Which strategies can i use to make my oral instructions clearer in my 6th grade class?

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(1)1 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER. Which strategies can I use to make my oral instructions clearer in my 6th grade class? Francisca López Ponce Universidad Alberto Hurtado. This research was carried out to obtain a university degree as an English teacher. Seminar Lecturer: Pablo Silva Tutor: Ester López Santiago, Chile 2016.

(2) 2 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER. Abstract. This Action research project looks for the implementation of some strategies to help me to make my oral instructions clearer for students in a school located in Lo Prado. The group of students in which this project was developed are around the ages of 11 and 12 years old. The strategies were carefully selected considering the context and students’ needs. The data was collected through an attitudinal questionnaire, a checklist, audio-recordings and a survey in form of a rating scale. The results of this project showed that the strategies used were beneficial for both students and me. Key words: oral instructions, strategies, Action Research. Resumen. El siguiente Proyecto de investigación-acción busca la implementación de algunas estrategias que me ayuden a hacer mis instrucciones orales más claras para los estudiantes en una escuela ubicada en Lo Prado. El grupo de estudiantes en el que este proyecto se desarrolló bordean las edades de 11 y 12 años. Las estrategias fueron cuidadosamente seleccionadas, considerando el contexto y las necesidades de los estudiantes. La información fue recolectada a través de un cuestionario actitudinal, una lista de verificación, grabaciones de audio y una encuesta en forma de una escala de valoración. Los resultados de este proyecto muestran que las estrategias utilizadas fueron beneficiosas tanto para los estudiantes como para mí..

(3) 3 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER. Table of contents. Introduction …………………………………………………………………………….. 5 Context ………………………………………………………………………………….. 6 School Context ………………………………………………………………………. 6 Classroom Context …………………………………………………………………... 7 Problem …………………………………………………………………………………. 8 Research Question ……………………………………………………………………… 9 Rationale ………………………………………………………………………………… 10 Gantt Chart ……………………………………………………………………………... 11 Literature Review ………………………………………………………………………. 12 Instructions ………………………………………………………………………. 12 How to give clearer instructions …………………………………………………. 13 Benefits of giving instructions in English ………………………………………. 14 The use of L2 in the EFL classroom …………………………………………….. 15 Teaching children ………………………………………………………………... 16 Mind map ……………………………………………………………………………….. 17 Research Methodology ………………………………………………………………… 18 Data Collection ……………………………………………………………………… 18 Audio-recording …………………………………………………………………. 18 Journal …………………………………………………………………………… 18 Survey …………………………………………………………………………… 19 Questionnaire …………………………………………………………………….. 19 Checklist …………………………………………………………………………. 20 Procedures of Data Collection …………………………………………………………. 20 Participants and Consent ………………………………………………………………. 22 Action Plan intervention ……………………………………………………………….. 22 Before the intervention …………………………………………………………... 23 First intervention ………………………………………………………………... 23.

(4) 4 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER Second intervention …………………………………………………………….. 24 Third intervention …………………………………………………………….… 26 Data Analysis ………………………………………………………………………….. 27 Instrument 1: Questionnaire ……………………………………………………. 27 Instrument 2: Checklist …………………………………………………………. 29 Instrument 3: Survey – Rating scale ……………………………………………. 30 Reflection and Analysis of the interventions ………………………………………… 32 Conclusions and Implications ………………………………………………………… 34 References ……………………………………………………………………………… 37 Appendix ………………………………………………………………………………. 39 Appendix A. Survey Sample …………………………………………………… 39 Appendix B. Attitudinal Questionnaire Sample ……………………………….. 40 Appendix C. Audio-recording transcriptions ………………………………….. 42 Appendix D. Checklist Sample ………………………………………………… 45 Appendix E. Sampling – Third intervention ………………………………….... 46.

(5) 5 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER. Introduction. During the last five years, in my journey to become an English Teacher I have realized of the importance of being self-critical and be reflective in regards of our own teaching practice. These actions are crucial when it comes to changes and improvements in our practice as teachers of any level and any subject matter.. Teachers might face several issues throughout their practice and a good way to overcome those problems is to explore their own teaching practice to notice what is not working properly and to see if anything can be done in order to find a solution. Action Research is a useful tool when it comes to trying to improve our practice.. The following Action Research project will be focused on a problem encountered while doing my final practicum in a school located in Lo Prado. First, I problematized a real situation regarding my own teaching practice. Furthermore, I selected some useful concepts that are closely related to the research question in order to understand the topic of this project and several authors were chosen to support the ideas of this investigation. Additionally, certain steps were followed in pursuance of improvements and changes in my own teaching practice..

