background as English teachers: two are graduate translators, three have a B.A in ..... them participate by reading instructions from the course book, for exampleâ, âI only ..... https://idus.us.es/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11441/16359/file_1.pdf?sequence=1 ...... Level taught: Advanced, FCE, ESP Elementary and Business English ...
Teachers’ conceptions on grammar instruction in EFL:
A case study of instructional university practices Foreign Language Program Universidad Nacional de San Martín
Researcher: Gabriela Alemani Thesis Director: Dra. María Irma Marabotto
Buenos Aires, May 2017
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INDEX
1INTRODUCTION ………..………………………………….....
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2.THEORETICAL BACKGROUND….…………………….…...
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2.1. Teachers‟ conceptions about teaching…...……………….…..
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2.2. Grammar instruction ...…………………………….…………
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2.3. Instructional practice and grammar teaching in EFL
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2.3.1. Implicit/Explicit instruction.……….…………..…………
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2.3.2. Analitical/Experiential learning…….…………..….………
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2.3.3. Instructional practices……….……..…….……..
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2.3.4. Presentation-Practice-Production……….…..…….……….
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2.3.5. Error treatment………………….…..………..........
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2.3.6. Use of specific terminology……..….…………...........
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3. Categories of analysis………...……….…….…….………...
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4. METHODOLOGY . …………………………...……...………….
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5.ANALYSIS OF DATA
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5.1. Interviews…………….……….…......
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5.2. Observations...…………..…….……
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5.3. Questionnaire….…………..…………...
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6. CONCLUSIONS…………………………………...……………
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7. BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………...…............
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8. APPENDICES……………………………………..….…..………
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8.1. APPENDIX I. Questionnaire…………………..….….…
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8.2. APPENDIX II. Interviews………………………..…..….
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8.3. APPENDIX III. Observations……………….……..…..
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1. Introduction For the sake of a clearer organization, we have identified three aspects that somehow seem to stem from the main theoretical framework: teacher‟s conceptions about teaching, grammar instruction models in EFL and teachers‟ practices.
We will first touch upon the topic of teacher‟s conceptions about teaching, since, in a way, it seems to be the most comprehensive of them all.
Next, we will turn to the field of EFL instruction specifically, and identify those conceptions about grammar instruction that might be relevant for this study.
Finally, we will be looking into teaching practices, to try to discover whether and how this knowledge affects the conceptions and the practice of the teachers in the English Department of the Foreign Language Program at UNSAM.1
The first difficulty to face is to establish what to focus on in order to determine the models the teachers seem to follow and find out their underlying beliefs, as evidenced somehow when they try to verbalize their decisions.
The literature revision includes different approaches to the teaching of grammar in the field, which we assume might favor certain teaching practices that are likely be observed.
For the sake of text organization, we will start by a description of the three aspects we have broken down the theoretical framework of this paper into. However, being this a qualitative study,2 it is worth mentioning that there will not be any pre-established
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Universidad Nacional de San Martín Here we quote Sampieri (2006) in his reference to the treatment of the theoretical background in qualitative research. The author points out that qualitative research is open, expansive, and not directed from the onset; and it is based on the researcher‟s experience and intuition. In turn, the approach is aimed at the understanding of the phenomenon in its many dimensions, without having to follow a certain order, with a special consideration of the processes that generate the theory that stems from the participants‟ perspectives. 2
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order, since the development of this work has been gradual and expansive. In fact, as we started to move forward identifying and comparing the information from the three research instruments used, many times we had to go back to the theoretical framework to include some more aspects we considered relevant.
Finally, we will try and draw the corresponding conclusions, which will be the result of the researcher‟s analysis and interpretation out of contrasting the data gathered from the three instruments.
2. Theoretical Framework 2.1. Teacher‟s conceptions about teaching
Much has been written about what teachers think and their instructional conceptions. In this sense, Basto Torrado (2011), in his research on university teacher‟s beliefs, presents a theoretical background to account somehow for the nature of those instructional conceptions and looks into their influence on their practices.
In this sense, there have been different approaches that have studied teachers‟ influence on the teaching-learning process. According to the literature consulted on teacher‟s beliefs, there seem to be two differentiated schools of thought. Rodrigo, Rodríguez and Marrero,3 define both schools clearly. On the one hand, there is an individual movement, which views the teacher as the main actor in the construction of his own theories (“implicit theories”). On the other hand, there is a sociological and cultural perspective, which considers knowledge has its origins in social communities, and is said to be socially transmitted and shared.
In this sense, there also seems to be a great variety of terms to refer to what the teacher thinks about his own teaching. Cognitivists, for example, use the term “implicit theories”. We have also found other terms, such as “teachers‟ belief system”, 3
Used by Camacho, A. S. (1997) “Un estudio sobre las teorías implícitas de los profesores de educación primaria en la capital de Almería (España)”.Revista Educación, 21(2), 95-106. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15517/revedu.v21i2.7904
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“conceptual base” (Brophy and Good, 1974) 4 o “teacher‟s perspective” (Goodman, 1988)5. Some authors establish some connections between theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge, and they use terminology like: “practice principles” (Marland, 1977)6 or “practical knowledge” (Elbaz, 1981)7. Other terms coined by Clandinin & Connelly make reference to “beliefs” and “principles”, “teacher conceptions”, “personal knowledge”, “practical-personal knowledge”, among others.8
Taking into account this lexical diversity, Borg (2002) sets out to revise the term “teacher cognition”, starting off from a corpus of sixty four research papers produced in the field of ESL and EFL. That is how he ends up systematizing all the terminology used under the umbrella term of “teacher cognition”. On his list, we can read terms such as: “practical knowledge”, “maxims”, “culture of teaching”, “instructional reasoning”, “instructional knowledge”, “practical knowledge” “beliefs”, among others. This lexical proliferation results in some sort of „definitional confusion‟, just to quote Eisenhart, Shrum, Harding & Cuthbert (1988). This confusion gets even more complex since identical terms seem to have different definitions; and different terms sometimes appear to be making reference to very similar concepts. Pajares (1992)8 uses the phrase “semantic dispersion”, and other terms like: “beliefs”, “attitudes”, “values”, “judgments”, “axioms”, “opinions”, “ideologies”, “perceptions”, “conceptions”, “conceptual system”, “pre-conceptions”, “dispositions”, “implicit theories”, “explicit theories”, “personal theories”, “internal mental processes”, “practice rules”, “practical principles”, etc. The author states that this variety of terminology makes it difficult to compare research findings, since they seem “not to share the same conceptual framework”. Nonetheless, some researchers seem to make
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Used by Duffy, G. G. (1977) in “A Study of Teacher Conceptions of Reading”. Recovered on 04/19/2015 from: https://archive.org/details/ERIC_ED153200 from a paper presented in “Conferencia Nacional de Lectura”, celebrated in Nueva Orleans Louisiana in 1977. 5 Used by Pajares, M. F. (1992) in “Teachers‟ Beliefs and Educational Research: Cleaning up a messy construct”. Review of Educational Research. 6 Used by Lozano, M. C. (2015) in “Estructura de conocimiento práctico del docente de la Facultad de Psicología de la Universidad Católica de Colombia y los procesos educativos que se desarrollan en el aula de clase. Aproximación al problema”. Acta Colombiana de Psicología, (2), 59-72. 7 Used by Clará, M., & Mauri, T. (2010) in “El conocimiento práctico. Cuatro conceptualizaciones constructivistas de las relaciones entre conocimiento teórico y práctica educativa. Infancia y aprendizaje”, 33(2), 131-141. 8 Mentioned by Kalaja, P., & Barcelos, A. F. (2003) in Beliefs about SLA: New research approaches. Springer Science & Business Media.
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some differences between the study of knowledge and the study of beliefs, and they claim that only the former may reflect human behavior. Roehler, Duffy, Hermann, Conley and Johnson (1988)9 state that beliefs are static and they represent eternal truths, seemingly staying longer in teachers‟ minds, and independent from the context. Knowledge, for these authors, “flows” and develops as new experiences get integrated into the existing mental construct. These authors believe that knowledge is unique and it belongs to the individual. According to these authors, beliefs are surrounded by some kind of emotional aura, which could be “correct” or “incorrect”; knowledge, on the other hand, seems to be emotionally neutral. Anyway, they conclude that beliefs seem to responsible for what teachers say outside the classroom; and their practices, in turn, are influenced by the same beliefs, which are crossed by experience. Knowledge for them, then, would be more strictly related to thought and decision making processes. Other authors, however, consider both terms to be synonyms, stating that any kind of knowledge gets initiated by beliefs. (Lewis, 1990) 10 More recent studies use the term “teachers‟ thoughts”. Camacho (1997)11 states the need to include teachers‟ thoughts, beliefs and attitudes in order to determine their behavior and explain the path that leads knowledge into action. In any case, there seems to be some relationship between teachers‟ thoughts and behaviors, since even those researchers who make a difference between beliefs and knowledge, admit that beliefs influence teachers‟ thoughts, one way or another. These teachers‟ thoughts paradigm includes not only issues about planning, thinking about practice, and decision making; but also takes into account other concepts like implicit theories and beliefs.
However relevant the difference in terminology might be, it is not the purpose of this paper to go into any semantic disquisition about the cognitive processes involved and the subtleties in the definitions of these constructs and their attributes. We will
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Pajares, M. F. Op. Cit. p.5, p.p. 308-310 Ibid., p. 310 11 Ibid., p.p. 310-311 10
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therefore use the term “concepciones” throughout this paper, to be interchangeable with the concept of “teacher cognition” used by Borg (2003)12, in the sense that it will bring together a corpus of decisions that seem to be stemming from all kinds of beliefs, attitudes, and acquired theories. In other words, the term will refer to whatever teachers know, believe and think about the teaching of grammar in EFL settings, and how they consider it should be taught. For practical reasons, this term will be used in a generic way, interchangeable with other constructs found in the bibliography, such as: “teacher beliefs”, “teacher thoughts” or “teacher cognition”, just to mention some of the most frequently used. Borg (2003) defines “teacher‟s beliefs” as all those theoretical principles and experiential knowledge, teachers have acquired or learned, either as students themselves or as teachers in their professional practice. The author regards teachers as active agents, who make instructional decisions by activating a complex network of knowledge, which in turn is personalized, context sensitive and practice oriented.
Shavelson and Stern (1981), also agree with this concept of teachers actively taking part of decision making processes. In fact, whatever happens in the classrooms seems to be guided by their own beliefs, through which all their instructional decisions are to be made.
It is to be noticed that the relationship between teacher‟s conceptions and instructional practice has been dealt with largely by researchers looking into the fields of reading comprehension, mathematics and social sciences in primary school. 13 Thompson (1984)14, just to mention some of the research papers produced in mathematics, finds some congruency between content teaching and activities taking place inside the classrooms. In natural sciences, on the other hand, there seems to be a corpus of research papers which show some inconsistencies between teachers‟ discourse and
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Although in his article, the author admits that the term “teacher cognition” seems to be finally established in the field, there is still some lack of coherence in the body of research to be able to determine the teachers´ underlying mental processes and their influence on teaching and learning a foreign language. 13
Mentioned by Pajares, Op. Cit., p.p 308-310 Mentioned by Wu, K. Y., (2006) in “Teacher Beliefs and Grammar Teaching Practices: Case studies of four ESL teachers.”HKU Theses Online (HKUTO) p.p.36-38. 14
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teachers‟ practice (Mellado, 1996, 1998; Peme-Aranega et al., 2005; Rodríguez and López, 2006; Verjovsky and Waldegg, 2005 and Weissmann, 1993)15. In their work, Karavas-Doukas (1995)16 try to figure out the complex relationship between teacher‟s beliefs, which they call “attitudes”, and instructional practice. They seem to conclude that there were severe inconsistencies between what teachers said they did and what they actually did inside their classrooms.
As for EFL, the results about the influence of teacher‟s beliefs on current practice, seem to vary between those who favor one hypothesis or the other. Johnson (1992)17 is one of the first ones to explore this relationship in the field of reading comprehension language teaching. The researcher focuses on a group of teachers of English and writes out an inventory of “teacher‟s beliefs” that result from the analysis of three classroom plans. She identifies three differentiated approaches, which might very well be associated with three particular teacher conceptions. Basically, Johnson describes the first one as a language conception, based on the acquisition of the four skills (“Skills-Based Approach”), which would be learned through certain pattern practice. The second one is based on grammar rules (“RulesBased Approach”), whereby language teaching relates to applying grammar rules in meaningful contexts. The third approach (“Function-Based-Approach”) focuses on communication; recreating real situations and fostering the use of authentic material. Likewise, the observations Johnson does seem to corroborate that when it came to instructional practice, the teachers were also consistent with the three approaches.
In the field of teacher development, Richards, Gallo and Renandya (2001) state that teachers‟ instructional decisions are part of the process by which teachers conceptualize their practice. 15
Mentioned by Nistal et. al (2009) en “Concepciones de los maestros sobre la enseñanza y el aprendizaje y sus prácticas educativas en clases de ciencias naturales”. Enseñanza de las ciencias: revista de investigación y experiencias didácticas, 27(2), p.p. 288-289 16 This research was carried out after the failure of a curricular innovation in EFL in Greece. The authors focused on error treatment in particular. They interviewed fourteen teachers to try to figure out the reasons why the implementation stage failed. 17 Mentioned by Pajares, M. F. (1992) in “Teachers‟ Beliefs and Educational Research: Cleaning up a messy construct”. p. 312
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In the area of grammar instruction in EFL, we will refer to Joyce & Burns (1996). The authors suggest that these “teacher‟s beliefs” influence the way in which teachers teach grammar and make decisions, since they believe that all decisions they make are influenced by a corpus of beliefs, attitudes and previously acquired theories, which the authors call “teacher cognition”. 18
We have already discussed in this first part, the term conceptions and we have established that teacher‟s conceptions will fall within a broad category in this paper, and what we will try to analyze whether there is any relationship between what teachers declare and what they actually do.
Our next step will be to describe different approaches to EFL teaching, and look into the area of grammar in particular.
2.2. Grammar instruction
In this section we will make an attempt at analyzing the dimension of the term “grammar” and the role it plays in EFL. Therefore, we consider it pertinent to include a brief historical review of the most significant approaches to teaching EFL, and analyze their corresponding treatment of grammar. In doing so, we will try to identify those salient activities from instructional practice that might correspond to some of them. Becker, (1984) considers that when we think of the word “language”, we immediately create one category in our minds with a certain linguistic characteristic, within which we can include a subcategory, called “grammar”.
In the literature on EFL teaching in modern languages, we find that the role of grammar seems to be conditioned somehow by a definition of language and a theory of both first language learning and second language learning.
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Mentioned by Hos, et.al. (2014) in “The mismatch between non-native English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers‟ grammar beliefs and classroom practices”. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 5(1), p.80
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In this sense, Raymond Williams19 states that a theory is a system of thought that distinguishes between principal categories and subcategories. Along these lines, a grammar theory makes use of subcategories in an arbitrary and complex way. This subcategorization might turn out to be problematic, if as language teachers we just focus on isolated concepts, such as “sentence”, “noun phrase”, etc., and in doing so, we lose track of teaching the language itself. Precisely, Larsen-Freeman (2003) coins the term “grammaring” to refer to the dynamic attribute of the word.20 In her characterization, the author draws a circle, which she calls a “pie” with three wedges to be considered: form, meaning and pragmatics; being these three dimensions interconnected so much that any change in any of them, results in a change in the other two. Within this conception, Larsen-Freeman states that grammar is “an instrument of exquisite precision”, since the choice of a certain structure would be the result of a process of decision making, rather than an arbitrary act. The writer goes on to say that teachers‟ own definition of language influences their perception of language, and it may affect their instructional practice. In this way, it seems that the choice of some instructional activities in the classroom might be said to be the result of certain language conceptions.
It is worth noticing that grammar instruction has been shifting roles, depending on the different prevalent language theories and learning theories within a historical context. Albert Marckwardt (1972)21 uses the metaphor of “changing winds and quick sands” to make reference to these cyclical changes, which according to the latest paradigm, come into fashion every quarter of a century or so; and where every approach would 19
Mentioned by Becker, A.L. (1984) in Toward a Post-Structuralist View of Language Learning: a short essay. Language Learning, 33:217–220. 20 The suffix “ing” seems to attribute to grammar this dynamic dimension, which is more related to communicative competence. 21
Mentioned by Brown, H.D. (1987) in Principles of Language Learning and Teaching 2nd edition. U.S.A: Prentice Hall Regents 1: 74-75
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replace and, at the same time, stem from the previous one. In this sense, Brown (2003) states that in the last century, in the field of Applied Linguistics, there have been diverse interpretations, which set out to find the best way to teach a foreign language.
For many centuries, there was not practically any theoretical background on language learning, which might, in turn, justify the emergence of an approach to foreign language learning. In fact, for the western world, foreign language learning was a synonym of learning Latin or Greek. In the XVIII y XIX centuries, teaching of Latin was considered to promote intellectual processes, which were known as “mental gymnastics”22, and there was a special emphasis on declinations, grammar rules and inflections, as well as strategies related to text translations and written exercises. As a consequence, foreign language teaching was strongly influenced by this “classical method” (The Grammar Translation Method), where the study of grammar was an end in itself. This explains the reason why the translation of bilingual and canonic texts became the core of all instructional activities, with a focus on the writing of sentences and isolated dialogs, and very little attention to pronunciation.
Towards the end of XIX century, the principle of active oral interaction in the target language gradually sets in, favoring the development of the Natural Method first, and later on The Direct Method, largely in France and Germany, and finally established in the U.S by Maximilian Berlitz, giving rise to Berlitz Method. This method favors the teaching of vocabulary and oral communication through questions and answers elaborated mainly by native teachers, with a strong focus on error correction and a neglect of grammar instruction.
With the Second World War, and the concrete need to infiltrate in enemy army lines, there comes a growing demand for communicating in foreign languages accurately, efficiently, fast and in a systematized way. That‟s why, with the support of experts on structural linguistics, The Audio Lingual Method is finally established. This method relies on a strong linguistic description of both languages: the native language and the target language, with a focus on strategies aimed at preventing students from making the most recurrent mistakes in the learning process. Speech and pronunciation are
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Ibid, p. 11 (p. p 74-75)
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salient, with a prevalence of successive repetition of grammar drills, and immediate error correction to prevent fossilization of errors.
Different schools later on, especially the Cognitivists (Chomsky), question this conception of considering mechanical pattern drills and grammar structures repetition, to be the foundation of foreign language learning. As a result, there is the emergence of a series of methods, strongly supported by humanistic approaches, and other disciplines such as psycholinguistics, semantics and pragmatics. Just to mention some of them, we can refer to Total Physical Response, Suggestopedia, Community Language Learning, and the Silent Method, among many others.
In the seventies, it becomes more and more evident the relationship between theoretical disciplines and EFL approaches. For example, Psychology, with its interest in developing interpersonal skills, contributes to the field with the emphasis on group work and self-correction strategies. As linguists continue to search for explanations on the nature of communicative competence and interactive processes, EFL instruction starts incorporating strategies and techniques drawn from different schools of thought, which help define the learning of a foreign language as a more complex phenomenon, not just the mere transmition of knowledge about grammar rules and definitions. The end of the seventies seems to be characterized by a process aimed at “wearing out the stagnant structure in the field of language learning” 23, with the final result of the adoption of Wilkins‟ Notional Functional Syllabuses in 1976. In this context, The Council of Europe gathers a group of outstanding linguists led by Van Eck, who, based on this existing layout, come up with a progressive inventory of notions and functions, to be known as the “Threshold Level”24.
As The Audio Lingual and Situational Methods begin to be regarded as old fashioned, there is an emergence of a series of principles and characteristics in the field of foreign language instruction, which will later become known as The Communicative 23
My translation of the quote. Mentioned by Lorenzo, F. (2005).in “Políticas lingüísticas europeas: claves de la planificación y aprendizaje de lenguas en la UE”. Cultura y Educación, 17(3), p.2 24 The Threshold Level was published for the first time by The Council of Europe in 1975 as part of a project that was searching for the establishment of a system of credits for the learning of languages throughout Europe. This project sets out to develop the necessary instrumental planning issues to help teachers and planners detect students´ linguistic learning demands.
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Approach. The central role of grammar is strongly questioned, since it is stated that the focus should be laid on the necessary competences to be able to use grammar rules with different communicative purposes.
In this sense, Richards and Rogers (1989) mention Widdowson, Candlin, Cristopher Brumfit and Keith Johnson, among others, as responsible for the emergence of this approach. Theoretically, the Communicative Approach is based on the findings of functional linguists, such as Firth and Halliday, and sociolinguists such as Hymes, John Gumperz and William Labov, as well as philosophers like John Austin and John Searle, among others25.
The Communicative Approach integrates the four macro skills: listening, reading, writing and speaking, in a context where students negotiate with the teacher their own communication needs, through a communicative task, and a strong use of studentstudent interaction in the classroom26.
From the beginning, The Communicative Approach proposed a substantial change in the existing teaching practices all over the world. Many of the characteristics laid out are still current in foreign language classrooms, even though many foreign language teachers might not be familiar with the theoretical principles themselves.
According to Richards and Rogers (2003), The Communicative Approach is a broad construct, which comprises a set of principles and theories on different aspects related to foreign language teaching and learning. In some cases, there is an emphasis on “input” for the acquisition/learning process to take place; in others there is a focus on either the instructional processes involved; or on the products and results, like learning instruction materials, or planning syllabuses.
In this sense, Krashen and Terrell develop The Natural Approach, with a great repercussion in The United States especially. The approach contemplates three stages: 25
Mentioned by Richards, J. C. (2005) in Communicative Language Teaching today. SEAMEO Regional Language Centre. 26 Mentioned by Cruz, M. D. L. O. B. (1999). “Enfoques y Métodos en la enseñanza de lenguas en un pre curso hacia la competencia comunicativa: ¿dónde entra la gramática?” in “Español como lengua extranjera, enfoque comunicativo y gramática: actas del IX congreso internacional de ASELE, Santiago de Compostela, 23-26 de septiembre de 1998” (pp. 419-426). Servicio de Publicaciones.
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the silent period, where the student is supposed to develop listening skills, an early speech production stage, where the teacher is not supposed to interfere with error correction, unless it is absolutely necessary, and a third stage of discourse production, with a focus on role plays, dialogs, discussions and group work.
After the eighties, foreign language instruction seems to go through a period in which there seems to be no particular method or approach; so much so, that some authors refer to this kind of era as the “Beyond Methods” period.27 This era is then characterized by general guiding principles, where many times each teacher in class develops an eclectic approach, with a certain design, and a foreign language teaching technique within one educational context. It seems then that the teachers would choose their own instructional approach, assuming the methodological commitment of making “informed choices”28; the ultimate goal in Teacher Education. Along these lines, it is worth noticing the difference found in the literature between “teacher training” and “teacher education”29; where this decision making capacity seems to be crucial.
To sum up, in this section we have reviewed the role of grammar instruction within the most salient approaches to foreign language teaching across history, and mentioned that the importance of this role in EFL seems to fluctuate dialectically between all those theories that considers language a set of communicative functions, a cultural transmition model, on the one hand; and all those theories, where language seems to be regarded as a set of linguistic units, susceptible of being separated and studied in isolation, such as vocabulary, grammar rules, sounds, rhetorical structures, etc.30
In this sense, Hedge (2000) states that the recent interest in grammar instruction in the EFL classroom, may be partly due to teachers‟ frustration for the lack of accuracy in students‟ production, aspect which seems to have been neglected for quite some time31.
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Larsen-Freeman, D., & Anderson, M. (2013). Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. 3rdedition. Oxford University Press. 29 Freeman, D. (1989) in “Teacher Training, Development, and Decision Making Model: A model of teaching and related strategies for language teacher education”. TESOL Quarterly, 23, 27-45. 30 Larsen Freeman (2003). p.16 31 Hedge states that this might be accounted for as a reaction against the eighties and the influence of The Natural Approach, with this belief that grammar could be acquired naturally through “comprehensible input” without the special need to make grammar rules explicit in the classroom.
