What strategies can I use to facilitate my 3rd grade B students vocabulary production in oral tasks?
106
0
0
Texto completo
(2) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 2. INDEX. 1. Abstract……………………………………………………………………..4 2. Introduction………………………………………………………………...5 3. Context……………………………………………………………………...7 3.1 The School…………………………………………………………..7 3.2 The Class…………………………………………………………….9 3.3 Research Problem…………………………………………………10 3.4 Research Question………………………………………………...12 4. Rationale…………………………………………………………………….13 5. Literature Review…………………………………………………………..16 5.1 The nature of vocabulary in L2 speech…………………………..16 5.2 The importance of productive knowledge in L2 speech………...18 5.3 Different approaches to language teaching……………………...19 5.4 Vocabulary acquisition strategies………………………………..20 5.5 Young learners and L2 acquisition……………………………....22 5.6 Affective factors and personality differences in L2 acquisition..23 6. Research Methodology……………………………………………………..25 6.1 Instruments………………………………………………………...25 6.2 Procedure…………………………………………………………..26 6.3 Action Plan Timeline……………………………………………...28 7. Data Analysis………………………………………………………………..29 7.1 Participants………………………………………………………...29 7.2 Preliminary results: The rubric…………………………………..30 7.3 Preliminary results: Journal……………………………………...31 7.4 Preliminary results: Interviews…………………………………..33 7.5 Preliminary results: Likert Scale………………………………...36 7.6 Post-intervention results: Likert Scale………………………….38 7.7. Action Plan Intervention…………………………………………40 8. Reflections and Analysis of Intervention…………………………………46 9. Conclusions…………………………………………………………………50 9.1 Implications……………………………………………………….50 9.2 Limitations and further improvements…………………………51.
(3) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 3. 10. References………………………………………………………………….53 11. Appendix…………………………………………………………………...55 11.1 Appendix A……………………………………………………….55 11.2 Appendix B……………………………………………………….60 11.3 Appendix C……………………………………………………….72 11.4 Appendix D……………………………………………………….78 11.5 Appendix E……………………………………………………….84 11.6 Appendix F……………………………………………………...101.
(4) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 4. 1. Abstract. The fact that language teachers deal with many complex issues in teaching is undeniable. One of them is related to promoting speaking skills, which are considered extremely important, but difficult to acquire. This Action Research Project presents different strategies that I used to facilitate my students´ vocabulary production in oral tasks. I aimed at improving my teaching practice to achieve better learning process and more satisfactory results of my 3rd grade students. This investigation was carried out during three months of my final practicum. It was based on theories of specific authors. The data collection and analysis support the validity of this research. It also includes the description of three interventions carried out by me in order to implement strategies appropriate for my context. The implementation and effectiveness of performed interventions are also discussed in this paper, as well as reflections about the whole research process.. Keywords: strategies, vocabulary production, oral tasks, speaking, teaching practice.
(5) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 5. 2. Introduction. The use of a spoken and written language defines humans. People know the language when they are able to communicate using its structures, forms and words adequate to a particular situation. In a daily life, people exchange opinions, beliefs and thoughts mainly through oral communication. Some forms of speech, for instance public speaking are even seen as art. It is based on the ability to express thoughts using clear, persuasive and correctly spoken language. Nowadays, many schools in Chile compete by sending the best students to participate in such competitions. Nevertheless, after announcing the contest winner, they forget to cultivate speaking in the classrooms throughout the years.. This Action Research Project presents different strategies that I used to facilitate my students´ vocabulary production in speaking tasks. Speaking can be developed only if it is rehearsed. Therefore, the emphasis was on including L2 speaking in every lesson and minimizing the use of L1 in order to foster more effortless and effective communication.. The project is being carried out in San Esteban Diácono School in Santiago, Chile, where I did my final practicum. In this context I problematized a real situation in my 3rd grade class. The problem was that students presented difficulties in producing the words in speaking. After defining the problem, I supported some relevant aspects of my research through literature. Finally, I followed the process, which encouraged me to improve my teaching practice and my students´ learning..
(6) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 6. The sections of this research are the following: First, the context of the school and class are described as well as the research problem and question. Second, the rationale is presented together with the reasons for undertaking this project. Next, the literature review provides the description of relevant concepts and suggests possible strategies to solve the problem. In the next section, the instruments of data collection and procedures are described. After that, the reader will find the description and analysis of all the instruments applied before and after interventions. Action plan intervention is also provided in this section. Finally, the reflections and analysis of interventions are included into separate section. The last section is devoted to final conclusions on action research. It includes: implications, limitations and further improvements..
(7) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 7. 3. Context 3.1 The School. This semester I am carrying out my final practicum in San Esteban Díacono School. This is a private, Catholic school located in Vitacura, Santiago. The institution was founded in 1987. The college is based on catholic values and expects from its students to have knowledge about Jesus Christ. Nevertheless it is opened to religious differences and does not discriminate against religion.. The mission of the school is to insert the children into society and prepare them to contribute to its development. As the consequence of previously stated, the school encourages students to be responsible for their learning as well as committed to the process. The educational project is based on love and respect towards all school community. The main objective is to maximize individual potential of each student in harmony with social, spiritual and academic values.. The school has students from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade. The average number of students is around 32 per class and there are only two classes per level A and B. Lessons start at 8:00 and the first fifteen minutes in the morning are devoted to reflection about values and students´ behavior and it is prepared by one of the parents. It is worth to mention that in this school they do not have any inspector, so every issue in terms of misbehavior is controlled through reflection on students´ actions and their consequences. Most of the students live in favorable economic situation and parents are involved in the community participating actively..
(8) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 8. In regard to school facilities, the classrooms are well equipped with all the. necessary materials to support learning. In terms of resources there are plenty of materials available, projectors, computers, books, speakers, radios, printers etc. The Internet connection is always available both in the classrooms and in teachers’ rooms. Each department has its own teachers´ room that allows educators to cooperate better in their specific fields. For example, in English department´s classroom there are only teachers of English and other departments have their own space.. Regarding English Department, there are seven teachers and two trainee teachers from Alberto Hurtado University. English is taught from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade. From Pre-k to 2nd grade students have 4 English pedagogical hours, and from 3rd to 12th grade students have 5 English pedagogical hours. Teachers follow the program of the Ministry of Education, and the great emphasis is laid on covering the content of the book. According to Ministry of Education (2015) updated curriculum, the main approach applied in Chilean schools is supposed to be communicative but many teachers, like those from San Esteban School, tend to implement grammar-centered lessons. Instead of designing lessons that promote communication and interaction I observed teachers´ strong focus on grammar. When I had an opportunity to revise the tests made by other teachers, I realized that they all assessed grammar knowledge of the students. Moreover, English lessons are not always taught in L2, besides instructions and explanations are often given in Spanish, and there are plenty of situations in which the teachers use translation..