(6) 6 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER. Context. School Context. Colegio Babilonia is a subsidized, coeducational school located in Lo Prado. The educational levels go from Pre-kindergarten to 8th grade, with one course per level. Its monthly payment revolves around $10.000 and $25.000 CLP and the enrollment fee is costless. The total enrollment is 414 students, being 41 the average of students per classroom. Its Educational Project aims at providing an effective and affective education to students, based on academic learning and values.. The school has a security camera and video surveillance system. There is a security camera and a speaker in every classroom, including the teachers’ room. When I asked why there were cameras within the classrooms, I was told that the idea was to monitor teachers’ performance in terms of classroom management. For instance, if the directives see that in X classroom students are running and jumping on the tables, they will use the speakers to ask that teacher what is going on there. Besides, if there is an accident or something similar inside the classroom, they can look for the video recordings to have a clearer picture of what happened.. In terms of resources, each classroom counts with a projector and a audio/speaker system. Therefore, each teacher should bring his/her computer to the classroom and connect it to the projector and audio..

(7) 7 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER. English is taught from Pre-kindergarten to 8th grade, nevertheless, the Ministry of Education requires to incorporate English as a subject matter since 5th grade. Having said that, from Pre-kindergarten to 4th grade, English is considered a “project”. Teachers follow the contents and programs from the Ministry of Education and base their classes on the books.. Classroom Context. This Action Research is based on a 6th grade. There are 39 students, 22 girls and 17 boys. The age of the participants goes from 11 to 12 years old. According to the Ministry of Education website and what I have seen, in general students have an elementary level of English. They have four pedagogical hours of English a week; on Tuesdays (11:45 to 13:15) and Fridays (10:00 to 11:30). I have noticed that they are not used to use the target language during the English class and that they have problems understanding when the teacher speaks in English. I try to use the communicative approach in my lessons, however, sometimes my host teacher asks me to explain grammar. The seating arrangement is the traditional with rows, the whiteboard and the teacher in front of the classroom. It is complicated to change this seating arrangement because the space is reduced..

(8) 8 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER. Problem. At the beginning of the first semester, when I was observing my host teacher’s lessons, I realized that classes were given in Spanglish and that students did not make any effort when it comes to use English in the class. The instructions were given in English, then, as students did not understand, my host teacher tried to use gestures. However, she ended up giving instructions in Spanish anyway. When I started teaching, I had problems with this due to when I started using English I lost half of the class. They got distracted because they did not understand what I was saying. For this reason, I felt forced to use Spanish to get their attention, but at the same time, I felt uncomfortable. From that moment on, I tried to use English and a lot of gestures, but when I felt that they were not understanding, I used Spanglish. I noticed that when I was giving instructions this whole situation was really problematic because I needed students’ attention and, at the same time, I needed them to understand what I was saying to actually do the activities. From my perspective, the moment in which students must understand everything in order to work or complete an activity is when the teacher give instructions. Therefore, I used CCQ’s (checking comprehension questions) but students were not able to answer, since they did not understand what I was asking. During the whole semester, I have been using English, Spanglish or Spanish and a lot of gestures to explain what students have to do, notwithstanding, I felt very uncomfortable with the situation and with myself because I am not able to give instructions in English, or maybe I use complex words. It is relevant to mention that I am referring to oral instructions since I feel I have more problems with those types of instructions..

(9) 9 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER. Research Question. Having everything previously mentioned in mind, from a broad scope my question will be: “How can I give clear instructions?”, I have decided to narrow it down to: “Which strategies can I use to make my oral instructions clearer in my 6th grade class?”. It is important for me to encounter and implement the best strategies that can help me while giving instructions. I decided to focus on oral instructions, because I believe that I have more problems with this type of instructions. Finally, I want my students to understand my instructions, for this reason I used the word “clearer” in the question..

(10) 10 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER. Rationale. The main reason for undertaking this research project is to improve my teaching practice and in this way, try to become a more skillful teacher. It is relevant to highlight that this profession requires reflective and dedicated teachers who are able to look at their own practice and admit that something might be wrong and willing to do something about it.. Instructions take a fundamental role in teaching since they are the center of any activity, when it comes to understanding and completion. If instructions are not clear, hence students do not understand what they have to do and they will not be able to complete the given activities.. Once carried out, this research could benefit myself, my 6th grade students and the courses in which I am teaching. The aim of this research is to find and implement strategies that may help me to give clear oral instructions using English within the classroom. Besides, it might help my students due to the fact that exposing students to more English will be beneficial for them, and also it could give them a more confident attitude towards English and the class. Also, it might help me to implement and adapt those strategies in order to use them in other levels. Having said that, this research will be my first attempt to research and become a reflective teacher. I might be able to improve my own practice by modifying some aspects of it. It is an opportunity to work on my weaknesses..

(11) 11 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER. Gantt Chart.

