Repositorio Institucional de Documentos

Trabajo Fin de Grado TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING Autor ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN Directora VICTORIA GIL FACULTAD DE EDUCACIÓN Año 2013/2014 TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 2 ABSTRACT In view of the increasing need for learning English in a more and more demanding society, the present study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the teaching of English in Spanish schools. The investigation has been carried out in four schools which follow two different teaching methodologies. This has enabled us to analyze how the use of a certain teaching methodology or strategy influences the communicative competence in English and the ease with which the language is spoken. The analysis of the data gathered has led us to the proposal of improvements to make the teaching of English more effective. Keywords: Primary Education; Communicative Competence; English; Improvements; Communicative Approach; Effective Teaching. TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................ 4 2. Aims. ................................................................................................................... 5 3. Theoretical Framework ....................................................................................... 6 4. Methodology ..................................................................................................... 16 5. Research ............................................................................................................ 27 5.1 Steps ....................................................................................................... 27 5.2 Outcomes ................................................................................................ 28 6. Proposal for improvement in the teaching of English ..................................... ..32 7. Conclusions ..................................................................................................... ..44 References ........................................................................................................... ..46 Appendices TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 4 1. INTRODUCTION English has become the most taught foreign language in European schools. This is the case of Spain, where it has gained strength in the last years with the implementation of Bilingualism in many schools of the country. However, it is difficult to deliver a good Modern Foreign Language (MFL) lesson. In order to make them effective, foreign language teaching needs well qualified teachers. Besides relevant qualifications, they also need sufficient and appropriate teaching resources, as well as clear teaching guidelines (Key data on Teaching Languages at School in Europe, 2012). In addition to teachers, much research has pointed out that motivation is a key factor in successful learning due to the fact that, as Brehm and Self (1989) suggest, effort is a consequence of motivation. Pupils' perception of the usefulness of the languages they learn can clearly contribute to increasing their motivation. That is the reason why teachers have to provide students with opportunities to use the second language in meaningful situations and give them the chance to negotiate meaning and interact (Long, 1985). It has also been proven that high exposure to the target language facilitates second language acquisition (SLA) (Krashen, 1982). One way to increase pupils' exposure to foreign languages is to make sure that the target language is used during language lessons both by teachers and pupils. However, creating opportunities to improve students’ motivation and increasing the amount of exposure to the target language can be challenging both for teachers and students. The aim of this research is to observe English as second language lessons carried out in different Spanish schools in order to evaluate them in view of the literature written about SLA theories in order to propose ways in which the teaching of English as a second language is capable of improvement. TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 5 This research includes the study of the main Second Language Acquisition (SLA) theories that have appeared throughout history, as theoretical knowledge is essential in order to be able to judge the areas capable of improvement and put the research into practice. In addition, with the objective of providing the reader with an overview of the evolution of MFL teaching in Spain, the importance that has been given to MFL through history will be described, as well as the changes MFL teaching has undergone with successive educational reforms. Observation sheets have been specifically designed to conduct this research. Steps followed to design observations will also be covered in this study, as well as the context in which they have been carried out and the results produced as a consequence of the analysis of the data. Finally, conclusions about EFL teaching in Spain will be provided in addition to specific innovation items to make English teaching more effective. 2. AIMS As detailed above, this research expects to answer three questions: Question 1: According to research in SLA, what are the principles that underlie effective EFL teaching? Question 2: Which of these principles are reflected in everyday teaching of English in Aragon? Question 3: According to what has been observed in the classrooms and the research carried out, what could it be done in order to make the teaching more effective? TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 6 The main aims of this study are the following. Firstly, to observe English as a second language lessons carried out in different Spanish schools which are Bilingual and to evaluate them in view of the literature written about the principles that have to prevail while teaching a foreign language. Observations have been carried out at schools which are different in nature: some of them follow Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) methodology while others develop their curriculums according to the British Council. Furthermore, there is a difference between the amount of time they have been working with these methodologies as some of them have started this year and others have been working with this methodology for over 10 years. After having carried out observations and having evaluated them, the next aim is to propose ways of innovation in the field that is capable of improvement according to literature related to teaching foreign languages. 3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK In order to understand current development and principles in second language teaching, it is helpful to retrace the recent history of second language research. Thus, the aim of this section is to explore the theoretical foundations of today’s principles of SLA. In the 1950s and early 1960s, teaching experts and reformers based their research on the dominant learning theory in mainstream psychology, behaviourism (Howatt, 1988). This theory postulates that language learning is like any other kind of learning, so language is acquired through the formation of habits (Skinner, 1957). Behaviourism theory sees the learning of any kind of behaviour as a process based on stimulus and response. Following this theory, as human beings are exposed to a lot of stimuli in their environment, they give a response to these stimuli that will be reinforced if the aim of the stimuli is reached. As a TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 7 consequence of repeated reinforcement, some stimulus will always elicit the same response. This fact will make the response become a habit. This process is seen as a simple one when learning a first language as we just have to learn a set of habits. Nonetheless, when learning a second language, first-language habits interfere with this process. Learning will take place easily if structures in the second language are similar to those in the first due to the fact that these interferences will help learning, while learning will be difficult if structures are realized in a different way (Lado, 1957). In the view of this theory, effective teaching is based on areas of differences between languages. This perception was termed Contrastive Analysis (CA). According to this theory, the comparison between two languages is fundamental to facilitate SLA. For this reason, one of the items that are included in the observation sheet is the use of the target language and the mother tongue. After gathering data related to the use teachers make of the two languages, the reasons why they use them and in which situations each of the languages is used will be analyzed. However, behaviourist theories were challenged by Chomsky (1959), the main representative of the innatist and mentalist theory. Mentalist theory argues that the acquisition of a language involves mental abilities and processes. In addition, the innatist position defends that language acquisition is possible thanks to an innate capacity which all human possess. As a consequence of these theories, Chomsky states that children are biologically programmed to develop language so they do not need to be trained due to the fact that the environment provides them with the language exposure they need. In order to explain children’s ability to discover the rules of the language for themselves, Chomsky (1965), at first, refers to this innate mechanism as the Language Acquisition Device (LAD). This device provides children with the capacity to formulate hypotheses about what the rules of the languages are. Later, this capacity was defined as a TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 8 universal set of principles that allows children to consider what is grammatically correct and was given the name of Universal Grammar. According to Chomsky, these hypotheses children create may be wrong, but they are able to refine them without correction, making up their own individual grammar, also called internal grammar. For this reason, errors are seen as an inevitable part of the learning process. For the LAD to allow children to discover the rules of the language, they need to be exposed to natural language. Furthermore, children follow a clear development sequence in their order of acquisition regardless of the environment where they are raised. Although this Chomsky’s theory was not applicable to teaching, it influenced theories such as Cognitive theory. In addition, it was supported by Lenneberg (1967), who argued that the LAD work only if it is stimulated during a specific limited time, “the critical period”. However, critical period hypothesis does not establish what the duration of this