(9) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 9. 3.2 The Class. This term I work with 3rd graders A and B, which are completely different. The 3rd graders A behave well but have some motivational problems. The 3rd graders B misbehave but tend to participate more in oral tasks even though there are a few students with special needs there. I have decided to carry out my research with the latter. There are thirty-two students there, twelve girls and twenty boys. There are three English modules per week; Mondays at 10:00 (90 minutes), Tuesdays at 8:15 (90 minutes) and Fridays at 10:00 (forty minutes).. So far, I have observed that there are some skills developed better than others in this group. From the beginning it has been possible to notice that their speaking skills are weaker than writing or listening. According to my observations and practicum, I would say that their level is around A1, in other words they are beginners. As it is stated in Common European Framework of Reference for Languages CEFR, (2001) beginner learners “can introduce themselves and others, are able to understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases and can interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help” The general tendency is the constant use of Spanish in lessons of English by students and on some occasions, by the teacher..
(10) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 10. 3.3 Research problem. I started my observations in the second week of August and while my guide teacher was giving the lessons I thought that the main problems of the class were students´ disruptive behavior and weak classroom management by the teacher. There were days when it was impossible for students to remain in silence and the teacher was interrupting the lesson, and explaining to them in Spanish that it was unacceptable to start each lesson like that. Many times this problem took even 10 minutes of the lesson so it was time- consuming to make them quiet and with a constant use of Spanish by the teacher, while instructing the students, communication in English was not present at all.. Because of those first observations, and taking into consideration my weaknesses as a teacher, I have always thought of my research in terms of how to deal with students´ misbehavior. Nevertheless I was surprised because I faced a totally different issue than I had expected.. When I started doing the classes, it was challenging to catch students´ attention. The students were constantly asking about their teacher because this change caused certain anxiety in my young learners, something that usually happens in such cases. Young learners stick to their teachers and to a specific routine, which is why I understood their doubts and feelings. When their teacher introduced me, they were interested in me because I was a new teacher in the end and I looked like a foreigner. They noticed immediately that I am not Chilean. They asked me if I could speak Spanish and I said that very little. I thought it was better if they think that I am not very fluent in Spanish because they will be more motivated to talk to me in English. I did it.
(11) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 11. before and it always worked. Nevertheless that time my third graders seemed to be worried and instead of asking me questions in English they became quiet. After a few lessons I managed to establish better communication with some students but in fact there were always the same students participating and most of them were too passive when it comes to any form of oral production in L2 during my lessons.. After three weeks more less I managed to establish a relationship with my students based on respect. I think they trust me more now and are less afraid to speak but they have difficulties to express what they want to say and that is stressful for me too because many times I have to ask them: “Can you repeat, please?” They usually repeat in Spanish the second time and I can observe that it is uncomfortable for them to repeat all the time. Even when they repeat in Spanish, I paraphrase what they want to say into English. I really want to avoid speaking any Spanish during my lessons and it is something new for them and I think they still need time to accept it and get used to it. I want to give all the instructions and explanations in English in the simplest way I can. My goal is to implement effective strategies instead of translating from L2 to L1 in order to facilitate their understanding and vocabulary production in L2 speech.. What gives me hope is that step-by-step my students become more engaged into English lessons and I want to take advantage of it. I really want them to feel comfortable in our sessions and be able to reduce the fear of making mistakes while speaking. It is the only skill to develop that causes so much stress in them. When we do some listening activities they have no problem with it. They pick up the most important words and they can do the activities. At the same time my students do not show difficulties in writing. Sometimes they ask me how to write certain vocabulary and if I spell it they have no problem with writing. Nevertheless, when it comes to speaking.
(12) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 12. activities or any form of oral communication in which they have to produce the sentence or answer a question, they seem to forget most of what we have learnt and they show huge difficulties. I understand that it is not easy to overcome a fear to speak in English and even if the classroom atmosphere is supportive, students still might have difficulties. What I want is to encourage them to never stop trying to say something in English in every lesson because only by practicing they can become better. At the same time, only if I provide them with the space for practicing speaking, I can discover new strategies to become a better facilitator of this demanding to acquire skill.. 3.4 Research question. According to everything previously mentioned, the research problem leads me to come up with the following research question: What strategies can I use to facilitate my 3rd grade B students´ vocabulary production in oral tasks?.
(13) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 4. Rationale:. 13. Regarding the reasons for undertaking this research, it is essential to acknowledge that teaching is the process of constant reflection, improvements and actions that must be taken by a teacher to facilitate students´ learning and also to increase his own effectiveness and adapt to a changing educational reality. Teaching is also about learning, in fact teachers never stop learning and that is a difference between this profession and others. Even if our English proficiency is undeniable, it is not enough to become a good teacher. To be a good teacher means to never stop reflecting, researching and being committed.. This is my first opportunity to become a researcher in such an autonomous way and I expect my findings will be beneficial for my students as well as for my professional growth. Through this action research I am mastering professional skills to identify and improve teaching issues supported by evidence, deep analysis and reflections. I believe that this investigation will increase my awareness and effectiveness as a teacher. I expect to improve my strategies, innovate and change some aspects of my teaching. This research gives me a good opportunity to potentiate my strengths and work on my weaknesses.. Furthermore, this research can also be beneficial for my students through increasing their ability to produce vocabulary while interacting with me, with their peers and during specific speaking tasks. My third graders can become aware of what has to be done in order to develop linguistic skills. I want them to be involved in the learning process, and empower them to improve their weaknesses. Additionally, I decided to focus on the previously mentioned issue because I consider that communication is the main aim of learning a foreign language. Without.
