EDUARDO SENNEN LÓPEZ BETANCUR. ENHANCING STUDENTS´ ORAL COMMUNICATION THROUGH COMMUNICATIVE ACT

7/27/2019 EDUARDO SENNEN LÓPEZ BETANCUR. ENHANCING STUDENTS´ ORAL COMMUNICATION THROUGH COMMUNICATIV…

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/eduardo-sennen-lopez-betancur-enhancing-students-oral-communication-through 1/35

Enhancing students´ oral communication in a Fl Classroom 1

UNIVERSIDAD DE ANTIOQUIA

SCHOOL OF LANGUAGES

EDUARDO SENNEN LÓPEZ BETANCUR

ENHANCING STUDENTS´ ORAL COMMUNICATION THROUGH

COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES

ACTION RESEARCH REPORT

RESEARCH ADVISOR

THESIS ADVISOR

TEACHING PRACTICUM ADVISOR

DIANA MARCELA IGLESIAS VÉLEZ

DECEMBER, 2009

MEDELLÍN






This action research report is a requirement to receive the bachelor of education degree in the

foreign language (French and English) at Universidad de Antioquia




UNIVERSIDAD DE ANTIOQUIA

SCHOOL OF LANGUAGES

EDUARDO SENNEN LÓPEZ BETANCUR



ACTION RESEARCH REPORT

RESEARCH ADVISOR

THESIS ADVISOR

TEACHING PRACTICUM ADVISOR

DIANA MARCELA IGLESIAS VÉLEZ

DECEMBER, 2009

MEDELLÍN




ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I want to express my gratitude to everyone who has helped me accomplish in this project,

mainly to my adviser Diana Iglesias, because of her dedication, thanks because she has spent a

lot of time on correcting every single advance. To my coordinator Stella Salazar, Coworkers

and my principal Margarita Rendón, who have always been giving a hand to my academic

process. Thanks my girlfriend Manuela because she gave me a lot of power to continue.

Furthermore, she understood that I had to do my university assignments in my free time and I

could not share with her and my son. Thanks to my practicum classmates, because we shared

excellent moments, which helped us to improve in our lives. To my 10th

C graders. And thanks

my cooperating teacher Martha Valderrama, because she has always been proud of me.

Finally, I want to thank my family, especially to my Maru Aunt and my mother who is so far,

but always supporting my process with her motivating words.

I want to dedicate all this effort to my son Jerónimo López Gutiérrez, who was born during

this practicum process.




TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgments 4

Abstract 7

Key words 7

Preface 8

Context 8

Statement of the problem 10

Research question 11

Theoretical framework 11

Objectives 15

Main Objective 15

Specific Objective 15

Action plan 15

Development of actions 17

Data analysis 19

Findings and interpretations 22

Reflection 28

Conclusions and suggestions 30




References 32

Appendixes 33

Appendix A and B “ participación oral en clase Inglés” 33

Appendix C “Category chart” 35

Appendix D “Data retrieval chart (DRC) 35

Appendix E “Interview to my cooperating teacher” (Audio)

Appendix F „Videos”




ABSTRACT

Today, most of the foreign language teachers have a low students´ oral participation when

they propose activities to their students.This action research project attempted to illustrate how successful implemented activities in a

large EFL classroom could enhance students` oral communication in the target language. This

project was carried out at Normal Superior de Envigado with 10th

graders. An action plan with

four (4) different stages to get the main objective was applied, according to the students`

answers obtained in checklists, questionnaires and surveys.

KEY WORDS

Oral communication, activity, participation, communicative approach, strategy, performance,

production, motivation, attitude, foreign language




PREFACE

This action research project was carried out at Institución Educativa Normal Superior de

Envigado with tenth graders. It offered me the opportunity of knowing more about the school

where I work and putting into practice everything I have learned as a teacher and as a student.

Furthermore, a very unusual situation was presented with my large students´ group, since it

was noticeable that most of the learners were highly motivated and that they had an excellent

attitude towards learning the foreign language (English). Moreover, they wanted to participate

orally in class. For that reason, I decided to take advantage from this situation to improve it by

enhancing my students to get a good oral proficiency level in English through successful

communicative activities.

CONTEXT

La Institución Educativa Normal Superior de Envigado is located in Envigado, at the south of

Medellín (Antioquia); it is a public institution that was founded in 1959. From its beginnings,

the school gave students the opportunity to receive two extra years of education with the name

of Additional Cycle. At the end of these two years, students can go to the university and

continue their studies or to go to primary schools and work as teachers in various subjects.

It is a large school, divided in three different sections: Marie Poussepin, primary and high

school section. This last one includes classrooms, a cafeteria, a library, two computer labs,

three court yards, a school theater and some offices for the administrative staff.




The school‟s administrative staff is directed by the principal, an academic and a discipline

coordinator, 72 full time teachers, 11 cathedra instructors, and eight English teachers. The

High School students´ schedule is from 6:10 to 1:00.