period is. Following this theory, errors are very important to facilitate language acquisition due to the fact that learners acquire language by testing hypothesis they make about rules and structures of the language without any necessity to be corrected. However, according to Brown (1988), feedback has to allow learners to experience the effects of their productions as a guide to make their future efforts more effective. In other words, feedback has to be actually responsive. This importance of feedback is due to the fact that the information provided with it is crucial to the learner’s process. This means that feedback must point out the main features of the language and provide information that plays the role of guidance in the discovery of rules and principles of the language (Zamel, 1981). Hence, the observation sheet must contain criteria to analyze the way in which errors and feedback are managed as well as the reasons why teachers manage them in this way. TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 9 Whereas “mental grammar” was used to refer to the system that children use when acquiring an L1, with reference to an L2, this system related to the independent language created by learners was named Interlanguage (Selinker, 1972). The origin of this term is connected with the process that the mind uses to acquire a second language. According to this theory, the learner speaks an interlanguage that can be given at any point between L1 and L2 and which is different to both of them (Figure 1). Figure 1. The Interlanguage continuum. Selinker (1972) Selinker suggests that most L2 learners never reach the target competence, creating a phenomenon called fossilization. This phenomenon is the point at which interlanguage stops developing and cannot be changed by further instruction. In view of this theory, there is a point in which learners cannot learn anymore so, following this suggestion, there are some structures and items of the language that learners will not be able to acquire. For this reason, one of the items that has to be taken into account is the use of the language teachers make. In other words, it has to be considered whether teachers’ use of language is adapted to learner’s level of knowledge or not. During the 70’s, as a consequence of the development in first language acquisition research and the lack of evidence of the predictions made by CA, Corder (1967) focused on the importance of studying learner’s error, causing the origin of Error Analysis. This theory TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 16 The 18th of February, 2013, in Boletín oficial de Aragón (BOA), it was published the Order of the 14th of February (2013) by the Education, University, Culture and Sport Ministry of the Aragonese Government. This order regulates the Integral Programme of Bilingualism in Foreign Languages in Aragón (Programa Integral de Bilingüismo en Lenguas Extranjeras en AragónPLIBEA). From this moment onward, a new period in teaching and learning foreign languages started in Aragón. However, the continuity of existing bilingual programmes has been guaranteed and every single school has been given the opportunity to take part in this announcement. 4. METHODOLOGY In order to be able to analyze English lessons, I have designed two observation sheets which contain the main features of the teaching of a second language according to SLA research. These observation sheets give me the opportunity to gather an extensive amount of data so that results reflected in them are representative of the reality in Spain and the proposal of improvement I will design can be, indeed, carried out at Spanish schools. The first observation sheet I have designed (Appendix I) has the purpose of evaluating different sorts of methodology used by teachers. The first section of this sheet is related to the structure of the lesson. PresentationPractice-Production (PPP) model has been the most used methodology when teaching a foreign language traditionally. The first stage is usually focused on an item of language which is presented either explicitly or implicitly in a clear context in order to maximize the opportunities for students to understand and internalize underlying rules and to get across its meaning. Thus, its main purpose is the development of declarative knowledge (Shekan, 1998). Later, in the second stage, under teacher’s control, learners focus on accuracy. The main purpose of this stage is to convert declarative into procedural knowledge and to help students to become more comfortable with language and TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 17 teachers’ control is gradually loosened while learners move to production stage. At this point, learners are given opportunities to produce target language in communicative situations. The main reason why PPP structure is going to be analyzed is due to the fact that this kind of structure that has been used traditionally is being replaced by a TaskBased Learning approach (TBL) (Willis, 1996). As the aim of this project is to propose improvements that will increase the effectiveness of English teaching, it is completely necessary to evaluate what results in term of language acquisition the PPP structure produces in order to have criteria to judge what structure, PPP or TBL, would be more recommendable to choose to make our teaching more effective. This research is also going to consider the use of the mother tongue and of the target language teachers make. Much research has led us to the conclusion that one of the key elements in the successful learning of a second or foreign language is the input learners receive in the target language (Krashen 1982). Hence, second language learning has to be based on the exposure of input in authentic communication instead of the teaching of grammar structures (Curriculum of Aragón, 2007). This claim sparked off a deep debate. It has been widely discussed whether using L1 while teaching L2 reports benefits to children. Most authors suggest that, in order to make positive and rewarding children’s first encounter with a foreign language, they need to have a sense of real achievement and success. To reach that aim, teachers need to immerse the class in the new language (Driscoll and Frost, 1999). Using L1 in foreign language classrooms is discouraged by advocates of the L2-only position (Chaudron, 1988). These advocates contend that students must be exposed to a significant amount of L2 input if they want to develop better proficiency, so using L1 in the classroom deprives students of that valuable input. SLA research has also agreed the value of TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 18 using the language in a meaningful way through negotiated interaction with their teachers and classmates (Long, 1985). Over the last decades many theories have been generated suggesting that students also have to use the language beyond that receiving second language input. Following these ideas, Swain’s (1985) ‘comprehensible output’ hypothesis highlights the importance of using the language actively in the classroom apart from just receiving quality input due to the fact that second language acquisition is best favoured when using language for real communication (Nunan, 1987). However, total removal of the mother tongue form the language classroom is not the consensus among all researchers. Many admit the mother tongue has a role to play. In other words, in contrast to the only L2 position, many authors defend that, while foreign language teachers should maximize their use of the second language, there is indeed a place for the teacher to use the students’ L1 in their pedagogy. To maintain this position, much research has been focused on the advantages of using the mother tongue in second language classrooms. One of the advantages that have been reported is that permitting students to use their mother tongue allows them to express themselves clearly and effectively (Atkinson, 1987). Moreover, using the mother tongue has also been regarded as a time-saving device (Moon, 2000). Several studies have also confirmed that the first language can be used as a cognitive tool that aids in second language learning. These scholars claim that, by using the mother tongue as a frame of reference, second language can be more easily processed, facilitating that input moves to intake (Turnbull, 2001). It has also been pointed out the value of code- TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 19 switching as an effective teaching strategy when it is used as a reference point to help construct knowledge in second language (Cook, 2001). Due to the fact that code-switching is evident in second language contexts, many scholars justify the use of the mother tongue in situations such as eliciting language, assessing comprehension or giving instructions (Atkinson, 1987; Cook, 2001; Turnbull, 2001; Van Lier, 1995). To conclude, Moon (2000) establishes other situations in which the mother tongue could be used by either students or children. These situations include showing knowledge of the answer of a question by students if they do not know how to say it in the second language or using the mother tongue to assist language learning in case students do not have sufficient level of language. For all these reasons, these criteria will be analyzed in order to conclude if teachers in Spain make an appropriate use of languages and how this use could be improved and made more effective. Another strategy that will be taken into account is Total Physical Response (TPR). It reflects a grammar-base view of language (Asher, 1969). It is based on the suggestion that speech directed to children consists on commands. The answer children give to these commands is physical before they produce verbal responses. This methodology is based on three learning hypotheses. The first one is known as the bio-program, and it considers that learners are biologically programmed to acquire language in a particular sequence which consists on listening before speaking. TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 20 The second hypothesis in which TPR is based on is brain lateralization that defines different learning functions depending on the hemisphere of the brain learning is directed to. To conclude, this theory postulates that it is necessary for learning to success the absence of stress. As Asher claims, second language learning often causes stress and anxiety so it is important to establish a stress-free environment in order to facilitate learning. The main objective of this methodology is to teach oral proficiency. In the view of TPR, comprehension is a means to reach basic speaking skills. Teachers must play the role of providing students with the best sort