(14) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 14. mastering speaking skills of our students and without a proper guidance it is impossible. to reach effective learning. Vocabulary is the key to communication. Many words make sentences and sentences convey a message that allows people to understand each other. Even if a foreign language speaker makes some grammatical mistakes he or she is still able to convey a message, but without certain amount of vocabulary it would not be possible. (Brown, 2007). Through developing this research, I expect to become a better professional that is why I am going to search for the strategies that can increase my students´ vocabulary and improve their speaking skills. I do believe that words are very powerful and my students will have more chances to use their English when communicating in real life rather than in writing or completing the worksheets. In the real life context, if people use the foreign language, it is mainly to communicate, which is why I do not understand why in the school where I carry out my practicum this approach is not being applied.. What attracts my attention is that when children acquire their mother tongue they tend to develop speaking skills first and after that comes writing and grammar. They listen to the sounds and through repetition they learn how to produce them. Why should it be different when it comes to L2? According to Schmitt (2000) Children need a learning environment similar to first language acquisition, they learn through lots of meaningful exposure and practice, not explicit grammatical explanation. However, from my experience it tends to be exactly the opposite in the school I have worked with. The teachers do not spend enough time on drilling certain patterns of speech and on practising speaking. My goal is for my students to understand that they are able to speak in English and produce proper sounds, using corresponding vocabulary and better pronunciation. I have the intuition that if I am focused on improving their pronunciation.
(15) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 15. it might reduce their frustration in foreign language learning. If speaking becomes a. habit in my lessons, after some time my students will probably notice that they can express themselves better and that might also increase their motivation and participation in speaking tasks. As a result of my research and the implementation of new strategies, I expect that my students can use English lessons as a space that gives opportunities for asking questions, making mistakes and improving their English in order to communicate with others in a more effective and meaningful way. I want to promote a meaningful learning environment and set my students into the centre of each lesson as well as provide them with the necessary tools to discover richness of the English language through a spoken word.. This research project is the most complex learning process I have ever been through during my academic life. In the last five years we carried out some research projects but it was always group work so we could make the decisions together. This time I am expected to design everything on my own and every decision I make is my decision responsibility only. I am convinced I will become more empowered to take the decisions and actions. At the same time I will gain more experience in analysing my own process and I will acquire the necessary tools to develop critical thinking.. As a final point, I am committed to accomplish this challenging process in which the theory and practice are being applied simultaneously. Consequently, I am becoming aware of my own teaching practice through observing, reflecting, problematizing and proposing. I hope through my investigation I can also contribute to the findings of my colleagues and together we can think about our results and compare them. I am ready to start the most challenging journey in my academic experience..
(16) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 16. 5. Literature Review According to my research question - What strategies can I use to facilitate my 3rd grade B students´ vocabulary production in L2 speech? – it is necessary to look for support in studies related to this topic. In order to build a theoretical framework to underpin my action research, I found the literature that defined my fundamental concepts and ideas to strengthen the validity of my work. First of all, to gain deeper and more exact knowledge of my topic I focused on the following concepts: The nature of vocabulary production in L2 speech, the importance of productive knowledge in L2 speech, different approaches to English language teaching, vocabulary acquisition strategies, young learners and L2 acquisition, and affective factors and personality differences in L2 acquisition. I regard clarifying those concepts as crucial for taking future actions in my project.. 5.1 The nature of vocabulary in L2 speech In order to be able to improve the vocabulary of my students, I need to know first what this enormous category includes and why it is so important to increase the knowledge about the words from the perspective of production. The knowledge about how to produce words is crucial for verbal communication, without using them properly people are not able to express themselves clearly. (Read, 2000). According to Read (2000) vocabulary not only includes individual words, but also multi-word lexical items. They are extremely important in productive skills. “It seems that there are a lot of more fixed expressions in language than we normally realise and they play a major role in both comprehension and production.” (Read, 2000, p. 17). What I expect to be achieved by my students is precisely this capacity to.
(17) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 17. remember and produce those patterns of words taken from specific units that we focus on during this semester. For example, if I teach them about food, I want to be sure that I do it effectively and they are able to produce some chunks orally. As soon as that stage is achieved, I am going to practise with them some fixed expressions, commonly used in conversation.. Schmitt (2000) emphasizes the importance of the pronunciation in spoken form of a word. The following quotation explains it well “Adequate phonological (spoken form) knowledge of a word involves being able to separate out and understand its acoustic representation from a continuous flow of speech, as well as being able to pronounce the world clearly enough in connected speech for other people to do the same when we speak” (Schmitt, 2000, p. 53). Still, there is much more to point out on this topic. After my investigation, I understood how important it is to devote enough time for repetition of words and expressions during the lessons. “The greater challenge for most language learners seems to lie in the act of listening. This is because learners have limited control over the rate of input” (Schmitt, 2000, p.54) According to this author, students need a lot of input and practice before the oral production occurs. He does not recommend putting too much pressure on students in terms of oral production.. It is important to remember that “Spoken language does not have clear word boundaries. In fact, the words blend together in speech to such an extent that if one does not actually know a language, it is very difficult to pick out any individual words at all.” (Schmitt, 2000, p.54). Based on what this author states, besides simplifying the vocabulary, teachers should also slow down while speaking to young learners..
(18) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 18. There is something very peculiar about knowing a spoken form of a word. According to Nation (2001) this has to do with the sounds of the words. It is easier to remember words that sound similar. “Learners´ attention can be deliberately drawn to the patterning of sounds in the second language. This can be done by grouping regularly spelled, similarly patterned words together (…) words containing infrequent or unusual sequences of sound can be deliberately avoided in the early stages of language learning. (Nation, 2001, p. 44). 5.2 The importance of productive knowledge in L2 speech. There is a strong relation between the previous topic: knowing the vocabulary, and the current one: the way it is produced in speech. A considerable amount of literature has been published about the distinction between receptive and productive knowledge. It is necessary to clarify what the characteristics of productive knowledge in speech are and why it is so important to master it if we expect our students to speak fluently, that means without hesitations. First of all, the productive knowledge includes the following aspects: fluency, accuracy, and communicative interaction. According to (McNamara, 1996) the teacher should encourage students to communicate by using English for a variety of purposes such as: a discussion, a simulation or role-play, an interview, a collaborative task.. Secondly, when we talk about productive knowledge it is appropriate to contrast it with receptive one. Most of the authors I have investigated emphasized the significant difference between productive and receptive knowledge. As stated by (Schmitt, 2010, p. 80) “One of the most common is the distinction between receptive and productive.