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Ellis (1993)32 points out that even within the most communicative approaches, “accuracy”33 in the students‟ “interlanguage”34 seems to have favored the inclusion of grammar in course contents, evidencing a growing interest for an explicit instruction of rules. In more contemporary approaches, grammar is dealt with by recreating situations of more natural language use, where specific grammar structures are contextualized genuinely, spontaneously and significantly.
At present, the complexity and the role of grammar instruction in EFL is present in the discussion on core concepts, such as: the balance between communication and grammar instruction, error treatment, explicit or implicit instruction, among others.
Larsen-Freeman (2003) states that the learning process in EFL settings is complex and that the passage from guided practice to autonomous production is not linear, adding that language cannot be conceived of as layers of bricks, one on top of the other, but rather it has a “fractal” characteristic, which, teachers should bear in mind in their classrooms. Hedge35 indicates that students seem to go through a gradual process signaled by the complexity of every grammar structure they learn, which would indicate a dynamic process where the “interlanguage”
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gets permanently restructured
and refined. In this sense, after the “Beyond Methods”37 era, with these ecclectic conceptions of teaching that somehow articulate, among other aspects, with these complex discussions on the role of grammar in EFL, gives rise to more global approaches to grammar treatment.
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Mentioned by Hedge. Ibid. p.145 On one extreme of the continua, there is “accuracy”, while on the other end there is “fluency”. Both variables seem to fluctuate according to the conception underlying the approach to foreign language teaching. 34 The Longman dictionary of Applied Linguistics defines “interlanguage” as the variety of language produced by foreign and second language students during the process of learning the target language. In his article “Interlanguage”, Selinker describes it precisely as the students‟ linguistic system in the attempt to produce the target language, and it would include all the expressions produced by students, different from the corresponding ones native speakers would have hypothetically produced to express the same meanings. This distance seems to give rise to the hypothesis that there is a differentiated linguistic system students resort to. 35 Ibid., p.17 (p.158) 36 See reference in footnote on page 17 37 See reference in footnote on page 16 33
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In the most traditional models, grammar would be an object of study in itself, and teacher practices would seem to focus more on explanations and explicit analysis of issolated grammar rules, systematic exercises, and error correction, with the assumption that errors should be shunned. On the other hand, there are other models, which would prioritize incidental teaching of grammar rules in context, with a focus on meaning and communication, the error as part of the students‟ “interlanguage”, where it is not meant to be erradicated from their production.
Along these lines, Burguess and Etherington (2002) carry out a taxonomic research on relevant aspects of foreign language teaching, based on the original definition of “Focus on Forms” (FOFS), “Focus on Form” (FOF) and “Focus on Meaning” (FOM) coined by Long (1991) Long (1988, 1991) describes “FOF” as an approach to teaching grammar, which takes the context into account, focuses on meaning and communication, and where the grammar structure could be mentioned and analyzed, without interrupting the communicative act. “FOFS”, on the other hand, is assotiated with more traditional approaches por otro lado, which focus on teaching issolated grammar points, discreetly distributed throughout different lessons. Unlike the previous models, “FOM” would focus exclusively on communication, without any attention to grammar structures whatsoever. This model spread basically in the eighties, particularly after the appearance of Krashen and Terrell‟s Natural Approach, (1983) as well as other “non interventionistic” approaches. The effectivity of “FOM” came into a lot of criticism as the result of a corpus of research works that tried to explain the process of grammar acquisition. Their findings disclosed that for learning to take place, there might seem to be essential to pay certain conscious attention to “form” (Schmidt, 1994)38. At present, the degree and nature of this attention is precisely what appears to be the target of researchers in the field. In this sense, Sheen (2002) states that, even when instances of “FOF” and “FOFS” are both likely to be found in classrooms within the Communicative Approach itself, they 38
Mentioned by Ellis (2005) p.35 (Schmidt, R. (1994). in “Deconstructing consciousness in search of useful definitions for Applied Linguistics”. AILA Review, 11, pp.11- 26
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are significantly different when it comes to the role of grammar instruction. For those favoring “FOF” the exposure to language, (in the shape of “comprehensible input”39), becomes insufficient for students to be able to acquire the grammar. This lack of grammar acquisition would be somehow compensated by activities that would foster students‟ attention to certain structure, provided it is contained within a communicative context and it is dealt with incidentally. On the other hand, “FOFS” would be based on the conception that the process of learning a foreign language is cognitive and conscious, and it involves three stages: a comprehension phase (in the shape of explanations, outlining differences, etc.), a second stage of practice (with activities that are both communicative and not communicative) and, a third stage, where the use of structures in a more autonomous way is promoted.
Once this revision of approaches to grammar instruction in the field has been made, we will proceed to identify the conceptions that a group of university EFL teachers have in the context of Universidad de San Martín Foreign Language Program. We will also try to find out whether some of these teachers might respond to a more traditional or a more integrative model of grammar instruction, discover if their conceptions match their practices, and analyze whether they might be related to a certain theoretical framework. The main challenge is, precisely, to analyze and interpret the teaching context to be able to spot some conceptions and identify the instructional activities that somehow reveal them. 2.3. Teachers‟ practices and grammar instruction
In this third section of the theoretical background, we will try to identify certain grammar instruction practices, which might correspond with some of the approaches and underlying conceptions mentioned above. In this sense, even if there is some research work on the relationship between EFL teachers‟ practices and conceptions in 39
The term “comprehensible input” stems from the five second language acquisition hypotheses described by Stephen Krashen. The input hypothesis, also known as the monitor model, refers to the quality of second language exposure students are supposed to have in order to understand the message. “Comprehensible input” would require one level higher than the level students are supposed to have in order to produce the language, or “ I+1”, which would be required to acquire the language “naturally”, as opposed to “learning” a language.
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the context of teacher education; there seems to be very little work performed on teachers in their current practices and settings. Larsen-Freeman (2003)40 states that, as EFL teachers, we have our own definition of language, which influences our conception, and may affect our perception of language acquisition itself, as well as our classroom practices. We will focus on the author‟s classification of instructional practices and teacher conceptions, which will serve as a starting point to guide us as to what to pay attention to. As an example, Freeman mentions the use of mechanical exercises (substitution tables) as representative of a conception of language as a system of sounds and sentence structures. On the other hand, role plays, discussions, problem solving activities will evidence a conception of language as a way of communication, express content and meaning.
In the literature consulted we have found certain aspects to be taken into account to find out more about kinds of practices and underlying instructional conceptions. Some of these aspects refer to: explicit/implicit instruction, strategies used in the classroom, error treatment, and the use of grammatical terminology.
2.3.1. Explicit /Implicit grammar instruction Burguess/Etherington (2002) in their research on teachers‟ attitudes to grammar instruction in EAP41, consider the category explicit/implicit relevant for their study.
In this sense, if there is a grammar explanation, whether deductive or inductive, we might infer that there is an instance of explicit instruction. On the other hand, if there is no evidence of a presentation or any attempt at drawing students‟ conscious attention to a grammar rule, we might be referring to implicit instruction techniques. (De Keyser: 1995).42
40
Larsen-Freeman, D. (2003). Teaching language: From Grammar to Grammaring. Heinle & Heinle Pub. 41 English for Academic Purposes 42 Mentioned by Norris, J. M., & Ortega, L. (2001) in “Does Type of Instruction Make a Difference? Substantive Findings from a Meta‐analytic Review.” Language Learning 51, pp.157-213.
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Norris and Ortega (2001) include within explicit grammar instruction, various techniques that range from: inductive-implicit instruction, grammar traditional explanation, to many other “consciousness-raising” or differentiated “instructional techniques”. The authors even include within this category not only all those instructional explanations to facilitate learning, but also the teachers‟ constant monitoring of the use of a grammar rule.
On the other hand, for these authors, implicit instruction seems to correspond only with strategies that foster students‟ exposure to the target language in natural use, with very little teachers „intervention.
2.3.2. Analytical/Experiential
The analytical category refers to a conception that relies on the language code, as well as decontextualized fragments. This conception would favor instructional practices that focus on mechanical grammar exercises and “skill getting”, prioritizing accuracy over fluency.
The experiential category, on the other hand, takes into account aspects like the sense of the message, global communication, and negotiation of meaning. The activities proposed then, will tap into the integration of skills, and the focus would be laid on fluency over accuracy. 2.3.3. Instructional practices43
We will try to identify here some instructional practices, like teaching strategies as well as instructional decisions, which might be observed and associated with more or less traditional conceptions of grammar instruction in EFL.
43
In the literature, the term “practice” seems to have different scopes of meaning. Larsen-Freeman, D. (1991), in “Teaching Grammar”, makes a difference, on the one hand, between “input processing”, and “output practice” activities. For this research, the word “practice” will be used in a generic way to refer to all those activities performed by students in the classroom, from the most mechanical to the most production and context focused ones; whether they have been carried out individually or in groups. Likewise, the term will also include all those instructional actions or strategies likely to be observed in class.
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We might assume that teachers who consider grammar to be the core element in EFL instruction, would then hold a more traditional conception of teaching, dissociating grammar and communication. Likewise, these teachers are likely to favor the occurrence of isolated mechanical exercises in class, prioritize accuracy over fluency, and foster teacher centered practices, where the teacher gives instructions, corrects errors and elicits answers.
Other more contemporary approaches, like Task-Based Instruction seem to favor alternative instructional practices, more focused on the task and the learners themselves. Skehan (1996) in his cognitive model, proposes to select a “task”, which should comply with the “utility criterion”, where the choice of a certain grammar structure turns out to be the most efficient way of solving the task; however, the use of that target structure is not the only way of solving the task. In this model the instructional practice is related with meaningful exchanges, role taking and negotiation.
Those teachers who favor less traditional conceptions, then, are likely to focus more on fluency, negotiation of meaning, and the acquisition of structures in context.
2.3.4. Presentation- Practice- Production (P-P-P)
In EFL, P-P-P is a complex sequence, which has come up against much discussion and debate
Before the nineties, this sequence was considered the most successful grammar instruction approach in the field44; the most extreme version being the notion that “practice makes perfect”45. In this context, the sequence would start with a presentation, where there would be some exposure to a controlled grammar structure, a deductive explanation, after which there is some guided practice, followed by free production, definitely improved by the previous stage of controlled drills. 44
This sequence is originally associated with traditional approaches like Audiolingualism and Grammar Translation Method. 45 This phrase is mentioned by Carless, D. (2009) in “Revisiting the TBLT versus P-P-P Debate: Voices from Hong Kong. Asian Journal of English Language Teaching”,19, p.59
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From the nineties onwards, this taxative way of applying the sequence fostered by more traditional approaches, came into some criticism. For one thing, this linear passage from practice to production, seems to ignore that learning is a more complex and random process. In this sense, Lightbown (2003)46 draws ten generalizations about instructional practice, which in turn, reformulates in 2010. The author warns us that research seems to show that practice might not necessarily lead to perfection, and that for a certain grammar structure to be “internalized”, it is necessary for the teacher to give some diagnostic feedback on students‟ weaknesses and strengths so that future students‟ practice can be reshaped47.
Ellis (2003) states that P-P-P leads to a fragmented, sequential miss conception of language learning, which Freeman (2003) calls “layer-upon-layer” process.48
Another criticism of the P-P-P sequence is that it is regarded as a teacher centered strategy, as opposed to more humanistic approaches, more focused on the students themselves. Some authors, like Byrne (1986)49 warn us that P-P-P could also be applied in a more discretional and flexible way, by altering the order (for example moving from production, then presentation, and finally practice).
In this way, there are some alternative approaches, which even if they do not seem to solve this grammar learning/acquisition process completely, at least they establish the complexity of the process, and place this P-P-P sequence as one more strategy to be used in the classroom. Among these alternative approaches, we can mention Di Pietro‟s “Scenarios”, Scrivener‟s “Authentic Restricted Use and Clarification” (1994-
46
Mentioned by Maftoon, P., & Sarem, S. N. (2015). en “A critical look at the Presentation, Practice, Production (PPP) Approach: challenges and promises for ELT.”BRAIN. Broad Research in Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience, 3(4), 31-36. 47 Ibid. P.50 48 Freeman considers language learning to be a dynamic process, as if language were a living organism, with fractal characteristics, which would not make it possible to be learned/acquired in a linear way. 49 Mentioned by Sato, R. (2010) in “Reconsidering the effectiveness and suitability of PPP and TBLT in the Japanese EFL classroom.”JALT journal, 32(2), 189-200.
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1996), Mc. Carthy and Carter‟s “Illustration-Interaction and Induction”, and Harmer‟s “Engage, Study and Activate” (1996-2007), among others50.
Skehan (2003) goes on to say that the P-P-P sequence clearly establishes a teacher‟s role, as well as it defines situations of power in the classroom51. Some authors, like Thornbury (1999), admit that for the teacher, it is economical and practical to use this sequence, since it facilitates a certain control of content, which would give the teacher greater possibilities to check students‟ production.
2.3.5. Error treatment
Much has been written in the field about the frustration experienced by EFL students when they get corrected, as well as how untimely feedback could lead to fear and refusal to use the target language. On the other hand, and as a consequence of noninterventionist approaches, which have fostered fluency over accuracy52, teachers express a certain concern and dissatisfaction about the students‟ production errors, even in more advanced levels.
EFL research puts forward various hypothesis of how competent users correct their own linguistic mistakes. The findings depend on the researcher‟s disciplinary orientation. For example, linguists talk about “negative evidence” (White, 1989)53, discourse analysts use the term “repair” (Kasper, 1985)54, psychologists, in turn refer to “negative feedback” (Annett, 1969)55, while some teachers themselves call this process “corrective feedback”56 (Fanselow, 1977), or “judicious feedback” (LarsenFreeman, 2003), among other terms being used.
50
Mentioned by Criado, R. (2013) in “A Critical Review of the Presentation-Practice-Production Model (PPP) in foreign language teaching”. Homenaje a Francisco Gutiérrez Díez, 97-115. 51 Maftoon, Ibid. p.26. 52 For example, Krashen and Terrell‟s “The Natural Approach” 53 Mentioned by Lyster, R., & Ranta, L. (1997) in Corrective Feedback and Learner Uptake. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 19(01), 37-66. 54 Ibid. P. 58 55 Maftoon, Ibid. P.58 56 Ibid.
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This complexity seems to be due to the conception on the origin and the value of the error itself. On the one hand, there are some teachers who consider the error the result of linguistic negative habits, which should be corrected and eradicated. On the other hand, there are other teachers who assume that language learning is a process where mistakes are to be made, tolerated and corrected, only when they seem to tamper with communication.
In the most recent literature in the field, an integrated approach to language learning, seems to have been receiving the most attention lately, since it seems to focus on practice in significant contexts, not just on the solution of a grammar exercise in itself.57. In this sense, and going back to the notion of “interlanguage”58 , the error itself is regarded as an inadequacy in the students‟ production, which discloses their learning process in their effort to produce the target language. The evaluation of the students‟ own productions will lead them to confirm or refute their hypotheses on how foreign language works. Students‟ self-recognition of errors, especially the distinction between receptive and productive aspects, would help teachers‟ choose the right strategy to facilitate the transitory students‟ language systems, since their receptive capacity generally exceeds their productive capacity”59. We will introduce here the concepts of “corrective feedback” and “uptake” 60, first introduced in the context of French immersion programs in Canada.
The literature reveals an array of error correction techniques, as well as many different terms
used
to
describe
this
process,
so
sensitive
to
foreign
language
learning/acquisition.61
57
Mentioned by Loewen, S. (2007) in “Error correction in the second language classroom”. CLEAR News, 11(12), p.p. 1-7. 58 See reference in footnote on p.20. 59 Mentined by “Proyecto de mejora para la formación docente inicial de profesores para el nivel secundario. Lenguas Extranjeras” (2010) p.155. Secretaría de Politicas Universitarias. 60 “Uptake” in general refers to whatever the student notices or understands about the correction. Lyster and Renta (1997) in their research, define the term as the immediate students‟ response to teachers‟ feedback, as well as the way they effectively respond to their correction. 61 Some authors make a point of the difference between “error correction” and “corrective feedback” (or “judicious feedback”), according to whether the process is seen in a more prescriptive or descriptive way. In this paper, we will refer to error treatment, as a general construct, without differentiating specifically between “error” and “mistake” either.
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It is not the purpose of this paper to write out a comprehensive and detailed listing of existing error correction techniques. Our aim is, rather, to identify some of the most frequently used strategies, and find out which ones are being used, as well as discover what implications the use of these techniques might have. Lowen (2007) 62 conducts an exhaustive inventory of these techniques, from the most to the least intrusive ones, such as: “recast”63, “prompts” and “self-correction”64, just to mention a few.
Another interesting aspect to be mentioned as far as error correction is concerned, is the two dimensions at both ends of the continuum: “accuracy” vs. “fluency”65
However, many researchers nowadays seem to agree that performance in the target language is the result of a multiplicity of factors, which would include “complexity” to the “accuracy” fluency” dichotomy. (Skehan, 1998; Ellis, 2008; Ellis & Barkhuizen, 2005).66 Brumfit (1984) seems to be the first one to make up this distinction between “fluency” and “accuracy” in the eighties, which later on gave rise to pedagogies like
62
We have found various error correction techniques in the literature, but for the purpose of this paper, we will just mention some of the most salient strategies to deal with errors in the classroom. 63 The author defines “recast” as the teacher´s correct reshaping of the error, while, at the same time, the core central meaning during the speech act is being preserved. 64 This technique focuses on the student‟s own ability to correct his mistakes, by a “metalinguistic reshaping” of the error and the use of a common code and some specific terminology to get the student to correct the mistake consciously. 65 These two dimensions of the continuum are strictly related to and correlate with the notions of “learning” and “acquiring” the target language. Up until the fifties, foreign language teaching approaches were concerned mostly with the achievement of accuracy in the students‟ linguistic production. As more communicative approaches came into being, a search for fluency started to prevail over accuracy. In the strictest sense of these two processes, language acquisition would relate to “rich and context integrated images”, while learning, on the other end, would access “disintegrated, fragmented and impoverished images” (Stevick, E. 1985. Teaching and Learning Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). Until very recently, it was assumed that language could not be “acquired” after puberty; period after which, language was thought to be “learned” instead. More recent studies, however, seem to indicate that some aspects in adults‟ second language acquisition, might be related somehow to some similar aspects in children‟s first language acquisition. Anyway, it is not the objective of this paper to go into details as to the differences between “learning” and “acquisition”. In many cases, “learning” will be used in a more comprehensive way to refer to both processes of the same phenomenon. The most contemporary approaches to foreign language teaching, seem to strike a balance between “learning”-“acquisition”, on the one hand, and “accuracy”-“fluency”, on the other, assuming the complexity of these processes. 66 Mentioned by Lyster, ET. Al. (1997) in “Corrective Feed-back and Learner Uptake: Negotiation of Form in Communicative Classrooms” in Studies in Second Language Acquisition, p.19.
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“fluency first”67, where the students‟ needs where measured by their performance in fluency activities. The “complexity” dimension is more recent, and seems to have been added to the continuum dimension in the nineties.68
Due to the influence of communicative approaches and as a pendular reaction against more traditional approaches to grammar instruction and the tendency to overrate the use of grammar drills to achieve accuracy, there has been an increase in favoring practices that focus more on fluency, group dynamics and interactive, collaborative work.
The research findings on French Immersion Programs in Canada, seem to confirm that students exposed to “Content-Based-Instruction” and more communicative approaches would score higher in second language production fluency; as opposed to those exposed to more traditional grammar instruction approaches. However, the implementation of approaches favoring content and communication exclusively, also show certain inadequacies as to accuracy of students‟ production is concerned; which could be strictly related to certain linguistic aspects not being completely developed.69 Brown (2001)70 includes “accuracy” as well as “fluency” as objectives to pursue in EFL settings. The challenge, then, is to strike somehow a balance between those two dimensions, between the influence of teachers‟ feedback and students‟ appropriation of certain grammar structures in meaningful contexts.
The complexity of these processes, together with the heterogeneous teaching background of the population participating in this study71, leads us to expect that some
67
Mentioned by Richards, J. C. (2005) in Communicative Language Teaching Today. SEAMEO Regional Language Centre. 68 Mentioned by Willis, & D, Willis (Eds.), in Challenge and change in language teaching (pp. 17–30). Oxford: Heinemann. 69 Mentioned by Lightbown, P. M., Spada, N., Ranta, L., & Rand, J. (1993). How languages are learned (Vol. 998). Oxford: Oxford University Press.(p.196) 70 Mentioned by Richards, J. C., & Renandya, W. A. (2002).Methodology in language teaching: An anthology of current practice. Cambridge University Press. p.164 71 Out of the thirteen teachers of English that took place, just five are graduate teachers (from different Teacher Education Institutions, with various backgrounds) The other eight hold a heterogeneous
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teachers might not follow one grammar instruction approach in particular.
The
theoretical framework will serve us a a starting point to figure out some aspects of grammar instruction techniques used by these teachers and find out whether they hold a more traditional, interventionistic conception, or less traditional view, where error is seen as a process; and also try to validate if this conception is evidenced in the classroom.
2.3.6. Use of specific terminology Borg (2013) includes this category in his research on how EFL teachers‟ previous experience on grammar instruction affects their own perceptions of teaching.
Borg (1999) has also contributed to the field with another study on the use of grammar terminology in the foreign language classroom, and the implications and limitations of use. Even if the sample for this study is limited and little significant to extrapolate to other contexts (only four teachers were involved), we find it relevant to find out more about the role of grammar in the classrooms.
In this study, will be observing both teachers and students to find out whether they share a common grammar code to describe, refer to or present grammar structures in the classroom. The use of specific terminology might evidence a certain value for the role of grammar in the classroom.72
3. Categories of analysis73
background as English teachers: two are graduate translators, three have a B.A in English Language and Cinema, and the other three have some theoretical/experiential knowledge on teaching strategies in EFL. 72 As it has been previously mentioned, many applied linguists in the field nowadays seem to recognize the value of instructional activities aimed at raising adult students‟ consciousness to grammar rules in the classroom. Fotos (1993) states that students have more chances to notice and consequently acquire certain structures in some teachable moments, than if they had not been induced to notice them at all. This noticing stage would entice the use of some shared grammatical terminology. 73 For the purpose of organizing and writing this paper, we have arranged categories and subcategories in a certain arbitrary order. However, the analysis will subsequently relate them back and forth, so that each of them might be associated with any other category; being the established order the result of our own organization and interpretation of data.
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I.
The role of grammar in the classroom. This category involves the following aspects: “explicit/implicit” instruction and “the role of context”.
II.
We will here focus on aspects like “different kinds of practices”, “PresentationPractice-Production”, and “students‟ participation”.
III.
Error treatment. In this respect, we will look into “feedback strategies”, the use of a “correction code”, and other related aspects, like “fluency” or “accuracy” in students‟ production.
IV.
Use of grammar terminology74. We will try to determine if teachers use and share with students some specific terminology to address grammar aspects in the classroom.
4. Methodology Being a qualitative study, we will be using and cross checking three different kinds of instruments: a questionnaire, interviews and class observations. It is worth mentioning that the analysis of the data will be based on the researcher‟s own interpretation of facts in the light of the theoretical background consulted.
The first instrument used is a questionnaire, which has been elaborated to identify more clearly those aspects we thought beforehand might disclose certain teachers‟ conceptions on grammar instruction through the verbalization of their own decision making processes and choices.
We have included questions about kinds of exercises or instructional activities teachers favor, choice of classroom dynamics, students‟ participation, error treatment, terminology used, types of grammar instruction preferred, among others.
Once designed the questionnaire, and uploaded in google doc format, we have asked the whole EFL Department Staff of thirteen teachers, to answer it and send it back. 74
This category is strictly related to error treatment and the role of grammar in EFL. However, we have considered it a separate category for the sake of a better organization of this paper.
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The questionnaire was tried out previously on two teachers of English as a Foreign Language from another institution, in order to test the instrument.75
The next step consisted of analyzing the responses to try and identify aspects related to certain teacher‟s conceptions of grammar instruction from the literature consulted. Our starting point was to assume that these declared conceptions might not be clearly classified completely within one theoretical model. We could then identify some conceptions, which we interpreted might fall within two broad and differentiated grammar instruction paradigms in EFL.