of exposure to language. With the objective of evaluating the usefulness of TPR, this study will discuss whether its use leads to an improvement in second language acquisition or not. Much research has also studied the role of games in SLA. There has been a deep debate among scholars between those who claim that the use of games for language learning is appropriate and those who see games as time-fillers. Nowadays, almost most authors agree that the use of games has several advantages that facilitate second language learning. Among many other reasons that will be analyzed later, scholars argue that games create situations of meaningful and useful use of language (Wright, Betteridge and Buckby, 1984). Moreover, they encourage learners to sustain their interest. However, there are researchers such as Richard-Amato (1988), who warn against overlooking the pedagogical value of games. As a consequence of this debate, this research is an attempt to analyze the suitability of the use of games by Spanish teachers in terms of the effectiveness that their use produces. Storytelling is another strategy whose educational value is unanimously recognised among scholars (Ellis & Brewster 2002). Much research has pointed out the convenience of TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 21 using storytelling stating that it provides children with motivation, imagination and link fantasy with children’s real world, among other advantages. However, some teachers still show resistance to use it as a consequence of a variety of reasons such as lack of confidence in their skills or the feeling that language in storybooks is too difficult for learners to understand it. Hence, this research aims to analyze the use teachers make of storytelling and compare this use with the literature related to storytelling in order to propose some ways of improving its use. Another issue that has to be studied in order to analyze the effectiveness of methodologies carried out by teachers is the way in which they group students. Extensive research suggests that cooperative learning has positive outcomes such as improved relationships, academic gains and improved social and affective development (Kagan, 1994). This social development has a huge importance in learning as it provides the children with opportunities to interact and use language in real context (Long, 1985). Furthermore, cooperative learning must follow some principles such as positive interdependence, individual accountability, equal participation, and simultaneous interaction (Kagan, 1994). As we can see, the way in which learners are grouped can play a crucial role on children’s second language acquisition. Thus, it is essential turning our attention to these groupings with the objective of enhancing second language acquisition. Visual aids are another issue that must be taken into account. They are usually used to present new forms of vocabulary and to promote practice of language skills. Their widely use TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 22 is explained by Nunan (1989) as a consequence of the non verbal link that visual aids establish between language used and an idea or concept expressed. These resources can be used for a big range of purposes but, as Pachler and Field (2001) warn, MFL teachers need to develop some skills in order to make their use of visual aids more effective. For these reasons, we are going to focus our attention on the situations in which visual aids are used and we are going to propose some improvements to make this use more complete and helpful in order to facilitate acquisition. As far as the time devoted to each skill during the lesson is concerned, it is important to focus on whether there is a balance between oracy (listening and speaking) and literacy (reading and writing) or some skills are paid more attention than others. To provide a context for this question, it would be appropriate to say that, while it has been usual for many years to focus second language lessons on literacy, recently it is increasing the popularity of oral language instruction in the second language classroom with the appearance of methodologies such as the Audio-lingual Method, the Direct Approach, the Natural Approach or the TPR (Walqui, 2010). These methodologies advocate oral language instruction as a bridge to literacy (Williams and Roberts, 2011). As a consequence of this new tendency, this research aims to evaluate how these skills are worked in Spanish classrooms in order to be able to propose a way of teaching that can compensate them in the most effective way to promote second language acquisition. Following this analysis, most scholars agree that establishing cross curricular links in second language lessons is a great resource to facilitate learning. They postulate that primary classroom lends themselves perfectly to this kind of teaching as teachers can either integrate the curriculum meeting with students’ needs or work in a cooperative way with other teachers TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 23 in the creation of links between areas (Jones and Coffey, 2012). The main purpose of these links is to promote globalized learning. However, there are some obstacles that will be analyzed in this research such as the lack of bilingual teachers or the pressure under which teachers are due to the fact that they have to achieve curriculum requirements. Thus, it is important to assess the amount of cross curricular links present in second language classrooms to see if they are established in an effective way according to revised literature. To conclude the overview of the different items that have been taken into account to design this observation sheet, assessment is one of the most important elements of the learning process. As Moon (2000) suggests, there are many kinds of assessment attending to different criteria. For example, we can distinguish between formative or summative assessment depending on the moment when it is carried out. Furthermore, there are a big range of purposes which assessment can be directed to. Hence, it is a very important point in order to make assessment more effective to choose the appropriate kind of assessment according to the purposes that have been established. The second observation sheet that has been designed has the aim of evaluating different strategies carried out by teachers in order to manage the classroom and interact with students (Appendix II). As has been exposed earlier, communicative language teaching requires the teacher to use appropriate materials in order to encourage the use of communicative language (Nunan, TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 24 1987). In doing that, teachers must manage communicative skills to be able to establish a code of conduct, routines and procedures. Among these skills, Robert (1989) identifies some that have reported benefits in that they facilitate communication and contribute to the development of positive relationships between teacher and students. These skills include issues such as body language, eye contact and the correct use of the voice depending on the situation and the form of the language that has to be remarked. In addition, there are some skills that are not intrinsic to the teacher but that have to be managed in a proper way if we want to reach these aims. For example, teacher has to be able to make an appropriate use of materials and groupings taking into account learners’ needs as well as the nature of the task in which they are involved. Hence, this research is going to study the way in which teachers cope with all these features that are essential in the effectiveness of a second language lesson. After having studying them, some aspects capable of improvement will be exposed with the aim of making their use more adequate to what literature considers a communicative language teaching. Another important section that has been analyzed is the use of language made by teachers. More concretely, the use of questions is going to be studied. Questions constitute one of the main components of second language acquisition (SLA) methodology. Thus, a lot of authors have investigated the way in which they are used in the classroom. In an attempt to explain it, Sinclair and Coulthard (1975) found that questions are one of the commonest types of utterances in the discourse of classrooms. Much research has focused on the importance of teacher’s questions in second language classrooms. One of the most frequent issues that have been analyzed is the role questions play in SLA. Questions have a key importance to allow teachers discover learners’ TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 25 previous knowledge. Another argument that has been given to explain their importance is that after asking a question, learners are required to give a response, so they are pushed to contribute to the interaction, which is required for SLA (Long, 1985). Furthermore, learners’ answers provide the teacher with information about the student’s acquisition of specific structures (Ellis, 1992), their background knowledge on a topic and allow him to check understanding (Nunan and Lamb, 1996). Much research has also noted the pedagogic power of questions in that they are used to scaffold learning. Scaffolding postulates that what children can do on their own is less important than what they can do with the guidance of the teacher. This requires a facilitating role played by the teacher to involve pupils actively in the creation of shared knowledge. In other words, teacher should make students work within the zone of proximal development (ZPD) which is defined as the distance between the actual developmental level and the level of potential development under adult guidance (Vygotsky, 1978). This research has focused its attention on the kind of question. Following Long and Sato (1983), questions can be either display or referential questions. Display questions are those which teacher knows the answer while referential are information seeking. Although this is the main item reflected on the checklist, further analysis of those questions will lead us to aspects such as the interaction they imply or the cognitive skills students have to activate to answer them. The purpose of this analysis about questions is to evaluate the kind of questions used in the classroom, as well as the interaction function of these questions and their cognitive nature, in order to optimize their use and make it more effective. To continue this research, as has been exposed earlier, the use of the mother tongue will also have a key role in our analysis. Due to the fact that the use of the mother tongue has TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 32 many students as possible and check understanding and make use of a simple language. In addition, it has to be taken into consideration that the majority of the teachers offers a model before students have to do the task. It is also striking that only one of the teachers repeats instructions in a different way if students do not understand. Moreover, there is only one classroom where children know what the purpose of the task is. Finally, the most common way of doing the tasks is a pupil-pupil interaction without the intervention of the teacher. To conclude this overview of the results produced by these observations, we have to make reference to the feedback. The first thing we have to consider is that feedback provided by teachers is mainly oral; concretely it is directed to correct pronunciation and structures. In addition, most of the teachers give a model of what a good performance is and encourage positive beliefs. Repetition with the aim of reinforcing language is another strategy used by all the teachers. As far as written feedback is concerned, only 1 out of 5 teachers uses this kind of feedback. The commonest ways in which this feedback is used are the correction of common grammatical errors and the explanation to individual learners of their errors. 