(12) 12 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER Literature Review. In this section, some concepts will be stated and supported by several authors in order to understand the research question in depth. The concepts are: Instructions, how to give clearer instructions and benefits of giving clear instructions in English; the use of L1 in the EFL classroom and teaching children.. Instructions. Instructions play an important role in our lessons. According to Ur (1996), instructions are directions that are given to introduce an activity or task that involves independent student activity. In this sense, if the instructions are not clear enough for students two scenarios can be visible: Students do not complete the task or students complete activity, but not in the expected way, that is to say, they have chances to make mistakes. Having said that, the lack of clearness when giving instructions can lead us to have discipline problems within the classroom, due to the fact that if we have students that are not working because they did not understand the directions given, those students are more likely to misbehave (Epperson and Rossman, 2011)..

(13) 13 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER How to give clearer instructions. In order to have students working properly during the lesson by completing the tasks or activities given and, in this way, achieve the learning objective set for the class. It is crucial for the teacher to focus on the manner the instructions are given. Ur (1996) presents a guideline to give effective instructions. First, it is necessary to prepare the instructions beforehand: the words, examples and even the illustrations that will be used when giving the instructions. The author encourages to write the instructions down in a piece of paper, therefore, the teacher will have a clear view of what will be said during the lesson. Second, before giving instructions the teacher must have students’ attention. Thus, instructions cannot be given if students are not paying attention because they will start asking questions like ‘What do we have to do?’ as soon as the teacher stops giving instructions. Third, teachers should present the information more than once. To give every student the chance to understand the instructions, teachers should repeat the explanation by using different words or writing it on the board. Fourth, instructions must be brief since learners have a short period of attention span. Fifth, teachers should illustrate the instructions with examples. Finally, teachers need to check if students understood the instructions given. To do this, the author recommends to ask learners to paraphrase the instructions with their own words, instead of asking them ‘Do you understand?’. (Ur, 1996, p. 16-17). Scrivener (2005) proposes five steps towards clearer instructions: 1) To become aware of the instructions you give. 2) To pre-plan instructions beforehand to make sure short sentences and simple words are being used. 3) In class, separate the instructions from the unnecessary.

(14) 14 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER ‘chit-chat’ and make sure there is complete silence in the classroom. 4) When possible, demonstrate instead of explaining. 5) Get concrete evidence that students know what they have to do. (Scrivener, 2005, p. 90-91). Schindler states that “having an effective process for giving directions is critical” (Shindler, 2010, p.91). The author displays a five-stage systematic procedure for giving clear and effective instructions. 1) Use a word or chunk to get students’ attention. 2) Say a ‘special’ word (Go!, Start!, etc) when you finish giving instructions. For instance, you use the word “go!” at the end of the explanation of an activity, therefore, students must stay quiet and listen until you say the word “go!”. 3) Give the directions in a concise manner. 4) Ask students if they have any questions. 5) Ask randomly to any student a question such as: “Jorge, what do you have to do first?”, and if the learner does not struggle answering it is because the instructions were clear. If the student is not able to answer, the teacher should not blame him/her and should say something like: “Not exactly. I must not have done a very good job explaining that part; I will try again”. (Schindler, 2010, p.92). Benefits of giving clear instructions in English. A study carried out by Epperson and Rossman (2011) together with the Chilean Ministry of Education and the United States Embassy, presents a list of benefits of giving clear instructions:. . Students can complete the task..

(15) 15 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER . Students who are following instructions are less likely to misbehave.. . Students feel self-sufficient and confident/proud that they understood something in English.. . Students are partners with the teachers in the learning process.. . Students are comprehending and applying meaningful, authentic English that can be used inside and outside the classroom.. . Students are exposed to more English because instructions have been given in English.. . Teachers save energy because they are not repeating the same instructions over and over again to individual students.. . Teachers save time; therefore, they have more time to focus on the objectives of the lesson.. . Teachers gain a sense of confidence and pride by successfully communicating with the students in English. (Epperson and Rossman, 2011, p. 14). The use of L1 in the EFL classroom. In our Chilean context, English is taught as a foreign language (EFL) due to the fact that the official language in our country is Spanish. According to Brown (2000), “foreign language contexts are those in which students do not have ready-made contexts for communication beyond their classroom”. Cook (2008) states that teachers should avoid the use of L1 in the English classroom, nonetheless, she suggests using L1 in some extreme situations.

(16) 16 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER like giving instructions when the teacher already tried to explain using L2 and it was not effective.. Teaching children. According to Piaget (1960), 6th graders are on Concrete Operational Stage. they are starting to use logic to get to valid conclusions, as long as the premises have to do with concrete situations and not abstract ones. Moreover, in this stage children cease to be so egocentric. Brown (2000) suggests to be careful with explanations and instructions for children in this stage, because they tend to be very literal..