The first one is a more traditional model, where the error should be eradicated, error correction is mainly provided by the teacher, who seems to be the center of the instructional scene, and is sometimes considered the only proficient model to be followed, in whole possession of knowledge and the key to all the activities proposed in class. This model is likely to favor accuracy over meaningful interaction in class (Lightbown & Spada, 2013).76 Likewise, the teacher is expected to propose individual students‟ practice77,, basically focused on drills, without making much use of the, context itself, and where grammar is incorporated in blocks. In this model, the teacher is also likely to resort to students‟ mother tongue for instructional purposes, (or a “modified” version of the target language for clarification), with very little content integration through the four macro skills and a tendency to explicit instruction. It is worth mentioning that within this paradigm, students are expected to be exposed to a limited range of discourse patterns, basically of the “IRE” type (i.e. Initiation, Response, and Evaluation).78
The second grammar instruction model, on the other hand, will fall within a more student centered approach, where the error is negotiated and accepted as part a provisional grammar, which will then get reframed and recreated into other successive grammars, in what is to be called the students “interlanguage”. Within this model, we 75
The two teachers work for a Binational Center of EFL Instruction, where the researcher is a member of the Teacher Development Department. 76 Lightbown, P. & Spada, N. M. (2013). How languages are learned.4th. Ed. P.126 77 The author refers to drills at sentence level, no communicative kind of practice, one exercise or item at a time, generally following the sequence from the text book, from the simpler to the more complex. 78 This acronym refers to an exchange paradigm, where the teacher asks, the student answers and the teacher evaluates the response in turn. Students, in this context, have fewer chances to ask questions themselves, which would indicate less communicative and learner centered scenarios.
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are likely to find contextualized practices, generally in groups, with a clear communicative purpose, where meaning is negotiated, and the teacher is no longer the center of the learning process (Spada).79 Likewise, there is an emphasis of studentstudent exchange, a variety of socio linguistic practice activities in class, such as role plays. In this context, grammar is one more component, not the only one, with an emphasis on the use of authentic texts80 and where we are likely to find instances of more intuitive kind of teaching strategies.
If we take into account that the population of this study has heterogeneous instructional backgrounds81 , with a high percentage of them with no formal certification on EFL teacher education, we assume that we are likely to detect significant differences in conceptions as well as in teacher practices, which might render, in some cases, a more intuitive or experiential knowledge.
Anyway, as we have anticipated at the beginning of this paper, it is not relevant for this study whether these teachers‟ conceptions respond to formal or informal backgrounds, or from their own experience either as students or as teachers themselves.
The second instrument used was the interviews, with the participation of ten teachers. This encounter between the teacher and the researcher allowed for a space, where both had the opportunity to clarify the data collected from the questionnaire. Both the researcher and the teacher had the opportunity to ask further questions in case they thought they needed extra information. The teachers could also stop at each question to add more more examples, appreciations, or any other relevant comments they considered relevant.
For the interviews to be transcribed, we used a tape recorder, which we compared with the researcher‟s notes taken down during the interviews. Each interview took up approximately one hour, and all of them had the same structure: a set number of
79
OP. Cit. P.40 Spada describes authentic texts as those texts that have not been especially designed for EFL students, like newspapers, or TV shows, for example. 81 See reference in footnote on page 36. 80
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questions, thought of and tried out beforehand on two EFL teachers from another institution, in order to validate the instrument.82 In order to find out more about teachers‟ practices, we used a third instrument, which is classroom observation, to try to find out if the teachers‟ conceptions declared could somehow be evidenced in their practices, and whether their practices would fall within one of the two grammar instruction models described above.
For the sake of reliability, we called on one coordinator to help us observe classes. For each observation, we used a similar classroom observation worksheet, agreed upon beforehand. For this purpose, we previously arranged various meetings between researcher and coordinator, where we established the observation criteria for the collection of data, with the result of a total of seven teachers being observed over a two-month period of time.
5. Analysis of data 5.1 Data collected from interviews
Out of a total population of thirteen teachers, ten participated in the interviews. The data gathered can be organized in the following way:83
I.
The role of grammar in the classroom
Explicit/implicit instruction Four teachers admit categorically that they make rules explicit in the classroom. However, they seem to do it at different moments; four of them say they make rules explicit, although they also add statements like : “I introduce the topic first within a thematic unit, then I tap into students‟ previous knowledge, and then I make rukles 82
This sample was taken from the same Binantional Center mention in footnote on page 40. This classification is merely interpretative, taking as a starting point the complexity of these aspects, which are not static and might fall within any other category if a different criterion is to be followed. 83
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explicit” , others soften the question by saying phrases like: como: “in some occasions”, “sometimes” or “if I explain the rules, I also pay more attention to communication”. (Here they might seem to be drawing a distinction between explicit instruction and use. However, all the teachers admit making the rules explicit at some point in the classroom), only one says she doesn‟t, although, on second thought, she adds : “Well, if they do not understand, there is when I explain the rule to them”.
When asked why they make rules explicit somehow, they respond that they do so to satisfy students‟ interest, and to make them feel safe. Three teachers say that appart from making rules explicit, they also provide students with examples and make a point of getting them to communicate.
The role of context in grammar instruction When teachers were asked whether they exposed to different context to deal with grammar structures in the form of written texts or video clippings, they responded the following: nine of them said they definitely did (although most of them admit feeling more comfortable when it comes to written texts); only one teachers says she does not, adding that “if they are not in the textbook, then I don‟t…”
When asked specifically about the use of authentic texts, seven of them say they do not have time to find them; three account for this because of time constraints.
II.
Grammar instrution strategies Grammar practice Exposure to grammar mechanical exercises When we asked teachers if they exposed their students to grammar drills, like“Quizzes” or “Multiple Choices”, three of them answered categorically that they do not, , (some of the reasons mentioned being that “the course books do not include these drills” or “I‟d rather focus on the use of language”); four teachers admit they do, with various degrees of assertiveness, frequency and reasons like, “practice leads to production”, or “these exercises help internalize the rule” or “they focus on grammar structures); three teachers say they use them, with less frequency and assertiveness, mitigating the reasons by using phrases like: “it all depends on the level I engage them into different kinds of Quizzes…”, or “…I do not use them all the time, „cause they 31
could be boring…” , or “ I leave these exercises for moments when I‟m dealing with ore complex grammar topics”, “it depends …”, “Multiple Choice exercises are too ambiguous”... “I like the quizzes from the textbook more”, and phrases like: “if I expose them to a quiz, they have to be interesting”
Written and oral repetition activities. Three teachers say they do not use these exercises: one considers them to be “boring”, the second one that “I wouldn‟t use them on adults”, the third one admits that “I sometimes work with songs and poems, but always within a context”84. Even though the other six say they do use these exercises, only three of them are categorical in their answers: one adds that “this practice makes students feel safe”, another one says “I make them participate in oral activities, which are more difficult than written ones”
85
and the third teacher estimates she uses them “seventy per cent of the times”); other three teachers admit introducing them with less frewuency, restricting the practice to specific situations like, “ludic contexts”, or “just in some cases to fix pronunciation patterns”.86
Grammar activities in context. When we asked teachers if they engaged students in activities like: role plays, discussions or improvisations to practice grammar structures, all of them say they definitely do; and they all agree they resort to them after more guided practice. Likewise, they mention reasons like: “it is a way of recreating instances of language in use”, “students enjoy these activities”, “they come in handy to practice some structures; especially role plays”, “they are essential for communication”, “so that they can use the “language” they learnt”, “it is a way of learning, reinforcing and interacting in the target language” o “the role play makes it possible for them to get out of their own selves and become somebody else, and like that, they could come up and say more things…”.
Presentation-Practice-Production sequence 84
The teacher refers to the use of some fragments to memorize for various different objectives and within a context; although she does not seem to use this kind of practice on a regular basis. 85 These exercises seem to be restricted to the practice of certain areas like: pronunciation, intonation, or idiomatic expressions typical in BICS (Basic Interopersonal Communication Skills) 86 Again, the role of context is salient here , even when it comes to drilling exercises.
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All the teachers questioned admit engaging in P-P-P, with certain degrees os assertiveness: four are quite categorical in their answers, although they seem to admit that moving from guided practice to free production is not easy. Out of ten teachers, four say they somehow start first with a text , and that they work on students‟ noticing the grammar rules in a context, after which there is guided practice and finally free production.87
Classroom dynamics All the teachers interviewed say they work in small groups and in pairs most of the time.
Individual practice When it comes to individual practice, five teachers, out of ten interviewed, say they do favor this kind of practice: one adds that “many students prefer individual exercises, especially university students”, and the other three say they use these exercises in some occasions. Students‟ participation. As far as participation is concerned, all the teachers say they make all students participate in class: half of the teachers interviewed add that they have students change groups all the time for different reasons; the other half admit not engaging students in this classroom dynamics technique for various different reasons. “Teacher talk” vs. “Student talk” When asked about estimated time devoted to “teacher vs. student talk” in class, seven teachers respond that they devote more time to student practice than teacher talk, giving reasons like: “ I try not to talk too much in class, I only talk when I find it is necessary”, “my priority is to make them talk”, “one always lead the class, but I make them participate by reading instructions from the course book, for example”, “I only talk when necessary”, “I do not devote great part of the class to grammar explanations because it‟s boring for me and for them” or “ I guess I need to give clear instructions but I don‟t devote much time talking, I listen what they have to say, instead” ; one 87
Here the teachers seem to admit using a sequence where presentation and grammar rules noticing processes follow guided practice.
33
teacher says that at first she talks more, and then
the processes become more
autonomous”; and finally, two out of the ten teachers interviewed, admit they devote more time to grammar explanations: one says “ especially in the first levels”, the other one admits that“…one of my weaknesses is that I think I talk all the time…and… I‟m trying to avoid this… „cause I guess it is more important for them to do the talking”.
III.
Error correction
How errors are corrected When teachers were asked about how they correct mistakes in class, four of them say they have students correct their own mistakes: two of them make a point of making students feel confident to express themselves, saying things like: “students shouldn‟t get stuck…developing confidence is my priority ”. Other teachers add comments like: “I always ask them to have them correct heir own mistakes”, “peer correction is more significant and effective”, “I just step in once they have already worked their own errors cooperatively” or “when there are differences in the groups”.
On the other hand, one teacher says she would much rather take care of errors herself, since she believes that “students need more monitoring of structures, arguing that: “I first focus on grammar errors; otherwise it is incomprehensible”, and she goes on to add: “I correct myself because nobody likes being corrected by a peer” . The other teachers interviewed say they have students correct mistakes in groups part of the time; and some other times they themselves correct”.
Whether group or teacher correction is involved, all the teachers interviewed say they provide group feedback of grammar errors, when they are of common interest, and none of them say they interrupt communication flow. Most of them recognize use “recast”.
Correction code All the teachers interviewed seem to use a correction code shared by students in class.
Accuracy/Fluency
34
When it comes to “Accuracy” vs “Fluency”, two teachers agree that in lower levels en they favor fluency activities, whereas in higher levels, they seem to strike a balance between fluency and accuracy. Other seven teachers say they consider fluency to be paramount to promote students confidence; and that the focus might shift depending on the kind of activity being used. Only one teacher admits focusing first on accuracy when ske says “I first correct gramamr mistakes to understand the content of the message” (this teacher is especially refering to the written medium).
IV.
Use of specific terminology
Nine of the teachers questioned admit using specific terminology. They offer reasons like: “because I teah advanced courses”, “I do, altough I can‟t tell very well why „cause I myself don‟t like grammar”, “it is good to make a reference to the rule later on and that everybody understands”, “some rules are easier to explain if we share the same terminology”. Only one teacher says she does not use specific terminology since “not all students need to know what a direct or indirect object is” , but admits she does “in tertiary level”.
5.2. Data gathered from observations I.
The role of grammar in class
The seven teachers observed make some kind of grammar explanation, at some point during the class.
II.
Grammar instruction strategies.
Practice of mechanical drills None of the teachers observed had students engage in the practice of mechanical drills or repetition exercises. Seven teachers are observed involving students in grammar practice activities in context. Here it is worth mentioning that the degree of contextulization seems to vary from class to class: All of them contextualize
35
thepractice of grammar structures, either by illustrating situations, by means of a discussion on the topic, or just by providing a context to the course book exercise .
Only one teacher was working on activities prepared beforehand, with a context different from the one provided by the course book, like cross word puzzles, guided fantasy tipe of activities, or “info gap” group discussions.
Presentation-Practice-Production sequence All the teachers observed seemed to engage their students in the P-P-P sequence discretional way, using practice activities with a certain degree of contextualization, where the presentation somehow precedes guided practice, except when it comes to grammar revision instances, in which we assume there has been a previous presentation. We could not observe instances of grammar noticing moments after guided practice.
Classroom dynamics and participation Just two teachers circulated around groups all the time, listening to students and participating much less than students.One teacher monopolized the class all the time, being in the center of the scene. The rest of tte teachers observed, although they circulated among the different groups, they seemed to participate more than students tehmselves; even when students looked or seemed to be working in groups.
III.
Error correction
Five of the teachers observed did not interrupt students in their practice, which corresponds to what was declared in the interviews, when they said tings like: “I don‟t interrupt to make them feel comfortable”, “so that they don‟ feel frustrated”. Four of the teachers observed used grammar reference grids to refer to mistakes. Three teachers had students correct their own mistakes in groups. Four teachers uses “recast”, instead. All the teachers that participated gave their students feedback.
36
IV.
Specific grammar terminology
Four of the teachers observed use specific grammar terminology in class.
V.
Use of target language in class
Five of the teachers observed used the target language in class most of the time. One teacher fell back on Spanish, just as an alternative when students did not understand, Only one teacher observed used Spanish in class all the time, although in the interviews, she declared she tried to get students to the use the target language in class as much as she could.
5.3. Data gathered from the Questionnaire
The questionnaire was answered by the total population of teachers. The data was classifiedin the following way:
I.
The role of grammar in class
Most teachers (80%) considered grammar instruction is not the core component in the EFL classroom.
Although the majority of teachers (70%) agreed that grammar must be taught gradually, like blocks, 70% also said that there should not be a separate time in the EFL class to be devoted to the teaching of grammar exclusively. This would reveal that most of the teachers participating believe in integrating grammar to the context of the class.
Likewise, 90% of teachers considered that grammar structures were better understood when they appeared in a context.
37
It is interesting to notice that when it comes to the relationship between issolated grammar practice and more spontaneous communication, 90% of the teachers also seemed to believe that practice of issolated grammar structures did not guarantee students would use them freely in other contexts.
However, when it comes to introducing a new grammar structure, opinions seemed to be divided between those who believed that grammar should be introduced after basic communication skills (50%) in order to refine language use, and those who did not agree with this statement (50%). This difference could have been due to the fact that teachers teach different levels of linguistic profficiency.
Almost all the teachers participating (90%) agreed that grammar and communication were two indivisible dimensions. As far as practicing grammar structures is concerned, most teachers agreed (85%) that pedagogic practices should always take place within a communicative context.
II.
Grammar instruction strategies
Explicit/implicit instruction Most teachers (77%) thought that the best way of incorporating grammar was in a incidental way. Likewise, teachers seemed mostly to agree that formal explanation of grammar rules did not guarantee students would express themselves accurately. Most teachers (92%) considered that grammar structures needed to be incorporated implicitly through language exposure.
The role of practice. As far as the instructional practice of grammar structures was concerned, opinions seemed to be more divided: while 54% of teachers believed that systematic practice of grammar exercises was not strictly related to the correct use of language, 46% did consider this kind of practice fundamental. Here, the role of practice seems a controversial and complex dimension; in line, on the other hand, with the discussions of the P-P-P sequence in the EFL field mentioned before. Besides, 92% of teachers‟ participating agreed that instructional practice involved various objectives, not just checking the correct use of a grammar structure. The same 38
percentage seemed to agree that practice should include the four macro skills. Likewise, teachers admitted to providing students with practice activities that tried to recreate situations of language use through group discussions. A high percentage of teachers (85%) said that inside the classroom, they made sure that desks were arranged in such a way as to favor group work activities. This evidences the value placed on context and communication in the acquisition of grammar structures.
By the same token, 92% of teachers seemed to agree that practice of issolated grammar structures did not guarantee their use in spontaneous communication.
When it comes to whether tey believed conscious knowledge of grammar structures was related to correct use, opinions again seemed to be divided: 54% seemed to Partially disagree with this statement. These inconsistencies could be due to the complexity of the role of this dimension within the sequence; and, again, in line with the discussions being currently held in the field.
However, most teachers (77%) agreed that correct use of a certain form is not directly related to explicit understanding of it. When it comes to strategies teachers favored in class, 72% considered grammar presentation did not always precede instructional practice. There were, however, some discrepancies of opinions stemming from the interviews to, which, again, disclose the complexity of this dimension.
When it comes to the role of grammar and context, 92% of teachers agreed on the importance of a significant context for the target grammar structure to be taught. The context could be either a written or an audio text. In the same way, 92% of teachers agreed that it is the context that triggers the grammar focus to be dealt with.
III.
Error treatment
Most of the teachers consulted (92%) considered that mistakes should not be corrected immediately; however, 77% believed correcting errors was fundamental in EFL, although these errors might not tamper with communication.
Only 23% of the
teachers said they corrected exclusively errors that interfered with communication. 39
As for the written medium, teachers also seemed to agree with what they expressed about error treatment in the oral medium, since 76% said they first read out the written work, before they proceeded to point out mistakes. Only 10% of the teachers said they used color pens to cross off mistakes on paper. Most teachers (85%) considered that the error seemed to be a necessary aspect in foreign language learning.
Most of them (69%) agreed they share a correction code withtheir students.
IV.
Specific terminology
Teachers opinions on the use of specific terminology seemed to be divided: 46% said it should be used, while 54% believed it should not. This apparent inconsistency might be due to the definition of the term “ specific terminology” and the degree of specificity assotiated with it. However, from the interviews and observations, we could confirm that most teachers did use specific grammar terminology.
40
6. Conclusions The analysis of the data collected from the three instruments used in this study could lead us to conclude that most of the teachers‟ instructional practices would be said to fall within the second approach to gramamr instruction, with some differences to be mentioned. Teachers‟ practice is contextualized88, with clear communicative objectives, where grammar is one more component, but not the only one, and most teachers also seem to recognize the error as part of the students‟ “interlanguage”89.
Along the same lines, teachers do not interrupt their students to give feedback; most of them use “recast” techniques, and seem to favor the use of the target language in class. Most teachers also seem to favor fluency over accuracy; just a few seem to strike a balance between fluency and accuracy, depending on the level they are teaching. As far as group dynamics is concerned, all the teachers that responded to the interviews and the questionnaire say they favor distributing their students in groups and pairs to engage them in grammar practice. This is evidenced in the observations as well, since most teachers arrange students in groups; however almost all of them get them into pairs or smaller groups. Participation, nevertheless, does not seem to be consistent with what teachers declare in the questionnaire and interviews, since teachers seem to participate much more than students90: being all the time in command of the class. Students‟ participation seems to be restricted to the “IRE” type mainly.91
When it comes to providing feedback, all the teachers believe it is essential, and all of them give feedback in class, mostly using special terminology. All teachers also seem to acknowledge the value of incidental acquisition of grammar, as revealed in their
88
The degree of contextualization seems to vary in the observations: some teachers illustrate situations, others propose discussions on a certain topic, and some others just contextualize an exercise from the course book. Only a few teachers observed brought in socio linguistic activities to class, such as role plays, games, info gap or problem solving activities. 89 Most teachers seem to recognize the value of errors, although not all of them seem to have theoretical knowledge on terms like “interlanguage” “negotiation of meaning”, or“recast” 90 These incongruencies could very well be due to some lack of theoretical background on group dynamics and participation strategies, personal styles, or lack of awareness their own participation. It does not seem to be due to teachers‟ lack of value of student participation, since they all seem to recognize the importance of students‟ active role in language learning. 91 “Initiation, Response Evaluation”
41
responses to the questionnaire. However, all of them make grammar rules explicit at one point or another in the classroom.92
It is worth mentioning that both in the questionnaire and interviews most teachers seem to agree they deal with a P-P-P sequence in class, which is verified from the observations, although it is not applied in a taxative way 93. A few of them admit in interviews the value of engaging students in grammar noticing processes, even after free production stages at times, and before guided practice 94.
92
The apparent incongruencies between the questionnaire responses on this issue (where most teachers seem to recognize the value of implict over explicit grammar instruction) and data from the interviews and the observations (where all of them somehow say they engage, and are observed engaging in some kind of explanation at some point) could be due to complex processes, such as “learning/acquisition/knowledge/use”, etc. which, on the other hand, have given rise to such extreme positions in EFL instruction. Here we could interprete also that teachers are well aware that teaching/learning grammar rules is a complex, not linear process, and even if most of them recognize “input” and more intuitive learning instances to be to fundamental , they also seem to be concerned with students‟ grammar instruction needs at some point in the class. 93 A few of them admit in interviews the value of engaging students in grammar noticing processes even after free production stages at times, and before guided practice 94 The literature on P-P-P reveals that the sequence has been used in different ways, from the most traditional approaches to the most communicative ones at present. Most criticisms to the taxative use of P-P-P aim at the fact that it relies too heavily on teacher participation, unlike other more humanistic student centered models. However, we have also mentioned this sequence is still currently being the most popular in the field, used in a more discretional way. Some authors consider that until research comes up with more positive and efficient results in favour of other alternative grammar instruction models, it is advisable to use P-P-P in an more ecclectic, discretional way.
42
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APPENDICES
51
Appendix I
52
EFL teachers’conceptions on grammar instruction
In the following page, you will find a questionnaire on some aspects related to the teaching of grammar in the classroom. Please read each statement and indicate how nuch you agree or disagree, bearing in mind that your responses might range from 4 (totally agree) to 1 (totally disagree).
Note: The information collected will be used only for this study, keeping the teachers‟ identities confidential. Likewise, the results will be communicated and published in due time, being the purpose of the study to explore the Program‟s EFL teachers‟ conceptions on grammar instruction in connection with their instructional practice. The ultimate aim is to implement an in-service improvement program.
TEACHER’S NAME: LEVEL TAUGHT:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Oji9ehELbV3xJlMzqqVWlY0uNmtFhKd0ybhAhLrFjhk/viewform?edit_requested=true#response=ACYDBNjop0lJA0aQHctIYkPOnP_B3cJjBBh7U_h
1/13
53
Statements related to the teaching of grammar in EFL settings a) Grammar instruction is the core of the English class (The role of grammar instruction)
Totally disagree 23,1% Partially agree 53,8% Agree 23,1% Completely agree 0%
b) Grammar structures are taught gradually like blocks: one on top of the other (The role of grammar instruction)
Totally disagree 23,1% Partially agree 7,7% Agree 53,8% Completely agree 15,4%
c) Grammar is an exquisite instrument to refine language use, once the basic communication strategies have been acquired. (The role of grammar instruction)
Totally disagree 0% Partially agree 23,1% Agree 69,2% Completely agree 7,7%
54
d)
Grammar
and
communication are two dimensions that can be taught separatedly
Totally disagree 46,2% Partially agree
46,2%
Agree
7,7%
Completely agree 0%
The best way to incorporate grammar is exposing students to the natural use of language, since it is acquired incidentally and not explicitely
Totally disagree 0% Partially agree 23,1% Agree 69,2% Completely agree 7,7%
55
For students to produce language accurately, requires a formal explanation of the grammar rules
Totally disagree0% Partially agree76,9% Agree 23,1% Completely agree 0%
The accurate use of language is achieved through systematic grammar exercises
Totally disagree15,4% Partially agree 38,9% Agree ……..30,8% Completelyagree15,4% The more students practice grammar structures, the more they use them accurtely in free production
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Explicit teaching of grammar rules favors some conscious knowledge of grammar, which carries over to accurate use.