(19) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 19. knowledge (sometimes referred to as passive and active mastery). This dichotomy has great ecological validity, as virtually every language teacher will have experience of learners understanding lexical items when listening or reading, but not being able to produce those items in their speech or writing. Unsurprisingly, studies have generally shown that learners are able to demonstrate more receptive than productive knowledge, but the exact relationship between the two is less than clear.” Both previously mentioned authors agree that receptive skills are developed first, and after that productive.. 5.3 Different approaches to language teaching. Before describing concrete strategies of vocabulary acquisition, it is important to mention that all of them were inspired by different approaches to English teaching. One of the oldest methods initiated at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and still used by some teachers is the grammar- translation method, Schmitt (2000).The main weakness of this method from the perspective of production is that it is “focused on the ability to analyse language, and not the ability to use it. In addition, the emphasis on reading and writing did little to promote an ability to communicate orally in the target language.” (Schmitt, 2000, p.12) According to this author, the use of L1 should be limited to special cases, if not totally avoided. There are plenty of strategies (that I am going to describe soon) to facilitate production, different than translation.. Another approach, commonly applied by the end of the nineteenth century, was the Direct Method. “It emphasized exposure to oral language…meaning was related directly to the target language without a step of translation (…) It imitated how a native language is naturally learnt, with listening first, then speaking, and only later reading.
(20) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 20. and writing…It was thought that vocabulary would be acquired naturally through the interaction during lessons. Concrete vocabulary was explained with pictures or through physical demonstration, with initial vocabulary being kept simple and familiar, for example, objects in the classroom or clothing. Thus, vocabulary was connected with reality as much as possible” (Schmitt, 2000, p. 12). The Direct method shares many features with Natural approach. The only difference is that the latter puts less emphasis on practice and more on exposure to language input and on reducing learners´ anxiety (Shin and Crandall, 2015). On the other hand, the English program for 3rd grade provided by the Ministry of Education (2011) states that English, as a subject must develop communicative skills. It seems that the most appropriate approach to achieve this goal is- Communicative Language Teaching. This is the approach that I chose as a basis to look for my strategies. The focus is on the message and fluency rather than grammatical accuracy. Other important feature of this approach is: learning to communicate through interaction in L2. (Yule, 2006). 5.4 Vocabulary acquisition strategies:. After explaining the nature of vocabulary in L2 speech, the importance of productive knowledge and different approaches in language acquisition, finally I am going to describe some vocabulary strategies that might be useful to improve my teaching strategies and my students´ vocabulary production in L2 speech..
(21) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 21. According to O´Malley and Chamot (1990) it is impossible to think of applying. strategies without considering students´ age, their level of English and the context in which the acquisition occurs. They suggest that in case of children, simple strategies might result as the most effective. “Commonly used VLS seem to be simple memorization, repetition (…) These more mechanical strategies are often favoured over more complex ones (…) However, even rote repetition can be effective if students are accustomed to using it” (O´Malley and Chamot, 1990, p.38). Many authors agree with the assumptions stated above. According to (Cohen and Aphek, 1981) the activities of little depth may be more suitable for beginners, because they contain less material that “may only distract a novice, whereas intermediate or advanced learners can benefit from the context usually included in deeper activities (Cohen and Aphek, 1981, p. 76). The strategy of memorization is connected to recycling strategy. The studies suggest, “It requires five to sixteen or more repetitions for a word to be learned. If recycling is neglected, many partially known words will be forgotten, wasting all the effort already put into learning them. Fortunately, this recycling occurs naturally as more frequent words appear repeatedly in conversations” (Schmitt, 2000, p. 137). Other studies have considered the relationship between total physical response method (TPR) and successful language acquisition of beginners, especially children. According to (Larsen- Freeman, 2000), this strategy starts with students performing the actions because it is necessary to develop students´ understanding before speaking. TPR is a process. First, the teacher performs the action, and the students show understanding by performing on their own. After that it is expected that students respond orally. This strategy is extremely important to take into account while teaching young learners because they love activities that involve movement..
(22) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 22. One strategy that could even support more the previously mentioned is learning from flashcards. Through applying this strategy the teacher helps children to make a connection between spoken words or expressions and the imaginary representation of this word. Nation suggests that this kind of learning could be connected with a particular strategy. (Nation, 2001). It has also been shown that another successful strategy to apply with children is so called chunking and collocation strategy. The definition of this strategy is described by Nation (Nation, 2001, p. 318) “All fluent and appropriate language use requires collocation knowledge (…) The best way to explain how language users produce native like sentences and use the language fluently is that in addition to knowing the rules of the language, they store hundreds of thousands of preconstructed clauses in their memory and draw on them in language use. Thus each word in the language is likely to be stored many times, once as a single item and many times in memorised chunks.”. 5.5 Young learners and L2 acquisition It is essential to consider students´ age to develop and take actions in this investigation. It is totally different to search strategies for young learners than teenagers. According to (Shin and Crandall, 2015) children are: energetic and physically active, spontaneous and not afraid to speak out or participate, curious and receptive to new ideas, imaginative, easily distracted and have short attention spans, egocentric, social.. According to Brown (2007) it is a myth that children are unaffected by the inhibitions that adults find to be a block to learning. He states that children are extremely sensitive especially to the opinion of their peers and they are worried about.
(23) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 23. what others might think about them especially when they have to speak in English. He thinks that children are in many ways much more fragile than adults. “Their egos are still being shaped, and therefore the slightest nuances of communication can be negatively interpreted. Teachers need to help them to overcome such potential barriers to learning. (Brown, 2007, p.103). The same author emphasizes that up to the age of 11 children are in an intellectual stage called “concrete operations” and that implies certain limitations. He states “rules, explanations, and other even slightly abstract talk about language must be approached with extreme caution.” (Brown, 2007, p. 104) Because of the same reasons “children are focused on what this new language can actually be used for here and now (…) Language needs to be firmly context embedded. Story lines, familiar situations and characters, real-life conversations, meaningful purposes in using language” (Brown, 2007, p. 104) Another important aspect to mention here is that from the perspective of phonology, acquiring the language is something almost biological. According to Ortega (Ortega, 2009, p.28) “most learners who begin acquiring the L2 before a certain age, typically before puberty, will develop levels of phonological competence that are very close to those of native speakers of that language. Post- pubertal learners, however, are not likely to perform in the native speaker range, and this holds true regardless of the number of years they have resided in the L2 environment.”. 5.6 Affective factors and personality differences in L2 acquisition Studies revealed that some students show certain aversion to speaking English. According to Ortega (2009) it is associated with: affective factors of learning a foreign language and the dependence between personality and L2 learning. As she states,.