Classrooms have from 40 to 50 students per group in very small classrooms. Students´

discipline is good. Interaction between teachers and students is most of the times good since

students´ formation allows establishing dialogues defending each point of view, even between

student- student.

Classrooms have four big windows that provide a well-illuminated environment. Students are

distributed in seven rows facing the board. There is a chalkboard, a TV, a DVD, and there is a

good sound system.

My cooperating teacher is Martha Cecilia Valderrama López. She has been an EFL teacher for

24 years, and she has been working full time with the school for the last 8 years. Martha has

an undergraduate degree in language teaching with an emphasis in English and French from

University Pontificia Bolivariana. She has a positive attitude towards English teaching, she is

very dynamic and open minded to help students. She focuses on encouraging students‟

participation, that is why she expects students to be active and to express their opinions. Her

methodology can be described as a direct method, where students are exposed to the foreign

language, even when she presents a topic, her explanations are given in English, addressing

students in the target language.

My classroom, which was analyzed, was a mixed EFL group of the tenth grade that has 44

Colombian students and one Egyptian learner. 31 girls and 14 boys between the ages of 15 and

16, who speak Spanish as their native language. Students´ attitude towards English was very




positive. This group had English class twice a week; one hour on Tuesdays from 9:20 am to

10.15, and two hours on Thursday from 7:00 to 8:50 am.

The curriculum of the school is divided into two separate elements. The syllabus and the

“Classroom project.” The first one defines in terms of achievements, topics and standards

what students will be able to do at the end of the school year, it is centered on oral

communication skills and grammar is implicit on the topics to be taught. The second one is the

English song Festival, It has been a project worked during 19 years, and it gives the

opportunity of learning English through songs in a very creative way.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

During the process carried out, six weeks were implemented for observations at School with

tenth graders. A journal was written in each class to identify a problem to be solved or a

situation to be improved. I found in my observations, in my journal, reflections and in the

Syllabus of the school that the oral communication skill could be enhanced in the students,

since most of them had the motivation and the attitude to learn English as a foreign language.

This factor was categorized in the journals as “oral participation”, to know how often this

category was repeated in each class.

For example:

“I am surprised that many students wanted to participate orally. But on the other hand, there

were some ones who knew what they had to do or how to do it, but they did not take the risk of

doing it because they felt afraid of saying something wrong”. (Journal, March 19th)




“ I realized in this class that students participated a lot. I really liked the activity with the

dialogue because students could participate orally, but If I were the teacher, I would have

done students participate between each other for a while, then, I had shared some dialogues in

front of the group, and If I had had more time, I had asked the students to make up their own

dialogue to present it in front of the cl ass”. (Journal, March 30th)

In addition, learners took risks of participating in class, since their English teacher motivated

them towards the target language and she has involved them in English as a useful language

for their lives. For all these reasons, I decided to base my project in oral communication, but

taking into consideration the other three skills (Reading, writing and listening).

RESEARCH QUESTION

What kinds of activities could I implement to enhance my students´ oral communication at

Institución Educativa Normal Superior de Envigado?

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Since this action research project was based on activities for enhancing my students´ oral

participation in the foreign language (English), it was mandatory to explore similar academic

studies and to review in the literature how some academic authors have defined “activity” and

what kinds of successful activities have been implemented to get optimistic outcomes in the

students.

What is an activity?

According to Hernandez (2006), in the communicative approach, an activity is the result of

processing or understanding language. In addition, according to Emmer E, Evertson C,




Clements B, Worsham M. (1994). The term activity describes organized behavior that the

teacher and students engage in for a common purpose.

Additionally, tasks are defined by Nunan (1989) in Forero Rocha. (2005) as activities where

the foreign language is used by the learner for a communicative purpose. According to Willis

(1996) Forero Rocha. (2005), “task -based learning helps learners to improve communication.

Oral Interaction has been defined by many authors as the relationship between interaction and

communication, also, it is used to build social relationships that allow students to interact with

each other”.

According to Harmer (1991), Activities and tasks have to be motivating and attractive for

students, it means that if students are highly motivated, they will succeed better in the

proposed activities. Moreover, those ones have to address the students´ needs. Activities must

be appropriate to achieve the goals and the proficiency level, and finally, the proposed

activities must have a purpose which goes beyond a classroom exercise.

Furthermore, Harmer (1991) adds that the organization of an activity and the instructions the

teacher gives are of vital importance for the students to be able to perform the task

satisfactorily. He says that an activity can be divided into the following parts: A lead in,

where the teacher introduces the topic; Instruct , where the instructor tells the students exactly

what to do and demonstrates the activity; initiate, the students perform the task and finally, he

organizes feedback. (p. 220)

Activities on the way teachers use them in their English classes have been stated and classified

by authors such as Emmer E, et al(1994) who say that there are some types of activities which

will be describe below.

http://www.scielo.org.co/cgi-bin/wxis.exe/iah/?IsisScript=iah/iah.xis&base=article%5edlibrary&format=iso.pft&lang=i&nextAction=lnk&indexSearch=AU&exprSearch=FORERO+ROCHA,+YOLIMA








Opening the period: This activity helps students make an orderly transition into the

classroom and to be ready for the rest of the period.