Totally disagree 0% Partially disagree 45,2% Agree 45,2% Completely agree 7,7%
Practice of grammar structures should always be in a communicative context
Totally disagree 0% Partially disagree 15,4% Agree 30,8% Completely agree 53,8% Grammar structures are incorporated unconsciously through exposure to the language
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Totally disagree
7,7%
Partially disagre 38,5% Agree
46,2%
Completely agree 7,7%
Practice of isolated grammar structures does not guarantee appropriation and further use of grammar in spontaneous communication
Totally disagree 0% Partially disagree 7,7% Agree 46,2% Completely agree 46,2% In order to use a certain grammar structure accurately, it is necessary to be conscious of its structure
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Totally disagree
23,1%
Partially disagree 53,8% Agree 23,1% Completely disagree 0%
In every class there should be some time where grammar is dealt with exclusively and specifically, separated from other activities.
Totally disagree Partially disagree Agree Completely agree
23,1% 46,2% 15,4% 15,4%
Presentation of grammar structures always precedes practice
Totally disagree Partially disagree Agree Completely agree
15,4% 46,2% 15,4% 23,1%
Students learn the grammar structure only when it is immersed in a complete and authentic text
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Totally disagree Partially disagree Agree Completely agree
30,7% 23,1% 38,5% 7,7%
Before teaching a grammar structure, I expose my students to a triggering reading or audio text
Totally disagree 7,7% Partially disagree 0% Agree 15% Completely agree 76,9%
Content determines the grammar structure to be taught
Totally disagree 0% Partially disagree 7,7% Agree 53,8% Completely agree 38,5%
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For a structure to be really understood, it must be taught separated from the context
Totally disagree Partially disagree Agree Completely agree
61,5% 30,8% 7,7% 0%
I use specific terminology when I‟m dealing with grammar
Totally disagree Partially disagree Agree Completely agree
7,7% 46,2% 38,5% 7,7%
When my students make a mistake, I correct them immediately so that it will not happen again
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I only correct the mistakes that interfere with communication
Totally disagree 0% Partially disagre76,9% Agree 15,4% Completely agree7,7%
The error is necessary in learning a language
Totally disagree 0% Partially disagre15,4% Agree 38,5% Completely agre46,2% In written production, I first read the text completely before correcting mistakes
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Totally disagree 0% Partially disagree 23,1% Agree 23,1% Completely agree 53,8%
I correct mistakes in written production with a coloured pencil, replacing the incorrect structure by the correct one
Totallydisagree 38,5% Partially disagree 53,8% Agree 7,7% Completely agree 0% I use a correction code depending on the category of the mistake, but I do not supply the correct structure or cross out the incorrect one
Totally disagree 0% Partially disagree 30,8%
63
Agree
23,1%
Completely agree 46,2% The practice activities I choose have various objectives, besides the accurate use of the grammar structure on focus
Totally disagree 0% Partially disagree 7,7% Agree 23,1% Completely agree 69,2%
I see to it that my students get practice in the four macro skills every class
Totally disagree 0% Partially disagree 7,7% Agree 38,5% Completely agree 53,8%
The best way to have students use the language in class is through group activities that recreate situations of language use
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Totally disagree 0% Partially disagree 15,4% Agree 30,8% Completely agree 53,8% I make sure the seating arrangement favors group exchange
Totally disagree Partially disagree Agree Completely agree
0% 15,4% 15,4% 69,2%
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APPENDIX II
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Appendix II. Interviews Summary of responses I. Basic questions Teacher: Levels taught:
Researcher: These questions are related to usual activities from daily practice. I would like you to look into each question and tell me if the issues addressed are frequent concerns in your classes. I would appreciate it if you could account for your answers and give illustrative examples.
1. Do you explain grammar rules explicitly? If so, do you systematize them? Do you use specific terminology?
2. Do you expose your students to quizzes and multiple choice exercises to practice grammar? 3. Do you respect the “Presentation guided Practice and free Production” to introduce a new grammar structure? What is the role of ractice in your opinion? Does it lead to free production or not?
4. Do you have your students participate in oral and written repetition activities to fix structures before practicing or producing them in other contexts?
5. Do you expose your students to movie fragments or authentic texts to contextualize grammar structures on focus?
6. Do you engage yur students in activities like role plays or improvisations? Why or why not?
7. Do you often arrange your students in groups or pairs? When an why?
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8. As far as classroom dynamics is concerned, do you change your students‟ distribution in class? Do you let them participate, only if they feel like it? Why or why not?
9. How much time do you devote to teacher talk and student talk? Do you have your students ask questions?
10. Do you ever use the sequence where your students talk freely first, then they notice the grammar rule, and then they get into guided practice?
11. Do you ever translate structures to make sure students get the idea clearly? Why or why not?
12. Do you use the target language in class all the time? Why or why not?
13. When students make mistakes, do you provide them with the correct version the moment they are making the mistake? Why or why not?
14. Do you share a correction code in class? Are mistakes corrected in groups? Why or why not?
15 Do you encourage individual grammar exercices in class? Why or why not? 16. Do you favor “accuracy” over “fuency” or viceversa? Account for your answer.
17. Do you expose your students to triggering authentic texts or fragments, either in the oral or written médium, where the emphasis is not placed on the form, but rather on the content? Why or why not?
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II. Individual iterviews Interview 1 Teacher 1 Levels taught: Adults, elementary and intermediate
I: Hi, Should we start? Prof.1: Sure, let me read them… I: Go ahead.
1. Prof1: Let´s see… (Reads the first question) The truth is that I do use gramar terminology to refer to a gramar structure. (She She She thinks)… Really don‟t know why… „cause I don‟t like gramar much, you see?… I use terms like… I: “Subject?” Prof.1: Right, ... (She She She thinks)… but, you know what?...They feel interested… that‟s what itis…We turn to the text book, and suppose we are dealing with some grammar ítem… then we do an activity related to the topic, and they somehow, you know? … get carried away. You see? When I check homework, then, the terminology comes in handy to check and evalate if it was ok or not. I: Ok.
2. Prof.1: Let me read the next one (Reads question 2) Really I don‟t use quizzes or multiple choice exercises much. I don‟t see them in the book.
I: Ok.
3. I: Do you respect the sequence: ¿ “Presentation Practice Production” I: Generally I do. … (She She She thinks)… unless… I don‟t know… they come up and ask some tough grammar thing… I don‟t know…say, “The Third Type Conditional”,
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for example Then, they ask me… otherwise, I guess I don‟t… in general I present something, it‟s clear to them, and then they practice. I: …And when do you think they are ready to produce freely? Before or after they systematize and practice the structure? Prof.1: (She She She thinks): … Hmmm… no, no, for sure right after they‟ve practiced. They can produce freely only after presentation and practice. Yes, yes… Do you remember when Fede asked me the other day in class, when you came visit? He was asking me if he could improve his production, not just of isolated sentences, but he meant complete paragraphs, you see?... Well, I really think the steps to follow are reinforcement in class with exercises in order to make sure that what they produce sounds like real communication comunicacion.. I guess you guided practice leads to production. I: Bien
4. Prof.1: Let me read number four: (Reads the question) “Do you have your students participate in oral and written repetition activities before practice or production stages?” Well… not exactly all the time, but yes, I would say… seventy per cent of the time, yes. As I said before, when they work with exercises from the last pages of the textbook, you see? I monitor them… but the work on their own… I:(Interrupting) I guess the question refers to repetition exercises. You are talking about exercises from the text book, right? Prof.1: Sure, the exercises from the book… I: (Nodding): Ok… the question refers to repetition drills… Prof.1: AH!!! ¿Drills? I: Exactly, drills. Prof.1: No, no, no. I don‟t do drills. Let‟s take “used to” and “would” for example Well, I get them to practice with exercises of the type where they are supposed to make affirmative and negative sentences using “used to” or “would” I: A guided exercise at the beginning… Prof.1: Yes, especially when the topic is difficult… but I don‟t do memorization drills I: Ok. I got it.
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5. I: Do you expose your students to movie fragments or authentic texts to contextualize grammar structures? Prof.1. Not if they are not in the book.
6. I: Ok. And what about role plays, improvisations or that sort of activities? Prof.1: Yes, sure…After the rules, I explain them, they need to apply them consciously in real situations. They themselves can monitor what they say, you know? Many times they do correct themselves… I: I see… Prof.1: Yes, and I move around from group o group and take down notes of what they say to do correction work afterwards. I: And do you correct them yourself or do you have them correct their own mistakes? Prof.1: No, I correct them, but sometimes, when we are dealing with a dialog, I give them group feedback. And I ask them: “Did you say this”… “¿How can we improve this or that?” and they say: “¿Did I say that?” I: (Trying to get back to the question) Ok, let‟s see if I got that right…you just said that after you explain the rules, they have to apply them to real situations… for example a role play? Do you expose your students to role plays before or after guided practice? Prof.1: (She She She thinks): No, in general after guided practice. I: Ok.
7. I: Do you get them to work in groups or pairs? Prof.1: Yes, all the time. … I circulate arond groups, because they are not always the same groups… This gave me very good results in level 2 with this group, you know... with a mixed group, sort of… I mean there was this bunch of students that didn‟t know one another and this other group of old timers. Then I made up groups of, say, two old students and a new one, and kept moving them so that they would not always be in the same groups… and turned out well… it was a real good experience… I: What‟s the criterion to rotate them? Prof.1: Well… having two students together with different levels of difficulty, not just the good students together and the bad students together. In that way, the good student 71
helped the “weak” one and that was real good. At this point I can really tell the best students from the weak ones, and they are used to working together. I: Do you do that intuitively or did you read it somewhere, say, at the teacher education college? Prof.1: (She She She thinks): Hmmm… I must have read it somewhere but I really don‟t remember where.
8. I: As far as students‟ distribution in ckass, Do you get them to change places often? Do you let participate those who feel like it? Prof.1: That‟s precisely what we were talking about before. Sometimes, when they sit with other people, I let them participate if they are willing. Sometimes, if they don‟t participate much, and I see they are “weak”, I ask them and make them participate. I try to support weak students and I want everybody to support them. The time to practice is here, in class. With level 1 I use the “sandwich technique” I: (Surprised) And what is that? Prof.: “Sandwich Technique?” This is English-Spanish-English. But I only fall back on Spanish when I see “frowning” faces (Laughs and makes gestures) I: (Laughs): … Prof.1: Look, Even with the more elementary levels, when some student speaks Spanish, they themselves say: “Speak in Spanish”. Sometimes, they imitate me… you know? I keep telling them: “One step for me, one step for everybody” and they laugh a lot… and repeat that all the time … there‟s always some level of complicity… I: ok…
9. I: Do you devote much time to explanations, asking questions or monitoring in class? Prof.1: No, we just follow the book… and the truth is that what is difficult is predictable (She She She thinks) …at this point I know when to stop, where to stop and when to move ahead … Many times I get them to participate in a circle and sometimes it happens that they keep silent when it‟s their turn … then I move on, you see? If they get stuck, I participate myself… it‟s not nice to just say: “Next!” (She She She thinks)… they like to be called by their names too… Then I call them by their name to get them started. I also remember what each of them do: for example one of the twins, you see? 72
He is a basketball player, then I ask him, say, about the game. I know their tastes, interests, their music groups; when we are practicing, there‟s some topic, I son ask them about their lives… I: Ok. Thank you.
10. I: The next question refers to exposing students to some free production time first, and then have them notice some structure, to engage them in guided practice activities later Prof.1: (She She She thinks)… It depends… but in general I don‟t… I: t is the counterpart to presentation-practice-production. Prof.1: So it seemed to me. In general, I don‟t 70% of the times, I would say I follow Presentation- Practice-Production. In that order.
11. I: Do you sometimes translate any structure for clarification purposes? Prof.1: Not in higher levels. Sometimes in level 2 I need to explain something in Spanish cause it‟s hard. Sometimes, especially if they didn‟t finish high school, and they never saw a grammar term, they will not understand it in English, say, “direct object”… now, once they understood the concept, it‟s ok. 12. I: Do you use the target language all the time? Prof.1: Yes, all the time.
13. I: When they make mistakes, Do you provide them with the correct version straight away? Prof.1: Yes, sure.
14. I: Do you share a correction code in class? How are mistakes corrected? Prof.1: Sometimes in groups. When it‟s a common error, say: “Speak with/ Speak to” and I have said this time and time again I make a point and have them correct it. Or (She She She thinks) Money /monei/. I tell them: /mΛ ni/ once and once again. After that, when they mispronounce again, I just need to pull a weird face and they know… and 73
they
self
correct.
(Laughs)
I: (Laughs): Prof.1: And we do have a correction code, you see?
15. I: Do you encourage individual exercises in class? Prof.: They work in groups of three or two. To check, I ask them, for example number one student from each group, then number two, and then number three, to make sure I asked everybody. They do work cooperatively but also individually.
16. I: Do you favor “accuracy” or “fluency” Prof.1: It depends. In the case of /monei/ /mΛni/ I don‟t let them get away with it. Some other times, perhaps, like in role plays, I take down notes and we have a feedback session at the end. With oral portfolios, I have them record their rendering and gives me good results. I always respond with something positive at first, like: “Very good use of vocabulary” or “Interesting story”, even if they are weak. Nothing ever seems too bad; otherwise they would not feel like studying any more. Some other times, I tell them “¿Did you realize how well you talk?”
17. I: Do you expose your students to triggering fragments of authentic texts, either written or oral, where the emphasis is laid on the content itself, rather than on the grammar focus? Prof.1: No, I guess I follow the order of the book. It would take me a whole lot of time to prepare every class with different levels. I downloaded an app. to Access audio texts . They listen to those audios at home and they improve a lot. One weak student the other day told me that at the beginning it as hard for him to understand, but after listening to those audios at home, he improved a lot- …
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Interview 2 Teacher 2 Levels taught: Adults in elementary, intermediate and advanced levels.
I: Hi, how are you doing? Prof.2: Great Gaby… I: Well, thanks for sparing me some time Prof.2: that‟s all right… I: Should I ask you the first question? Prof.2: Sure.
1. I: Do you explain grammar rules explicitly? If so, do you systematize them? Do you use specific terminology? Prof.2: With adults, I somehow introduce the topic thematically first. I tap into students‟ schemata through questions, quizzes and the like. Then we explain the rule, Reading the copies, or sometimes spotting it in context and answering students‟ questions. Students need to find the rule in the context (newspaper articles, stories, etc) and underline it as they detect it. Then there‟s more practice. We use specific terminology and we also systematize the rule.
2. I: Thanks… let‟s see: Do you expose students to quizzes and multiple choice activities to practice grammar structures? Prof.2: (She She She thinks a little)… oh, yes… it depends on the levels and the kind of quizzes, but yes, I would say I do. It is not that I do it all the time, because it might become a boring practice and students could lose interest.
3. I: Do you respect the “Presentation Practice Production” sequence to introduce a new grammar strucure? Prof.2: Not always. I try, but not all students manage to pass from guided practice to free production right away. It all depends on the student. I try to have a general
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framework suitable to all kinds of students: I divide the class into groups so that they do not get frustrated and they can feel the challenge at the same time.
4. I: Do you make them participate in repetition drills to fix structures before practice and free production stages? Prof.2: No. But I do work with poetry, songs and stories, always in a context, and never repeating just for repetition‟s sake.
5. I: Ok. Do you expose your students to movie or text fragments to contextualize grammar structures? Prof.2: (Enthusiastically) Yes! All the time!
6. I: The next question refers to students‟ oral production:. Do you engage students in activities like role-plays or group improvisations? Prof.2: Yes, we do role-plays, somewhat structured cause in general they feel a bit ashamed at times, and they feel watched. It all depends on the kind of students… I guess role-plays allow them to work outside of themselves, taking on different roles, getting into someone else‟s shoes, sort of…makes people do more things…
7. I: Do you work with pairs or in groups? Prof.2: Yes, definitely both.
8. I: When it comes to distribution of students in class: Do you get them to change places? Do you let them participate only if tey want to? Prof.2: I often change they; I try to get them to find the partners they feel more comfortable with throughout the year by making them share with different partners to open up possibilities. I change seating arrangements in the classroom all the time, sometimes one next to the other, some other times in circles, in pairs or groups of four for example. At the beginning I lt them participate if they volunteer, then I try to mak 76
them all participate. I make sure I model all the activities beforehand, but if someone does not want to take part, I never force them.
9. I: How much time do you devote to explanations, asking questions or checking activities in class? How much time do you allow for teacher talk and for student talk? Prof.2: At the beginning, I talk more. Little by Little, I somehow shift positions: from central to peripheral. At the beginning I coordinate oral activities, and then they coordinate the work themselves to make them every time more autonomous. It‟s the same when explanations and monitoring.
10. I: Do you sometimes expose students to free oral activities at first, then you engage them in some noticing of grammar structures, and then pass on to more guided practice? Do you ever do that? Prof.2: As I told you before, it depends… in general it depends on the student. Many times it is easier to present first, then practice and then some might be more ready to produce… … (She She She thinks) But it is complicated to move from practice to production…
11. I: Do you ever translate some structures to clarify concepts? Prof.2: Yes, when I‟m teaching kids, and especially at the beginning of the year to get some routines clear… especially first graders…
12. I: Do you use the target language in class all the time? Prof.2: You mean English? Yes I do, all the time.
13. I: When they make mistakes, do you give them the correct version the moment they are making the mistake? Prof.2: No. I wait and I ask them first. If they don‟t realize, I call on somebody else for help. I encourage peer correction. 77
14. I: Do you share a correction code in class? Prof.2: Yes. And we also sometimes correct in groups. 15.
I: Do you get your students to do individual grammar exercises in class? Prof.: Yes, sometimes. It depends on the kind of work. I.: Why? Prof.2: I prefer group work, but that depends much on the groups too. Besides, there are times it‟s good for them to devote some time to individual work. I teach them group and pair strategies, sharing time and not to monopolize the class.
16. I.: Do you favor “accuracy” or “fluency” Prof.2: Fluency, I would say, but sometimes you need to monitor some aspects: like pronunciation, especially with kids. I try to model as best as I can, but I prefer to have them express themselves freely. I: How do you correct? Prof.2: In oral production, I just correct those mistakes that tamper with communication. I make a point that making mistakes is part of the learning process. If it is a more mechanical kind of exercise, I try to correct the focus structure more.
17. I: Do you every class expose your students to triggering fragments of authentic texts, either in the written or oral medium, where the emphasis is laid on content, rather than form? Why? Prof.2: Yes, always. Mainly because language itself changes all the time, and it‟s not static… correct or incorrect keep changing. Authentic texts generate meaning; it is a text that someone wrote for the sake of writing and not teaching, and it is motivating and interesting. We work a lot with literature, science, art, etc. There‟s also all the content students bring from their own lives, and making connections between what they know and what‟s new through language is really motivating. 78
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Interview 3 Teacher 3 Levels taught: Adults, elementary, intermediate and advanced levels. I: Hi, I‟m gonna ask you some questions about your practice, and I would like you to stop and read each one, and tell me if the issues posed, are frequent concerns in your classes. You‟re also welcome to come up with examples, if they help illustrate your points. Are you ready? Prof.3: Sure, shoot!
1. I: Ok. Do you explain grammar rules explicitly and systematize them? Do you use specific terminology? Prof.3: In general, I guess that with the PLU students, I wouldn‟t use too specific terminology, sort of… (She She She thinks). When I explain grammar, I emphasize fluency and communication. I guess not everybody needs to know what it is, for instance, an adverb of time, and so on so forth. Now, when I teach tertiary level, there‟s more reference to gramar terms; and the, yes, I do use technical terminology…
2. I: I see… and Do you expose your students to quizzes and multiple choice exercises to check grammar structures? Prof.3: No, not at all. I don‟like too structured exercises. I.: Ok. Let‟s pass on to the third question. Prof.3 Let‟s see…
3. I: Do you respect the “Presentation Practice Production” when it comes to introducing a new grammar structure?
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Prof.3: If by Presentation, you mean showing a video, where you can spot the grammar structure I want to get students to focus on, then I can say that yes, I do present the structure first… I.: Right, it refers to the kind of sequence that starts off with the presentation of the target grammar structure, then there‟s the systematization and then after the guided practice, there‟s the free production stage. Prof.3: (She She She thinks)… well, yes, I guess I do follow that pattern. I first try and find a video, where there‟s the structure I want to teach and I give students lots of input, so that they can be exposed to the structure in different contexts. Well, then, I have them notice that structure, you know? And then, somehow I systematize it. That‟s what you are asking, right? I.: (Nods) Prof.3: Well yes then… I think they need lots of input… lots. After practicing for quite some time, then, maybe I get them to induce the rule, you see? Let´s take, I don‟t know…. (She She She thinks)... If I‟m teaching “used to”, just to mention something, I would ask them to describe “what they used to do” to make sure they use it in an appropriate context, you see? I.: Oh, I see. And when would you place free production? Prof.3: It comes at the end… I.: Then you think that after presenting the structure with lots of input, and they notice the structure embedded in a certain context, then, somehow, it will carry over to free production? Is that the order you have in mind? Prof.3: Yes, it‟s important that they notice the structure through lots of input, but sometimes, really I think that one, as a teacher, always facilitates conditions for them to notice the structure in the context, and then, yes, this carries over to guided practice first, and free production afterwards. They themselves help each other to try out the grammar expression in different situations, since I always get them to work in groups, you see? When this happens I feel so, so happy, really! (Gets enthusiastic) because I‟m really convinced that between peers you can get much more than in a teacher oriented classroom. If the teacher is the center, students receive all the time, and they have very little time to use the target language among them.
Obviously, if the teacher is
monitoring students‟ participation, it is far better. Am I being clear? I: Yes, very. Let‟s move on to question 4, shall we? Prof.3: Sure. 81
4. I: Ok: Do you have your students participate in oral or written repetition activities to fix structures, before they engage in practice and free production? Prof.3: No, I really don‟t. I: Why? Prof.3.: I find them boring. I: Ok.
5. I.: Do you expose your students to movies or texts to contextualize certain grammar structures? Prof.3: I sure do; that‟s the input I was talking about a couple of minutes ago. I.: Right.
6. I.: The next question is about role plays or group improvisations. Do you engage your student in activities of that sort? Prof.3: Definitely! They‟re essential for communication; especially, they need to be meaningful, I mean… every movie or article, or text in general needs to have a purpose. Everything „s got to be related and connected.
7. I.: Let‟s see… Next question… Do you get your students to work in pairs or small groups? If you do, can you tell me in what circumstances and why? Prof.3: Yes, sure. I do because I believe it‟s the only way you can learn a language; especially the structures. If they don‟t communicate with each other, they don‟t learn them…
8. I.: …Good. Now, let‟s talk about students‟ distribution in the classroom: Do you get them to change places? Do you only call on those who volunteer to participate? Prof.3: They sit in groups of four or in pairs to do different activities. And I do like pair or group interactions. I see to it that they do not always sit with the same people in the 82
same groups. I know it‟s sometimes hard. That‟s the moment when the teacher needs to be creative, so that they don‟t realize they‟re being handled.
I.: How so? Prof.3: Well…you see? I sometimes use color papers, so… they draw lots…. And then it‟s all luck…same color sits together, you see? I think they need to be in groups to learn… individual work is just for some specific cases… otherwise, it‟s much more motivating to be sitting in groups! I.: and… participation? Prof.3: I definitely try to get everybody to participate.
9. I: Ok. How much time do you devote to explanations, giving instructions, or checking their performance? I mean, to doing the talking? And how much time do you allow for them to participate? Prof.3: Ideally, I would say I need to give clear explanations… but, I don‟t actually devote much time to explaining or doing the talking. After the instructions, I‟d rather listen to what they have to say. I take down notes of what I hear in the groups, and at the end of the activity, we discuss issues all together; we can then…say, talk about (She She She thinks) mistakes, or just any comment about their performance...(She She She thinks) …and in any case, I focus on content. I always use the board to write comments for everybody.
10. I: Do you first expose your students to freer production instances, to lead them on to discover the grammar rule, and then get them to practice in a more guided way? Prof.3: I guess I do give them a lot of input, like I said before, to practice, and then get them to notice the structure, and then produce more freely. I guess that would be more the presentation-Practice-Production kind of sequence. Although, come to think of it, I pay lots of attention to “noticing”.
11. I.: Do you translate some structures to clear up some contexts?
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Prof.3: Only when it comes to one specific point to clarify. I don‟t know… (She She She thinks) for instance if I‟m teaching some vocabulary (She She She thinks) “mesa/table”.