(24) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 24. foreign language students often exhibit some symptoms of high anxiety. A common reaction is freezing up when they are asked to say something in the L2 in front of the class. She adds that it is important to establish the atmosphere of trust with the students so that the level of their anxiety can diminish. It is crucial to consider affective factors because they affect students’ performance significantly. “These include slower speed in their learning and processing of L2 materials, a tendency to underestimate their true L2 competence and a propensity to engage in risk- avoiding behaviours, such as speaking less¨. (Ortega, 2009, p.201). The topic of foreign language anxiety is related to low self-esteem. Usually the most apprehensive students have low perceptions of their academic ability and feel worse than others. Those students are especially vulnerable and they might show poor performance in evaluations. Ortega (2009). The same author stated that there is a huge difference between introverts and extrovert students when it comes to oral performance. I must admit that this study really drew my attention because I had never considered it to be such an important factor before. “Extroverted people are better able to maintain higher degrees of fluency when speaking in an L2, even under stressful conditions. By implication, one might also expect that extraverts would seek and obtain more frequent and richer opportunities to use the L2 than introverts. “ (Ortega, 2009, p. 197). After researching about affective factors in learning I realised how vulnerable students might feel when they are exposed to a foreign language. I must admit that it allowed me to open my eyes on how careful and sensitive I must be while dealing with my young learners..
(25) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 25. 6. Research Methodology 6.1 Instruments. As the next step is to increase the validity of my research, I find it crucial to establish whether my assumptions are consistent with the evidence I gathered and my students´ perspective on this topic. In order to collect data I decided to use the following instruments:. Firstly, I decided to use the rubric that was designed in order to assess my students´ oral presentations. It was carried out on September 12th. The objective of the evaluation was to perform a dialogue in pairs connected to vocabulary and expressions we learnt in the unit about food. In the evaluation, three aspects of speech were taken into consideration: fluency, pronunciation, and the vocabulary use. An advantage of this instrument is that I could analyse deeply the feedback I had given to my students, and see clearly what their biggest difficulties were in vocabulary production and how I could change my strategies to improve their performance next time. (11.1 Appendix A). Secondly, to complement the previous instrument, I included my selected journal note, relevant to the research question. The journal was written between August 15th and October 28th. I regard it as useful evidence because it registers the most important events that occurred during my lessons, as well as my reflections and interpretations. (11.B Appendix B) In the third place, I used an interview with selected students. It was implemented on October 11th. Fifteen of the thirty-two students participated in this interview (See.
(26) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 26. 11.3 Appendix C) The objective of this was to compare my observations with my students´ perceptions and beliefs. Open-ended questions allow the researcher to gather detailed information about students´ perceptions, and, thereby, to get to the root of a problem.. In the fourth place, I decided to apply a Likert scale because this is the instrument that gathers the opinions and beliefs of all the students, not just selected ones. Another advantage of this instrument is that it is universal, easy to apply as well as to code, and understood by young learners. In order to avoid misunderstanding, every question and statement was provided in Spanish. (11.4 Appendix D) It was applied on October 4th during my forty-five minute lesson. Twenty-four students participated.. Lastly, another Likert scale was applied in order to understand the impact of the interventions. Post-intervention Likert scale includes similar questions that the one applied before interventions. (11. 6 Appendix F) The objective of this was to check if students noticed an improvement in their learning comparing two periods: the beginning with the end of the semester. It was applied on November 14th. Twenty-seven students participated.. 6.2. Procedures for Data Collection Firstly, I started writing a journal in order to collect my reflections weekly. During the first two weeks, I could observe the context of my students and the relationship between my guide teacher and the students. At the beginning I had a preconception that my problem would be the classroom management because I used to fail in that area during my previous practicum. Nevertheless, when I started teaching, I.
(27) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 27. realized that I am not applying effective strategies in vocabulary teaching and that my students had difficulties in vocabulary production in L2 speech.. After that, I wondered which method would be the most adequate to evidence that the problem I face is really a problem and not just an assumption. I decided to focus on the feedback I gave to my students in their oral production assessment. There were three categories to evaluate: fluency, vocabulary and pronunciation. The students performed in pairs, but the grade was individual.. Next, I decided to design questions for an interview in order to gather data from my students´ perception. The objective of applying those questions was to gather the evidence of the problem. This instrument was written in Spanish so as to guarantee complete understanding of each question or statement. The interview consists of thirteen open-ended questions to collect students´ perceptions about the topic. The structure of this instrument allowed my students to give detailed answers and to clarify all their responses.. The Likert Scale was applied during 45 minutes lesson. I explained my students that it was totally confidential and that I was going to use this information in my action research so their answers should be honest. I read the statements out loud in order to make sure that they were clear for the students. I clarified the meaning of all the degrees of a Likert scale.. Lastly, after all the interventions were conducted, I decided to apply another Likert scale with similar questions to the one applied before interventions. I explained my students every question again and they answered it during 45-minute lesson..
(28) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 6.3 Action Plan Timeline. 28. In the third week of August I started my observations in San Esteban School. The same week I managed to identify the context as well as my research problem to continue with my research question. In the first week of September I was able to elaborate rationale. After that I was focused on consulting the literature in order to support my observations and research problem. I was ready with data collection, instruments and procedures at the end of October. All my interventions were carried out in October as well. I devoted the month of November to data analysis, synthesizing data and to focusing on reflections and conclusions. I assume that I will be able to give my final presentation in December. This chart was very beneficial as the guidance and I will stick to the dates I have set in order to accomplish my final project on time.. Action Research Gantt chart:.
(29) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 7. Data Analysis. 29. I decided to implement five instruments in order to collect data of my research. I gathered evidence and reduced information through selecting the most relevant aspects that support the validity of my research. First of all, I described four instruments that I gathered before interventions: the rubric, journal, interviews and Likert scale. Next, I described results of a similar Likert scale, but implemented after interventions. Finally I described action plan intervention.. 7.1 Participants and consent The participants of this action research were my thirty-two 3rd grade students. I explained to them what the research was about, and I received their verbal consent to participate. Additionally, after clarifying all the procedures needed to conduct my research, I gained my guide teacher´s and institution´s consents to initiate it. The students were assured confidentiality and anonymity.. Figure 1. Number of students in 3rd grade..