Checking classroom or homework: Students check their own work, therefore, it provides

feedback.

Recitation: It is a question and answer sequence in which the teacher repeats this activity

frequently until content has been covered.

Content Development: In this activity the teacher presents new information.

Discussion: The purpose of this activity is to encourage students to evaluate events, topics or

results. Students must be aware of the participation rules.

Seatwork: It is also known as class work. In this activity the student engages in assignments

or homework that provides practice.

Small Group Work: Students work together. It might be used for drills on new vocabulary

words or spelling, problem solving, preparing group reports. Etc

Closing: The objective is to bring the period to the end. Students will be able to pass to the

next classes in good conditions.

Activities must have an adequate sequence at the moment they are going to be applied:

Opening routine, checking, content development, seatwork or discussion and closing.

Hernandez (2006), in her study “Characteristics of successful task, which promote oral

communication” presents some oral communication tasks, which some English teachers have

worked successfully in oral courses.




The first one is the use of materials. “It enhances students´ motivation, accelerate students´

acquisition; Also the Jigsaw presentation is a strategy that refers to activities which students in

small groups are dependent on the others”, at this point, the instructor with the students should

go over the definition and pronunciation of the new vocabulary. Students can also prepare

their own material to present and then the professor can evaluate the oral presentations and to

give feedback to the group every time the technique is used. In addition, debates and

circulation activities can be used to receive formation from a variety of sources.

According to Forero Rocha. (2005). In their study “Promoting Oral Interaction in Large

Groups through Task-Based Learning” they show that students work better when they do it

in pairs. By doing this, students will show they will feel better performing oral activities than

performing writing ones.

Task based learning is an activity which offers opportunities to practice the language,

providing different visual aids and working with topics related to students‟ needs and interests.

Also it is necessary to use different strategies to maintain motivation such as: Changing the

activities very often, using creative and colorful flashcards and guides, and making a dynamic

plan outline. In addition, this study shows that task-based learning is an appropriate method

employed to improve oral interaction in large groups.

According to the contributing writers in the web page www.ehow.com. The first exposure to

English for many people is through popular-songs and lyrics. The use of music in language

classes puts students at ease. Activities with music make students more attentive and it can

increase their desire to learn a language.



http://www.ehow.com/






Music offers a multifaceted way to look at the language and it can be used to reinforce and

improve speaking. Listening comprehension, vocabulary and phrasing. Teachers can engage

their students with the following steps: First, To provide students with lyric sheets for songs,

second, to engage the students in a listening-comprehension exercise, third, to introduce

regional varieties of English as well as non-standard usages through song, fourth, to point out

topics and set phrases for your students and finally, to have students select a song of their own

to present.

OBJECTIVES

Main and specific Objectives

This action research project was carried out at Institución Educativa Normal Superior de

Envigado with 10th

graders. It had as a main objective to enhance students´ oral

communication to participate orally in the foreign language (English) through communicative

activities. Moreover, the three specific objectives were: To determine successful oral activities

to enhance students´ oral communication. To get students to talk in the target language

spontaneously. And to implement small group work to get students to produce orally.

ACTION PLAN

Since the main objective of this action research project was to enhance students to talk in

English. I decided to work on some successful oral communicative activities in large groups.

Some actions were implemented in the classes to achieve the main objective. Actions were

planned according to the students` answers, their interests opinions and taking into

consideration the vocabulary they already knew in order to activate their ideas and




imagination in the topics they were interested in. This information was gotten from my

students` answers in the questionnaires.

First, students worked on the Institution project “The English song festival”. They selected a

song they liked, to present it orally in front of the group. Taking into consideration the reason

of his or her decision, the author, the message of the song and a reflection about it.

Subsequently, they had to sing it. This activity included the four language skills: (reading,

writing, listening and speaking), but it was focused on the oral ability.

Second, the students worked in their small group work on oral activities such as answering and

asking basic questions about a topic. Then, they had discussions and dialogues in the target

language, and finally, they had to present the topic by using their imagination, materials and

tools in front of the group.

Third, some learners went to the elementary groups to teach English in pairs. They presented a

lesson plan focused on oral communication. It was checked and some suggestions were giving

to improve the class and their English oral performance. Some students created blogs on the

web to generate discussions and debates in class, since they could not go to teach at school

because of time

Finally, some discussions, debates and moments for oral participation in the foreign language

were implemented in class after some content development and preparation activities such as

blogs about topics they chose, movies and reflections about issues they were interested in.




DEVELOPMENT OF ACTIONS

This action research project was carried out taking into consideration the improvement of my

students` oral performance in the target language, their needs, interests, opinions and

motivating activities for them.