(17) 17 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER. Literature review: Mind map. Instructions. Which strategies can I use to make my oral instructions clearer in my 6th grade class?. How to give clear instructions. Benefits of giving clear instructions in English. The use of L1 in the EFL classroom. Teaching children. Figure 1. Mind map.

(18) 18 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER. Research Methodology. Data Collection. In order to collect data, a mixture of instruments such as audio-recording, journal, a survey in form of a rating scale and a questionnaire with open-ended questions will be used.. Audio-recording. To check the words used when giving instructions, their complexity and the order an audio-recording method will be used. Anne Burns states “Audio-recording gives you an accurate record of what people say”. This instrument will be used to record segments from the lesson, specifically when giving instructions, along the interventions. The purpose of using this tool is to see if there is any improvement in the way instructions are given by comparing the segments recorded.. Journal.. According to Anne Burns, “journal writing is something of a ‘classic’ tool in AR as it allows you to record the events and happenings in your location, your reflections, beliefs and.

(19) 19 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER teaching philosophies, your ideas and insights about your practice, and your personal histories as a teacher researcher”. Writing in a journal is helpful because one can keep a track of the events and notice if there has been any change. This method could be helpful to support some ideas and to give evidence, mainly of what has been observed within the classroom.. Survey. Considering the time and the number of students, one of the data collection instruments was a survey. This survey was presented in form of a rating scale to measure frequency. It consisted of four statements and the participants had to choose four levels of frequency: never, seldom, most of the time and always. The survey (See Appendix A) was given after the interventions. It was written in Spanish, thus, there was not misconceptions or misunderstandings regarding the instrument. This tool was used to see students’ perception regarding instructions and to see if there is a difference between the answers given in the questionnaire, which was given before the interventions.. Questionnaire. In order to know students’ opinions regarding instructions and using Spanish within the English classroom, an attitudinal questionnaire was used. It consisted of 4 open-ended questions.

(20) 20 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER written in Spanish and it was answered by students, in Spanish, before the intervention, during the pre-stage of the interventions. (See Appendix B). Checklist. According to Daniel Tomal, “the use of checklists is a quantitative way to conduct a structured observation. Checklists can serve as a valuable tool in ensuring that the researcher records timely and accurate observations”. This instrument (See Appendix D) was used to see if students understood the instructions given by checking the completed activity. It was used during the third and last intervention.. Procedures of Data Collection.. A segment of a random class was audio-recorded before the intervention. Moreover, a segment of the instructions given during the first and second intervention was recorded as well. In this way, there will be enough evidence to make a comparison and see if there is any improvement while using the strategies chosen.. The journal entries are written weekly since the beginning of the final practicum. The topics written are particular situations that the researcher considers important, therefore it is attained to subjectivity. As if it is not written immediately, the entries are mainly reflections and.

(21) 21 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER not only descriptions of what happened. It is relevant to mention that Journal entries will be used to support other instruments, only if it is necessary.. Also, a checklist was used in the third intervention to check if students understood what they had to do for a given activity.. An attitudinal questionnaire was used. It consisted of 4 open-ended questions written in Spanish. By doing this, students were able to express their opinions regarding the topic which is related to instructions. It is important to mention that this was completed by students before the interventions.. Finally, as mentioned before, a survey was used. It was given after the interventions, during the post-stage. The survey included four statements and students had to choose the degree of frequency in which they carry out the action given: never, seldom, most of the time, always.. The mentioned instruments used together can provide insights to later discuss about the effectiveness of the action plan..

(22) 22 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER. Participants and consent. The participants in this research are 6th graders. There are 39 students in total. They were informed about the research and all of them accepted to participate. The host teacher and UTP were informed as well.. Action Plan Intervention. After consulting the literature, some strategies will be implemented in three English lessons. The strategies chosen are: to prepare instructions beforehand, use simple language and short sentences, use cognates, examples, body language and gestures, and use CCQ’s to check students’ comprehension. The idea is to avoid the use of L1 when giving instructions and during the lesson since students need input in order to acquire and understand the target language. Prepare instructions beforehand can be useful since you do not leave space to improvisation. The idea is to plan the exact words you are going to use when giving the instructions. By doing this, you include simpler words, cognates and keep everything concise in short sentences. When giving instructions is expected that every student is able to understand and complete the activity given. In order to reach every student in the classroom I decided to include.

(23) 23 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER the use of body language and gestures to support the instructions given. Students might not know every word in English, therefore, the use of gestures and body language can be very helpful for understand what they have to do. CCQ’s are very important since they reflect if students understood the instructions and indications given. Sometimes it is too general to ask “Do you understand?” and some students might feel embarrassed to ask questions when they do not get something. For this reason it could be convenient to ask CCQ’s considering that they are more specific and give students two options to choose and answer the question.. Before the interventions. As mentioned before, a segment of instructions in a random day will be audio recorded, before the interventions. Also, students will answer a questionnaire consisting of four open questions in Spanish and they can answer in Spanish to avoid misunderstandings and limitations of the answers because of the interference between the languages.. First Intervention. The first intervention was carried out on November 11th . The topic of the class was “Last holidays”. Students were supposed to read a page from a journal in which a girl wrote what she did during her last holidays. After reading, students had to answer three questions about the.