(30) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 30. 7.2 Preliminary results: The rubric- feedback of students´ oral presentation The first instrument I used was the rubric together with the feedback of my students´ oral presentation. It was the most significant evidence that helped me to confirm the detected problem. (See 11.1 Appendix A) This oral assessment was carried out on September 12th. On the same day the students received their feedback. Twentyeight out of thirty-two students gave the presentation. Two pairs were evaluated in a different way. The objective of that assessment was to produce orally the dialogue using a previously learnt pattern. The students performed in pairs, but the grade was individual. There were three categories to evaluate: fluency, vocabulary and pronunciation. The results showed that most of the students were not able to produce the dialogues adequately. (See 11.2 Appendix B.5) In order to summarize frequently occurring difficulties, I designed the table below (See Table 1). Evaluated aspects Fluency. Students´ difficulties -. Too many hesitations that interfere with communication. Vocabulary. -. Incorrect word order. -. Not producing enough vocabulary and expressions previously taught. Pronunciation. -. Production occurs only with teacher´s help. -. Unclear pronunciation. -. Difficult to identify the words. Table 1. Feedback coding.
(31) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 31. According to Table 1 most of the students could not achieve the task. There. were too many hesitations present. Moreover, the expressions previously taught were not produced in the dialogues. At the same time, the pronunciation was unclear and difficult to understand.. After assessing students´ oral presentations I was able to detect my students´ biggest weakness, which was connected to poor performance in oral tasks. Consequently, this weakness in terms of speaking skills required me to improve my own strategies in order to help my students to communicate more effectively. The conclusion was that if most of them failed in this evaluation, I also failed as a teacher. That unsuccessful evaluation motivated me to search for effective strategies to improve this problem.. 7.3 Preliminary results: Journal In order to summarize and condense the data collected in my journal, I designed this table. It reflects the changes that occurred during the process according to my journal. The journal includes observations and reflections from the period initiated on August 15th and ended on October 28th. Important Aspects. Description. Overuse of L1. -. The students are using too much Spanish. Emphasis on grammar. -. The lessons are grammar-based. Insufficient space provided to practice oral skills. Classroom management. -. The preconception about the research problem. Oral Assessment. -. First failure in preparing students to oral presentation. -. Weak students´ results.
(32) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS -. Problematizing. 32. Reflecting about the problem and how I can improve my teaching practice. Investigation. Disappointment. -. Identifying students´ strengths and weaknesses. -. Finding support in literature. -. Gathering data. -. The experience of many limitations to conduct the research properly. -. Different opinions, disagreement with my guide teacher. Improvements. -. Benefits of applying strategies. -. Positive changes in students´ oral production. -. Good results of interventions. Table 2. Journal coding. According to my journal notes (See 11.2 Appendix B), my biggest concerns at the beginning of the semester were: students´ overuse of L1, and teacher´s tendency to implement grammar-focused lessons. At the same time I realized that the students tended to misbehave, so I assumed that in my action research I would probably have to deal with classroom management.. Nevertheless, after weeks of observations and reflections I noticed that the problem was connected to my students´ speaking difficulties. After my first failure, as a teacher, which was the insufficient preparation of my students to their oral presentation, I was able to come up with my research question. Consequently, I looked for strategies that could help me to improve my teaching practice and I started applying them regularly..
(33) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 33. According to my journal, I faced some limitations associated with the difference between my aspirations and my guide teacher´s priorities. However, thanks to the first intervention, I gained more confidence to apply firmly all the strategies that promoted oral tasks. Finally, I found the balance between more communicative lessons that I wanted to promote and the school´s requirement of covering book activities.. 7.4 Preliminary results: Interviews As the third instrument I decided to use an interview consisting of thirteen openended questions to collect students´ perceptions about the topic. I decided to interview the students who presented the biggest difficulties during the oral assessment. (See 11.3 Appendix C) I decided to summarize students´ answers into frequently and rarely given in order to get a clearer vision of the problem. I applied percentage form next to students´ answers in order to facilitate the analysis. (See table 3). Table 3. Students´ answers coding (Interview) Preguntas. Categorías Respuestas de los estudiantes. 1. ¿Tienes oportunidades para practicar - Escasas oportunidades (70%) inglés fuera del aula? Por ejemplo con tus. - Hablo con mi familia (30%). padres, amigos? 2. ¿Qué haces para recordar mejor las - Pedir ayuda a la familia (50%) palabras en inglés? Tienes alguna técnica?. - Anotar la palabra (40%) - Dibujar (10%).
(34) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 3. ¿Qué te cuesta más: recordar la palabra - Decir la palabra cuesta más (90%) o decir la palabra en inglés?. - Memorizarla (10%). 4. ¿Te sientes cómodo cuando hablas en inglés?. 34. Hablar. frente. del. curso. provoca. vergüenza (80%). 5. ¿Crees que tu profesora te entiende - Sí (50%) cuando hablas en inglés?. - A veces tengo que repetir (50%). 6. ¿Te cuesta pronunciar las palabras en - Cuesta cuando la palabra es difícil inglés?. (100%). 7. ¿Te gusta expresarte/conversar en - No mucho, me cuesta (80%) inglés? Porqué? Porqué no?. - Solo con mi familia (10%) - Cuando consigo buenas notas (10%). 8. ¿ Si no te acuerdas la palabra en inglés, - Traducción al español (80%) prefieres que la profesora:. - Actuación (10%). - La traduzca al español. Dibujo (10%). - Actúe para que adivines - Dibuje la imagen que representa esta palabra 9. ¿De qué tema te gustaría aprender más - Nada específico (60%) vocabulario?. - Las acciones que hacemos (10%) - Los animales fantásticos (20%) - Las estaciones (10%). 10. ¿Crees que es importante hablar - Si, en muchos países se habla inglés inglés?. (70%) - Depende, en Santiago no tanto (30%). 11. ¿Que es mas importante para ti, saber - Pronunciarla (90%).