I informed my students about the project they were involved in. Then, I explained them in my

English class on August 11th

2009 how the project was going to work, which were going to be

the proposed actions and activities focused on oral production and the methodology to be used

during the semester.

I provided my students with a consent form to be filled with their parents. I started applying

the research instruments to the learners who gave it back to explore my students` perceptions

about how successful had been the implemented oral activities, their motivation and their

improvement in the foreign language.

Then, I chose three students under the technique of maximum variation. McMillan, J. (1995), at

this point, each participant represented an extreme case. It means that students with very

different English levels were selected to apply the research tools. I noticed that I was very

limited to work with students under this technique, since only 14 students from 45 ones gave

me back the consent form and it was a little difficult to represent each case since there were

many students whom I wanted to work on my project, but their lack of responsibility was

evident in this fact again.

The first action was “The English song festival”. It was developed successfully under my

students` perception, they loved it and they expressed that it was a different activity. Although,

they said it was difficult for them to sing and to present the song in front of the group.




Under my judgment, the activity was not quite successful. According to Harmer (1991). The

instructions the teacher gives are of vital importance for the students to be able to perform the

task satisfactorily, but my instructions and my criteria were not clear enough at the very

beginning, when I had not realized about it, for that reason, I was waiting for different results.

I decided to present and to sing my own song to show my presentation as a model for the

students, who had not done their English oral production. Some students did it better after I

presented and sang the song and some of them felt more comfortable singing in pairs.

Under my Cooperating teacher´s perception, the activity was very motivating for the students.

Additionally, she felt very happy since some of the participants did it very well and some of

them did a big effort to present it. Although she was waiting for better results from the whole

group, she agreed with my opinion about this activity.

From the very beginning, I used most of the time the foreign language in class to engage

students in the process; Spanish was used as a hook to make students more attentive and to

give some explanations. Additionally, greetings, some commands and some questions were

very common in classes. For example: “What is today`s date?”, “good morning, how are

you?” Etc. Students responded very well to this input. (Recitation)

Discussions and debates were implemented after previous preparation to talk in class.

(Opening the period activity). Some of them were oriented by some student`s creation blogs

on the web, movies and topics they were interested in. Most of the discussions were

successful, although some learners` lack of responsibility to present the previous written work

to be ready for the discussions affected their oral participation during the moments for the oral

activities.




Since the group was very large, small group work was a strategy to develop many oral

activities. Students worked with the classmates they wanted to, with a maximum of three

learners per group (Seatwork). They answered and asked basic questions (Recitation).

Additionally, they talked about the blogs in their groups before the general oral activity. Some

students felt more comfortable participating in their small group work than when they did it in

front of the group.

DATA ANALYSIS

During the implementation of this action research project at school, four data collection

techniques were put into practice to collect the information from different points of view:

Firstly, my research journal. It served the purpose of evidencing the classroom process. It

was a vital instrument since it included different situations such as: Group performance,

discipline, oral participation, positive attitude towards the foreign language that could be

repeated in each class. This instrument was applied from February to November with a total of

31 written journal entries. Each journal contained a full description of the class, an analysis

and the reflection of the situations and categories which were evident in the research journal.

Categories were chosen according to the focus of my project, evident problems in class or the

circumstances to be improved. These three steps of the journal were very helpful to determine

my research situation.

Secondly: Surveys. The main purpose of the first survey (see appendix A) was to gather

relevant information from my students` opinions about activities, oral participation, motivation

and attitude towards English. This first instrument was applied to the students in May. It gave

me a wide glance to design my action plan, since I focused it on the participants` interests,




needs, oral tasks and motivating activities under my learners` perception. Most of their

answers showed that they were highly motivated towards English and they wanted to

participate orally in class. The second questionnaire (see appendix B) was applied in October.

In fact, it was the same first questionnaire, but it had some additional questions at the end of

the questionnaire.The main objective was to evaluate how successful the activities were. With

the students` answers, it was evident that they frequently wanted to participate orally. They

loved the implemented activities. Finally, the instrument proved that students felt they were

improving their oral proficiency English level.

Thirdly, activities. The main implemented activities were: “The English song festival”,

discussions and debates, small group work and teaching English in the Elementary school. In

the same order of ideas, students had to present a song, the author` biography, the message of

the song and their reflection about it. Then, they had to sing it. This presentation was in front

of the group during four (4) English classes. Furthermore, according to freeman (1998). In his

study “Doing teacher- Research: from Inquiry to understand”. Some conducted debates,

discussions, oral presentations and blogs students created about topics they were interested in,

were performed to enhance my students` oral participation. Finally, small group work was a

strategy employed with many oral activities such as: Giving opinions about a specific topic. It

was a very important implemented instrument since the number of students was very large.