12. I.: Do you use th target language all the time? Prof.3: Absolutely, even in elementary levels. Unless, say, I happen to notice they aren‟t really getting it… but, in general, if they follow, I carry on…
13. I.: Do you provide them with the correct version of a mistake they‟ve just made, right at the moment they are making it? Prof.3: Not at all. I‟m far more concerned with communication tan with mistakes. I then work on the error in a more formal way, in groups, without mentioning the person who‟s made the mistake, obviously… I wouldn‟t even call it a mistake”… I‟d much rather say something like: “How can we improve on this?” The students notice the mistake, and try and correct it. If they don‟t know how to go about it, I will probably step in and tell them how to correct it. This helps me get back to it some other class, since I could also ask them to try and work it out for the next class, and we can then correct it all together. Many times, if the error is complex, I tell them: “hmmm…this is wrong. See what‟s wrong”. And the next class, we all go over it. In that way, everybody profits from the correction. I.: What would be an error/a mistake in your opinion? Prof.3: … (She She She thinks) it is not being able to understand one another, either orally or in writing. In writing, specifically, I would say is that the message is not clear. For the first correction, for example, I ask a question aimed at clarifying the idea first, but I do not mark errors, no… Once the meaning is clear, then I start working with errors.
14. I.: Do you make the corrections or are corrections made in groups? Prof.3: We work in groups and they all participate. I address the whole class with a question, and If they can‟t correct the mistakes on focus, then I correct them myself. In writing, they get used to receiving some code on the mistake, like, say, “S/V”. This 84
refers to Subject/Verb Agreement. I always use a correction code: when it comes to elementary levels, the code is simpler (for example, some indication that there‟s a word missing), but then the grid gets more complex the higher the level.
15. I.: Do your students do any individual grammar avtivity? Prof.3: No, not at all.
16. I.: Which do you favor: accuracy or fluency? Prof.3: Fluency, all the time.
17. I.: Finally, do you use authentic texts, either audio or written texts to provide context? Prof.3: I sure do; first there‟s the input, lots and varied. Then, you can work on anything. I.: Well, thank you very much. Prof.3: (Smiles)
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Interview 4 Teacher 4 Levels taught: Adults and adolescents. Elementary, intermediate and advanced. I: … I‟m gonna ask you some questions related to your practice. Please, try and focus on those issues that appear frequently in your classes. If you can, try to account for your answers. Are you ready? Prof.4: Yes, go ahead. I.: Ok.
1. I: Do you explain gramar rules explicitely? If so, do you systematize them? And… do you use specific terminology? Prof.4: … No… only if they don‟t understand, I explain. I would say that I focus on the structure, but the truth is that everybody puts the structure together, not just me. “Maestra Ciruela”, no (Laughs)… And yes, I do use grammar terminology. Especially when they ask for the grammar rule. The other day, you see? I wrote the rule for Present Continuous inside some balloons, and I asked my students: “ What‟s this?”, “What d‟you think? “Where‟s the verb?”... (She She She thinks)… then they looked the information up in the book, and came up with things like: “The verb is IS…” and checked again with the info from the book. We build the rule all together in an inductive way, even when I systematize it afterwards on the board. Anyway, I always start off with a gramar review of what we saw before… always… I tell them things like… (Changes the subject)… sometimes relted to some homework I asked them to do… you know? They hate me hen I ask them to do homework… (Laughs)… I: So, what do you tell them then? Prof.4: Ah, yes, I tell them things like: Who has any questions about the exercises? At first, you see? They always want to check them themselves, and we end up doing the corrections all together. I.: And? Prof.4: Well, I mean… if I see there are too many questions in say, a low level, for example they don‟t put the “s” in the third person singular… I.: What do you do then?
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Prof.4: Ah! I tell them we‟ll explain it again … I.: And what happens then? Prof.4: Then, we go back to the explanation, you see? (She She She thinks)… It‟s just that grammar is everywhere… You know? You get these students, who sometimes tell you things like: “Wow! We saw this structure in class, didn‟t we?” The more advanced levels also ask you to explain some rule again, if the previous explanation happens not to be clear enough for them. Grammar is everything. Everything is governed by grammar. You may be able to talk, but you‟ll talk poorly, though. Mind you, I always present grammar structures in a context; otherwise, it will be disconnected from real language, you know? I.: How so? Prof.4: Well, you see? The other day, in a pre-advanced class, we were dealing with hypothetical situations, so I had them listen to an audio text as context, which talked precisely about what you would do if you “found yourself”, sort of... I. (Laughs): … How elaborate! Prof.4: (Laughs back) Well, yes, I like to start them thinking. The thing is, you know?... that they listen to this segment, and they are exposed to many conditional sentences in a relevant context. So, then I asked them: “What kind of sentences do you hear?” And I sort of got them to focus on the structure… (She She She thinks and adds)… The other day, at the elementary level, we were listening to a text on Figurative Art and Picasso‟s life… and, you know? …beginners, for instance, keep asking questions in Spanish… (Enthusiastically)… and then I give them lots of feedback, you see? … and well, going back to the Picasso segment I was telling you about… one student came up and asked me: “Why do you have them use the “do” to ask questions, and in the listening they do not always use it? Like in Spanish”.
2. I.: Do you expose your students to quizzes and multiple choice exercises to practice grammar structures. Prof.4: (She She She thinks)… It all depends… I don‟t like multiple choice kind of exercises much, you know? I.: Why? Prof.4: I just don‟t like them much… (She She She thinks)… I don‟t know… they are ambiguous… besides, there‟s much more you can say... Now, quizzes, may be, they are 87
better. At least, the quizzes from the book … (She She She thinks)… those I like. Multiple choices I don‟t. I.: Why? Prof.4: Because I just don‟t… they are dull, you see? If I get them to do a quiz, it‟s got to be interesting. Otherwise, I adapt it (Laughs). I.: (Laughs) how do you adapt it? Prof.4: … (She She She thinks) well, you see? … If it‟s a written activity, I turn it into a speaking one; if it‟s a quiz, I may turn it into a role play, you know?
3. I.: Do you respect the “Presentation-Practice-Production” sequence to introduce a new grammar structure? What does practice mean to you? Does it lead to free production or not? Prof.4: Well, yes, in general it does… I.: So, does practice carry over to free production? Prof.4: (Hesitates)… Hmmm… I don‟t think it does carry directly over so easily… to free production. It is a process really. I do believe in games, like ludic activities, you see? ... Not just merely grammar drills in isolation. And then, it does need some time to turn those learnt structures into production. It is gradual… Yes, it does take some time. But practice is definitely necessary, you know? I don‟t know… (She She She thinks)… let‟s take this level three I teach; they still need a lot of practice… for every level, we open a Facebook group… you know? … To do extra practice with extra material… they need a lot of input…especially, authentic material. Though sometimes, it doesn‟t need to be completely authentic. With “Vampire Killers”95, you know? They just love them! And well, somehow, they are authentic because they are comics, you know? Even if the language is adapted, I mean. They are good for practice, and they are creative too, because sometimes they make up alternative endings, for example.
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“Vampire Killers” is a comic students read extensively in elementary level.
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4. I.: Do you have your students participate in oral or written repetition activities to fix structures before practicing or producing them freely? Prof.4: The other day we were dealing with “should/shouldn‟t”, and I made them write... (She thinks)… what‟s the word? (She thinks again) Right! Suggestions! I.: Suggestions? Prof.4: Yes, we were dealing with suggestions. Well, then I gave out some slips of paper. And then they had to read the slips of paper, which said for example: “I have this problem, what can I do?” So instead of writing the word down, they had to repeat “should” or “shouldn‟t”. And they repeated it as often as they needed, so everybody could listen and fix it.
5. I.: Do you expose your students to movie fragments or written texts so as to contextualize grammar structures? Prof.4: Yes, I show them the DVD that comes with the textbook. I‟ve never shown them a movie fragment. (She thinks) I.: Why? Prof.4: (She thinks)… Well, because… I don‟t know, as not all of them have the movie, they won‟t watch it, and they might end up doing different things with me in class. But I include extra material from Facebook, for instance. „Jumanji‟, the movie, you know? Comes in handy for lower levels. Especially when the main character has to say things like who he is, what‟s his name, etc. It‟s useful to provide context to those questions.
6. I.: Do you have them engage in role-plays or group improvisations? Why or why not? Prof.4: Yes, yes, of course. I.: Before or after practice? Prof.4: No, no, after practice, I guess.
7. I.: Do you work a lot in pairs or small groups? When and why? Prof.4: Yes, always. They sometimes change groups. I try to have them all participate, you know? But sometimes you can‟t. I sometimes ask those who don‟t participate… 89
Yes, I‟m sorry, I ask them all the same. Always. At times they themselves change groups, you know? I do try to have them all participate, you see? But sometimes it‟s difficult. I ask eevybody, though… well, yes, I‟m sorry, I have to ask them anyway.
8. I.: Regarding student distribution in your class: do you make them swap seats? Do you only call on those who are willing to participate? Why or why not? As far as students‟ distribution in the classroom, do you let them change places? Prof.4: Look, they sometimes change places on their own,… and the truth is sometimes no way will I step in to get them to change groups if they are not into it, you know?…well, at school, I keep telling them: “You go work with him”, and they would say things like: “No, miss” … and I…”Oh, yes, you go anyway” and things like that… that‟s why I guess it really wears the hell out of me, so with adult students I‟d rather let them stay put. Maybe, sometimes I get them to change, but I don‟t tell them where to go or who they have to work with… (She shakes her head) No way, I sure don‟t.
9. I.: How long do you devote to asking questions of them or explaining in general? I mean, how much do you do the talking and how much do they talk? Prof.4: No, well, I guess I talk just when it‟s necessary… I don‟t know… If I talked all the time, they wouldn´t be doing much, right? …
10. I.: Do you ever use the sequence where students talk first, then you get them to notice some grammar rule in the context, and then have them engage in some guided practice? I mean…The counterpart of the sequence mentioned in question three. Prof.4: Hmm… Sometimes, (She thinks) … but not always… In general, I guess it depends on the structure on focus. If it‟s a real complicated structure, I think I do not. It depends on whether, I don‟t know… (She thinks) … whether it‟s easy or hard for the students … sometimes they need closer guidance…It all depends on the group, sure. But in general, I think I prefer the Presentation-Practice-Production sequence. Yes, in general, I guess I do that. Especially elementary level students.
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I.: Do you translate some structures for the purpose of clarification? Prof.4: I don‟t. I‟d rather tell them: “In English, please!” No, I don‟t translate… Anyway… (She thinks) … I sometimes in level one I do address them in Spanish…I say things like: “when you don‟t understand something, and if I speak too fast, you let me know, right?”
12. I.: Do you use the target language in class all the time? If you do, why? Prof.4: Mind you, I speak English in class... At times, in lower levels, they don‟t understand everything, but I try to speak English. If they don‟t understand, then yes, I do speak Spanish, „cause you see? I can‟t go on if they are not following…
13. I.: What about mistakes? Do you provide them with the correct version the moment they are making the mistake? Prof.4: Yes. We sometimes pool mistakes and discuss them all together. I just take down notes and we discuss them in the end. Many times they do some self-correction. The other day, one student said “he”, when he was supposed to say “him”. And there‟s this student at the back, who said “him!”… And then I would tell him: “Shhhh! Let him correct it himself!”, “let him talk”… You know? I think one individual correction can help them all. Take today, for instance, I was explaining “like”, and we were playing a game…and I asked them: “Is “like” followed by ING?” “Or is it followed by TO?” And then I saw a couple of students at the back, who were taking advantage of the comments I was making about the front row students‟ mistakes… and kept scoring points.
14. I.: Do you share a correction code in class? Are mistakes corrected in groups? Prof.4: Yes, we do share a code. I gave it to them before they had to comply with the first portfolio.
15. I.: Do you encourage individual kind of exercises in class?
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Prof.4: Yes, I sometimes do. And since they do everything in groups, they sometimes don‟t feel like working individually. On the other hand, there‟s some other people who don‟t like to work in groups and there‟s no way I can get them to work with others.
16. I.: Do you favor “accuracy” over “fluency” or vice versa? And why? Prof.4: (She thinks)… I believe, in general, fluency is more important for me, I guess. When students make mistakes, I make them notice later, but I don‟t interrupt them. I think they can discover the mistakes on their own. Sometimes, their own peers correct them. Some other times, they themselves monitor their own mistakes. I.: and what is a mistake for you? Prof.4: Well, I don‟t know…like…a grammar or pronunciation mistake, right? They need time to monitor it… not right away… you need to wait... I.: Ok. The last question… Prof.4: It‟s over? I.: (She laughs): … Almost…
17. I.: Do you expose your students to triggering authentic written or audio texts, or fragments where the emphasis is not on the grammar structure itself, but the context instead? Prof.4: In class I guess it‟s not possible. I use the studio texts and videos from the textbook rather. There‟s so much to read and do that there‟s no time for extra material. Besides, they like to talk, you know? … So time flies by in class. Anyway, I do share with them authentic material on Facebook.
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Interview 5 Teacher 5 Levels taught: Adults, and intermediate level
1. I: Hi… Thanks for coming. I‟ll ask you some questions, Ok? Do you have some minutes? Prof.5: Yes, sure. I: Do you explain the grammar rules explicitly? And if you do, do you systematize them? Do you also use specific grammar terminology? Prof.5: I sometimes explain and I sometimes don‟t… (She thinks)… Well, actually, I don‟t explain anything if I realice the grammar structure is clear enough. I.: What if it‟s not? Prof.5: Well… sure, there‟s times when students stop at some title, like… (She thinks)… like: “Adverbs of Frequency”, they may not know what‟s the difference between an adverb and an adjective, for example, like: “carefully”.Many times, I explain grammar in an explicit way, because I guess that knowing gives students a sense of security. If we take the auxiliaries “does” and “do”. .. (She thinks)… there are times it helps them a whole lot to know that “does” is always used with pronouns “he”, “she” and “it” for example… I would even say that… (She thinks)… I might even explain the word “pronoun” if I noticed students were interested to know more. Students always ask for rules. I.: You mean the students themselves ask for grammar explanations and rules? Prof.5: Sure… I would like to make a point that my students are adults, you know?
2. I.: Do you expose them to quizzes and multiple choice exercises to practice grammar Prof.5: Yes, frequently.
3. I.: Do you respect the “Presentation-Practice-Production” sequence to introduce a new grammar structure? What‟s the role of practice in your opinion? Does it carry over to free production? Or not?
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Prof.5: Yes, obviously. Practice is very important to be able to produce freely later on … Yes, definitely, I consider that practice is fundamental.
4. I.: Do you get your students to practice oral and written repetition activities to fix the structures before practice and free production later? Prof.5: Yes, I think that it gives students a sense of security… I mean these kinds of activities empower them.
5. Prof.5: Do you expose your students to triggering authentic texts to contextualize grammar structures? I.: Obviously! (She thinks) Principally, written texts, not so much movies… but written texts, yes.
6. I.: Do you engage your students to role-plays or improvisations? In that case, why? Prof.5: Yes, as often as I can. I.: Why? Prof.5: I… I consider they are activities students really enjoy… besides, it is easy to evaluate them…since they interact in groups and tend to forget I‟m not there… and…hmmm… they are much more fluent.
7. I.: Do you work in pairs or small groups much? When and why? Prof.5: Unless the moments when they are working on listening or reading activities, they always work in groups. I.: Ok. Why? Prof.5: … (She thinks) Hmmm… because they work more comfortably, supported by the group… (She thinks) … it‟s good because they establish a bond, sort of… and they help each other when they don‟t understand, or they have more difficulties than the others.
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I.: As far as the students‟ distribution in the classroom, I‟d like to know whether you ask them to change places much, and if you call on just the students who volunteer to participate. Prof.5: At times, they swap places, you know?; some other times, I let them remain in the same pair or group. I.: And what would be the criteria? Prof.5: Well… it all depends on the students‟ characteristics… there are people who find it hard to change groups, you see? I don‟t want to make them feel uncomfortable, that‟s basically why…After a couple of classes, once they get to know one another, then I try to get them to change partners or places. And I really try to make them all participate;… in general, they respond to my call on participation…Anyway, some students always try to dodge participation, sort of… and we need to be careful in thuis sense… I.: Ok., Thanks.
9. I.: How much time do you devote to asking questions yourself, and how much class time do you allow for students‟ participation? Prof.5: (She thinks): Hmmmm… Well, it depends… I don‟t now… it depends… I.: On what, would you say? Prof.5: Well, I don‟t konow… on the level, I guess... (She thinks). With elementary students, especially the first levels, they do need more guidance. With beginners, especially true beginners, for instance, I devote quite some time to giving explanations myself, and some time to asking questions, before they get to practice themselves…
10. I.: Do you ever use the sequence of getting them to produce, then noticing structures, and then some guided practice? Prof.5: Hmmmm… let me think… With more advanced students, maybe I use that sequence sometimes. Principally because, at times, students know the grammar rule, perhaps because they‟ve already studied it or noticed it in texts, songs or movies. In that case, I may use this reverse order sequence, sort of...
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11. I.: Do you translate any structures to clarify concepts? Prof.5: Well, yes… sometimes…it is necessary at times, I guess. Especially, because beginner students sometimes translate themselves, or seek further explanations among themselves… especially, when they are confused, or get real anxious… then, I translate to clarify...yes…
12. I.: Do you use the target language in class all the time? Prof.5: Well, I do try to use it as much as I can. Sometimes, elemenatry levels need to feel more at ease, reassured that they‟ve really got it, you know?... and ask me in Spanish to double check.
13. I.: What about mistakes… do you give them the correct version? If so, when? Right after they‟ve made the mistake? Prof.5: Well, yes, sometimes I do… but may other times I don‟t, I guess ... I.: Could you be abit more specific? Prof.5: For example, if they are reading out loud, I many times interrupt them to correct, especially pronunciation errors. When the activity is a role-play, or they‟re just carried away with a discussion, I take down notes and provide them with the correct version at the end.
14. I.: I see… Do you share a correction code with tem? Do you ever get them to correct errors in groups? Prof.5: Let‟s see…We share a correction code. Sometimes the mistakes are corrected in pairs. I.: Do you get them to sit in any special way for that matter? Prof.5: I try to mix them around… I mean getting people with more language difficulties working together with those who are doing well, you know? I use this approach because it really helps weak students, I guess…
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15. I.: Do you encourage individual exercises in class? Prof.5: No. Not in general. The exercises and activities are mostly solved in pairs, so that they can exchange opinions and ideas.
16. I.: Do you favor “accuracy” over “fluency”? Prof.5: With elementary students, I favor “fluency”. It‟s their first steps with the foreign language, and I want to make them feel gratified by expressing themselves and getting to communicate somehow. With advanced students, I also favor “fluency”, sort of. (She adds)… I correct much more, though… it is essntial to develop some background knowledge on the foreign language.
17. I.: Do you expose your students to triggering authentic texts, or audio fragments, where the emphasis is not laid on the grammar structure itself, but on the content? Prof.5: (She thinks)… Hmmm… No, to tell you the truth, not very often. I.: Why not? Prof.5: In fact, I think because of time constraints…but I do consider authentic texts provide very interesting material for relevant practice. I.: Thanks so much for your time.
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Interview 6 Teacher 6 Levels taught: Adults, intermediate and advanced levels. I.: I‟m gonna ask you some questions related to your practice. Prof.6. Sure! I: I‟d like you to tell me if the issues posed have much or very little to do with your current practice. Right? Prof.6: Ok. I: Please, always refer your opinions back to your own classes. Prof.6: Good.
1. I.: Do you explain grammar rules explicitly? If you do, do you sistematize them? Do you use specific grammar terminology? Prof.6: Yes, I present structures or rules explicitly… I sistematize them, because in that way, I can point out a rule to get students to follow me later on. I.: I see...
2. I.: Now, do you expose students to “quizzes” and “multiple choice” exercises to practice grammar rules. Prof.6: Hmmm (She thinks)… No, no. I‟d much rather have them recognize language in use. I: Ok.
3. I.: Do you respect the “Presentation- Practice- Production” sequence to introduce a new grammar structure? What‟s the role of practice in your opinion? Prof.6: Well, first and foremost, I present the grammar structure implicitly, I guess. I: How do you presnt it?
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I: Well, I present it through questions, or with a reading text, or any other context…And yes, then I get them to practice, and after that they are ready to produce more freely. I.: Ok.
4. I.: Do you get your students to practice oral or written repetition activities to fix structures before practice and production? Prof.6: Yes. I get them to do “fill in the blanks” kind of exercises to complete with the right grammar structure, for instance. I also get them to practice more and then to produce more freely…. I.: (She tries to clear up the concept): I guess the question refers to repetition drills… Prof.6: Ah, sure… Well, I always try to elicit responses in a natural situation, you know? Or through a triggering question, for example. I.: (Gets her back on track): … let me see if I got you right, would you then say that you get them to do repetition drills or not? Prof.6: (She hesitates and shakes her head) Not pure repetition, no. I always try to make them talk in a natural situation. I.: Ok, I see.
5. I.: Do you expose your students to triggering movie fragments or authentic texts to contextualize grammar structures? Prof.6: Yes, always. I.: Why? Prof.6: Well, you see? Basically because I think it‟s a way of presenting target language implicitly, to see language in real use. I.: Ok.
6. I.: And role-plays, do you get your students to role play in class or engage in group discussions like improvisations? Prof.6: Yes, sure. I think role-plays recretae a real situation of language use, again… whatwever is natural use, it helps a lot… I.: What do you mean by natural use? 99
Prof.6: (She thinks): … Well… I mean language itself, as it happens in a real situation, you know? …; it‟s very much like recreating a real situation of language use. I.: I see.
7. I.: Do you get your students to work in pairs or small groups? When and why so? Prof.6: Yes, always. Basically, because I think that they can talk more that way, they have more chances to talk if they are together. I try to “hover around” in those cases, moving from group to group to listen to them. That is aproduction stage where they feel more free, in a more meaningful and real situation, I guess. Anyway, students always need to talk, and it is essential that they talk in English then.
8. I.: And what about students‟ distribution in class?: Do you have them change places? Do you only call on students who volunteer to participate? Prof.6: Yes, I also get them to change a lot. You could see it in class the other day, right? I.: (She nods) Prof.6: I‟ve got this idea, you know?... this idea that they need to make up groups where weaker students mingke with good students, mixing students with different levels of achievement in the same group. I.: And why do you do that? Prof.6: Basically because I think that it is far more beneficial for weaker students to get guidance. Some students who talk better or know a bit more can correct weaker students, you see? I don‟t know… (She thinks)… I suppose I realized I have these students with speaking difficulties, and somehow together in these groups they profit much more. Those who know more can help out the weaker ones. It is also interesting to notice the learning situation that develops inside the groups, between peers, which is different from the relationship between one student and myself, the teacher…You see? When they are talking in the groups, there‟s one who comes up with one exchange, and if it‟s not clear enough, somebody else within the group rephrases it for him… I don‟t know… it‟s very interesting, I guess… and it‟s worth getting them to change groups… I.: I‟m curious... did you get that idea from a text, did you read it somewhere? Or is it because you yourself learn better that way? 100
Prof.6: (She thinks)… No, I really don‟t know...I guess I just realized from teaching… Yes, that‟s what it is… just from teaching and watching my students, I guess…I think it‟s more “didactic” that way… I.: And as far as participation, do you just call on volunteers? Prof.6: Within the groups, I try to get all of them to participate. Some of them participate more than others, tough…
9. I.: How much time do you allow for your own participation and how much class time do you devote to students‟ participation? Do you have any idea of balance between teacher talk and students‟ talk? Prof.6: Well, yes, I have some sense of time, I guess. The truth is that, sometimes, I think one of my weaknesses is that I tend to talk all the time… (She thinks)… I understand it would be very good for students to talk more… and really I think I do my best to have them participate …(She thinks)…but I do think that I‟m sometimes not too aware that I do all the talking… I should try to avoid that much more, I guess…since the most important thing is to have students speak in class. . I.: Ok.