5. PROPOSAL OF IMPROVEMENT IN THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH After having detailed the results produced by observations and interviews, the following paragraphs are going to focus on the proposal of some improvements with the aim of making the way in which English is taught in Spanish schools more effective. These improvements will be based on existing theories. This review of the literature related to this topic has been possible due to the attention that research has paid to the issue of teaching foreign languages. The first field capable of improvement is the structure of the lesson used by teachers. PPP structure is the commonest structure used by teachers. However, research has noted that this structure has some disadvantages. One of them is that, although students seem to be TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 33 comfortable with the new language as they are producing it accurately, they cannot produce language correctly on their own. In addition, as they will be trained in the repetition of some structures, their use of the language will be unnatural (British Council, 2004). In order to make the teaching of English more effective, teachers should choose a taskbased approach. This kind of lesson implies that the teacher does not plan the language that is going to be studied. On the contrary, studied language is defined by what is going on in the lesson and what is required by the task (Dave and Willis, 2007). According to Willis (1996) a task-based lesson follows some steps. The pre task introduces the topic and the task to the class with the objective of activating language related with this task. With reference to the cycle task, it contains three stages. The task provides students with opportunities to use the language they already know with the aim of carrying out the task, usually in pairs or groups. The role of the teacher here is to monitor and encourage children. Afterwards, students prepare a report to tell the class what has happened during the task and practice it, while the teacher is willing to clear up students’ questions. Once they have finished the practice of the report, they tell it to the class and they are given feedback by the teacher. The last stage of this approach is the language focus. After this exposition of the report, the class analyze both the use of the language made by students and the main features of the text. Finally, teachers select areas capable of improvement based on students’ needs, so that they can practice to increase their confidence and use the language in real context. Much research has reported the advantages of using this approach as a facilitating tool to language acquisition. Many authors point out that, following this approach, students must use all the language resources they have rather than just practising one topic. Furthermore, language is used in a relevant context to children (Long, 1985). With TBL approach, students TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 34 are exposed to a varied language input (Krashen, 1982). In addition, this input arises from the students’ needs while the PPP structure is more teacher-centred. An example of a TBL lesson has been attached to this research (Appendix IV). Another improvement that would make the teaching of English in Spain more effective is related to the use of the mother tongue that teachers make. As we can appreciate in the results produced by observations, there is an excessive extent of the mother tongue in English classrooms. Furthermore, we can observe that teachers use the mother tongue to give instructions and teach grammar. This can be explained due to the fact that students can focus on and notice the key structural differences between L1 and L2 by translating into their mother tongue (Atkinson, 1987). In addition, following Atkinson (1987), it can be appropriate to use the mother tongue to give instructions at very low levels. It is the case of these classes as they are first-grade students, so teachers probably think that using the mother tongue they are providing students with real communication which facilitates understanding. However, teachers usually use the mother tongue without trying to communicate with the second language, or just after saying something once in the target language. Thus, following “Interaction Hypotheses” (Long, 1985), they had better recycle and paraphrase the input to improve its comprehensibility, making it become better-targeted to the needs of learners. With reference to students, they usually use the mother tongue in situations where they know the answer to a question but they do not dare to say it in the second language. To solve this problem, it would be a good idea to create a respectful environment of learning to promote risk taking as risk taking is crucial in a communicative language classroom and an important feature for a language learner to acquire second language (Brown, 2000). TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 35 Furthermore, the value of risk taking has been pointed out due to the fact that it is a key element to build an affective framework to overcome students’ anxiety of learning the second language (Dufeu, 1994). To sum up, although the use of the mother tongue is justified in many situations, this use must be limited and judicious. Thus, as the teachers we are analyzing make the mother tongue the main means of communication in the classroom, it could be said that they had better use the second language as the primary vehicle of communication and should give students opportunities to process the second language, as well as let them produce and negotiate meaning in real situations of language use (Long, 1985). Only one of the classrooms observed used English exclusively to communicate. For these reasons, the improvement I propose is to make an effort and try to use the target language as many times as possible. If children realize that we are speaking English all the time, they will be more engaged and they will try to speak in the foreign language as well. In addition, as I observed in one of the classrooms analyzed, every time a child spoke in Spanish, the teacher translated it to English. Following this improvement, it would be easier to avoid that children usually resort to Spanish if they struggle and it would be easier as well to make it clear to students that English is the main way of communication in the foreign language classrooms. Moreover, with the aim of encouraging children to speak English as well, an improvement I propose is to provide children with easy structures they can use at first, in order to give them confidence so that they can progressively be ready to use the language on their own. In other words, we can guide them initially to help them to develop the necessary self-esteem to use English as a way of communication. That is what Vygotsky (1978) refers to as scaffolding. TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 36 The next improvement that could be suggested has to do with the use of questions. In analyzing this use, the strong link questions have with interaction has to be noted. Observation shows that display questions are the most frequent questions used in these classrooms. Decades of research on teachers’ questions show that of all kinds, display questions are by far the most common (Nunan and Lamb 1996). Display questions test the learner by eliciting or recalling already-known information related to particular structures or vocabulary (Ellis, 1993). Although some authors, for example Van Lier (1988) point out that the choice of question should depend on the objective of the lesson, suggesting that both display and referential are critical to the management of the learning process, it has been proved by research that display questions are less likely to contribute to an acquisition-rich environment rather than referential questions (Ellis, 1992), due to the fact that they do not resemble real communication and are pedagogically purposeless (Nunan, 1987). Thus, they strongly recommend that teachers’ talk aspires to using as many referential questions as possible in the classroom. Following those ideas, Swain (2000) claims that teachers questions need to create opportunities for students to develop linguistic and conceptual knowledge and practice their English skills in meaningful learning contexts. Most of the display questions teachers formulate lead the children to a knowledge recall. As Bloom (1956) suggests, knowledge questions belong to “lower order” questions which their main feature is that learners usually are unaware of using thinking skills. Furthermore, display questions gathered in this observation do not have interactional function. In other words, these questions do not encourage children to get involved in interaction so they are not provided with opportunities to produce output (Swain, 2000), which is a key factor in second language acquisition. Following the evaluation of these data, we can appreciate that referential questions are hardly ever formulated and, in the case they are used, they do not have a clear interactional TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 37 purpose beyond the comprehension of the output produced by children, but as we can see, they usually refer to management issues of the classroom, not to something that has to be learnt. For all these reasons, teachers should try to set up referential questions, which have been proved to have a positive relation