All the students were audio video recorded in the English song festival activity to evidence

their oral production improvement in the target language. Besides, some discussions and

debates were audio evidenced. At this point, data was analyzed under the consideration of

giving more importance to the oral skill, although the rest of the abilities were not forgotten. In




the recordings, it was noticeable that students were improving their oral production. Although

there were some difficulties to break the ice when an oral action was proposed, it means that

nobody wanted to be the first participant to present his or her assignment in front of the group.

Finally, a semi structure interview was applied to my cooperating teacher to gather data

concerning student´s oral participation and implemented activities from her perspective. The

interview was in Spanish, since she felt more comfortable and it was audio recorded in order

to transcribe the most important parts according to the research project and the analysis of the

data. She concluded that activities were really motivating and successful for the students.

Additionally, she said that the students who took advantage of the implemented activities

improved a lot their oral performance in the target language. Obviously, Lack of responsibility

was an obstacle for getting the main objective in all the students.

I used a qualitative procedure to analyze the data under an inductive approach. I organized it

into recurrent items or similar patterns to code them and to interpret them according to the

information gathered from interviews, journals, questionnaires, informal conversations and

according to Johnson (2005). A data retrieval chart (DRC) was applied. It was very useful to

examine entries, oral participations, repeated categories and to have an evidence of the

students` academic process.

According to McMillan (1995). In his paper “Educational Research: Fundamentals for the

Consumer”. My samples were selected under the technique of maximum variation: Selecting

participants to represent extreme cases. It means that students with very different English

levels were chosen to apply the research instruments and interviews. The sample included

successful and unsuccessful students in the English class.




FINDINGS AND INTERPRETATIONS

After the analysis and triangulation of the data collected from different sources: My students`

questionnaires, interviews, research journals, videos, informal conversations with my students

and my cooperating teacher, the feedback from my advisor and also the proposed actions., it

was evident that implemented activities were applied successfully. The main and specific

objectives were achieved up.

For the students, my methodology was something new, since they had my cooperating teacher

as an English teacher from sixth (6th

) grade. Her methodology was really excellent because

students were exposed to the foreign language. But According to Harmer (1991), I

implemented some innovative activities which were very motivating for them.

“Eduardo, te luciste con esta actividad de la canción Inglesa en el salón, que nota de verdad.

Al principio mucho susto, pero muy bacana. Dios te”. (Journal, October 13th and 15th). “Dios

te means Dios te bendiga”

“Eduardo, vos estás haciendo un gran trabajo con décimo C . Vos deberías pedirnos para Once

el año entrante”. (A student`s opinion).

“Las actividades son muy buenas, mucho trabajo, el que no aprende es por que no quiere ”.

(Journal, October 20th).

Learners were engaged in the foreign language from the very beginning. They responded to

the activities in class, although they had problems with their responsibility for homework.

They used to ask and to answer basic questions in the target language. Since I started my

action plan, most of the activities were focused on the oral production, that is why, some




students felt ashamed and nervous because it was the first time they had to produce orally.

They should have gone beyond than just basic answers and questions, they had the elements to

participate in the discussions, but they did not like to break the ice.

Learning English through songs

During the English song festival, I did not get the results I was waiting for. It was my fault,

since I did not give a full instruction to the group. Harmer (1991), students knew that they had

to sing and they had to present a paper with some conditions, but they did not know how they

were going to be graded. Additionally, it was the first time they had to sing alone in front of a

group. The English song Festival, which is the institution project, had been worked with the

whole group in previous years, but with a different methodology.

I wanted from my students: Body expression, excellent pronunciation, an excellent

presentation of the song before singing it, customs, and I wanted that students sang loudly in

order to listen to them and not to the song` s singer. When I was in the middle of the even,

which was developed in four classes, I decided to sing a song to show them what I wanted. It

was not very reasonable to change some rules when some students had already presented their

song. After my presentation, some students improved their performance. Some of them were

really excellent and their songs were not very easy to be learned.

Activities with music make students more attentive and it can increase their desire to learn a

language, for that reason, students were very excited during the whole activity.

(www.ehow.com). My cooperating teacher, my journals and my students` perceptions

concluded that the activity was very successful and motivating for them. They learned from it.








Although it could have been better performed if my instructions and the criteria for grading

them had been clearer.

Discussions and Debates

Discussions in class were very useful to improve my students` oral production. Emmer E, et al

(1994), because before promoting them in class, the strategy of participating by writing a

comment on a blog on the web about a selected topic in which they were interested in,

prepared students to participate orally. This activity was successfully performed, although it

was difficult to start it since nobody wanted to be the first one in participating in the class.

An implemented discussion after watching the movie, “Facing the giants” on a wide screen,

did not have good results. After watching it, I gave the students a handout about the movie;

they had to do it at home to be ready for the conversation. This debate in class tended to be

boring because nobody wanted to participate orally. I knew that students liked the movie. At

the end of the class, I collected their notebooks and I took them to my office. I spent more than

3 hours on checking their homework. I discovered that just twelve students did their

assignment, the rest of them copied from a classmate. Their lack of responsibility for

homework was evident again.