10. I.: Do you ever find yourself having students talk first, then notice the structure, and then engage them in more guided practice, like the reverse order of the Presentationpractice-Production sequence in question three, I mean… Prof.6: No, I don‟t think so…
11. I.: Do you translate some structures to clarify concepts? Prof.6: Yes, I do it at times. Anyway, it‟s important for them not to translate, I guess. It hets them stuck when they translate… It sometimes does help to show them how it is used in Spanish as a way of comparing the use of some grammar structure in both languages. This is different from a literal translation, you see?. It‟s fundamental for them to tell use from function. I.: Such as?
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Prof.6: (She thinks)… such as, for example, take the “Present Perfect”. It is not used in the same way in Buenos Aires, for example… I.: You mean, a regional variety, right? Prof.6: … Right! It‟s a variety of use. (She hesitates)… I don‟t know, I tell them something like: “He fracasado mucho en mi vida96”.
12. I.: Do you use the target language in class all the time? Prof.6: Always. The more they are exposed to English, the more they incorporate... I.: Ok.
13. I.: Do you correct students‟ mistakes yourself? How? Prof.6: Well, you see? I try to get them to provide the right version themselves… If I see they are having a hard time… then I give them the right version… Sometimes they correct themselves right away… Many of them recognize the mistakes immediately, you see? I do not interrupt because that can lower their own confidence, you know? I sometimes write down the mistakes on different slips of paper and at the end I distribute the slips to them to take a look. Now, when I notice many of them make the same recurrent mistake, then I do a group correction. I would say things like: “Do you remember when…so and so… about…” Take pronunciation errors, for example. Sometimes they fail to pronounce the /t/ in the past tense form of a verb… well, then I would make them notice this and give them the rule … (She thinks)… and then, they will remember... (She thinks)… but “peer correction” I guess I don‟t do… no, I don‟t… I.: Ok. What‟s a mistake for you? Prof.6: Well, it could be mispronouncing a word for instance, or a grammar mistake… (She thinks)… a mistake of language use. It depends… I.: On what? Prof.6: Well, basically, I correct what is relevant for the class. I.: Ok. And what do you think? Why do you correct mistakes?
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“I‟ve failed a lot in my life” The translation “He fallado…” in porteño Spanish (Buenos Aires) translates into “fallé (I failed)”, rather than the literal translation “he fallado” (I have failed). Unlike porteño Spanish, other regional varieties, especially in the provinces from the North, they would definitely say “he fallado” to refer to the same utterance.
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Prof.6: So that errors don‟t get fossilized, I guess. You correct them to get students to recognize and see the right version. But you can‟t correct everything at once because you run the risk of making the student lose self-confidence, and that‟s real bad for learning to take place, and the students freak out, you know?
14. I.: Do you share a correction code in class? Prof.6: Well, yes, we have a code. It‟s useful to share a code. I sometimes make gestures in oral speech, I don‟t interrupt them… I: Gestures? Prof.6: Yes, for example, I signal with my hand moving backwards, and they understand they need to use the past tense…or the hand moving forward, it‟s future instead…I may dray the “S” of third person singular with my hand in the air, and things like that, you see?..
15 I.: Do you encourage individual exercises in class? Prof.6: Yes, both individual and group work.
16. I.: Do you favor “accuracy” over “fluency” or vice versa? Prof.6: (She thinks)… Both I guess. I suppose “fluency” is more important, really… because they need to talk, you know? And they do not always speak accurately; otherwise, they would never talk. I have a communicative goal, you see? If they don‟t feel confident, then, they can‟t talk… that‟s what I think…
17. I.: Do you expose your students to triggering authentic texts or audios like videos, where the emphasis is laid on the content itself? Prof.6: Yes, sure. In videos and texts you can find the language used, colloquially, set phrases, vocabulary, accent, emphasis, etc. All these elements are also communication instruments and it‟s important for them to learn them.
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Interview 7 Teacher 7 Level taught: Adults: Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced.
I.: Hi, How are you doing? Prof.7: Fine… I.: Thanks for your time. Prof.7: No problem… I.: Shall we start? Prof.7: Sure, shoot! I.: Ok… I‟ll ask you some questions from your everyday practice. I need you to tell me if the issues posed are familiar in your practice, and also, if you can, I would like you to add all the examples you feel like to illustrate your comments. Ok? Prof.7: Ok.
1. I.: Do you explain the rules explicitly and then systematize them? Do you use specific terminology? Prof.7: Let‟s see… Somewhere in the classroom…let‟s say… (She thinks) I explain rules, always trying, as far as I can, to give plenty of examples to show the use of the structures in a context… I.: You give them examples like? Prof.7: Well, yes, with examples to show how that structure is used, you know? I.: Ok. Do you use specific terminology? Prof.7: … Well, some rules are simpler to explain with specific terminology, I think… I.: Such as? Prof.7: …Let me see … (She thinks)…well, like inversion of order for questions…it‟s better to remember it if, say, you get them to tell a verb from a subject...At least, I guess it works for some students... (She thinks)… but only for those students who prefer to get the terminology right. In the case of adults, there‟s this student who you know will ask you for the specific terminology, you know? Then I think they need an explanation. At the same time, you may have those students who don‟t need it. In general, I would say I‟m always ready to offer both options to cater to different kinds of students and styles.
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I.: Well, then, would you say that in general you do offer explanation of rules and a sistematization? Prof.7: Yes, yes, I do.… In general, I do … always taking different students‟ learning styles… but yes, I do.
2. I.: Ok. And tell me, do you expose your students to quizzes and multiple choice exercises to practice grammar structures? Prof.7: Hmmm…No, I don‟t think I ever do them… (She thinks)…Perhaps on some rare occasion, but, to tell you the truth, I can‟t remember now… I don‟t like exercises without a meaningful context. They are confusing and … frankly, I don‟t think lead to a better understanding of grammar use… I.: Ok, thank you. Shall we go on with the next question? Prof.7: Go ahead!
3. I.: Do you respect the “Presentation-Practice-Production” sequence when you have to introduce a new grammar structure? Prof.7: (She thinks)…Let me see how I can put it…I always start with a good context, for example with a text; from there, we move on to global comprehension of the text… (She thinks)…for example, eliciting the new structure, so that they can fix it somehow… I.: You mean getting them to notice it? Prof.7: Yes, yes, sure. I ask them: "What do you notice?" In general, in the answers, you can detect questions that have to do with “form” and “meaning” too, obviously. Once they‟ve noticed the structure in different dimensions, then we do pass on to some guided practice, and then, some free production activities... I.: …So, let‟s say you respect the three P‟s, laying some emphasis on “noticing” the grammar structure in context before practice and production stages. Right? Prof.7: That‟s right.
4. I.: Good… Do you sometimes engage your students into some repetition exercises?
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Prof.7: (She thinks)… Let‟s see… I only use repetition drills within a ludic context…And definitely if I do, only in oral contexts. I.: What contexts? Prof.7: …Well, like asking a certain question to guess something, for instance… (She thinks)… I think, in any case, repetition serves some ludic purpose I.: I see.
5. I.: Do you expose your students to authentic texts, either fragments of movies, audios or texts where the emphasis is on the content itself, rather than on the grammar structure? Anyway, I‟ve seen you in class. (She laughs). Prof.7: (She laughs back) I can see you know me …yes, yes, very often. With beginners, songs come in handy … since you need to find the way to stop them from getting frustrated at times.
6. I.: Ok. The next question is related to oral production. Do you engage your students in role-play or similar group activities? ? Prof.7: Yes, yes, especially to practice different functions… (She thinks)…and for the sake of free production also. 7. I.: Do you get your students to work in pairs or small groups much? Prof.7: Almost all the time. I take advantage of students‟ exchanges, and besides, they help each other in the pairs with this thing of the zone of proximal development between weaker and better students. As a teacher, I constantly monitor and try to get them fall back on their own peers to solve difficulties. I.: Ok.
8. I.: Good. And students‟ distribution in the classroom, do you change them often? Do you only call on those students who are willing to participate? Prof.7: I change their distribution very often indeed, depending on the objectives, you know? It sometimes happens that the best students get all together, and I would much rather have them mix around with those who have more difficulties. 106
I.: How do you get them to do that? Prof.7: Well, actually, I don‟t tell them… Not in a specific way, at least. (She thinks)…, I just ask them to work with someone they haven‟t worked before… or may be, they end up in groups I‟ve arranged beforehand, without telling them, you know? … like, I number them in a way that seems random, but it really is not…In general, I let the volunteers participate first, but then I may call on someone if I see he is too quiet, for example. Or I may also ask the last one to talk, to call on the next one, or things like that...
9. I.: Ok. What‟s the balance between class time devoted to your talking and class time devoted to your students? Any idea? Prof.7: Well, yes, I guess… I don‟t devote too much time to my own explanations. I: Why? Prof.7: As a matter of fact, It is tedious, you know?... I suppose it‟s boring for students as well.
10. I.: Do you find yourself getting students to talk first, then having them go through some structure noticing, and then guided practice? Prof.7: (She thinks)…The truth is I guess I tried some time ago to do it that way… (She thinks) …I started off with a game, I guess … (She thinks)… but, it doesn‟t somehow come out naturally that sequence. I.: Ok.
11. I.: Do you translate any time to clarify concepts? Prof.7: I think it is necessary in level one, especially at the beginning… then as the course moves forward in time you gradually pass on to English. From levels two onwards, the whole class speaks English throughout. I.: Ok.
12. I.: Do you use the target language in class? 107
Prof.7: Yes, exposure to the target language is fundamental.
13. I.: And when it comes to errors, do you provide them with the right version? How do you handle error treatment?
Prof.7: I always try to ask them back… like, trying to get them self-correct errors. That way you have students see the mistake. Obviously, you can do that when the focus of the activity is grammar. When the focus is more on communication, I take down notes and we work with mistakes with the whole group once the activity is over.
14. I.: Do you share a correction code in class? Prof.7: Of course we do. We do group and peer correction, especially peer correction. It is more significant and effective that way.
15. I.: Do you engage students in individual exercises? Prof.7: Not at all. I.: Why? Prof.7: Because I think that the class is the best environment to work cooperatively in groups. They can always do individual work back at home.
16. I.: Let‟s see… do you favor “fluency” over “accuracy” or vice versa? Prof.7: I think I favor fluency when it comes to oral production and practice… (She thinks)… and it is even my priority when I first read their written production a well… I mean first drafts, you know? What‟s more, in fact, grammar accuracy for level one is not a priority at all… if the students‟ output is comprehensible, that‟s all I care about… I.: And with written work? Prof.7: Well, in that case I encourage their own revision as many times as they can... I.: I see…
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I.: One last question, then, ¿do you use authentic texts? Prof.7: Of course I do, and I think they are good to provide samples of communicative and aesthetic content, beyond the target structures themselves. I.: Well, thanks again for your time. Prof.7: You‟re welcome.
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Interview 8 Teacher 8 Level taught: Adults: Intermediate. I.: I‟d like to ask you a few questions on isssues related to your daily practice. Prof. 7: Sure. I: Ok, please, stop at every question and tell me whether it has to do with questions you have to deal with in the classroom. You‟re welcome to come up with as many examples as you feel like. Prof.8: Great! I.: Ok, let‟s see… the first question says... Prof.8: (She interrupts) Wait! Let me put on my glasses… Ok, ready, now!
1. I.: Do you explain grammar rules explicitly and then systematize them? And the next one is related… it asks whether you use specific grammar terminology… Prof.8:
I
see…Yes!
I
definitely
do
both…
I.: Ok, Could you enlarge on the answer a bit more? Prof.8: Well, yes…it‟s like… (She thinks)… people need to learn the rules, much like they learnt at school, you know? I mean… in Spanish, right? Well, basically, I think the same happens with English. Is it clear? I.: Yes… and what about specific terminology? Prof.8: Well, yes, yes. Especially when it comes to tenses, you know? I mean, if we are dealing with, say, “Future Tense”, I always call it by its name, even with younger students…. I mean, we talk about “Simple Past”, “Regular Verbs”, and so on… (She thinks) … not a whole explanation, perhaps, but yes, I use the specific word to name the grammar structure on focus… and I just love it! You know? … I: What in particular? Prof.8: The fact that they correct themselves then… and they use the terminology to correct themselves. That‟s great. They talk about “Countable” and “Uncountable” nouns, or “Regular” and “Irregular” verbs… they know their stuff… Even those courses
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of younger students … I like to cater to that possibility and, sort of “squeeze” them as much as I can, you know? Why not?
2. I.: I see… and tell me, do you expose them to “quizzes” and “multiple Choice” exercises to practice grammar structures. Prof.8: Hmmmm….Yes….no…. well….I don‟t know…. (She thinks)…It depends, I guess. I.: On what? Prof.8: Well…. It depends on the level of difficulty….You do not always have to teach such difficult stuff, you know? In fact, I get them to do “quizzes” and “multiple choice” exercises for complex stuff, like… I don‟t know, like (She thinks)… the use of “Past Perfect”… or some, I don‟t know, structures like….(She thinks again)…structures like, “Passive Voice”, “Tag Questions”… more difficult stuff to internalize, sort of... if the topics are simpler, they just engage in exercises and practice, and that‟s it… I.: To be on the same page, what do you mean by “exercises and practice”? Prof.8: … (She thinks)…let me think…True/False exercises, or choose the right tense or fill in the blanks stuff, for instance… And practice is less guided… I: Like Production? Prof.8: Yes, yes free production, as opposed to guided exercises.
3. I.: Let‟s pass on to the next question; it refers to the sequence “Presentation-PracticeProduction” when you introduce a new grammar structure? Prof.8: Yes, let‟s see … You mean, when teaching some grammar stuff, right? I.: Right. Prof.8: Yes, I follow that order.
4. I.: Ok. And tell me: do you have your studets participate in repetition activities to fix structures before engaging into guided practice or free production ? Prof.8: …Yes, I guess… I do simple guided activities…before any production stage, let‟s say, more freely … I.: I think the question refers to repetition drills… 111
Prof.8: … Ahh! …no, no….not repetition drills, no….unless (She thinks) well, just in some special cases to fix some pronunciation questions… (She thinks)… Repetition of some verb forms, yes… or, things like… (She thinks) the “s” in “Third Person Singular” … but, otherwise, I don‟t like them. (She thinks) What I do is lots of open ended kind of role-plays, and also lots of guided practice instances…lots.
5. I.: Ok... Do you expose your students to audios, videos or texts to contextualize gramar structures? Prof.8: Hmmm…yes, I use texts as context…Readings, definitely and audios also… I try to bring interesting newspaper articles, for example… (She thinks)…movies, not so much… I.: Is there any particular reason ori s it just that you don‟t feel as comfortable with movie fragments? Prof.8: Hmmmm, maybe yes… probably I don‟t feel as comfortable with movie fragments, right? Anyway, I think it is very important to provide a context. Generally, I look for articles related to the content of the unit I‟m dealing with.
6. I.: I see…the other question refers to role-play activities or free production activities… I watched you the other day and you were conducting a role-play. So I guess you like them… Prof.8: (She smiles) I sure do. Yes, obviously. I get them engaged in those activities, more free activities I mean, especially after solamente cuando está muy aceitado lo dado ya, o the structures I taught have aready been systematized, you know? I mean… once people feel real confident about using them…or, well, if there are any doubts or I see they stumble over some ítem because it seems not altogether clear, I sort of put off the free oral activity until they are more confident… But I‟m constantly getting them into role-plays or discussions, you see? It‟s far more fun and enriching that way. 7. I.: … You work in groups or pairs much? Prof.8: Sure.
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8. I.: I see. What can you tell me about the distribution of students in the classroom. Do you get them to change positions or partners much? Do you let participate just those who volunteer? Prof.8: Let‟s see… Students are always sitting in groups in my classes… (She thinks) before, I guess I used to change them more often, now, I don‟t so much anymore… I guess adults work better with other adults they feel more comfortable with… with people they get along better with. I don‟t know… (She thinks) … if, if if changing them is so good after all…It probably is not. I.: Ok. What about particiption? Prof.8: Well, probably more participative or extroverted kind of people tend to participate more than shy students. The shy ones, I don‟t know, I guess one tries to motivate them to participate somehow. (She thinks) Otherwise, it‟s always the eager beavers in class… while others keep silent…
9. I.: Ok. The next question is about class time. I mean the balance between yourself talking, explaining, checking, etc. and students participating themselves. Prof.8: I try not to talk too much in class. (She thinks) Jut when there‟s like some empty silent kind of time… like, when there‟s some concept not clear enough or things like that… For grammar explanations I use the board . I try to elicit explanations from them. For instance, some student says something like: “This is like this because such and such reason”; I generally let him expose his idea, I mean, I try lo elicit the explanation from that student that looks like he really understood the rule, you see?. The thing is the explanation doesn‟t always have to come from the teacher and they are like passive writing down notes.
10. I.: Ok. This eads us on to the next question: do you sometimes have them talk freely first, ten notice the rule and then practice the structure in a more guided way? Prof.8: No… (She thinks) no, probably I don‟t do it like that. Generally I present the topic first… generally through a reading text, more than listening text or a video. But I don‟t start with a freer production activity first, no, no… not in that order. 113
I always explain grammar in a real context, like for example, if someone asks about anything, my first question is: “In what context?” “Does it sound good to you?”. I always get them to think of a context first to understand the situation where they would say such thing.
11. I.: Ok, let‟s pass on to the next one… Prof.8: Sure. I.: Do you ever translate structures to clarify concepts? Prof.8: No, never.
12. I.: Ok. And do you use the target language in class? Prof.8: Yes, yes, of course…even with more elementary students.
13. I.: Ok. And how do you treat mistakes? Do you correct yourself? Prof.8: Hmmmm… (She thinks) That depends… I.: On what? Prof.8: Well, it all depends on the kind of activity. If they are talking about anything, I do correct them. I.: For example? Prof.8: Let me see, if for example a student is telling me something that happened in the past, and says things like: “she have”, I tell them: “she had” and the conversation goes on. Now, before a role-play, I prepare them… I: How? Prof.8: Well, I divide them before I give them cards, you know?... like the other day, right? You‟ve seen me, right? I: (She nods) Prof.8: Well, what I mean is that I prepare them… I sort of give them different tasks within the group. I: Tasks? Prof.8: Yeah, tasks, like some will focus on “useful language”, others on fluency, some others on mistakes, for instance. Like that they are all paying attention to what is being 114
said… and sometimes…even some students detect something that escapes me, you know? Then at the end, we discuss good and bad points of the role-play pairs all together. Even with beginners, this technique helps a lot… maybe it is hard at the beginning, but then, they get used to it…
14. I.: Who takes care of correcting mistakes? Prof.8: Generally, they correct within the groups…at least, well… (She thinks)…like I was telling you before... In case of written work, if they are long, well it depends on what and how much they write…I sometimes I take them home…(She thinks)…anyway, I do tell them we will be doing error correction, you see?... then they have some order to follow, you see? I: How would that be? Prof.8: First, content; then, I have them underline what‟s wrong; and finally, they give the work back to their “peers”. I take them home only when they have already seen it. When I check their work, if the corrections are ok, I tick them off. Otherwise, I correct over the previous correction. In any case, everybody learns.
15. I.: Do students work individually on grammar exercises? Prof.8: No, not really. When we use the textbook, sometimes they do it individually. Then at the end, they check corrections in groups. If there‟s “disagreement”, then we check them all together.
16. I.: Which do you favor: “accuracy” or “fluency”? Prof.8: Well… it all depends. I.: On what? Prof.8Well, (She thinks)…I would say, it all depends on the level, I guess. Intermediate students upwards, both tend to be important for me… if you hear a student, who sounds real fluent, but keeps making grammar mistakes, well, you need to focus more on accuracy… then there‟s this other student, who refuses to take risks…and…he…he…he is accurate, but doesn‟t speak much fluently… you need to encourage him to keep on talking and run risks. I mean…there‟s got to be some balance. Probably, after certain 115
level, you need to focus on both. I try to seek balance all the time... Now, with lower level students, you need to make them feel confident and lose their fear to talk somehow. Some students have had very bad experiences… I try to correct them very little in those cases, I just need to encourage them to talk and participate more. With intermediate students and advanced, I try to work both “accuracy” and “fluency”… I try…
17. I.: Well, then, there‟s the last one. It‟s about the use of authentic texts as context, either audios, videos or just readings? Prof.8: Yes… like “Short Stories” you mean, right? I.: Right… or articles for that matter... Prof.8: Ah, yes, sure. If I have the time, yes. …(She thinks)… unless I‟m pressed for time, like rushed by completing the objectives... The other day, for example, I found a segment on You Tube, you know?... about Elizabeth Holmes, do you know who she is? I.: …? Prof.8: Yes…it‟s this guy who somehow came up with the blood test out of… out of… just a drop of blood…. she was the first one to implement it… I mean, without having to stick a needle… and well, just like that, a simple drop of blood and you can tell the blood type right away… Well, I used this video in class because we were dealing with “entrepreneurs” in the unit., and it went very well, from the point of view of content, you see? . I didn‟t brought that in for a grammar point in itself, though, you see? It just had to do with the topic of the unit, and it was really enriching. I.: Well, thank you very much. Prof.8: You‟re welcome
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Interview 9 Profesor 9 Level taught: Advanced, FCE, ESP Elementary and Business English Intermediate. I.: I‟d like to ask you a few questions on your practice. You can explain, comment and add whatever details from your experience that you feel relevant. Ok? . Prof.9: Ok… yes, yes. I.: Well, let‟s see … we‟ll start by the first one. Shall we? Prof.9: Yes, go ahead.
1. I.: Do you explain grammar rules in an explicit way? In case you do, do you use specific terminology? Prof.9: Well, yes I do explain rules in class. I teach advanced courses and tehy need to know the rule, you know?... some of my students are preparing First Certificate exams for instance… I need to explain the rules, definitely. I mean I tell them about Direct Object, for instance… I.: …Ok… And what about other courses. Do not just focus on FCE or CAE, just think about the other courses as well… Prof.9: Well, in the case of business courses, for example, I think I don‟t use specific terminology…the level is too low…I can`t use specific terminology much… I.: Let me see if I got it right. You don‟t use specific terminology unless you‟re teaching advacnced students. Right? Prof.9: Yes, yes..maybe higher intermediate students upwards…
2. I.: And do you use “quizzes” or “multiple choice exercise” to practice grammar rules? Prof.9: Yes, sure… There are many in the book, and tehy‟re really good…. Yes, I like them, especially when you need to practice a structure they‟ve just learnt, you know?, The exercise help them..(She tries to find the right word)…”vocalize them?”… (She makes gestures) I.: Verbalize them?
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Prof.9: Yes, that‟s the word, verbalize them. I mean… they internalize the rule that way, they write it… they read it… it‟s good.
3. I.: Do you respect the Presentation-Practice-Production sequence when you deal with a new grammar structure? Prof.9: Yes, yes. We may say I do. They need to internalize first the structures before they pass on to producing them freely. They need lots of input… I.: There‟s one question that talks specifically about context… Prof.9: Well, yes, … I always try to look for lots of input to provide context…
4. I.: Ok… let‟s see… Do you ever resort to repetition drills before practice? Prof.9:…Hmmmm… Repetition drills? (She smiles)
Is it still done? I mean, like
exercises from “Living English Structures”? I.: … Prof.9: Well, I don‟t know… maybe with kids at school… perhaps I do… I guess you sort of fix some structures when you repeat them… but I don‟t do that with adults, no, I don‟t. Adults are different…Aldo Blanco97 would say… I:..? Prof.9: Well, he would say… “there‟s not just one way of teaching and learning? I: Did he say that in the late seventies, early eighties? Good! (She laughs) Prof.9: (She laughs back) Quite ahead of his own time, right? I.: Let‟s see… you mean then that it all depends on the situation…Is that right? Prof.9: Exactly, that‟s right… I think in general, there are activities where they need to internalize the structures first in order to produce them later on. It‟s not by repeating they internalize them, I think…. I do think they need input a lot…where the structure is being used in a natural way, you know? Sometimes it‟s hard to find contexts, I mean a short video… I mean it‟s sometimes hard to find…
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Reference to a well-known grammar teacher from “Lenguas Vivas” and “Joaquín V. Gonzalez”, English Teacher Training Colleges in Buenos Aires.