(24) 24 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER text. Before giving the instructions of what they had to do, I made sure everyone was paying attention. When I noticed that some of them were doing something else, I said their names aloud and they looked at me. The instructions were given with the help of gestures and some students that repeated some things in Spanish. However, at the moment of asking CCQ’s regarding the time they had to complete the activity, some students answer incorrectly. Finally, they were corrected by their own classmates. I tried to avoid Spanish, thus, I used it only once because students did not get what I asked. T: Ok, pay attention! Silence! You have to (…) what you have to do first is read. XX! atrás, XX ... pay attention. You have to read (…) and then you have to answer those questions (pointing at the worksheet). We have three questions … S: Hay que responder! tía, ¿hay que responder she goes to ...? T: Yes! We have three questions! How many question do you have to answer? How many questions? ¿Cuántas preguntas? Ss: Three T: You have … five minutes! S: Cinco minutos T: How many minutes do you have? S: Five minutes! T: five or ten? Ss: Ten!. Table 1. Segment of the audio-recording transcription. Ss: Five!. Second Intervention. The second intervention took place on November 15th. The topic of the class was “What did you do yesterday?”. This was a game to reinforce Past Simple and it was carried out at the pre-stage of the lesson. One student had to come at the front of the classroom, read the.

(25) 25 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER sentence written in a piece of paper and mimic. The rest of the classmates were supposed to guess the action, by raising their hands and saying the sentence in past simple. Before giving the instructions, I looked at them and they stopped talking and started paying attention. I gave the instructions fully in English, using gestures and body language. I did not ask CCQ’s this time, because I felt everybody understood the instructions, however, I should have done it.. Today, during the second intervention I could finally give the instructions without using L1. I felt comfortable, but it was not 100% successful because I did not ask any CCQ’s since I felt they understood, however I cannot assume that.. Table 2. Segment from the Journal. T: Today we are going to play a game … with past simple! S: Pasado simple! T: A game with past simple. S: ¿Un juego con el pasado simple? S: Ahh! un juego del pasado simple … T: Yes! So, I have some pieces of paper and I am going to choose one of you to come here to read the paper and to mimic! Ss: ¡Ahh hacer la mímica! T: Yes! And you have to … S: ¡Adivinar! T: To guess! Good XX!. Table 3. Segment of the audio-recording transcription.

(26) 26 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER Despite the fact that I did not ask CCQ’s, the activity went well and I did not hear students saying that they did not understand or that they did not know what they had to do. I tried to use very simple English and cognates to make it easier to understand.. Third Intervention. The last intervention was carried out on November 18th. The topic of the class was “Plans for the weekend”. During the post stage of the class, students had to write two sentences telling their plans for the weekend. The instructions were: In your copybooks, you have to write two sentences telling what you are going to do next weekend. One sentence for each day of the weekend. I provided examples on the board and I gave them a structure: On Saturday, ….. / On Sunday, ….. . In this part of the interventions the completed activity will be checked to see if students understood what they had to do, in other words, the instructions were clear for them to follow..

(27) 27 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER. Data Analysis. In order to continue with the analysis of the data gathered it is important to recall that the participants are 39 students from 6th grade, having four pedagogical hours of English lessons a week. Throughout the data collection three instruments were used: Questionnaire, Checklists and a Survey in form of a rating scale. It is relevant to mention that these instruments were applied before, during and after the interventions to have a clearer picture of the results.. In this part, the information gathered before and during the interventions, after applying the different instruments and strategies to the participants, will be evaluated. Firstly, the analysis of the results will be presented and secondly, the analysis of the interventions will be made.. Instrument 1: Questionnaire. This instrument was applied to 37 students from 6th grade. The purpose of using this tool was to know students’ opinions and feelings about instructions and using Spanish within the English classroom. It is important to recall that this instrument was used before the interventions,.