Some of the students who copied their homework from one of their classmates participated

correctly during the discussion, but some of them were confused since they knew about their

irresponsibility. I think it was lack of confidence because I know that they had been able to

participate in the debate since they had watched the movie.




Small Group Work

According to Emmer E, et al (1994). I implemented small group work with many different

activities in my English class. It was an excellent strategy applied to enhance my students` oral

participation. At the very beginning, some students were not performing in their groups

correctly, since they were not focused on the proposed activities, but there was a huge change

in the situation when I gave them material to work in a didactic way such as: A bag with many

questions, a topic to talk, a reflection or some questions to debate about a topic in a blog.

With small group work, I achieved that my students improved their confidence to talk

spontaneously in class. Besides, when this strategy was applied, students performed better in

the discussions in class since there was a preparation to talk.

Small group work was an excellent strategy to work some activities such as: Dialogues and

answering and asking questions. Furthermore, it was very useful to get my students to be

ready to talk in the discussions and debates, since there were some opening the period

activities. Emmer E, et al (1994), in which students worked in their small group work, and

they got a better confidence to talk, but some students did not take advantage of the given

opportunities to improve their oral production, since they showed a lack of responsibility and

commitment with English and other subjects.

Questionnaires

On May the first questionnaire was applied to the students. On October 15th

was applied the

second one, but just to 12 participants of 45 students who gave me back the consent form ( 14

students gave it back, but one of them did not continue studying at school and the other one




did not want to participate in the interview). The interview to the cooperating teacher was

applied on October 15th

.

Students, cooperating teacher, questionnaires and informal conversations agreed on the fact

that the content of the course made students wanted to participate in class. Additionally,

students liked the implemented activities, although two of them of them almost never liked to

participate orally.

In the first questionnaire, 25 (62.5%) students answered they preferred to participate in the

written ability than orally, but in the second one 9 (81.8%) said that they preferred the oral

ability. It means that students enjoyed more the oral activities than the written tasks. Besides,

it showed that the implemented activities were very motivating for them. In the sentence: I like

English because I have to participate orally, in the first questionnaire, 27 (67.5) students

answered No and 13 participants (32.5%) answered yes, and in the second questionnaire 7

(63.6%) students said yes and 4 participants (36.3%) said no. In my students´ answers, it was

evident that they were more motivated to talk in class when I started teaching them. They felt

more comfortable and the topics made that they wanted to participate in the target language.

During the validation of my findings, students expressed they never thought they were going

to be able to talk a lot in class in the target language. Furthermore, they said they had never

had a methodology as the one worked during my practicum period.

This process taught me many things I have to improve as a teacher. The first one is that I have

to take into consideration the criteria to evaluate an activity before applying it. Since the

activities presented in my group could have been better performed by me as a teacher and my

students if I had given clear instructions before applying the activity. The second one is that if




I plan my classes, thinking about my students` interests, activities are going to be better

performed. And finally, as a teacher, I have to take into account that there are many school

situations which do not allow to teach classes or to apply your research instruments, since

there are general meetings with the students or there are not classes because there are other

planned activities.

It was an advantage that I were a teacher at school before my practicum, because my students

respected me as a teacher and not as a student- teacher. I knew the context and I knew how to

work with my school students. I felt a lot of confidence to perform my practicum, since it was

my work place and finally, my five (5) year experience as a teacher was an advantage as well

to work with students because my classes were very well developed and worked with my

learners.

Students agreed with my findings and analysis validation, but they think that the activities

were completely and successfully performed. Additionally, they gave a higher and special

value to their classmates` effort in the foreign language than the one I gave it in my findings.

One student thanked the group because all the students were very respectful with their oral

presentations, and the rest of the classmates agreed with him.

On the other hand, my cooperating teacher felt so proud of me. She loved my activities and the

way I got close to my students. She agreed with me when she said that the process must have

been for a longer period of time in order to get my students better in the foreign language.

Although we both agreed that I got many students to talk in English spontaneously with the

proposed activities. Also, the students who did not talk in class in the foreign language was




because they did not take advantage of the implemented situations given as homework and in

class.

One of my strategies to gather information and to improve my students´ oral proficiency level

was that the students used to go to the elementary school to teach English. Most of the

students who went to do it, achieved good results, but one of the evident problems with this

was that many students did not hand in the lesson, for that reason, I did not allow them to go.

REFLECTION

There is also learning when there is reflection in our acts. Besides, it is possible to identify the

problems, to look for solutions by implementing actions, and finally, to know what I have

learned or improved during the whole process.

During my classes, students reflected on their acts to identify their mistakes. They talked about

their faults and possible solutions, although students` lack of responsibility was a very difficult

aspect to improve, since some of the students were not committed with their academic process

in all the subjects, but most of the times they responded to the implemented oral activities.

Activities were very useful to enhance students` oral participation since they were focused on

their needs and opinions. Many times teachers use to implement tasks, which they think are

very motivating for students. Some times, teachers agree with these kinds of activities, but

some times they do not. For that reason, it is better when instructors provide opportunities for

students to talk about motivating activities in order to be applied later.