with students’ production of target language (Brock, 1986). Moreover, teachers have to try to direct questions to learners that promote the development of thinking skills, which Bloom (1956) relates to “higher order” questions and that are more likely to promote the learning of complex judgmental skills such as critical thinking and problem solving as they require more complex cognitive skills. To conclude this analysis, observed teachers can also be regarded as non-interaction promoting teachers. Thus, they had better formulate questions with a familiar context to children which provides them with real use of language (Krashen, 1982) and give them opportunities to interact and negotiate meaning (Long, 1985) as those are aspects needed for second language acquisition. The improvement I propose regarding teachers’ questions is related to engaging children, so that they feel comfortable and encouraged to answer them. Thus, as I could observe in one of the classrooms, the questions asked by the teacher should be referential questions, as they promote that children develop some skills that would not be developed if they usually use display questions. Language acquisition is the aim we want to achieve, so we should avoid the use of questions which have short answers as its main response, and opt for questions that promote thinking and interactional skills. A concrete example of this improvement would be: if a teacher asks questions about a text, instead of saying just: “Is it true that Frank studies medicine?” he or she had better ask:” After having reading the text, why do you think Frank chose to study medicine? Why you think it is important to continue TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 38 studying after secondary school?”. With this kind of questions, the teacher is pushing the student to produce an output in a meaningful way instead of only answering by repeating chunks of words or factual events. The following improvement I am going to propose is related to the frequency of setting pair and group work activities. Results of the interviews show that most of the teachers try to set these activities once a week, while other teachers only use this strategy when they think that it is adequate according to the task. However, much research has pointed out the value of these kinds of tasks due to the fact that they increase the amount of students’ practice and encourages cooperation between students as they have to work together in order to complete the task, which is important in order to develop a motivating atmosphere in class (Harmer, 1991). Among many other advantages, WatcynJones (2002) argues that pair and group work activities are student-centred rather than teacher-centred so students are given the possibility of communicating in the target language. In addition, language used is more natural and authentic, which makes it much closer to real language used outside the classroom (Byrne, 1991). Furthermore, these activities give them a sense of success when they reach the aim of the task. However, many teachers claim that pair and group activities have a negative effect on the class due to the noise and behaviour problems they imply. Moreover, they say that students speaking to other students make more mistakes because they know that the teacher is not hearing them. In order to solve this problem it is necessary to combine effective classroom management (Kagan, 1988) with close monitoring of the students. For this reason, pair and group activities and classroom management are strongly linked. As we can see, the results of the observations show that teachers have a good management of the class as they use adequate materials, make students be involved in the TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 39 lesson, are respectful with students and deal with occasional problems. The only mistake they make is that they do not promote meaningful communication. Nevertheless, this use of meaningful communication has been discussed earlier in this research and previous proposals of improvement of this research deal with this problem as well. Thus, the lack of use of meaningful communication does not constitute a problem to the setting of pair and group activities. In fact, pair and group work will help promote it. Considering all these reasons, my improvement consists of setting pair and group work activities systematically as they favour successful communication rather than an accurate use of items of language (Scrivener, 1994). In doing so, we can adapt daily tasks which are usually done individually and make them pair or group activities. For example, if we are going to read a text, we can ask them to discuss what the text is going to be about just by reading the title. Another example is to check their answers with their peers after doing an exercise before the teacher states the right answers. Regarding TPR, only one of the teachers uses it in the classroom. Much research has noted the value of TPR as it helps students to remember phrases or words and it works with mixed-ability classes due to the fact that all the students are able to understand the language through physical actions (British Council, 2004). However, many disadvantages have also been pointed out. One of them is that it is more effective for beginner levels even though it can be adapted to other levels. In addition, not all the items of the language can be taught and, if used a lot, it can become repetitive. Taking into consideration all these arguments, the improvement I propose is to use TPR in association with other methods. In other words, we can neither use it every day nor refuse to use it. Thus, I propose to use it to teach very concrete things. For example, we can TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 40 use it to introduce new vocabulary connected with actions such as smile, walk, stand up or clap. The following improvement I am going to propose is related to the use of games. Observations reflect that teachers use a lot of games but without achieving the objective of creating situations of real use of language, which is one of the main reasons why games should be used (Wright, Betteridge and Buckby, 1984). Among other reasons to use games, much research has claimed that games are enjoyable so they encourage high level of motivation to learn more as well as demand the full personal engagement of the learner (Sharpe, 2001). For all these benefits that the use of games provides to learning, we have to avoid seeing this use as time-filling activities or mere warm-up activities. Thus, my proposal of improvement is to use them at all stages of the lesson as long as they are suitable and carefully chosen according to the purpose of the task and create a meaningful environment. For example, if we want to practice conversation, we can ask the students to create a short story in groups. Then, we write parts of the story in several slips of paper and give each student a slip. Afterwards, we hand out other slips with questions whose answers are written in the story slips, so that students have to ask their partners in order to find where the answer is. When all the pairs are matched, students put the story back together and read it. As far as storytelling is concerned, results show that all teachers use this resource frequently establishing cross-curricular links with other areas. Some advantages of using storytelling in the classroom have been noted previously in the research. Much research has also pointed out its value due to the fact that it provides the children with optimal input (Krashen, 1981). Furthermore, storytelling develops learning strategies such as listening for TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 41 general meaning or hypothesizing using audiovisual clues or their prior knowledge of how language works (Ellis and Brewster, 2002). One example of this effective use of storytelling on the part of teachers was carried out in one of the classrooms observed. In this classroom, the teacher used the puppet of a stork. The story was about the different places where the stork migrated during the year so that there was a link with science, where they were studying birds and their main features. With regard to cross-curricular links, results of this research show that most of the teachers establish them in their lessons. Much research has highlighted their importance in that they help children make sense of their learning by reinforcing and supporting learning in different subjects (Hayes, 2010). In addition, cross-curricular links help children develop thinking skills because they not only apply knowledge and skills, but also synthesize information and ideas (Barnes, 2011). These links have to be made explicit as it should not be assumed that knowledge will be transferred to a different context (Pritchard, 2005). An example of this use of cross curricular links by teachers has been detailed above with the storytelling exemplification. With reference to the use of visual aids in the classroom, most of the teachers use them. Visual aids can be used to avoid translation as they link words and concepts (Nunan, 1989). As the use of visual aids usually implies that pupils are required to speak publicly, teachers must create a non-threatening and supportive atmosphere (Kyriacou, 1991). Results of this research show that literacy is more worked on than oracy in observed classrooms. Moreover, the classes where oracy is worked on do not provide learners with meaningful communication. Although recent research points towards the need for increased oral language practice, some factors such as teacher training, student variable or school’s priorities affect the time teachers dedicate to the teaching of oral language (Williams and TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 48 - Ellis, N.C. (1995). Understanding Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: OUP. - Harmer, J. (1991). The Practice of English Language Teaching. London: Longman. - Hayes, D. (2010) “The seductive charms of a cross-curricular approach”. Education 3–13: International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Education 4 (38): 381– 387. - Howatt, A.P.R. (1988). “From structural to communicative”. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics (8): 14-29. - Jones, J. and S. Coffey. (2012). Modern Foreign Languages 5-11: A guide for teachers. London: Routledge Ltd. - Kagan, S. (1994). Cooperative learning. San Clemente, CA: Resources for Teachers, Inc. - Key Data on Teaching Languages at School in Europe. (2012). Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency. - Krashen, S.D. (1982). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon. - Kyriacou, C. (1991) Essential teaching skills. Hemel Hemstead: Basil Blackwell. - Lado, R. (1957). Linguistics across Cultures. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. - Lenneberg, E. H., (1967). Biological foundations of language. New York: Wiley. - Ley Orgánica de Educación 2/2006, de 3 de mayo, de la Jefatura del Estado, España, Boletín Oficial del Estado, 04 de mayo de 2006, num. 106, p. 17158 - 17207. TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 49 - Ley Orgánica 1/1990, de 3 de octubre, de Ordenación General del Sistema Educativo. (LOGSE). (BOE núm. 238, 4 de octubre de 1990). - Long, M. H. (1985). “Input and second language acquisition theory”. In Gass, S. and C. Madden (Eds.). Input and second language acquisition. Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House: 377-93. - Lyster, R., and L. Ranta. (1997). “Corrective feedback and learner uptake: Negotiation of form in communicative classrooms”. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 1 (19): 37-66. - McLaughlin, B. (1978). Second-language acquisition in childhood. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. - Moon, J. (2000). Children learning English. London: Macmillan Heinemann English Language Teaching. - Nunan, D. and C. Lamb. (1996). The Self-Directed Teacher. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. - Nunan. D. (1987). “Communicative language teaching: Making it work”. English Language Teaching Journal 2 (41): 136-145. - Nunan, D. (1989). Designing tasks for the communicative classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. - O'Malley, J.M. and A.U. Chamot. (1990). Learning Strategies in Second Language Acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. - Orden de 14 de febrero de 2013, de la Consejera de Educación, Universidad, Cultura y Deporte del Gobierno de Aragón. TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 50 - Pritchard, A. (2005). Ways of Learning: Learning Theories and Learning Styles in the Classroom. Abingdon: David Fulton. - Richard-Amato, P. A. (1988). Making it happen: Interaction in the second language classroom: From theory to practice. New York: Longman. - Schneider, W. and R. M. Shiffrin. (1977). Controlled and automatic human information processing. I. Detection, search, and attention. Psychological Review 2 (84): 1-66 - Scrivener, J. (1994). Learning Teaching: A Guidebook for English Language Teachers. Oxford: Macmillan. - Selinker, L. (1972). “Interlanguage”. International Review of Applied Linguistics 3 (10): 209-232. - Sharpe, Keith (2001) Modern foreign languages in the primary school: the what, why & how of early MFL teaching. London: Psychology Press. - Sinclair, J. and R.M. Coulthard. (1975). Toward an Analysis of Discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press. - Skehan, P. (1998). A cognitive approach to language learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press. - Skinner B.F. (1957) Verbal behavior. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts. - Slobin, D.I. (1985). The crosslinguistic study of language acquisition: Vol 2, Theoretical issues. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. - Stevick, E.W. (1980). Teaching Languages: a Way and Ways. Rowley, M.A.: Newbury House. TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 51 - Swain, M. (2000). The output hypothesis and beyond: Mediating acquisition through collaborative dialogue. Oxford: Oxford University Press. - Turnbull, M. (2001). “There is a role for the L1 in second and foreign language teaching, but . . .” Canadian Modern Language Review 3 (57): 531-540. - Van Lier, L. (1988). The classroom and the language learner: Ethnography and second language classroom research. London: Longman. - Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. - Walqui, A. (2010). Defining quality teaching for English Learners: Principles and Practices. Third Annual ACOE English Learner Conference—Advancing the Language and Literacy of English Learners. Hayward: Alameda Country Office of Education. - Watcyn-Jones, P. (2002). Pair Work 2. Toronto: Penguin Books. - Williams, C. and Roberts, D. (2011). Strategic Oral Language Instruction in ELD Teaching Oracy to Develop Literacy. California: Ballard & Tighe Publishers. - Willis, J. (1996). A framework for task-based learning. Harlow: Longman. - Willis, D and J. Willis. (2007). Doing Task-Based Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press. - Wright, A., D. Betteridge and M. Buckby. (1984). Games for Language Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. - Zamel, V. (1981). “Cybernetics: A Model for Feedback in the ESL Classroom”. TESOL Quarterly 2 (15): 139-150. TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 52 http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/a-task-based-approach [last accessed 03.06.2014] TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 53 APPENDIX IOBSERVATION SHEETS 1 CHECKLIST 1 LESSON STRUCTURE PPP STRUCTURE If so, PRESENTATION - Most students are engaged x - The written form is given x PRACTICE - Drilling is practiced through games - Drilling is practiced through activities x - Pupils practice in group x PRODUCTION - Most of the pupils are involved - Use of the language for a purpose x - Work is based on tasks TEACHER METHODS USE OF TARGET LANGUAGE If so, - Teacher is a native speaker - Teacher uses the target language during the lesson x - Students use the target language during the lesson x - Target language is accurate x - Target language is displayed in the classroom x - Target language is the dominant means of communication in the lesson x - Target language is only used where appropriate TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 54 - Target language is used for organizational matters x - Excessive extent of the mother tongue (see section “The use of the mother tongue”) TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE (TPR) - Use of mimes and gestures x - Teacher provides language and asks learners to perform related actions x - Teacher uses actions to check understanding x GAMES APPROACH x - Create situations of real language use x - Engage the whole attention of children - Develop confidence x - Develop fluency x - Motivate children x STORYTELLING - Has cross curricular links between story and content - Teacher reads the story If so, do children have visual aids of the story? Which ones? - Children read the story - Teachers uses audio resources to play the story RESOURCES AND MATERIALS PAIR AND GROUP WORK ACTIVITIES TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 55 - Preliminary demonstration teacherpupil (MODELLING) x - Pupil-pupil interaction without the intervention of the teacher x - Pupil-pupil interaction with the intervention of the teacher - Children know the objective of the task x - Clear presentation and instructions x - Pupils select own partners x - Random selection - Pre-select pupils but makes it appear random - Set groups or teams that are used for a period of time VISUAL AIDS - Uses flashcards - Uses gestures and mimes - Uses audiovisuals aids (interactive whiteboard, computer,…) If so, which one and how is it used? CONTENTS ORACY-LITERACY - Emphasis on listening and responding over reading and writing x - Oracy is worked on the lesson x If so, how is it worked? There is an assembly at the beginning of the lesson. TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 56 - Literacy is worked on the lesson x If so, how?  Writing in the air  Writing letter patterns  Writing a few words learned by heart x  Reading the words x  Phonics (which method?) CROSS CURRICULAR LINKS - There are cross curricular links with other areas x If so, which are these areas? Science, Arts How are cross curricular links worked? Delivering contents at the same time in several areas. ASSESSMENT - Learning is assessed during the lesson x If so, when and how is it assessed? After finishing each exercise. - The assessment is carried out by the teacher x - The assessment is carried out by classmates - There are links with other lessons (background knowledge is used as starting point) x TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 57 CHECKLIST 2 LESSON STRUCTURE PPP STRUCTURE If so, PRESENTATION - Most students are engaged - The written form is given PRACTICE - Drilling is practiced through games - Drilling is practiced through activities - Pupils practice in group PRODUCTION - Most of the pupils are involved - Use of the language for a purpose - Work is based on tasks TEACHER METHODS USE OF TARGET LANGUAGE If so, - Teacher is a native speaker - Teacher uses the target language during the lesson x - Students use the target language during the lesson - Target language is accurate x - Target language is displayed in the classroom x - Target language is the dominant means of communication in the lesson - Target language is only used where appropriate x - Target language is used for organizational matters TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 64  Writing in the air  Writing letter patterns  Writing a few words learned by heart x  Reading the words x  Phonics (which method?) CROSS CURRICULAR LINKS x - There are cross curricular links with other areas x If so, which are these areas? Science. How are cross curricular links worked? “Animal portfolio” ASSESSMENT - Learning is assessed during the lesson x If so, when and how is it assessed? - The assessment is carried out by the teacher x - The assessment is carried out by classmates - There are links with other lessons (background knowledge is used as starting point) x TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 65 CHECKLIST 4 LESSON STRUCTURE PPP STRUCTURE If so, PRESENTATION - Most students are engaged - The written form is given PRACTICE - Drilling is practiced through games - Drilling is practiced through activities - Pupils practice in group PRODUCTION - Most of the pupils are involved - Use of the language for a purpose - Work is based on tasks TEACHER METHODS USE OF TARGET LANGUAGE If so, - Teacher is a native speaker - Teacher uses the target language during the lesson x - Students use the target language during the lesson - Target language is accurate x - Target language is displayed in the classroom x - Target language is the dominant means of communication in the lesson - Target language is only used where appropriate - Target language is used for organizational matters TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 66 - Excessive extent of the mother tongue (see section “The use of the mother tongue”) x TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE (TPR) - Use of mimes and gestures - Teacher provides language and asks learners to perform related actions - Teacher uses actions to check understanding GAMES APPROACH x - Create situations of real language use - Engage the whole attention of children x - Develop confidence x - Develop fluency - Motivate children x STORYTELLING x - Has cross curricular links between story and content x - Teacher reads the story x If so, do children have visual aids of the story? Which ones? Interactive whiteboard. - Children read the story - Teachers uses audio resources to play the story RESOURCES AND MATERIALS PAIR AND GROUP WORK ACTIVITIES - Preliminary demonstration teacherpupil (MODELLING) - Pupil-pupil interaction without the intervention of the teacher x - Pupil-pupil interaction with the intervention of the teacher TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 67 - Children know the objective of the task - Clear presentation and instructions x - Pupils select own partners - Random selection - Pre-select pupils but makes it appear random - Set groups or teams that are used for a period of time x VISUAL AIDS - Uses flashcards - Uses gestures and mimes - Uses audiovisuals aids (interactive whiteboard, computer,…) x If so, which one and how is it used? Interactive whiteboard while telling the story. CONTENTS ORACY-LITERACY - Emphasis on listening and responding over reading and writing - Oracy is worked on the lesson If so, how is it worked? - Literacy is worked on the lesson x If so, how?  