(28) 28 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER only once. As mentioned before, the questionnaire was written in Spanish and students answered in Spanish as well, to avoid misunderstandings.. Table 4. Students’ answers coding Questionnaire. Categories. 1. Cuando la profesora da instrucciones en inglés y tú no entiendes. ¿Qué haces? ¿Por qué?. - Preguntar a la profesora. 2. ¿Cómo podría ayudarte la profesora a entender mejor las instrucciones?. - Pedir ayuda a un compañero - Explicar nuevamente - Repetir instrucciones en español. 3. ¿Qué podrías hacer tú para entender mejor las instrucciones?. - Poner atención - Estar en silencio. 4. ¿Consideras importante que la profesora use español? ¿En qué momento?. - Cuando da instrucciones - Cuando enseña vocabulario nuevo - Cuando no entendemos algo. Table 4 encapsulates students’ answers regarding the questionnaire applied into categories. Regarding what they do when they do not understand the instructions given, most of them answered that they ask the teacher what they have to do or they ask a classmate for help. When they were asked about the ways in which the teacher could help them to better understand instructions, most of them agreed that teacher should explain again and say instructions in Spanish. In terms of what they could do to better understand instructions, most of them answered that they could pay attention and be quiet. Finally, when the participants were asked if they.

(29) 29 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER considered important that the teacher uses English and when, all of them agreed that it was important in the following situations: when giving instructions, when teaching new vocabulary and when they do not understand something.. From the information gathered with this instrument, it can be concluded that most of the students consider that the teacher should use Spanish during the lesson, especially when giving instructions. Therefore, it can be inferred that most of students do not understand when the teacher gives instructions in English.. Instrument 2: Checklist. Table 5 below shows a checklist used during third intervention to check whether students understand the instructions given or not. This tool was used in four students’ samples chosen randomly. Since there are 39 students in this course I choose four samples because it represents almost the 10% of the students. The instructions given for this activity were oral instructions, the examples provided were also given orally and the structure was written on the board.. Table 5. Checklist Instruction / Student. A. B. C. D. Write in your copybooks. ✔. ✔. ✔. ✔. Write two sentences using going to. ✔. ✔. ✔. ✔. Write one sentence for each day of the weekend. ✔. ✔. ✔.

(30) 30 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER. As shown in table 5, only one out of four students did not understand the last part of the instructions which consisted in writing one sentence per day, that is to say, one for Saturday and one for Sunday (See Appendix E). However, all the other steps of the instructions were achieved.. By looking at the results it can be observed that most of the students could complete successfully the activity, which means that almost all of them could understand the instructions given in English, using the strategies chosen for the interventions. Thus, it can be perceived an improvement regarding giving instruction since students are able to understand them and because of that almost all of them could complete the activity given.. Instrument 3: Survey – Rating scale. This instrument was applied to 35 students. The objective of using this tool was to check students’ perception of instructions after applying the strategies during the interventions. It is relevant to recall that this instrument was used after the interventions. It was also written in Spanish, to avoid misunderstandings..

(31) 31 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER. Table 6. Students’ responses Nunca. Rara vez. Casi siempre. Siempre. Entiendo cuando la profesora explica en inglés lo que hay que hacer. 1. 4. 21. 9. Los ejemplos me ayudan a entender lo que hay que hacer en una actividad. 0. 0. 8. 27. Me queda más clara una palabra o una actividad cuando la profesora usa una mímica. 2. 4. 14. 15. Entiendo cuando un compañero repite lo que hay que hacer. 0. 1. 12. 22. Table 5 shows that most of the participants are able to understand most of the time when the teacher gives instructions in English. Also, a large majority of the students think that examples given by the teacher at the moment of giving instructions are always very useful for them to understand better what they have to do. Besides, most of them have a positive perception regarding teacher using gestures. Lastly, an important number of participants consider that they understand better when a classmate or peer explains what they have to do..

(32) 32 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER. Reflection and analysis of intervention. The use of the strategies chosen during the interventions has been beneficial for both students and I. One the one hand, I was able to give clear oral instructions effectively using English and, on the other hand, students have been exposed to the target language. I have to say that at the beginning, during the first intervention it was hard not to use Spanish. Students were not used to instructions given completely in English, therefore, at the moment of asking some CCQ’s they did not know the meaning of some words. I was nervous and I just repeated the question in Spanish. During the second and third intervention, instructions were given completely in English and the strategies chosen during the action plan were applied. The game played during the second intervention was successful because every student knew what they had to do. Subsequently, the results obtained from the checklist (See Table 5) showed that almost every student completed the activity given. This reflects that most of the students did understand the instructions given for that activity, otherwise, they would not be able to complete it. In other words, the instructions were clear for them.. Moreover, a positive change is seen if we compare the audio-recorded segments (See Appendix C). At first, it was difficult for me to get students’ attention when of giving instructions, nonetheless I believe that they finally understood that they had to pay attention in order to get what they had to do. As a matter of fact, by looking at the questionnaire answers.