During my practicum, there were difficult moments in which I thought I was not going to be

able to do everything for my project, because there were many tasks to do. Moments in which




I had to sacrifice my family and hobbies to work on my research, although it was evident that

it had to be like this.

There were easy moments such as my experience in the field, my work as an English teacher

in the same context, and to know it very well, since I studied my high school and additional

cycle in this same institution.

This project has become a part of my life, since everything has cycled around my students and

the action research which I was implementing with them. I learned a lot from this practicum

process, from my students, my cooperating teacher, my adviser, my practicum classmates, the

readings and from the given situations. This learning was very helpful for me, since I will not

forget aspects such as my mistakes and the wonderful moments with my students.

This process was made with all my love and dedication and it was evident each time I had to

go to teach my students and to receive my practicum classes at the University. I really felt very

happy, since my classes were moments to enjoy and to learn about topics, grammar issues and

about reflection in our lives, by using English. And in my classes at the university, it was an

excellent process because I could share my experience with my adviser and practicum

classmates, additionally, I asked for pieces of advice, strategies and suggestions.

Although the results were the hopeful, this situation could have been different if the reading of

the context had been incorrect or if I had not taken into consideration my students` opinions

and needs.




CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

The implemented activities were really successfully with my students in the foreign language.

The whole action research project process was coherent since the activities were motivating

for the students and most of them responded appropriately. Learners used to participate in

class, but in the discussions, debates and moments in class for oral participation many of them

showed they were going beyond because they were producing in the target language.

Since students had limited opportunities to interact in the target language, some strategies in

the internet such as BlogSpot and facebook were implemented to increase the use of English

in their lives. In BlogSpot most of them responded to the strategy, but in facebook just some

ones who had an account and wanted to comment in English freely. Some students

participated with written comments in English in the pictures, which they had posted in

facebook. They used to do it when I began a conversation with an opinion in the foreign

language.

Under my point of view, my cooperating teacher and students` perspective, the learners who

wanted to improve their oral proficiency level achieved it. Some students were not very

responsible with their academic process, since they did not do some homework. They worked

correctly in class in the oral activities and presentations, but their lack of commitment with

assignments for home was repeated many times.

Students continued very motivated to learn English, even, most of them wanted to continue

their academic process with me for their next last year in high school.




As a teacher, I have to improve the way to move from one activity to the other one. It means

that there must be a good transition between them. Additionally, I have to establish clear

criteria to grade students and they must know it from the very beginning.

Activities were used by my learners for a communicative purpose in the foreign language.

Nunan (1989) in Forero Rocha. (2005). Many students achieved to produce orally, they were

able to express their opinions and suggestions with accuracy about a specific topic. Besides,

the implemented activities were motivating and attractive for students Harmer (1991), for that

reason, my learners succeed better in the proposed tasks.

Opening the period activities Emmer E, et al (1994), helped students make an orderly

transition into the classroom and to be ready for the rest of the period. These activities were

very useful when were applied under the strategy of small group Forero Rocha. (2005).

Students worked better orally in the discussions when they had an opening the period activity.

It would be an excellent decision if I could continue with this academic process for the next

year, since this action research project is very long. Although, the results are achieved in the

way, it will be excellent if this project could be implemented from the very beginning of a

scholar year.

It would be excellent if students with lack of responsibility with homework could be motivated

towards this aspect, not only in the target language, but in the rest of their subjects and in their

lives. It had been excellent, if I had implemented the English laboratory in my English classes.

Two of the reasons are: Internet is really slow and there are not enough computers for the

students. I think that the implemented activities in the classroom were very well performed

and better than the first proposal.








References

Brown, D.H. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching (4th edition). Addison Wesley

Longman, Inc. 2000.

Celce-Murcia, M. 2001, Language learning styles and strategies. In learning.

Cohen L., Manion, L. & K. Morrison. Research Methods in Education (5th edition).

London: Routledge Palmer. 2000.

Emmer E, Evertson C, Clements B, Worsham M. Classroom Management for Secondary

Teachers. Allyn and Bacon, Third Edition. Boston, London, Toronto, Sydney, Tokyo and

Singapore. 1994. P 87- 107

Forero Rocha, Yolima. Promoting Oral Interaction in Large Groups through Task-Based

Learning*. Profile, Jan. /Dec. 2005, no.6, p.73-82. ISSN 1657-0790.

Harmer, J. 1991. The practice of English Language Teaching. London and New York:

Longman.

Hernández. A, (2006, July). Costa Rica, Characteristics of successful task which promote

oral communication. P 46- 52

Institución Educativa Normal Superior de Envigado. (2009). English syllabus.

Johnson, Andrew P. (2005). A short guide to action research. USA: Pearson Education Inc.