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5. I.: You‟ve somehow answered the next question... it‟s about exposing your students to video fragments, movies, or reading texts to contextualize grammar structures? Prof.9: Yes, yes… It‟s what I was telling you, right?… As far as I can, I try to find contexts… (She thinks) …like, for example, the other day I was teaching:“Remember + ING”, and tehre‟s this student who didn‟t understand the pattern somehow…and ket saying things like: “I don‟t understand it, I can‟t use it”… The thing is that a couple of days later, I‟m watching an interview to Harrison Ford, you know? I: Aha… Prof: Well … yes, when he had this accident, this plane crash? I: Yes, I remember. Prof.9: Well, the thing is he was flying this plane and crashed it… so he says something like:“I remember walking in the woods…and talking to…” … and then I realized… I: What? Prof.9: Sure…I will use this fragment with my student... I.: And you showed it? Prof.9: Sure, I showed it… yes!.... but some other times it‟s hard to find ther ight text or segment… I.: And you showed it after teaching the structure in this case, right? Prof.9: Yes, I showed it afterwards… Sometimes I find some context before…but as I said…it‟s not always easy to find the right structure in a natural context… I.: No, right… but you try to contextualize anyway or not? Prof.9: Ah yes, definitely… much input to internalize and produce later on…much input…I‟m always looking for fragments to exemplify structures. Perhaps, not every class. You can‟t process too much information in just one class … it‟s too much …You may use another fragment as “warm up” some other class, I mean… for example… much information in just one class…we use it later on too… I.: What Diane Larsen Freeman would call “Horizontal Planning?”… Prof.9: Exactly… you bring that up in another stage some other class… Anyway, it‟s hard to find all the structures used in a natural way…
6. I.: Do you engage your students in role-plays or other group interaction activities of the kind? 119
Prof.9: Yes… I use the role-play activities from the etxt book…they‟re really good! … I.: Why do you like them? Prof.9: (She thinks)…Because they verbalize “functions”, they manage to use the language they‟ve learnt… it‟s good…
7. I.: Do you get your students to work in pairs or groups? Prof.9: I don‟t know if I do that much… I really… really have them work in pairs, yes … small groups too… (Se laughs) … in fact, my groups are real small...Seriously now… the book is good…you can engage them in “jigsaw readings”, “picture discussions” and many other group activities, yes…
8. I.: And who participates? Do you get them to change groups much? Prof.9: No, no, I don‟t… I don‟t think I get them to change groups...only if they themselves change… but I do make sure everybody participates. I call on each and every one, I mean, what‟s this idea of “just the ones who volunteer?”…no way (She skakes her head)…well, unless one day one does not want to participate for some special reason, well, it‟s ok… otherwise everybody should participate in my classes… I.:You mean you respect if they don‟t feel like…. Prof.9: (She interrupts) Sure, I respect that… one day you may have gotten out of bed on the wrong side, you know? (She smiles)… You realize how your students feel somehow, you see? That off day … you know?... you are a mum, and you know… Right?
9. I.:How much classtime do you devote to talking yourself? Any idea of teacher talk time vs. Student talk? Balance, I mean… Prof.9: I don‟t know… (She thinks) How? I.: I guess the question refers to monitoring teacher‟s interventions, like her doing the talking, either explaining or checking, in control…as opposed to students talking and interacting…that‟s what I mean by that…like percentage of “teacher talk” vs. “student talk”… at times one has the idea of time spent on our own talk in class and the students‟ participation moments… 120
Prof.9: I see… I really don‟t know… I think I never thought about that… I guess I make students participate in an activity or reading a text too…I don‟t know…(She thinks)…I guess I‟m not talking all the time… Well, one always guides your students, right?… but I don‟t know… perhaps not…I‟m not talking all the time… I.: Sometimes we don‟t realice until we are being observed by an outsider… Prof.9: You‟re right… right…but anyway, I think I don‟t…
10. I.: Ok… and do you ver let your students talk, then you have them notice some structure, and then engae them into guided practice? Like the reverse order sequence exposed in question three? Prof.9: … Hmmm… I don‟t think so… it‟s the other possibility, I see, right? I.: Right, something like… “Production+ Presentation+Practice” Prof.9:…Hmmmm… I guess students can‟t produce freely…unless they are exposed formally to it… (She thinks)…for example, “simple past”…they won‟t produce it if they haven‟t internalized it first…no, I don‟t think so. Now, if we‟re talking about…say, transparent structures, you know? I.:… Like?... Prof.9: Like,… I mean… “ passive voice”… I: …? Prof.9: (She thinks) I don‟t know… I guess some structures seem more transparent to me... I mean in the sense that they look more like structures in Spanish…perhaps in those cases, they may produce them more freely there…but, in general, I don‟t think they can produce freely first…I mean if they haven‟t seen it first in class… unless, of course, they have some previous background knowledge.... Let‟s take the “future perfect”… Who will ever produce it if they haven‟t been exposed to it?… no, I don‟t think it is ever possible…
11. I.: Ok… Let‟s pass on to the next question… Do you translate any structures to clarify concepts? Prof.9:… (She laughs) If I try to clarify, it might grow even darker! (She laughs again) Seriously, no I don‟t...(She thinks)…unless I don‟t know… unless I realice students
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haven‟t understood one word or structure…mainly because of interference between English and Spanish, I guess… I.: Like “contrastive analysis”? Prof.9: No, I don‟t know… not like that… I wouldn‟t know how to do it, I guess…what I really mean is for example, like when you tell your students things like: “watch out! Because in Spanish you say it in a different way, right?” (She thinks)… only when there‟s some specific term I find interesting to mention … for example: “ripoff”… the other day, I found the word “ripoff” in an article, and I told them, it means “es un afano” … the truth is that “ripoff” means “afano”… I.: Sure, I see… not just “un robo”(a robbery)… Prof.9: Right… I remember one anecdote back in the Teaher Education College…I was young.. I was doing the practicum... and I was practicing… Fabricant98 was watching the class, you know? Do you remember Fabricant, don‟t you?… I.:(She nods and smiles)…Uf! Yes, I do… Prof. 9:Yes, Ido, I do… She was always hanging around with Cresta… Do you remember him? Prof.9: Not him…but Fabricant, wow! … Well, the thing is, you know? I was teaching with one text… and there was a reference to “The House of Commons”... So, there I am, you see? telling this bunch of teenagers the activities of “The House of Commons” … and I was like, a long time struggling with the explanation… and at one point, Fabricant comes up to me and says: “why don‟t you just translate it into Spanish…?” (She laughs) … and,yes, she was absolutely right… “Parlamento” would have solved the problem… (She laughs again)… They were my first practices, and I was still green, I guess…. I was afraid… I don‟t know…. The Communicative Approach was in full swing…. And I was afraid to use translation… I don‟t know… just commonsense…. (She laughs again) I.: (Smiles back) Right…
12. I.: Well, I guess you‟ve already answered the next question too, which is precisely about the use of the target language in class…
98
Reference to a well-known Methodology teacher at the Joaquín V. Gonzalez Teacher Education College.
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Prof.9: I guess I have… I…I…use it all the time, yes… unless, again they are really at a loss… even with more elemenatry students
13. I.: And what about mistakes? How are they corrected? Prof.9: It all depends… Do you mean written or oral? I.: What would be the difference? Prof.9: Well, when students are speaking, I do my best to get them to go back on what they‟ve said when they make a mistake… but many times I don‟t succeed… (She laughs) … sometimes they forget (She laughs again) … or I myself forget … I: …? Prof.9:… I don‟t know … when I talk, I write the mistakes on the board so that when they finish, I give them feedback … (She laughs)…once I forgot afterwards and you know? I erased the board myself… (She laughs) I.: (She laughs) Prof.9: ..Seriously…I write down and then we focus on mistakes… I.: I see. And the written work? Prof.9: I don‟t cross off the mistakes …I just underline the kind of error … I don‟t know, it‟s like… (She thinks) … if it‟s a spelling mistake, or wrong tense, for instance…they, sort of, understand the code… So, ideally… how shall I put it?... (She thinks) …the idea is to get them to correct those mistakes on their own… but I can‟t always do that, you know?... (She thinks again)… It depends I.: On what? Prof.9: Well, it depends on… on the level, I guess. For FCE or CAE… it‟s one thing… I.: Forget about FCE or CAE, right? Just for a while… think about regular courses… Prof.9: Well, in general courses, and in the case of elemenatry students, I guess they need lots of monitoring since they make plenty of mistakes. With advanced sutudents, I let them tañk more fluently... Anyway I prefer to provide the corrections myself , you know?... I wouldn‟t like a peer to correct my work… in fact… (She thinks)… nobody really wants others to correct your mistakes… not at all… I: Ok, I see… I think this relates to the next question… let me see…(She reads the question)… Who corrects mistakes?...I think you‟ve already made your point on this issue… right?
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14. Prof.9: Absolutely! I definitely correct all mistakes… it‟s always me… We never do group correction. It‟s hard to correct in groups, you know?... I: …? Prof.9: Well, yes… I mean, in case of written work, they may not all of them bring their work to class on teh same day to be corrected… things like that… it doesn`t facilitae matters that way, you see?...No, no, definitely I prefer to do it myself…
15. I.: Do you engage students in individual grammar practice in class? Prof.9: (She thinks) Yes, both individual and group work.…For instance, the exercises from the textbook, they do individually. Bear in mind that some students are university students, and they are used to working individually… I:…? Prof.9: Well, yes…I mean they have the skills to do so… and they prefer to do so. 16. I.: And which do you prefer: “accuracy” or “fluency”‟? Prof.9: You mean accurate production? Iwell, yes… Would you rather have your students be fluent or accurate? Think about both ends of the continuum:“accuracy vs. fluency”… Prof.9: Let me think… first things first, I focus on accuracy… in teh case of written work, you know? If there are too many mistakes, you don‟t understand a thing… you have to correct grammar first! … then, maybe, you can read to understand, on a second reading, I guess... Otherwise, I get lost!...
17. I.: Do you use authentic texts, either listening or reading texts? Prof.9: Yes, sure… the textbooks bring many reading samples… I: Well, thanks for your time. Prof. 9. My pleasure!
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APPENDIX III
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Appendix III Observations Observacion Form
Observation 1 Teacher 1 Level: Pre Advanced Duration of the visit: 1 hour Unit: 10 Students: 6
Class description Part I At the beginning of the class, the teacher is explaining issues related to oral portfolios. Students ask questions and the teacher answers. The class is conducted in English throughout.
Part II The teacher asks students to focus on the reading material, The Solitary Cyclist.
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The group dynamics will be represented with arrows: the questions formulated by the teacher, represented by full line arrows. Each arrow indicates one intervention. The dotted line arrows represent the responses to the teacher‟s questions.
Exchange example: T (She refers to the story):… There‟s some point that‟s different in the story, right?
You see? Women weren‟t allowed to own things in those days. They needed a
man… at that time, women… (She keeps talking about the time the story takes place in)… Ok. Is she married? S1: she‟s engaged T: … but does she…? … Is she independent? S2: hmmm…no, she live with her mother T: …on her own…Does she work? S2: She is musician T: Ahhh…she is a musician. She teaches… S6: communication? T: how many different types of communication do you see? S3: Carruthers‟ son… T: So, well, this tells us the typical things in these times…there are similarities these days…Maybe Violet‟s mother is the typical woman at the times… again… is she independent? S3: She‟s pretty independent /INDÉPENDENT/. T: Ahaaaaa… …
Part III The teacher now gets back to the written portfolios she has just corrected. T: I will ask you for the oral portfolio to mention some reasons (She refers back to the story) You‟ll have to mention 2, 3 or 4 reasons…that‟s all… S1: For when is it?
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T: Next class. Not longer than two and a half, three minutes. Ok? Then, in 1 hour, I will give you the exams back. You go over the mistakes and we‟ll go one by one, right? Then you will have some minutes to write again…
Part IV T: Ok. Now. We‟ll go back to Unit 10 that is the last Unit in the book, right? S1: The last class we didn‟t touch the book… T: Let‟s start with Unit 10. What do you think we are going to talk about? S2: the care of… (He thinks for a while) … T: to care… S2: don‟t burning leaves T: don‟t burn. Lean, what do you think… what are we going to talk about? S4: To take care about the environment. Rubbish. T: You are at school, right? Do they teach you to separate garbage? Do you separate the garbage? S4: (She hesitates)…no, yes… T: What about you, Martin? S5: People don‟t aware… T: Ahaa… We are not aware of that…I see… T: … (She asks one student, who is more quiet and with some difficulties to express herself in English) … What about you? Have you seen what we do with the garbage at the university here? S6: … T: We…we… (She stutters) T: Have you read the labels of the dustbins at the university? S3: No… T: Shame on you (She addresses everybody)
V) T: Ok, now. Let‟s change groups. We are going to do an activity from the textbook. (The teacher makes some students stand up and change groups)
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The double headed arrows in this case, indicate exchanges within the pair. The students speak English. The teacher walks around, taking turns at sitting in different pairs to check instructions. From time to time, she corrects grammar mistakes individually. She uses “recast”. T: Lean, read the title and think about possible answers. S4: (He reads instructions from textbook)…. T: Look at the questions in the book. Think of what you would answer. T: (She addresses one student) Are you translating? S3: No… is it allowed? T: Use the English definitions…. S2: What‟s the English for “consumo”? T… (She thinks) Consume? What does the dictionary say? S1: (Hje reads) Hmmmm…Consumption? ¿Consumate? ...I don‟t know… T: Ok. I‟ll check during the break. Ok now. Let‟s ask one another to check the activity. (One student from one pair asks another student from the other pair, and vice versa) S5: (She reads to check answers)… T: Come on! Read properly, read more fluently! (She then turns to one student to answer a question) S6: (He reads from the text book) Do you give away clothes? What does “give away“ mean? T: What is to give away? S3: to throw? T: …Hmmm… not exactly…. S6: … T: I‟m asking you…. ok, I‟ll give you an example: it‟s like when you… (She gives an example)… You have to tell me now… Give me a synonim… S5: It‟s donate… T: Hmmm…Ok. S4: (He reads from the text book) …How can I recycle? T: Can you give him any suggestion? S2: You need two bins T: Ok. Let‟s see if after the reading, you get more ideas.
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…
Part V Students are now reding ar article from the text book that deals with recycling issues. They read out loud, taking turns at reading some lines each. T: (She repeats what the student has just read)… “we got rid of the car”. What‟s that? S1: Deshacerse T: In English! Threw away? Or didn‟t use it? S5: Throw away T: Threw away T: (Leyendo). What is “regret”? S2: … you can‟t do something and (She thinks)… T: It‟s when you say: “Oh! Why did I do that?” T: Ok. Now, let‟s check the reading in groups. Each group will focus on one different question and you will ask other groups to check answers. The teachers warn them that after the break they will discuss mistakes from portfolios all together. After the break, she writes some mistakes on teh board: THIS /THESE T: You have to be careful with mistakes, right? S4: I have problems with prepositions. T: How? S4: No in this … I have problems in longer writings…not in sentences alone… T: Oh! I see… Phrases should appear in a context, not on a list to study by heart, right? For example, listen…what preposition follows “listen”? …
Comments Partes I - IV The teacher is always in control of the class. The exchange is always the same: the teacher asks and checks and students answer. In these sections, participation is spontaneous. Students answer the questions individually. S6, for example, is really weak; however, the teacher tries to include her in the discussion. She finds it real hard to speak though. Here the teacher corrects grammar mistakes very seldom. She just corrects one student when he said: “don‟t burning leaves”, and she provided the student with the correct verb, and individually. The conversation is free. Much of the debate in the pairs is in Spanish. The board
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is not used for systematization so far. The teacher favors context all along. Communication and fluency are relevant in this part of teh class.
Parts V-VI The teacher is still in control of the class, monopolizing part of the talk. She changes group dynamics then. The exchange is in pairs, and the teacher circulates around to check work. Even if they look like they are working with other peers, they receive individual feedback. Here, students‟ participation is higher. Anyway, extroverted students participate more than shy students. From time to time, teacher tries to make the shy ones and the weak ones to join in. She doesn‟t always succed, though. The instructions are read out loud. The teacher seems to be more concerned with pronunciation errors or reading errors in this section. The teacher discourages the use of Spanish in this part of the class. The context keeps being relevant: utterance and grammar references are not isolated or disconnected from the context. In the las part, the teacher uses the board for the students to notice some grammar mistakes from the portfolios, which the teacher attributes to lack of attention. During the class, there‟s no reference to group error correction, nor do students and teacher make reference to a grammar code they share.
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Observation 2 Teacher 2 Level: 6, Pre Advanced. Duration of the visit: 1 hour Unit: 10 Studiants: 6
Class description I) At the beginning of the class, the teacher asks students about their week. The atmosphere is warm and friendly. Out of the six students in class, only two answer. At this point the teacher doesn`t give any feedback.
II) The teacher tells them they‟ve finished chapter 10 from the text book. The grammar structure on focus is Present Perfect. The content is “Social networks”. The teacher asks her students to take a look at the pictures from the text book and asks them to report on what they see. The exchanges may be represented by questions asked by the teacher (full line arrows) always in the same sense. The dotted line arrows represent students‟ answers
Exchange: T: What can you see? S1: a telephone S3: a fax
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S1: a mailbox T: What can you see in the mailbox? S1: a picture? T: what do you call all of this? S6: communication? T: how many different types of communication do you see? S1: cell phones… T: yes…very good… cell phones, Skype… do you Skype much? S1: Yes, my sister lives in Germany. T: Does anybody else Skype? …… T: What else? S1: e-mail, Facebook, Whatsapp… S3: Personal, I use Whatsapp… ……. T: Let‟s take a look at the table: Fer, read 1b. S1: (She reads grammar rule) T: Ok. Can you take turns at reading the instructions? S6: (He reads line 3) S3: (He reads línea 4) (One student asks about “blog”. S1 explains in English) S1: …that is a blog of cine T: (Correcting) a cinema blog S1: Yes a cinema blog… and people there… T: (Correcting): the owner… S1: Yes, the owner puts estrenos… T: (Correcting) Ahhh…the upcoming events S1: Sí. T: Well, you see, a blog can be about anything. It can be about problems, the Programa de Lenguas, anything…. The PLU has a blog, by the way… (To the students) Does anybody have a blog? S6: In Facebook I have a blog… I don‟t remember the exactly name… T: (Correcting) exact… S3: Put different thing… T: (Making gestures pointing at her to remid the student to inslude the subject of the utterance) S3… T: “I” put different things, ok...all right?. Does anybody else have a blog?
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S3: I have a blog T: Really? Are you the owner? S3: I‟m one of them. T: What‟s the name? S3: Indie. T (To the rest): Do you know what Indie music is? S3: It like combinates Pop and Rock T: What kind of artists do you include? S3: We post Radio Heads. T: Good! (To the rest) Indie Bands are not Heavy at all. They are completely mainstream. S3: There‟s a lot of bands. T: Lots of bands go to Lola Palluza. Do you listen to Indie Bands? S3. Yes, yes… I listen music and sing T: (Correcting) listen to music… you always listen to music.
III) T: What do you think are the negative things of Social Networks? S2: Insecurity, sharing phone numbers, it‟s not safe S1: My wife have a… T: (Correcting) has S1: She has a social network to find cats and dogs that are loose T: lost S1: lost yes. The people put different things… feel “libres” T: (Adding) free S1: If you don‟t need to put something… T:(Correcting) didn‟t need S1: (She resumes her previous exchange)… you don‟t write T: (Correcting) you wouldn‟t write
IV) T: ok let‟s catch up with the Listening Activity. (She addresses S2) S2, please, read the instructions S2: (He reads) (Students do a listening task and work individually now)
V) The teacher writes the following sentences on teh board:
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I‟VE ALREADY CONNECTED THE TESTS I HAVEN‟T FINISHED COOKING YET WE‟VE JUST FINISHED THE LISTENING T: We‟ll do some grammar now. We‟ll read 4 a. (Each student takes turns at reading one sentence from the book. All the sentences are related to the use of Presente Perfect Tense) S2: (He reads) we have been to many paces already. S1: We didn‟t think it was possible to travel so much. T: Now, do the exercise to complete with “just” and “already”. (She explains) Use “just” for something that has just happened S3: We‟ve just finished the listening T: These are adverbs. They go after the auxiliary and before the verb. “Yet” goes at the end. (Señala el pizarrón para ejemplificar). How do you form the Present Perfect? We have have/has and the third column that is the past participle of the main verb, right? We use this tense for an experience or things that started in the past but are relevant now, yes? For example, (he addresses the students) have you been to Brazil? Has anybody been to Brazil? S1: Yes, I have been to Brazil T: When you use the simple past is to specify “when” you went…then you use the past, right? T: Has anybody tried caviar? S: Yes I tried ¡¡¡¡¡Puajjjj!!!! T: (She corrects) I‟ve tried caviar
VI) T: We are going to continue with some exercises to use the present perfect. Do the exercises and we‟ll check them later. You can ask me if you have any questions. La profesora va hacia el pizarrón nuevamente para que los estudiantes noten la posición de los adverbios “just” y “already” T: They go between the auxiliary and the subject, remember? Students are working individually now. The teacher circulates around and tells them they are going to correct the exercises. T: Let‟s check, ok? Fer, read Number 2. S1: (He reads) I haven‟t done any sports yet T: (She calls on another student) You do N° 3, please.
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S6: (He reads) My best friend just had a baby T: (She calls the attention for self correction) Auxiliary!!! S6: …has just had a baby? T: that‟s correct. (She calls on another student) You do N° 4, please. S5: I have already has T: had S5: I have already had T: Sophia, read, please S3: I haven‟t finished my studies T: Another one S2: I‟ve already to pay T: (She corrects) paid! S2: paid (In general, students find it hard to produce the tense). … T: Let‟s do a Speaking Activity now. Let‟s turn to page… (The activity deals with guided questions and answers) T: Let‟s work in groups: You work with her and him… and you go over there to work with those other two classmates. (Students get up and sit in groups of three or pairs) The distribution is as follows:
S6
S2
T
S4
T
S1
S3
S5
T: (She gives instruction, modelling the activity first) S6: Have you already created…? S1: No, I haven‟t created it yet. S6: Have you already…? S1: …
Comments Parts I- IV The teacher uses “recast”to give feedback. She corrects almost everything, just missed correcting a couple of mistakes. The exchanges are free, and the target language is used
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throughout in a spontaneous way. The teacher doesn‟t seem to interrupt, except in the last exchange when she tells S3: listen TO music. Some students become aware of the mistake, some others, don‟t. The teacher at this stage, only work with students 1, 3 and 6. The other half of the students don‟t participate. She just seems to call on volunteers in this section. The teacher always asks and the students answer. The class doesn‟t seem to follow a certain order or sequence. Grammar is not presented isolated from the context. Even when students are doing exercises from the text book, they leave the text book and go back to it discussing social networks all the time in a spontaneous way. The teacher is at the centre of the scene, though, asking y directing the groups all the time. (Note:The exercises and activities from the text book follow the Communicative Approach, in the sense that there are plenty of dialogs and discussions. But at the same time, there are guided practice exercises like “fill in the blanks”, and “multiple choice exercises”). Teacher cuts in to correct mistakes here; especially in part IV. In the case of “has” and “lost”, the teaher keeps using “recast”. In this case, the student becomes aware of the mistake and continues the conversation, without feeling intimidated. In the last case, with the second type conditional, the teacher corrects even when students haven‟t been taught the structure formally. The students seems not to notice the mistake.
Parts V-VI In this section, the teacher systematizes the rule somehow, using the P+P+P sequence. Students work most of the time individually, the teacher being at the center of the class, except in the “Speaking” activity from the text book , which is done in groups. The teacher walks around students taking turns at asking and answering questions . In this stage, the teacher still controls the class, interrupting the activity at times to correct mistakes, which are done individually and not in groups, even when the seating arrangement looks like a group discussion. The class is conducted in English throughout .
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Observation 3 Teacher 3 Level: Elementary. Duration of the visit: 1 hour Unit: Review Unit Students: 9
Class description I) The moment I stepped into the classroom, I see the students are working playing a board game with dice and indicators. They seem to be reviewing “Adverbs of Frequency”, as it is written on the board. The recurrent question is: “How often do you watch T.V. in the evening?”. The atmosphere is relaxing and quiet. The students work autonomously, and don‟t seek the teacher‟s help, which might indicate they are used to group activities. The exchange between students and with the teacher takes place mostly in English. At times, students fall back on Spanish for some informal exchange. The students are divided into three groups, the teacher keeps circulating among them to check their work. The full line arrows indicate questions, and dotted line arrows, the answers.
