself as a native speaker, I still have to ask questions to other native speakers when I do not understand the meaning. I think the lesson plan helps in the class as it can show where the students could have problems. I think the teacher should be aware and work with the class as one to highlight certain language problems.
For Steve’s class, I did speak to him during his break and mentioned to him that I thought he had done a lot of work with the students and used a lot of time up. He had also generated a lot of vocabulary. I mentioned to him that he should think of using the student’s work they had already done up to then. I think that students can generate so much that you do not want to overload them with too much which makes it hard for them to let all of it sink in. I think he had done the groundwork and I am sure no student was going to say could we do a role-play to use this vocabulary. I did have a feedback session with them to talk about Steve’s lesson and they immediately said to me’ don’t give us lots of work today!’ One student actually showed me her book and it had lots of work in it. She must have written a lot but not actually had time to use it during Steve’s lesson.
After reviewing the questionnaire that I gave to the students I found a recurring theme that the students liked communication between the group, class, and teacher. A teacher could think they are shy and let them be like that but this is maybe foolish. The students liked to express their thoughts. This went along with the group work theme that working together made them talk. Thus they would be able to express their idea to the class. I found that the togetherness of their group made for a comfortable working environment. I got this feeling from the class as I taught them and also from the feedback in the questionnaire. The answers that were given referred to friendship, ideas, talking, discussion, and sharing. I feel that this is positive and that the students are focused on their work. The prevailing juncture now is to let the students be able to speak their minds. I refer back to Steve’s class where he had them working on the subject of cars and problems in the city due to pollution. He asked them about solutions and got them writing about them. When break time arrived I asked him what he was going to do with all their material and he wasn’t really sure. If anything he was going to continue. So I told him that he should have some sort of way of letting them express their thoughts. I told him that a good way would be to say ‘that each group is going to be government ministers of Thailand and they have to show their ideas to a panel of judges (students) who work for the Prime Minister’. The speech would be about how to stop pollution in Bangkok from vehicles. Then each group has to prepare a speech incorporating what they have written already and at the end do a speech to the panel of judges and the rest of the class. Whoever does the best speech is the winner. This game would have incorporated a bit of competition among the students too. Also, it would have given Steve a chance to help the students/groups with their understanding of all the vocabulary so far in the class. Looking back on what I said to Steve after watching his class I think this was a good idea. I say this because, through the analysis of the student’s answers in the questionnaire, this is what they want to do. They want to talk and communicate their ideas. They want to share their thoughts with the class. I feel that sometimes towards the end of class the students should have an opportunity to show what they have learned or at least try to put it into practice. This is done with a role-play that incorporates all the language used that day. I feel that after working for two hours the students should have a fun part of the class. My inquiry into role-plays actually brought up many different ideas than maybe I had thought of. I was pleasantly surprised to read students like to practice thinking and speaking which is used doing the role-play. One student actually said that ‘it helps him with understanding relationships’. Most students added in their answers that it was fun, which goes with what I thought. All the same, it does test the students, as they have to produce an effort that doesn’t make them look silly in front of the class.
From my inquiries with the students in my class, the students said they understood everything. I am not sure if I believe this completely. So, this is not the time to think I am perfect. The only reason I can give is that I methodically went through the lesson giving the students specific task and time limits. I am sure they didn’t understand everything but it shows that they are learning. I understand that there should be more material to aid their learning. I asked the students about pictures I had given them and they answered that it gave them chance to give an educated guess. It was said that it was a clear picture. The same goes to say with grammar as more examples give for a better understanding.
What must be said in this report, is the important question that I feel needed to be asked, which was ‘which way of learning best helped you during the class?’ Most students said that listening and responding to the teacher was the best way of learning. Some students said that listening to the teacher showing questions and explaining vocabulary helped them. Steve’s way I would say was too much talking. He waffled a bit. I think for a student to fully understand the instructions need to be kept clear and precise. After your instructions, you can go to a student if they ask a specific question. But if you asked the students to do something then it doesn’t seem right if you start talking about something else that might distract them. I say this because Steve started explaining to the students about one word and took a 6 or 7 minutes explaining it. He actually got everybody’s attention which took them away from the initial instruction. It seemed funny that after he finished he said ‘okay, carry on’ what you were doing which some students had forgotten. The girls I was sitting next to, never actually listened to the start of Steve’s explaining, so once they watched him I was sure they didn’t know what it was all about. I am sure if Steve had a better understanding of the students and maybe not so focused on getting his point over, the students would understand him. In realizing that the students cannot absorb too much information at one time, you can keep it at their speed. If you are rephrasing your language and using the same instruction with different vocabulary you should make sure they are with you. All the same in one class I had some students who were looking at their talking dictionary and not concentrating. For this, I made sure I had their attention before I started off my instructions. I also made sure they had understood me by asking some concept-checking questions.