McMillan, J. (1995). Educational Research: Fundamentals for the Consumer, Retrieved

October 29, 2009, from Companion Website for Educational Research website:

http://wps.ablongman.com/ab_mcmillan_edresearch_4/16/4150/1062568.cw/index.html

Nunan, D. 1999. Second language Teaching and learning. Boston: Heinle

Willis, J. 1996. Language learning: Creating the Best Environment.

http://www.scielo.org.co/scielo.php?pid=S1657-07902005000100007&script=sci_abstract








APPENDIXES

Appendix A and B

INSTITUCIÓN EDUCATIVA NORMAL SUPERIOR DE ENVIGADOPrimera y segunda encuesta a estudiantes

El siguiente cuestionario pretende determinar actividades orales exitosas en el grado 10cde la Institución Educativa Normal Superior De Envigado.Esta información será usada para desarrollar un proyecto de investigación- acción comorequisito de la práctica Investigativa de la Universidad de Antioquia.La Información recolectada será confidencial.

Motivación de los estudiantes hacia la participación oral en clase Inglés

El siguiente cuadro contiene cinco opciones para contestar. Las respuestas están organizadas

de acuerdo a la frecuencia en que ellas suceden. Por favor escoge solo una opción

En la siguiente encuesta encontrarás varios enunciados y dos opciones para responder. Por favor

marca con una X donde consideres que es la respuesta adecuada.

Nunca Casi

Nunca

A

menudo

Muy a

menudo

Siempre

El contenido del curso hace que yo quiera

participar

1 2 3 4 5

Me gustan las actividades programadas.

1 2 3 4 5

Me gusta participar oralmente

1 2 3 4 5

Me gusta la metodología implementada

por el profesor (a). 1 2 3 4 5

Entiendo la idea principal cuando el

profesor habla en Inglés. 1 2 3 4 5

Participación en clase Si No

Prefiero participar de forma oral que de forma escrita.

Me gusta Inglés porque tengo que participar oralmente en clase.

Las Actividades trabajadas en clase son de mi interés

Quiero expresar oralmente mis opiniones y sentimientos en inglés.

Quiero enfocarme más en la parte oral que en la parte escrita.




A continuación encontrarás varias preguntas de selección múltiple. En cada preguntadebes marcar con una X sólo la opción que consideres correspondiente.

La habilidad que más he desarrollado en Inglés es:

a. Lectura b. Escritura c. Habla d. Escucha

¿Cómo consideras tu participación oral en la clase de Inglés?

a. Excelente b. Sobresaliente c. Aceptable d. Insuficiente

¿Alguna vez habías tenido una metodología en clase de Inglés dónde la habilidad mástrabajada fuera la oral?

Si, No, Pocas veces Frecuentemente

¿Cómo consideras la participación oral de tus compañeros en la clase de Inglés?

a. Excelente b. Sobresaliente c. Aceptable d. Insuficiente

¿Con qué tipo de actividades aprendes mejor Inglés?

a. En Actividades donde responda a preguntas oralmente b. En juegos donde deba participar

oralmente

c. En escritos d. Otra. ______________________________

¿Crees que las actividades implementadas con los blogs en clase de Inglés ayudaron a mejorar la participación oral en clase?

a. Mucho b. Normal c. Poco d. Nada

¿Qué temáticas te gustaría que se abordaran durante el próximo año en la clase de Inglés?

a. b. c. d.

Muchas gracias por su participación en esta encuesta.

Appendix C

CATEGORY CHART

Category

and

subcategories

Code Definition

Evidence (from data):

may be a short

quotation or theinstrument and page

no. where it‟s located

Oral

Participation

OP To express knowledge, opinions and

feelings orally.

Journal entries, 1,2,3,

4, 5

Teacher´s T I Teachers demand students to do something Journal entry number

Es el primer año que participo oralmente

He mejorado mi producción Oral

Si el proceso continuara de esta forma. ¿Crees que sería mucho lo quemejorarías tu habilidad oral?




Instruction six

Task Based

learning

TBL Tasks to communicate effectively.

To improve communication by doingdifferent tasks; they are defined as goal –

oriented communicative activities with aspecific outcome

Entries 1, 2, 3,4, 5,

Motivation M The power that someone shows to do

something.

1,2,3,4,y5

Attitude A Disposition to do something 2 and 4

Interaction I The relationship between interaction and

communication.Communicative competence.

Entry 5

Appendix D

DRC (Data retrieval Chart)

Student`s name Activity Number 1 Activity

Number 2

Activity

Number 3

Activity

Number 4

Accuracy

Correct use of the structure

Number of participations

Fluency

Pronunciation

Vocabulary

Grade

EDUARDO SENNEN LÓPEZ BETANCUR. ENHANCING STUDENTS´ ORAL COMMUNICATION THROUGH COMMUNICATIVE ACT

Documents

Transcript of EDUARDO SENNEN LÓPEZ BETANCUR. ENHANCING STUDENTS´ ORAL COMMUNICATION THROUGH COMMUNICATIVE ACT