Writing in the air TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 68  Writing letter patterns  Writing a few words learned by heart  Reading the words x  Phonics (which method?) CROSS CURRICULAR LINKS - There are cross curricular links with other areas x If so, which are these areas? Science, Arts How are cross curricular links worked? Through a story. ASSESSMENT - Learning is assessed during the lesson x If so, when and how is it assessed? Exercises. - The assessment is carried out by the teacher x - The assessment is carried out by classmates - There are links with other lessons (background knowledge is used as starting point) x TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 69 CHECKLIST 5 LESSON STRUCTURE PPP STRUCTURE x If so, PRESENTATION - Most students are engaged x - The written form is given PRACTICE - Drilling is practiced through games - Drilling is practiced through activities x - Pupils practice in group x PRODUCTION - Most of the pupils are involved x - Use of the language for a purpose - Work is based on tasks TEACHER METHODS USE OF TARGET LANGUAGE If so, - Teacher is a native speaker - Teacher uses the target language during the lesson x - Students use the target language during the lesson - Target language is accurate x - Target language is displayed in the classroom x - Target language is the dominant means of communication in the lesson - Target language is only used where appropriate - Target language is used for organizational matters TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 70 - Excessive extent of the mother tongue (see section “The use of the mother tongue”) x TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE (TPR) - Use of mimes and gestures - Teacher provides language and asks learners to perform related actions - Teacher uses actions to check understanding GAMES APPROACH x - Create situations of real language use - Engage the whole attention of children x - Develop confidence - Develop fluency - Motivate children x STORYTELLING - Has cross curricular links between story and content - Teacher reads the story If so, do children have visual aids of the story? Which ones? - Children read the story - Teachers uses audio resources to play the story RESOURCES AND MATERIALS PAIR AND GROUP WORK ACTIVITIES - Preliminary demonstration teacherpupil (MODELLING) TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 71 - Pupil-pupil interaction without the intervention of the teacher - Pupil-pupil interaction with the intervention of the teacher x - Children know the objective of the task - Clear presentation and instructions x - Pupils select own partners - Random selection - Pre-select pupils but makes it appear random - Set groups or teams that are used for a period of time x VISUAL AIDS - Uses flashcards x - Uses gestures and mimes x - Uses audiovisuals aids (interactive whiteboard, computer,…) If so, which one and how is it used? CONTENTS ORACY-LITERACY - Emphasis on listening and responding over reading and writing - Oracy is worked on the lesson x If so, how is it worked? Repeat displayed flashcards. - Literacy is worked on the lesson x If so, how? TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 72  Writing in the air  Writing letter patterns  Writing a few words learned by heart x  Reading the words x  Phonics (which method?) CROSS CURRICULAR LINKS - There are cross curricular links with other areas If so, which are these areas? How are cross curricular links worked? ASSESSMENT - Learning is assessed during the lesson x If so, when and how is it assessed? Sheets are checked after having done them. - The assessment is carried out by the teacher x - The assessment is carried out by classmates - There are links with other lessons (background knowledge is used as starting point) TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 73 APPENDIX IIOBSERVATION SHEETS 2 CHECKLIST 1 TEACHING - Use of teaching techniques according to the objectives (e.g. error correction, instructions, explanations,...) - Use and promotion of meaningful communication x - Learner actively involved in the class x CLASS MANAGEMENT - Students grouped according to activities - Use of equipment for the class (e.g. neat and organized use of the board) - Use of materials needed for the class x - Pace and time management in the development of the class x - Ability to deal with occasional classroom management problems x - Punctuality x - Friendly and respectful with students x - Use of body language, gesture and teaching space as needed x LANGUAGE USE - According to student’s level x - Tone and volume of voice as needed x QUESTIONING STRATEGIES TYPES OF QUESTIONS ASKED - Factual teacher asks a question that students can answer by looking for factual answers - Opinion: teacher asks a question that students can answer by using their own x TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 80  To correct structures - Written feedback (if applicable)  Teacher writes symbols such as “SP” for spelling and “T” for tense near the error to tell students the error types  Teacher explains orally student’s common grammatical error in class  Teacher writes down the correct form of the error after it is identified  Teacher writes down grammatical explanations  Teacher explains orally to individual students  Teacher rewrites the sentences completely  Teacher only underlines or strikes off the grammatical error TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 81 CHECKLIST 3 TEACHING - Use of teaching techniques according to the objectives (e.g. error correction, instructions, explanations,...) x - Use and promotion of meaningful communication - Learner actively involved in the class x CLASS MANAGEMENT - Students grouped according to activities x - Use of equipment for the class (e.g. neat and organized use of the board) x - Use of materials needed for the class x - Pace and time management in the development of the class x - Ability to deal with occasional classroom management problems x - Punctuality x - Friendly and respectful with students x - Use of body language, gesture and teaching space as needed x LANGUAGE USE - According to student’s level x - Tone and volume of voice as needed x QUESTIONING STRATEGIES TYPES OF QUESTIONS ASKED - Factual teacher asks a question that students can answer by looking for factual answers x - Opinion: teacher asks a question that students can answer by using their own language TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 82 TYPES OF RESPONSES REQUIRED - Display: student must provide teacher’s required answer x - Referential: student must provide answer that involves own thought and reasoning SELECTION OF STUDENT - Calls students name directly before asking questions - Calls students name directly after asking questions - Calls for students volunteers after asking questions - Allows students to self-select when to answer x - Comes back to students with wrong answer or no answer THE USE OF THE MOTHER TONGUE - Child is upset - Child knows the answer but doesn’t know how to say it in English x - Child wants to share experience or real information x - Teacher or pupil wants to joke - Teacher wants to introduce a new game/instruction/content x - Teacher doesn’t know if the children have understood x GIVING INSTRUCTIONS - Says things that are visible or obvious - Gives instructions that they don’t need to know at this point - Creates a silence before hand x - Makes eye contact with as many students as possible x - Finds an authoritative tone and makes sure they are listening before starting x - Uses silence and gestures to pace the instructions and clarifies their meaning x TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 83 - Demonstrates rather than explains wherever possible x - Checks understanding X - Uses simple language X - Uses short sentences X - Repeats instructions in a different way - Models instructions for children x ERROR CORRECTION FOR ORAL PRACTICE AND WRITTEN FEEDBACK - The information is supported by other messages x If so, which ones? (e.g. gestures, visuals…) Blackboard and visuals. - The message reduces ambiguity x - Gets over the problem of poor pronunciation by providing intelligible versions for the whole class x - Provides learners with the repetition needed for reinforcement of language x - Facilitates the development of self-assessment in learning and learning to learn - Encourages teacher and peer dialogue around learning x - Helps to clarify what good performance is x - Provides opportunities to close gap between current and desired performance - Delivers high quality information to students about their learning - Encourages positive, motivational beliefs and self-esteem x - Feedback given is mainly oral x If so, why?  