I have wondered how students continue the learning process during the lesson and feel as though they have achieved during that time and come to the end of the class. There is a feeling of mine that students’ acquisition is built up in stages. I have already mentioned the first stage of putting the title on the board. For instance, I taught the third lesson which had a listening part. The listening part was filled with polite language, which took the form of ‘indirect questions’. After the listening, we reviewed some of the questions used in the listening. I explained that these were ‘indirect questions’. We established that the form of them and showed it was a way of distancing yourself to seem less direct. We recognized ‘direct questions’ to show the different forms. This was more the teacher showing examples and asking questions to test the students even though they were a little unsure. We then had some direct questions in the book that they had to change to ‘indirect questions’. This was done in groups of three. While this was going on I was circling them checking and answering questions. We went through the answers and I underlined the structures to highlight the sentences. I then gave out sentence strips with indirect questions on them. The students then had to ask each other and get an answer. This was done and gave the students a chance to use the sentences for real. I got the students to tell me which person had given them the best answer. After the feedback from this exercise, I said some more indirect sentences to the students. For example ‘could you tell me who the president of America is?’ I gave another example. This worked very well and I then got them into two teams. We then had a little competition asking general knowledge questions using indirect questions. I feel these tasks given in stages on the same subject gave the students a good education in polite questions and relaxed atmosphere to practice their English.
To conclude I think in the past weeks where I have spent many hours in the classroom and many hours sifting through data, this report has given me a clearer perspective on every aspect in the classroom. I say this with regard to the student’s acquisition of language. I have come to understand them that much better. I feel as though they are more in my mind than before. It could be said that a teacher can be busy doing his lesson and lose touch with the student’s acquisition of language and focus on his teaching. For this point, I would like to say that I fully appreciate that the students need to be tested and enjoy their learning without being hampered by the teacher. The teacher needs to be there for the students and be their window to the acquisition of their second language. I have come to realize also that the teacher should be relaxed and although I have come to realize a lot more factors in my teaching the one factor I see is that you should not be too worried about your lesson and be more focused on your students’ acquisition of the language. There are many aspects to teaching and I am sure I am not even anywhere near the core of the teaching sphere. I feel that this research has opened up many doors for me. I would like to continue the research because I know that not every class is the same and teaching methods are forever changing and so are the students.
Selected Bibliography
Doing Teacher Research – Donald Freeman
Teaching Young Learners – Writing Activities
(924 words)
For this writing task, I was asked to give my response to 5 statements about writing activities to support young learners to improve their writing and learn a language. I will answer True or False to statements 1- 5 and explain why.
1. Writing should be developed in isolation from other skillls.
Is this True or False?
2. We should not restrict the age at when children begin to write.
Is this True or False?
3. Handwriting and spelling are only part of the process of writing.
Is this True or False?
4. Attention should be paid to developing good habits in alphabet letter formation.
Is this True or False?
5. Using joined-up writing may help develop the learning of the common letter strings found in English.
Is this True or False?
- Writing should be developed in isolation from other skillls. T/F
I would say this is false. Many concrete experiences such as painting, drawing, using play-doh, dramatic play, or building with blocks help children develop the physical, cognitive, socio-emotional skills and understandings that are the foundations of conventional reading and writing. All these skills should be encouraged at home and at school from early age. It is how the learners use these experiences that are gathered to help with their writing skills. This is how literacy ‘emerges’ in children that is significant and can lead to writing. These skills are used when teachers and parents encourage ‘literacy play’ by adding notepads and pencils to the resources provided to encourage role-play and dialogue. Vocabulary can be built through games and activities that increase the range of words your child will know to write with depth. Children can learn how reading and writing are used to achieve goals. For example, at home a child might see thier grandmother following a recipe in a cookbook or watch his mother reading the directions for putting a toy together. From these observations, children learn that reading and writing are used to carry out daily tasks and to communicate and receive information.