(35) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS escribir bien la palabra o pronunciarla?. - En la prueba escribirla (10%). 12. ¿Sabes usar el diccionario?. No (90%). 35. 13. ¿Cómo te gusta trabajar en clase? - En pareja (70%) Solo? En pareja? En grupo?. - En grupo (30%). According to Table 3, most of the students have limited possibilities to practise English outside the classroom. Nevertheless, there are some students who communicate in L2 with their families. Moreover, for the majority of respondents it is more difficult to produce the word than to memorize it, especially when the word is complicated. In addition, every student stated that it is difficult to pronounce words in L2 properly.. Furthermore, most of the students stated that they do not enjoy having conversations or any form of oral expression in L2 because it causes difficulties. For the majority of students speaking in front of their classmates causes inconvenience, however they feel comfortable while speaking with the teacher. Half of the students believe that the teacher understands them when they speak.. At the same time, the students recognize English as important because of its universal character that enables communication with foreigners, especially when people travel. Nevertheless there are some students that do not consider English as important in Chilean context.. In addition, if the meaning of the word is unknown, majority of students prefer that the teacher translates the word, rather than acts to facilitate its meaning. The favourite technique to remember the word is to ask their family for help, or to write.
(36) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 36. down the word in Spanish and English. The students stated that they do not know how to use the dictionary. None of the respondents stated that he or she likes individual work. The majority of students prefer pair work, because they can help each other. Some students enjoy group work the most; others are against it because it might cause disagreements.. 7.5 Preliminary results: Likert scale The last instrument I used to obtain preliminary results was a Likert scale composed by five statements and five degrees. (See 11.4 Appendix D) The objective of using this instrument was to include every student. In the end, twenty-four students completed this instrument. As a way to consider the control of bias, I requested two teachers to validate this, and previously analysed instrument, before applying them. The instruments were validated by receiving the teachers´ opinion about the questions designed. According to both teachers, the questions were relevant in the context and considering my research problem. These were the five degrees used for each sentence: 1= Totalmente de acuerdo (TD); 2= De acuerdo (DA); 3= No estoy segura/o (NES); 4= En desacuerdo (ED); 5= Totalmente en desacuerdo (TED). Table 4. Students´ answers coding Likert Scale. TD. DA. 1. Es fácil para mi hablar inglés. 2. 2. No me gusta presentar frente. NES. ED. TED. 3. 5. 10. 4. 8. 8. 3. 3. 2. 5. 6. 5. 4. 4. de mis compañeros 3. Puedo hablar inglés no solo en colegio pero también en mi.
(37) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. casa (con mis padres u otros. 37. miembros de familia) 4. Me queda más claro alguna. 14. 6. 4. 0. 4. 6. 7. 5. 0. palabra o frase cuando la profesora muestra una imagen o usa actuación, mímica 5. Creo que cuando hablo. 3. inglés mi profesora y mis compañeros me entienden. From the table above it can be seen that for the majority of students it is not easy to speak English. Five of the twenty-four students do not consider speaking difficult. Additionally, the vast majority of students do not like to present in front of their classmates. I will especially take into consideration this last aspect before applying my strategies.. Regarding the possibilities of speaking English outside the classroom, half of the students can practise English with their families, or friends.. Moreover, every student agrees that it is helpful when the teacher shows the image of the word, or mimes the action to clarify the meaning of the words. None of the students considers mentioned strategies useless.. In addition, students´ opinions about the last statement are more divided. The survey shows that it is not clear to the students to estimate whether their peers and the teacher are able to understand them when they speak..
(38) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 38. Despite a significant difference between the number of students who took part in the Likert scale and the interviews, the results from both sources remain consistent.. 7.6 Post-interventions results: Likert scale Finally, in order to contrast preliminary results described and analysed before with the results obtained after my inteventions, I attached the following Likert scale. It was implemented at the very end of the process. The objective was to see if the students perceived any improvement in their learning considering the beginning and the end of the semester. These are the results:. Likert Scale. TD. DA. 1. Es más fácil para mi hablar. 10. 8. 4. NES. ED. TED. 4. 3. 2. 3. 8. 7. 5. 12. 8. 2. 4. 1. 10. 8. 6. 3. 0. 6. 12. 3. 2. inglés ahora que al comienzo de semestre. 2. No me gusta presentar frente de mis compañeros 3. Creo que pronuncio mejor las palabras que al comienzo de semestre 4. Creo que en últimos tres meses mis. habilidades. orales. han. inglés. mi. mejorado 5.Cuando. hablo. profesora y mis compañeros me entienden mejor que al comienzo de semestre. 4.
(39) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 39. From the table above it can be seen that for the majority of students it is easier to speak English after interventions than at the beginning of the semester. This is excellent result if we take into consideration that at the beginning of the semester only five from twenty-six students answered that it was easy to them to speak English.. This time only seven from twenty-seven students do not like to present in front of their classmates, while before eighteen students stated they did not feel comfortable. That means that after interventions this number decreased more than fifty percent, which is more than expected.. According to the students´ perception, most of them pronounce words significantly better than at the beginning of the semester. Also, eighteen from twentyseven interviewed students think that their speaking skills improved during last months. That means that they noticed the progress in their own learning and at the same time that the interventions brought positive results.. Lastly, eighteen students have the impression that their teacher and classmates understand them when they speak. Three months ago only eight students answered positively this questions. The number of students satisfied about this result raised double.. After analysing the data collection, I want to present action plan intervention I implemented in order to achieve the goal, which was to facilitate my students´ vocabulary production. The interventions were based on applying the following.
(40) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 40. strategies: pre teach vocabulary, repetition, recycling, TPR method, flashcards, as well as the strategy of chunking. (11.5 Appendix E) In the next chapter it is fully explained.. 7.7 Action Plan Intervention Regarding my intervention, I planned to include my strategies into three English lessons. The data analysis previously mentioned encouraged me to implement selected strategies that could be useful to facilitate my students´ vocabulary production in oral tasks. I decided to underpin my intervention with some strategies suggested by the literature and adapted into the context I taught. My strategies were: pre-teach vocabulary, repetition, recycling, TPR method in combination with flashcards, as well as the strategy of chunking and simplifying the language. I planned to avoid the use of L1 and replace any potential translation by providing examples, pictures and body language.. All these interventions were conducted within the same unit called: Free time. I made the decision to focus on one specific unit in order to analyse the process carefully, from its initial phase in which the students received input, until the final phase in which they were able to produce selected expressions independently.. 1st intervention My first intervention (See 11.5 Appendix E1) was carried out on October 14th. As previously mentioned, the topic was: Free time. I developed my intervention in pre stage because it was the first encounter with the new unit. I introduced a new topic by giving a few examples of activities people do in their free time and simultaneously I.