To correct pronunciation x  To correct structures x TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 84 - Written feedback (if applicable)  Teacher writes symbols such as “SP” for spelling and “T” for tense near the error to tell students the error types  Teacher explains orally student’s common grammatical error in class  Teacher writes down the correct form of the error after it is identified  Teacher writes down grammatical explanations  Teacher explains orally to individual students  Teacher rewrites the sentences completely  Teacher only underlines or strikes off the grammatical error TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 85 CHECKLIST 4 TEACHING - Use of teaching techniques according to the objectives (e.g. error correction, instructions, explanations,...) x - Use and promotion of meaningful communication - Learner actively involved in the class x CLASS MANAGEMENT - Students grouped according to activities x - Use of equipment for the class (e.g. neat and organized use of the board) x - Use of materials needed for the class x - Pace and time management in the development of the class x - Ability to deal with occasional classroom management problems x - Punctuality x - Friendly and respectful with students x - Use of body language, gesture and teaching space as needed x LANGUAGE USE - According to student’s level - Tone and volume of voice as needed x QUESTIONING STRATEGIES TYPES OF QUESTIONS ASKED - Factual teacher asks a question that students can answer by looking for factual answers x - Opinion: teacher asks a question that students can answer by using their own language TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 86 TYPES OF RESPONSES REQUIRED - Display: student must provide teacher’s required answer x - Referential: student must provide answer that involves own thought and reasoning SELECTION OF STUDENT - Calls students name directly before asking questions - Calls students name directly after asking questions - Calls for students volunteers after asking questions x - Allows students to self-select when to answer x - Comes back to students with wrong answer or no answer THE USE OF THE MOTHER TONGUE - Child is upset - Child knows the answer but doesn’t know how to say it in English x - Child wants to share experience or real information x - Teacher or pupil wants to joke - Teacher wants to introduce a new game/instruction/content x - Teacher doesn’t know if the children have understood x GIVING INSTRUCTIONS - Says things that are visible or obvious - Gives instructions that they don’t need to know at this point - Creates a silence before hand x - Makes eye contact with as many students as possible x - Finds an authoritative tone and makes sure they are listening before starting - Uses silence and gestures to pace the instructions and clarifies their meaning x TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 87 - Demonstrates rather than explains wherever possible x - Checks understanding X - Uses simple language X - Uses short sentences X - Repeats instructions in a different way - Models instructions for children X ERROR CORRECTION FOR ORAL PRACTICE AND WRITTEN FEEDBACK - The information is supported by other messages If so, which ones? (e.g. gestures, visuals…) - The message reduces ambiguity - Gets over the problem of poor pronunciation by providing intelligible versions for the whole class - Provides learners with the repetition needed for reinforcement of language x - Facilitates the development of self-assessment in learning and learning to learn - Encourages teacher and peer dialogue around learning x - Helps to clarify what good performance is x - Provides opportunities to close gap between current and desired performance - Delivers high quality information to students about their learning - Encourages positive, motivational beliefs and self-esteem x - Feedback given is mainly oral x If so, why?  To correct pronunciation x TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 88  To correct structures x - Written feedback (if applicable)  Teacher writes symbols such as “SP” for spelling and “T” for tense near the error to tell students the error types  Teacher explains orally student’s common grammatical error in class  Teacher writes down the correct form of the error after it is identified  Teacher writes down grammatical explanations  Teacher explains orally to individual students  Teacher rewrites the sentences completely  Teacher only underlines or strikes off the grammatical error TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 89 CHECKLIST 5 TEACHING - Use of teaching techniques according to the objectives (e.g. error correction, instructions, explanations,...) x - Use and promotion of meaningful communication - Learner actively involved in the class x CLASS MANAGEMENT - Students grouped according to activities x - Use of equipment for the class (e.g. neat and organized use of the board) x - Use of materials needed for the class x - Pace and time management in the development of the class x - Ability to deal with occasional classroom management problems x - Punctuality x - Friendly and respectful with students x - Use of body language, gesture and teaching space as needed x LANGUAGE USE - According to student’s level x - Tone and volume of voice as needed x QUESTIONING STRATEGIES TYPES OF QUESTIONS ASKED - Factual teacher asks a question that students can answer by looking for factual answers x - Opinion: teacher asks a question that students can answer by using their own language TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 96 -Do you select the equipment and materials according to the objectives of the lesson? Yes I do, but sometimes I select the equipment and materials and then I adapt the lesson. -Do you prepare the time according to the objectives of the lesson and the activities presented. I try to do that but I often have to change this preparation during the lesson. TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 97 INTERVIEW 3 TEACHING METHODS - What lesson structure do you usually carry out? Why? I use a PPP structure because students are used to it and I feel more comfortable carrying out this structure. - How often do you use storytelling? As many times as possible because it allows me work at the same time different areas. -How frequently do you set up pair and group work activities? I try to set up these kinds of activities usually once a week. This is because we have the lesson in the afternoon and they are less concentrated so they need to be given extra motivation. LESSON PREPARATION -Are lesson plans adapted to the number of students and needs of the students? Yes they are. -Do you have clear and specific objectives for each lesson? Not for each lesson but for each unit. -Do you select the equipment and materials according to the objectives of the lesson? Yes, I try to provide the children with different materials. TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 98 -Do you prepare the time according to the objectives of the lesson and the activities presented. I often plan what I want to do but the time I spend working each activity depends on the students. TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 99 INTERVIEW 4 TEACHING METHODS - What lesson structure do you usually carry out? Why? It depends on the contents because I think we have to adapt our lessons to what we are going to teach. - How often do you use storytelling? I usually use storytelling twice a unit. -How frequently do you set up pair and group work activities? It also depends on the task. I try to set up these activities but I do not force their use. LESSON PREPARATION -Are lesson plans adapted to the number of students and needs of the students? They are not adapted because we use the same plans every year so each teacher decides how to adapt the lesson plan to his or her class. -Do you have clear and specific objectives for each lesson? Yes, I have. I have very few but specific aims I want to achieve each lesson. -Do you select the equipment and materials according to the objectives of the lesson? As all units have the same structure, I use the same materials in the same section of all units. TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 100 -Do you prepare the time according to the objectives of the lesson and the activities presented. I try to devote more or less the same time to each activity. TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 101 INTERVIEW 5 TEACHING METHODS - What lesson structure do you usually carry out? Why? PPP structure because children have time to get used to the new vocabulary, and they have opportunities to practice as well. - How often do you use storytelling? Every week because children are motivated when I use this resource so they are more willing to learn. -How frequently do you set up pair and group work activities? I also set up group activities every week because they motivate children too and it is also important that they have collaborate and work together while doing these activities. LESSON PREPARATION -Are lesson plans adapted to the number of students and needs of the students? They are planned for 25 children, which is the number of students that this school usually has in per class. -Do you have clear and specific objectives for each lesson? Sometimes but it is more frequent to have objectives for each unit. -Do you select the equipment and materials according to the objectives of the lesson? Depending on the activity pupils collaborate with me in the elaboration of materials. TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 102 -Do you prepare the time according to the objectives of the lesson and the activities presented. No, I do not. I usually devote the same time for each stage of the PPP structure. TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 103 APPENDIX IVLESSON PLAN TBL This is a speaking lesson on the theme of planning a holiday trip that uses a listening exercise to provide language input. Preparation and materials: A recording of two people planning a holiday trip. Pre-task (15-20min). The aim is to introduce the topic and to give the class exposure to language related to it. Firstly, teacher shows pictures of two friends in a bar and asks students where they go to have fun on holydays. Afterwards, there is a brainstorm of words and phrases related to the topic that is written on the board. Finally, teacher plays the listening of the two people and writes different options on the board (village/beach/mountain). The aim of the listening is to select from those options and to note down some language related to it. As a preparation for the task, teacher tells them that they are going to plan a trip and give a few minutes to think. Task (10min) Learners do the task in pairs and then they are joined with other pair to compare their plans. Planning (10min) Each pair trains for the presentation while the teacher helps them in case there is any doubt. Report (20 min) Class listens to the plans with the objective of choosing one of them. After all the pairs have finished their presentations, teacher gives feedback and students vote one plan. TOWARDS EFFECTIVE ENGLISH TEACHING ALEJANDRO HERRADOR CERÓN 104 Language Focus (15 min) Teacher writes on the board three good phrases that students have used and three incorrect sentences. Students have to discuss the meaning and correct the sentences. Then, the teacher highlights any language that he wants to draw attention.