2. We should not restrict the age at when children begin to write. T/F
This is true. From an early age, children start using a pen and pencils. Long before they go to school, before they even know the alphabet, children begin to write. In fact, for most children literacy begins at home such as with crayons. The scribbles of very young children have meaning to them, and scribbling actually helps them to develop and become familiar with holding a pen/pencil with their writing. Young children who are encouraged to draw and scribble stories will learn to write more easily, effectively, and confidently once they head off to school. Young children can learn a lot by watching someone write, imitating adults and older children, exploring, and experimenting. Literacy learning does not begin at a certain age and I think should not be limited to the classroom. It can develop significantly during the pre-school years and be influenced by social contexts as well as individual skills and applications.
3. Handwriting and spelling are only part of the process of writing. T/F
This is true. The one major fact of writing is that of putting a pen to paper. This involves the transcription aspects of writing, combining handwriting and spelling abilities with the choice of the right words, shaping these into the appropriate syntax and general organisation. Other parts of writing include emulating and exploring the different genres of writing. For example, the child can write but how do they organise their writing, and who is the audience. For a younger child chronologically, organised writing may be easier to tackle at first, such as stories and reports where what happened next provides a major prompt. Appreciation of the possibilities of different kinds of non-chronological text is a major part of writing such as descriptions classifications, explanations, and arguments. Teachers and parents can help by pointing out the distinctive features of these types of writing as opportunities arise. Teachers and parents influence the learners writing through wider reading and of being read to highlight the many facets to writing.
4. Attention should be paid to developing good habits in alphabet letter formation. T/F
This is true. It could be assumed that children’s early ‘invented’ spellings will evolve into conventional versions over time. Parents and teachers need to encourage correct hand movements for forming each letter of the alphabet from a very early age. As a learner gets exposed to more literature he will try out new hand movements. The teacher and parent’s role is to show the visually patterned nature of the English spelling system. Letters have starting points and mistakes from the start can be hard to change as time moves on. Words with time will begin to flow into each other.
5. Using joined-up writing may help develop the learning of the common letter strings found in English. T/F
This is true. How a child writes each letter relates to how they can join that letter up to the next letter. When the child makes a writing mistake for instance beginning a g at its tail, forming an e with a clockwise motion, this can quickly become habitual and can be very difficult to change. Such errors also prevent children from developing the sense of ‘flow’ in the formation of commonly occurring letter strings which are spontaneously joined by correct exit strokes leg. in. ly. ch). This kinaesthetic control over written language production is not only more efficient but is also likely to promote success in spelling.
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Unconscious Acts
It’s all well and good teaching language in conversation, but have you ever noticed you open your mouth when you are about to ask a question, or raise your eyebrows when surprised or expecting a question, or even rapidly inhale when you are ready to speak? It all adds to the flavour of practicing conversation and students’ nonverbal actions.
Chunking and phrases
(300 words)
So, what is so important of moving from vocabulary to adverbial phrases, complements, and objects such as “on the way”, “one night”, “from outer space”, or even “a monster from outer space”. Here lie examples of chunking of words and the Lexical Approach. The principles of the Lexical Approach have been around since Michael Lewis published ‘The Lexical Approach’ in 1993. The principles of the Lexical Approach have [been around] since Michael Lewis published ‘The Lexical Approach’ [20 years ago]. [It seems, however, that] many teachers and researchers do not [have a clear idea of] what the Lexical Approach actually [looks like] [in practice].
All the parts in brackets are fixed or set phrases. Different commentators use different and overlapping terms – ‘prefabricated phrases’, ‘lexical phrases’, ‘formulaic language’, ‘frozen and semi-frozen phrases’, are just some of these terms. We use just two: ‘lexical chunks’ and ‘collocations’.
‘Lexical chunk’ is an umbrella term that includes all the other terms. We define a lexical chunk as any pair or group of words that are commonly found together, or in close proximity.
‘Collocation’ is also included in the term ‘lexical chunk’, but we refer to it separately from time to time, so we define it as a pair of lexical content words commonly found together. Following this definition, ‘basic’ + ‘principles’ is a collocation, but ‘look’ + ‘at’ is not because it combines a lexical content word and a grammar function word. Identifying chunks and collocations is often a question of intuition.
Here are some examples.
Lexical Chunks (that are not collocations)
by the way
up to now
upside down
If I were you
a long way off
out of my mind
Lexical Chunks (that are collocations)
totally convinced
strong accent
terrible accident
sense of humour
sounds exciting
brings good luck