(33) 33 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER (See table 4) a large number of students agreed that two factors could help them to better understand instructions: to be quiet and to pay attention.. Additionally, I could notice a change in students’ attitude towards instructions given in English. The information gathered with the questionnaire (See Table 4) that was completed by the students before the interventions showed that they preferred instructions given in Spanish. First, when they were asked how the teacher could help them to better understand the instructions, most of them answered that the teacher should repeat the instructions given in Spanish. Then, when students were asked if the teacher should use Spanish during the lesson and when, a vast majority answered that the teacher should use Spanish to give instructions. This may be due to they were used to receive instructions in English at first and then the same instructions were translated into Spanish, hence, students did not put any effort in trying to understand what the teacher said in English since they were sure that the instructions given would be repeated in Spanish later. On the other hand, the data collected from the survey (See Table 6) applied after the interventions showed that a great majority of students is able to understand instructions most of the time. Moreover, most of them reacted positively to the use of examples and gestures when giving instructions.. Having said that, I can affirm that students responded in a positive way to the strategies applied and by the information collected I can conclude that the strategies used were effective to make my oral instructions clearer for students. Although, I believe that this is a systematic process that has to be applied during a large period of time to see concrete results over time. However, this was a good first attempt to it..

(34) 34 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER. Conclusion and Implications. This Action Research was carried out in order to find strategies to make my oral instructions clearer. The following paragraphs face the implications of the process, the modifications that this project led me to implement in my current teaching practice, the limitations encountered during the development of this research and finally some future research ideas, from a reflective perspective.. In the first place, one of the main implications from this research project is that despite the English level of the students, with the use of some useful strategies it is possible to give instructions fully in English. According to the action plan and interventions, the main changes or modifications were to plan instructions beforehand in order to use simpler words and shorter sentences to explain what students had to do for a given activity. The strategies applied promoted a different atmosphere at the moment of giving instructions since students got familiar with the new way in which instructions were given. They knew that the instruction would not be repeated in Spanish and that if there was any misunderstanding or an unknown word for them, the teacher would start using gestures and body language to solve any doubt. For this reason, students systematically started to be quiet and to pay attention when the teacher started giving instructions. Also, students knew that they would be asked CCQ's to check understanding, hence, they had to be attentive to be able to answer those questions later..

(35) 35 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER. Second of all, with respect to the limitations encountered there is one element to be considered that affected in some way the proper development of the project. First, the extracurricular activities that took place during the second term at Colegio Babilonia. There were some dance presentations, festivals and theater presentations that required time to practice and sometimes they used that time from the English lesson, as well as other subject matters' lessons. Besides, 6th graders had to take the SIMCE test, therefore, they had some weeks of intensive math and language lessons. To do this, the school decided to skip the rest of the lessons (English, History, Music, among others). In addition, they had a one-week vacation after the Fiestas Patrias celebration which meant less time to intervene and apply instruments to collect data. I have to admit that I would have liked to have more time to intervene and apply these strategies for a longer period of time. I truly believe that this is a systematic process and it might need more time to see concrete results.. In a future, without a doubt I would like to investigate covering different topics that may be affecting my teaching practice or the proper development of my lessons. Throughout this research, I realized about the importance of having the disposition to modify certain aspects of the own teaching practice in order to improve and become a better teacher. There were some problems that I faced during my final practicum in the 6th grade classroom related to students’ reluctance to speak in English and others related to classroom management. These problems can lead to new topics to research that can contribute to improve and benefit students and teacher. For instance, the following is a list of questions that arise from the problems previously mentioned:.

(36) 36 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER. . How can I encourage my students to use the target language?. . What strategies can I use to create a proper atmosphere for speaking activities?. . How can I promote respect among students?. To conclude, I truly believe that teachers need to be involved and committed in order to support students’ needs and they must be prepared to face different issues. This is not about just finding a problem, it entails reflection and research to find a possible solution. By carrying out this Action Research I could experience that with the use of certain strategies and by doing things differently it is possible to encounter a lot of benefits. Even if the results of this research would have been different I would have learned from the process anyway..

(37) 37 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER. References. . Brown, D. (2000). Teaching by Principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy, Second Edition. White Plains, NY: Pearson Education. . Burns, A. (2010). Doing Action Research in English Language Teaching. A guide for practitioners. New York: ESL & Applied Linguistic Professional Series.. . Cook, V. (2008). Second language learning and language teaching (4th ed.). London: Hodder Education.. . Epperson, M.., & Rossman, M. (2011). Strategies for motivating and managing the Chilean classroom. Chilean Ministry of Education and United States Embassy.. . Piaget, J. (1960). The psychology of intelligence. London: Routledge & Paul.. . Scrivener, J. (2005) Learning Teaching: The Essential Guide to English Language Teaching, Second Edition. Macmillan.. . Shindler, J. (2010). Transformative classroom management. Los Angeles: Jossey Bass/Wiley Press. Retrieved April, 23, 2013..

(38) 38 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER. . Tomal, D. R. (2010). Action research for educators. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.. . Ur, P. (1996) A course in Language Teaching. First Edition. Cambridge University Press..