(41) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 41. performed each action. After that I asked some students what they do in their free time and I received expected answers.. Then, I displayed two motivational videos in order to engage the students and introduce new vocabulary. After that I asked them what activities they saw and I wrote down all their answers on the whiteboard. Afterwards we did a lot of repetition of new words and some chunks which are often used while talking about free time activities, such as: I like football etc. (See 11. 2 Appendix B.8 Journal). In this lesson I had to introduce a lot of vocabulary connected to free time activities. We did a lot of repetition of the words, and some chunks like: I like football. I think I provided a lot of space for repetition of new structures. In the last activity when I took out the written word, and left just the picture the students had to produce the words orally and they were able to do it! This showed me that it was necessary to devote so much time on repetition because that way they could memorize the words, structures and pronounce them correctly.. Table 5. Segment of the journal. The major part of this intervention was devoted to intensive input, repetition and memorization facilitated by visual support (flashcards, videos) and TPR strategies consistently applied by the teacher.. It was not a perfect intervention, but good enough to start a cycle. The students got engaged into the topic and at the end of intervention they could produce some chunks orally. There were moments were the students were confused about what I asked.
(42) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 42. them to do during the task. Nevertheless, after I used body language and flashcards, in most cases they responded adequately and I could avoid the translation.. 2nd Intervention My second intervention (See 11.5 Appendix E2) took place on October 17th. As I previously stated, the topic of the class was the same as in the first intervention: Free time activities. I used a segment of a pre and while stage in which the students had to recycle the expressions and vocabulary learnt in previous lesson. Additionally, it was planned that they extend their knowledge into producing specific phrases connected to a bike trip.. To begin with the lesson I asked my students what do they do in their free time. I used that question in order to estimate if they remembered the vocabulary introduced in my last intervention. At first the students overused Spanish in their answers, but after providing some examples in L1 they started remembering expressions in English. When they saw flashcards representing the words that I expected them to produce orally they began to participate more in the lesson. (See 11.2 Appendix B.9). The second intervention was focused on recycling the vocabulary and expressions learnt during my first intervention. At the same time I introduced more detailed vocabulary connected to the bike trip. The students had to produce expressions such as: race your bike down the hill, put on your helmet, drink some water, and get your bike. I decided to teach those expressions through flashcards and using TPR. The students responded very positively to those strategies. At the end they were able to produce.
(43) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 43. orally all the expressions by heart. Many repetitions were provided. I did not use Spanish in any part of the lesson.. Table 6. Segment of the journal In the last phase of this intervention, after numerous repetitions and recycling, the students were expected to produce orally the sentences without any written help. I decided to take out the description of flashcards and I was performing each action. The students’ role was to guess what I was acting and name the action. The students’ answers proved that they were able to fulfil the objective of that activity.. T: Now, we are going to try to do a similar activity, but I will take these flashcards. Let´s try if that works. Ok, now let´s try to do this using our memory. The same activity, just we don´t have flashcards here. Ok? Are you ready? Ss: Yes T: Ok, what am I doing now? (T performs the action, Ss have no help on the board) Raise your hand S: Drink some water T: Drink some water, very well, and you don´t have any help. You´re amazing.. Table 7 Segment of the audio-recording transcription. After my second intervention I could observe that the strategies I decided to put into practice brought positive results. I planned to continue the cycle in my third intervention and maintain the use of similar strategies. Nevertheless, my last intervention was planned to be more students-centred and focused on interaction between peers..
(44) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 44. 3rd intervention. My last intervention (See 11.5 Appendix E.3) was done on October 18th. The topic of the lesson was still around free time activities. Additionally the students were practising previously introduced structure: can or can´t. I applied the set of the same strategies as in first and second intervention, but that time my students were in the centre of the lesson and the main focus was on oral production, not on repetition anymore. My third intervention was designed in post stage. (See appendix 11.2 Appendix B.9). This time I focused on post activity. I designed a task called: Find someone who. In other words the students had to find some classmates who can do previously learnt activities such as: ride a bike, play tennis, dive, play darts, go sailing. Additionally they had to use the structure: can or can´t, which was also learnt in previous lessons. The challenge of this oral task was that while the students were interviewing each other they did not have any support of a written form of those actions. The only thing they could see were the pictures that represented each action, and they had to produce them orally by heart.. Table 8 Segment of a journal. The students fulfilled the objective of the lesson. They were able to orally produce all the expressions in a proper way, and without any written help. I am attaching the sample of activity they performed during that intervention..
(45) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 45. Figure 2 Sampling of post activity Everybody listen, listen (TPR) Ok, XX, come please. Ok, listen: Rolling, rolling, one, two, three- ACTION! XX will read the names of students who can do these actions. XX: XX can swim T: XX can swim, excellent, the next one XX: XX can play football T: XX can play football. Excellent. The next one XX: XX can surf T: XX can surf. Did you know that? XX, wow, that´s a difficult sport. The next one XX: XX can dive? T: XX can dive, Very good. XX can dive. All right, the next one. Table 9 Segment of the audio-recording transcription.
(46) STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE VOCABULARY PRODUCTION IN ORAL TASKS. 46. 8. Reflections and Analysis of Intervention. The purpose of this part of my research is to analyse all data gathered during my three interventions and reflect about the process and results it brought. The process of collecting data helped me to become aware of aspects that are crucial to make improvements in the classroom.. In my three interventions I implemented the following strategies: pre-teach vocabulary, repetition, recycling, TPR method in combination with flashcards, as well as the strategy of chunking and simplifying the language. All of these strategies were suggested by literature. I decided not to use L1 in any part of the lesson, and all doubts students had were clarified by providing examples, pictures and body language.. I think that the strategies chosen by me in that specific context were adequate. I observed that the students responded positively to all of them, especially TPR strategies. At the same time, without visual help such as videos and flashcards, it would not be possible to obtain such positive results. Considering the language I used in all those three interventions, I would like to simplify it more, if I had a chance to continue my project in the future. Many times I used too complex language and I made some comments, which may have been omitted.. On the one hand, my first intervention was mainly based on introducing a new topic and most of the time was devoted to repetition. I was very nervous because I was really expectant. I introduced a new topic so I wanted to make sure that the students got engaged with the unit. They loved the videos that I prepared and it was probably because they saw little children just like them practising different sports and spending time in a similar way that they do. There were.
Documento similar