GROUP 1 S1
GROUP 2 S9
T
S7
S3
S5 S8
T
GROUP 3 S6
S2 S4
T
(Group 1 finishes the game first) S1 (Yelling): “Gané”!!!!!!! T (She provides the English version): I‟m the winner S1: Yes, I‟m the winner! T: Good! While the other groups get ready to finish the game, the teacher hand out the written work they did the previous class, for them to check her comments. I see the indications refer them to, a correction code. Students consult among themselves and check the comments in the groups.
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II) Now students are working on a jigsaw puzzle designed by the teacher. They are supposed to match one word and its definition. The teacher tells them they need to make up three pairs and a group of three. Since they seem to be taking long deciding who to sit with, the teacher arranges them herself. Instructions are given in English. The topic of the crossword is “Food”. Students check the words in their text books, the exercise book and their own notes. Again students work independently from the teacher. The teacher writes the following on the board: ACROSS
DOWN
The students‟ distribution in the classroom is as follows: the full line arrows indicate the questions, and the dotted line arrows indicate the answers. The teacher walks around the groups to check the work.
S3
S9 S5
T S2
S7 S1
S8
T
S4
T S6
T
T: Now, we‟ll need 3 pairs and a group of 3. OK, come on! (Indicating the seating arrangement)… Let‟s see …You, get together with… and you … T: Ok, now, you‟ll see a picture and you‟ll tell your partner the definition and your partner will tell you the right word. When you finish, you‟ll tell the other pairs your definitions and words and you‟ll check your work. Right? T (Circulates around the groups): What is 3 down? What is 1 across? S5… S4: (She gives her definition): Make this with bread, ham and cheese … S1: Hmmm… (He struggles with the word)… S6: Imagine you have bread, ham and cheese … (She uses his hands and makes gestures like biting in the air). What is it? S1: Sandwich! (Groups laughter)
III) The next activity is a Guided Fantasy as preparation for the next listening activity. Students arrange themeselves in groups of three)
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Students are asked to imagine they are on a desert island and decide which five elements are a “must” to take along with them. The students need to go to the text book to use the vocabulary on focus from the unit.
To do this activity, the teacher puts up five posters on the board. 1. POSTER N° 1 a /ei/
b
c
/bi/
/si/
d /di/
2. POSTER N° 2 BE +
S + ING?
DO/DOES + S + INFINITIVE?
ARE YOU COMING?
DO YOU LIKE…?
IS MARY PLAYING?
DOES PETER PLAY…?
3. POSTER N° 3 DAILY ROUTINES WALK
TO
SCHOOL
PLAY TENNIS STUDY ENGLISH
4. POSTER N° 4 ADVERBS OF FREQUENCY S + USUALLY/ SOMETIMES / NEVER/ OFTEN + GO
5. POSTER N° 5 SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE I/YOU/WE/THEY + VERB HE/SHE/IT + VERB +”S”
When students make any mistake, the teacher just points at the righjt poster with the correct information. Students notice it and self correct the mistake. The circle below represents each group, where everybody seems to be negotiating answers for consensus to negotiate which three elements to choose. The spokesperson needs to ask “What‟s on your list?” to check information with other groups, once they‟re through.
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S1 Chocolate Fruit Cereal
S2
S4
S3
Rice Spaghetti Bread S5 S9
S7
Beans Fruit Meat S8
S6
T: Imagine you are on a desert island, right? S5: (Surprised):…Hmmm, no. T: Desert island S5: Ahh! T: Ok. Imagine you‟re on a desert island. What types of food do you take with you? Choose 3 types of food. S3: Rice, spaghetti and bread S6: What‟s the meaning of “rice”? S8: “¡Arroz!” Google translator. What‟s the English for “legumbres”? T (She writes the word on te board): Beans! (Two students in one group are discussing whether to take vodka or Fernet)
IV) Listening activity The next activity is a listening activity where many food items are mentioned. Students change groups into pairs now and get ready to listen and choose items. First, they check predictions in pairs. When time‟s up, they check answers between pairs. The triggering question is: “What‟s on your list?”
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T (She tries to elicit missing iformation): What about the questions the man asks? S3: … S1: What‟s on your list? S7: Fruit… S1: Is it important to have fruit? S7: Yes! S8: What‟s on your list? S4: Cereal S8: Do you really like cereal? S4: Yes! And you? S8: No!!!! S3: What‟s on your list? S9: Beans S3: Why? S9: Because it‟s healthy!
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Observation 4 Teacher 4 Level: 4. Duration of the visit: 1 hour Unit: Page 14 Students: 10
Class description I) They are almost finishing the unit. The teacher asks some review questions. The atmosphere is friendly and relaxing. The teacher explains they will soon watch a video. The students distribution is as follows:
T S1 S2
S3 S4
S10 S8
S9
S7
S5 S6
Exchange: T: What did we see in this unit? S1: I don‟t remember T: Let‟s see… S9: Adverbs of Manner? T: Right! What do adjectives describe? S7: things T (She repeats the question): What do Adverbs of Manner describe? S5: Hmmm… T: I‟ll give you an example: “I read slowly”… Adverbs describe Verbs, ¿right?
II) Pre listening activity: “A visit to the optician” The teacher introduces her students to the next activity. The distribution is as follows:
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S5 S1
S2
T S4
S6
S9
T S10
S3
T
S7
S8
T (She gives instructions): Look at the pictures in the book. What can you see in the pictures? S10: I see… (Different students anser questions about the images from the video) T: This sentence is not a good piece of advice, right? Once I went to an optician and…. (She tells a personal story to prove the title of the video is wrong) …What other piece of advice is similar to this one? Never go to a hair dresser who has no hair. Any other? S9: Hmmm… to a doctor with problems… T: Yes! Never go to a doctor who has a lot of problems. Or never go to a doctor who… (She makes gestures) … S8: … smokes! T: Right! Never go to a doctor who smokes. Or never go to a fitness instructor who… S6: … is fat T: or who is overweight. Never go to an accountant who is… S3: in prison or bad in maths. T: Good!
III) Video activity (The teacher reads the instructions out loud) T: Now we are going to watch a video and then we will do the corresponding exercises. You will have to answer the questions about a visit to the optician… (She translates) “El oculista”, right? (She plays the video segment. Students are sitting ingroups) T: Very well, now, we are going to put some sentences in order after you‟ll listen to the video again. (Students work on their text books now. Teacher gives individual feedback) T: N° 2 is… S4: (She tries to answer)…” a” T: Right! Number 3? S6: (He answers) …”b” T: Right! Number 2 …
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T: Do you like listening to a video? S1: It is different T: It is different from listening to an audio, right? S3: Yes T: Yes, it is less frustrating. Why? S3: Repeat T: Yes, there is repetition, you can ask, for example …
IV) T: Ok now, let‟s turn to page 134 from the book. There are some words: shark, spider, snake, lion, tiger, and bird. ¿A qué animal le temen? S4: ¡Tigre! T: (She translates) Tiger S8: ¡León! T: Lion, I see… T: Let‟s work with some words. (Orally)You see? Pay attention to these words that you are going to listen in the video. (She mentions the words orally) Let‟s see…“frightened” es “asustado”, “afraid/scared” is “miedo”, “big headed” is “fanfarrón”, “embarrassed” is not the same as “pregnant” and “proud” is “orgulloso”. S4: Ahhhh! I thought it meant “embarazada” T: No, no… (She laughs) “embarazada” is “pregnant”. Now, there are lots of adjectives that come from verbs and end in “ed”. And they refer to your feeling; you feel bored, for example, or embarrassed. But the situation is always boring or embarrassing, right? S: … T: Ok. Let‟s check. (Now she checks the words that might be unfamiliar) She falls back on translations.
V) “Fill in the Blanks” activity T: Ok. Now, let‟s complete with the correct sentence now. (The context relates to the video) Choose the right option, come on! (Students are sitting ingroups, but they work individually and get individual correction as well) T: (She makes gestures) What about N° 1? S3: (He answers)…
VI) Tense review
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The teacher plays the segment again. T: Ok. Remember the tense we studied? Present Perfect, right? Ok, now complete with the missing word.
Comments Part I In this part, the teacher seems to monopolize the class with explanations and checking of information. The students‟ exchanges are rare, and if any, the teacher always asks and the students answer. Very few students have the chance to participate. The grammar explanation is carried out with specific terminology. The teacher elicits answers from students; however, many times the teacher herself cuts in with the answer before the student provides it. The board is not used as a tool to systematize or have the students notice the focused structure.
Part II Even when students are sitting in groups, there is no interaction among them , and the work is still individual. Most of the times, students answer in Spanish, and the teacher provides them with the right version in English. However, there isn‟t too much feedback in this part. The context is relevant here, and fluency prevails. The teacher monopolizes the class with either explanations and checking of information. There are very few students‟ exchanges, and the ones that take place follow the pattern that the teacher asks and the students answer. Not all students participate.
Part III In this part, even if the teacher refers constantly to the context, most part of the section is devoted to individual exercises in class. Like in I, II y III, the teacher is in control of the class most part. As far as error correction is concerned, teacher circulates around the class, giving individual feedback. Participation is not even here. It is difficult to tell whether they have all completed the exercises or whether they have all understood the instructions. In fact, the students at the back seem to have trouble solving them.
Parts IV and V In this part, the goup dynamics is the same as the previous one. The teacher is in control of the class. Students exchanges are rare, and with the same format: the teacher asks and students answer. Participation is not even. Grammar structures are not systematized on the board. As far as vocabulary, the teacher “pre teaches” the words students are going to hear in the video
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segment, using translations into Spanish. The board is not used in this part either. The teacher participates more than the students. (Some of them do not participate at all)
Part VI The teacher uses grammar terminology to refer to focused structures. The students are doing a Fill in the Blanks exercise individually in this part, and they are corrected individually too. There‟s no students‟ exchanges here.
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Observation 5 Teacher 5 Level: Intermediate. Duration of the visit: 1 hour Unit: 5 Students: 6
Class description I)
At the beginning of the class, students are completing an activity from the text book and they are sitting and working ingroups. The teacher tells them that they will be doing a role-play next. The exchanges in class are in English, bothe between students and between teacher and students. The classroom dynamics is as follows: (the full line arrows indicate teacher initiated questions, and dotted line arrows represent students‟answers)
S1 S3 S4
T S2
S5
T: We‟ll finish the activity now to do a role play. Read the instructions and also read the use of language we‟ve been practicing; “will”, “might”, “I‟d like to, but…”, “What are you going to do?”
S1: (She asks the teacher) “Beautiful” is “awesome”, no? T: Yes. (She asks everybody) What can you say about A?
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S1: Hmmm… (He thinks)… the person A has just gotten married and has the birthday of his mother-in-law, so he is going to the mall and waits to find something awesome for her. … With her friend she is going. T: ok…who is B in the situation? S3: It‟s A‟s best friend. She…sure to…hmmm… collaborate…hmmm… (She seems confused)…I don‟t know…. T: She is going to help him. S2: To buy a present for her mother-in-law. T: Very good! The idea is to use “going to” for…. S3: Plans and decisions. T: “Will?” S3: Instant decisions? T: Good... and “might”? S: when not sure. T: ok, Gaby, you help Nicole buy a present. Let‟s pretend you are in a shopping mall, trying to decide what to buy.
II) In this part, students are preparing for the role-play. Students‟distribution is in pairs now. (This time the dotted line arrows indicate teacher‟s interventions responding or checking errors. Double headed arrows represent students‟exchanges both asking and answering questions) T
S1
S6
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T
S2 S3
T
S5 S4
Exchange: S3: … It´s a good idea to buy her a… S2: …I don‟t know… She really has to like the present. It has to be something awesome! S3: How do you say: “gustar”? T: “taste”. What do you have in mind? You can say this. (She writes the expression on the board) S1: How do you say “cumpliendo”? T: “turning”? … S5: I don‟t know the number of her shoes… S4: She doesn‟t use shoes. T (She takes part): Remember you don‟t “use” shoes; you “wear” shoes, right? (She gives an example)…Does she wear…? She doesn‟t wear sneakers… What are you wearing? S4: How d‟you say this…swim… (She thinks)… ¿malla? T: Swimsuit S4: (She resumes the role-play activity)… I don‟t know her size… … S2…What do you think of a hand…How do you say “crema de manos”? T: hand lotion? S1: or a TV?… (She laughs)
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S2: (She laughs back) I don‟t have enough money for a TV… S1: … a perfume? S2: Yes, yes… a perfume! It‟s very personal… S1: You can buy a poison because she don‟t love you… S2: “No sé qué comprar”. S1: We are going to buy a pack with different things… “¿Cómo se dice: jabón?” T: “soap”? S2: Ok let‟s go. T: What do you mean “let‟s go”? Let‟s go home? S2: No!
III) Dramatization T: Lu and Grace, ok, now you should focus your attention on questions and let‟s see if they use “going to”, “might”. Let‟s start. S1: I want to buy my mother-in-law a present S2: What do you think of some clothes for her? S1: hmmm… it‟s very personal the clothes for her. S2: May be some kind of shoes… S1: I don‟t know the number… S2: What are you going to buy finally?
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S1: I think I might buy a pack with different cosmetics: body lotion… T: (To the rest) … What do you think? S5: … “No usó ”(She didn‟t use) what about”? T: Suggest something S5: What about a travel? S2: I‟d like to buy something I can pay for it. S3: Great! S2: So I think I‟m going to… no, I think I will buy her a pack… with cosmetics T: Any comments? S1: I listen one mistake: “I‟d like to buy” and I think it‟s “I‟d like buying” T: No, no … I‟d like to buy is ok. S5: Magda, you said “something more cheaper” It is “something cheaper”
Comments Part I The teacher is in control of the activity. The exchange consists of teacher initiated questions and students answering. From time to time, students ask the teacher about some vocabulary. Everybody speaks English in class. The context is very important here.
Parts II-III In these sections, students work in pairs, both for the role-preparation as well as the role-play itself. Here the exchange is initiated and responded by students themselves and participation is even, either within the pair as between pairs. Students take turns, ,
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negotiating meaning all the time. Grammar is addressed incidentally here, noticing both form as well as emaning and pragmatics. Errors are corrected in groups. The context is vital for the role-play to be carried out. There‟s also reference to grammar structure learnt, to check if it‟s being used for the task. The board is used for systematization of errors and to focus on different structures and expressions.
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Observation 6 Teacher 6 Level: Level 1 Duration of the visit: 1 hour Unit: 9 Students: 12
Class description
I) The teacher asks some general questions to check up on some students who had been missing classes. The exchange is in Spanish; the atmosphere is friendly and relaxing. The teacher next has students focus on “Adverbs of Frequency” de frecuencia. She writes on the board: ADVERBS OF FREQUENCY
100%
80%
ALWAYS
60%
USUALLY
40%
OFTEN SOMETIMES
10% NOT OFTEN
06% NEVER
II) Students are doing an activity from the text book now. The students‟ distribution in the classroom is as follows: (Where the questions are initiated by the teacher, with full line arrows. The dotted line arrows represent students‟ responses): S3
T
S1
S6
S5 S8
S7
S9 S4
S2
Exchanges: T: How often do you play tennis? Do you usually play? (She tries to elicit the rule) ¿Ven el orden? (Do you see the order?) Va adelante del verbo (It goes in front of the verb)
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S1: (She reads an every day routine from the book)… I play tennis usually T: (She aims at the rule of word order on the board)… I usually play tennis. I usually eat vegetables. S1: I usually play tennis.
III) Students are preparing a cooperative written exercise. They are asked to write a poem. The students‟ distribution in the classroom is as follows: S1 S3
S2 S4
S5 T
S6
T
S7 S8
S9
S10
S11
S12
T
T: ( She speaks in Spanish throughout) “Now we are going to write a poem using “Adverbs of Frequency”. We will represent one person in the poem, or an object, or a thing and describe it… We‟ll do the activity individually , and each of you will read the poem to your class mates and they will have to guess who you have in mind. Right? (Teacher models first) S1: Her name is… S2: She likes travelling. S3: She likes flying. S4: She loves… She hates… Students take turns at guessing IV) Focus on grammar structure The teacher systematizes the patterns with“like” T: ¿Qué pasa con los verbos como “like”? (What can you notice in verbs like “like”?) S: Están seguidos por ING (They are followed by ING) T: (She writes on the board): SHE LIKES TRAVELLING.
SHE LIKES FLYING.
¿Qué otros verbos se son iguales? (What other verbs follow the same pattern?) S: … T: ¿Qué otros verbos son iguales? ¿Esto es una regla?
(What other verbs? Is there a
rule?) S: … Yes T: Es para todos los verbos? (Do all the verbs follow the same pattern?) S: NO 155
T: Ok. Otra manera se puede decir: “She likes to travel.” (Any other way of saying “She likes to travel”?) S: … T: … o “she likes travelling”
V) Production of poems Here students are trying to write their own poems. The teacher moves from one place to the other helping and checking their work. In this part, both the teacher and students use Spanish throughout.
Comments Parts I-II The atmosphere is relaxing and friendly. The teacher monopolizes the class explaining, asking or checking work. The kind of exchange follows the pattern of teacher initiated questions, and students answering, mostly in SpanishParticipation is not even. El The context is relevant, even when the teacher is expalining grammar rules. Error correction is carried out in groups. Specific grammar terminology is used to deal with grammar structures, as well as systematization on the board. For error correction, the teacher tries to get them to correct them by asking questions.
Parts III-IV For the poem preparation stage, the tecaher first makes sure that the rule gets internalized somehow, by using the board. They first engage in a more guided practice and then they produce the poems, and they work individually. The checking of errors is done in groups. The grammar presentation is inductive.
Part V The exchange here is also in Spanish. Again, participation is not even. Even when the teacher moves constantly from student to student, she talks more than students. When we asked the teacher about participation, she says it might be due to the fact that this is an Elementary group.
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Observation 7 Teacher 7 Level: 8 Duration of the visit: 1 hour Students: 4
I) As I step into the classroom, teh teacher is checking if students have read the assigned horror story by Stephen King. They are talking about horror stories in general. All the talk is in English. The teacher plays a video segment: “In the cornfields”, and has students make predictions and confirm them. The atmosphere is relaxing . The students‟ distribution in the classroom is as follows: (the full line arrows represent the questions are initiated by the teacher, the dotted line arrows represent the students‟ answers)
S2
S3
S1
S4 T
T: (She refers to a word that appears in the story)… “Shift”… On what shift do you think the action takes place? S3: … evening? (Two students walk into the room, interrupting the class ) T: Hello, good afternoon… By the way… when you go to a party, what do you say? S3: Good night? T: Hmmm… Even if it‟s 11 p.m. and you enter the party, you say “Good evening” S3: Ah! Not the obvious one! T: No, not the obvious one… Ok, if you didn´t read the story you had to read for today, we‟ll discuss it next class. What did we do last class? S3: We watched two short films… (She thinks) … but we didn‟t understand the beginning.
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T: What did we see? S2: We saw the beginning of a person … (She thinks how to say it) … and … the screaming in the cornfield. T: Yes, Agustina, what happened then? S1: It was like … it started like … (She thinks) … it started like in a horror movie … T: What are the characteristics of horror fiction? S1: (She thinks)… T: Diego, help her. S4: Hmmm… I don‟t remember… S3: There are two kinds of horror movies … one of ghosts and one of spiders, snakes, and animals and real things like that… T: Ok, you mean supernatural and natural elements… S3: Right! In fiction many of the elements are there to build up the tension T: ¡Ahaaa! … And what elements made you really feel afraid? S3: Hmmm… the screams! S2: The knife and the … bird T: the raven, yes … S3: Not knowing what is going on … not a clue! T: Did you know that it wasn‟t going to be a horror movie after all? S3: No, not really. S2: Me neither S3: … After that, I realized … some time after I saw the knife, the countryside, the blood … T: What did you realize? S3: Well, I realized there were no hospitals near… but then I saw the raven … T: The natural element S2: Yes… T: Did you associate it with… something spooky or something nice? That bird… S2: … The bird eats meat… T: Ahhh! That bird eats meat, yes. It‟s a raven, after all; what if you had seen a dove or a canary instead? S: … T: … They eat the meat of dead people. It‟s a raven, after all.
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II) (Now the students are comparing the Stephen King‟s story with the movie they watched in class the previous week) T: Ok, tell me now, did you like the movie that you saw? Did you really like it? S1: No. … We ilussionate… (He thinks) … What‟s the English for: …”Me hizo creer” T: You made me believe … S1: Yes … that I was really going to be afraid… and no…. I wasn‟t…bah! I like really scary movies… T: Ahhh! So you expected a murder for example … S1: Yes… T: What symbols do you associate with murder? S1: blood! S2: the music… T: Why? S2: The first time he looked (She thinks)… he was like a murderer… T: We could see the characteristics of horror fiction both in the story and in the movie we saw. S3: In the story, you really don‟t know what is happening… there is suspense, it‟s scary, really …there is suspense and you feel tension T: Another characteristic is the dark sun S1: yes! … And the child was there … he was lonely… T: Were there any elements of horror fiction? S2: … yes, the devil T: When you saw the devil, what did you picture in your mind? S3: I thought about something deeply. S3: deep S4: It was a disaster T: Why? ¿Do you remember the hands and the nails? S1: It disappoint me T: It disappointed me S3: Well, it‟s a low budget film. And the story was more spooky, really. It looked more scarier than in the film. When he moved, well … everything… when he died… I prefer the story. T: And you? 159
S4: Yes, I see things in the book that wasn‟t in the film T: Like? S4: The teeth … and he walk… T: He walked differently you mean? S4: Yes! S2: … And the plants died too T: Any other element we didn‟t see? What really happened in the story? S2: They didn‟t come back. T: Why did he return to the priest? S3: He had left the fishing rod and the knife. In the story, they back trail the father‟s steps. Why does the story begin while the boy is 8 and not chronologically. Why? S1: Because when he write … (She thinks) he thinks the devil will come. T: So he wants him to come. Why? S3: He will die soon. T: Agustina, your interpretation… S2: I don‟t know… may be to tell the kids that…someone knows about what happened… nobody knows. S4: Some voice inside him. T: Why? Why not before? S1: Maybe he was afraid. S2: He felt like in prison because of his memories…
II) T: Ok. Have you read “The Graveyard Shift”? (She is refering to another story by Stephen King students were expected to read) S1: No… S2: No… S3: I only read the first part. S4: Me too T: Ok. What is “graveyard”? S4: Graveyard? T: Cemetery. And “Shift” because people work at different times: morning, afternoon, night shifts. What do you think it is going to happen in the story? S1: Blood (Pronounces: /blud/) in the graves. Right? 160
T: (She corrects) /blΛd/ S: … T: If I tell you that the element to scare you is not supernatural? What do you think? What element do you think could be? III) T: What do you think are the negative things of Social Networks? S2: Insecurity, sharing phone numbers, it‟s not safe S1: My wife have a… T: (She corrects) has S1: She has a social network to find cats and dogs that are loose T: lost S1: lost yes. The people put different things… feel “libres” T: (She translates) free S1: If you don‟t need to put something… T:(She corrects) didn‟t need S1: (He adds)… you don‟t write T :( She corrects) you wouldn‟t write
Comments Parts I-II The teacher corrects mistakes by means of “recast”. Exchanges are guided by the teacher but students feel free to talk. The target language is used throughout the class. The teacher doesn‟t interrupt students; although the correction is always made by the teacher, in charge of the discussion. The kind of exchange that takes place is one way: the teacher asks all the time, the students answer. The content is what triggers the whole discussion. Students don‟t change groups; they are sitting in pairs, but they just interact individually with the teacher most of the time. They are using authentic material: both the reading and the video.
Part III The teacher keeps correcting errors herself, using “recast” again. The teacher appoints students to respond, the teacher always in control of the discussion. The context, again is extremely relevant here. The atmosphere is friendly and the communication is “natural”. 161
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