(39) 39 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER. Appendix. Appendix A: Survey sample.. Nunca. Entiendo cuando la profesora explica en inglés lo que hay que hacer. Los ejemplos me ayudan a entender lo que hay que hacer en una actividad. Me queda más clara una palabra o una actividad cuando la profesora usa una mímica. Entiendo cuando un compañero repite lo que hay que hacer.. A1: Sampling. Rara vez. Casi siempre. Siempre.

(40) 40 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER. Appendix B: Attitudinal questionnaire sample. Lee cada pregunta y responde sinceramente:. 1. Cuándo la profesora da las instrucciones en inglés y tú no entiendes. ¿Qué haces? ¿Por qué? 2. ¿Cómo podría ayudarte la profesora a entender mejor las instrucciones? 3. ¿Qué podrías hacer tú para entender mejor las instrucciones? 4. ¿Consideras importante que la profesora use español? ¿En qué momento?. B1: Sampling.

(41) 41 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER. B2: Sampling.

(42) 42 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER. Appendix C: Audio-recording transcription C1: Segment of the class of November 4th.. List of conventions: T: Teacher S: Student Ss: Students HT: Host teacher XX: Students name (…): Pause (??): Unidentified sound or words. T: Everyone on item number one (...) XX, please S: Va a explicar la segunda? T: No, number one. In number one you have to read you have to choose the best alternative. For example in letter A you have “Jane travelled to ....” and the alternatives are: United Kingdom, Canada and Mexico. So, you choose one (using gestures), one alternative. XX! In number two, you have to answer true or false and you have to justify the false. HT: XX te voy a terminar cambiando T: Okay? For example, we have, in letter A “In the second week, Jane went shopping”, so you have to read and see if this is true of false. If it’s false, you have to write and justify the false. Now everyone on the part of language (part of the worksheet), on item number four, please. XX! It says, unscramble the following words, which are means of transport. Do you remember means of transport? Ss: Yes T: Yes? for example? S: Car! T: Car! Good XX!. So, these words are all messy and you have to order them.

(43) 43 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER S: ahh ordenándolas! T: Yes! For example, letter A says “rac” (writes on the board) and you have to order. Okay? Ss: Ahhh! S: Están desordenadas y tenemos que ordenarlas y son medios de transportes T: Which mean of transport is this? (pointing at the board) Ss: Car!! T: Good! Car! So, you write: “car”, super. Now, number five. Item number five. It says “read the description and draw”, read and draw (using gestures) S: Leer … no. Leer y dibujar. T: Yes!! Read and draw. For example, letter A says “This place is crowded, polluted, ugly and noisy”. Those are vocabulary to describe places. HT: Ahh! this city que yo voy a dibujar I’m going to draw, sorry, this place is crowded, polluted, ugly and noisy. S: Está poblado, contaminado, feo y ruidoso T: So, in number five, you have to read or draw? (using gestures) S: Dibujar T: Write or draw? (using gestures) Ss: Dibujar T: In English! Write or draw? Ss: Draw! T: Good! draw! and (...) item number six. This is a word search and you have to look for the words from the box (pointing at worksheet). But these words are in present and you have to look for them in past. For example, we have (...) the first word is “do”. What is the past of “do”?.

(44) 44 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER S: ¿el pasado? T: The past form of “do” is … you have to look for it in the list S: Did! T: Did! Good!, so you look for did (pointing at the word search). Good XX!. C2: Segment of the class of November 11th. T: Ok, pay attention! Silence! You have to (…) what you have to do first is read. XX! atrás, XX ... pay attention. You have to read (…) and then you have to answer those questions (pointing at the worksheet). We have three questions … S: Hay que responder! tía, ¿hay que responder she goes to ...? T: Yes! We have three questions! How many question do you have to answer? How many questions? ¿Cuántas preguntas? Ss: Three T: You have … five minutes! S: Cinco minutos T: How many minutes do you have? S: Five minutes! T: five or ten? Ss: Ten! Ss: Five!. C3: Segment of the class of November 15th. T: Today we are going to play a game … with past simple! S: Pasado simple!.

(45) 45 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER T: A game with past simple. S: ¿Un juego con el pasado simple? S: Ahh! un juego del pasado simple … T: Yes! So, I have some pieces of paper and I am going to choose one of you to come here to read the paper and to mimic! Ss: ¡Ahh hacer la mímica! T: Yes! And you have to … S: ¡Adivinar! T: To guess! Good XX!. Appendix D: Checklist sample Instruction / Student Write in your copybooks Write two sentences using going to Write one sentence for each day of the weekend. A. B. C. D.

(46) 46 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER. Appendix E: Sampling – Third intervention. Student A.

(47) 47 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER. Student B.

(48) 48 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER. Student C.

(49) 49 STRATEGIES TO MAKE ORAL INSTRUCTIONS CLEARER. Student D.

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