chilean teachers of english

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Chilean teachers of English as a foreign language: Teaching Speaking Skills strategies to young learners

in large classes.

Acknowledgements

irst of all, * am ery grateful of my superisor 6ksana 5fitska, (ho kindly supported

and guided me throughout the dissertation process. +oreoer, to 9os 9oa;u<n -rieto

School, for opening their door and letting me conduct my pro1ect there. To the

superisor, to the teachers (ho let me enter in their classrooms to obsere them and

took time to ans(er my ;uestions. =ithout their kind hearts none of this (ould not hae

happened.

* (ould like to thank as (ell to eerybody that accompanied me along this process: my

family, my friends, my mentor 2eborah >rainin and my loely boyfriend ?riel

+artine@. * am especially grateful for my friend and fello( colleague +ar<a 9esAs for

her extremely kind heart Thank you for all your help.

+5 in 5pplied Linguistics (ith TES6L dissertation

-ia C. Tabali +arin %%/78&&0)

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in large classes.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

ABSTRACT...................................................................................1

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..................................................................3

TABLE OF CONTENTS....................................................................5

LIST OF TABLES. ..........................................................................7

LIST OF FIGURES..........................................................................7

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION........................................................9

1.1 OVERVIEW................................................................................................91.2 AIMS OF THE STUDY.................................................................................101.3 RESEARCH SETTING AND SCOPE OF THE STUDY..............................................111.4 ORGANISATION OF THE DISSERTATION..........................................................12

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW...............................................132.1 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................132.2. Communicative Language Approach..............................................13

2.3 TEACHING YOUNG LANGUAGE LEARNERS......................................................152.3.2 Activities to develop speaking skills with young language learners.............................................................................................................. 172.3.3 Teaching Young Learners in large classes....................................2

2.4 REVIEW OF RESEARCH ON TEACHING YOUNG LANGUAGE LEARNERS IN EFLCONTEXTS....................................................................................................21

2.!.1 Chilean research studies..............................................................232.5 METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS...........................................................23

THE FOLLOWING SECTION WILL PRESENT A COMPILED SUMMARY ON DIFFERENT

INVESTIGATIONS CARRIED OUT IN RELATION TO THE FIELD OF YOUNG LANGUAGE LEARNERS AS WELL AS THE TEACHING OF SPEAKING SKILLS TO YOUNG LANGUAGE LEARNERS WHICH UNDERPINS THE CURRENT CASE STUDY. ....................................23

TA!LE 2. !ELOW COMPRISE A SUMMARY OF DIFFERENT RESEARCH STUDIES CONDUCTED ON THE FIELDS OF YOUNG LANGUAGE LEARNERS AND SPEAKING SKILLS....................232." IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PRESENT STUDY........................................................2#2.# SUMMARY..............................................................................................2$

CHAPTER 3 THE RESEARCH STUDY...............................................29

3.1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................293.2 THE RESEARCH %UESTION.........................................................................29

3.2.1 "esearch #uestion 1$ %hat are the strategies used &y the

teachers o' (nglish to enhance and develop young learners) speakingskills in large classrooms*.....................................................................2+3.2.2 "esearch #uestion 2$ ,o the teachers 'ollow the strategies statedin the guidelines o' the school)s language pro-ect when teachingspeaking skills to their students*..........................................................33.2.3 "esearch #uestion 3$ %hich o' the strategies employed &yteachers to teach speaking skills go &eyond the school)s policiessylla&us/*.............................................................................................33.2.! "esearch #uestion !$ 0' at all how do the teachers overcome thede'iciencies o' the school)s recommended strategies 'or teachingspeaking*..............................................................................................3

3.3 THE CONTEXT AND FOCUS OF THE STUDY.....................................................313.3.1 trenghts o' the study..................................................................31

3.4 RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS AND DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES.........................32



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in large classes.

1.!.10nterviews......................................................................................333.5 METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH....................................................................34

3..1 Categories and codes...................................................................33." RELIA!ILITY AND VALIDITY.........................................................................40

3.4.1 "elia&ility..................................................................................... !3.4.2 5alidity.........................................................................................!13.7 (thical issues...................................................................................!1

3.$ SUMMARY..............................................................................................42

CHAPTER 4 ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS...........................................43

4.1 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................434.2 DATA ANALYSIS.......................................................................................434.3 RESEARCH %UESTION 1& WHAT ARE THE STRATEGIES USED !Y THE TEACHERS OF ENGLISH TO ENHANCE AND DEVELOP YOUNG LEARNERS' SPEAKING SKILLS IN THEIR LARGE CLASSROOMS(.....................................................................................444.4 RESEARCH %UESTION 2& DO THE TEACHERS FOLLOW THE STRATEGIES STATED IN THE GUIDELINES OF THE SCHOOL'S LANGUAGE PRO)ECT WHEN TEACHING SPEAKING

SKILLS TO THEIR STUDENTS(............................................................................4#4.5 RESEARCH %UESTION 3& WHICH OF THE STRATEGIES EMPLOYED !Y TEACHERS TO TEACH SPEAKING SKILLS GOES !EYOND THE SCHOOL'S POLICIES *SYLLA!US+(............494." RESEARCH %UESTION 4& IF ANY HOW DO THE TEACHERS OVERCOME THE DEFICIENCIES OF THE SCHOOL'S RECOMMENDED STRATEGIES FOR TEACHING SPEAKING(..................................................................................................................514.# SUMMARY..............................................................................................53

CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION..................................55

5.1 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................555.2 TEACHING SPEAKING SKILLS TO YOUNG LEARNERS& DISCUSSING THE FINDINGS.....55

.2.1 Appropriate pedagogical skills to teach YLs (nglish ....................

.2.2 uccess'ul methodology techni#ues and materials to teachspeaking skills to YLLs...........................................................................4.2.3 (''ective teaching speaking skills to YLs in large classes ............6

5.3 SCHOOL PRIVATE PRO)ECT OF TEACHING ENGLISH..........................................59.3.1 Adaptation o' the school)s policies...............................................4

5.4 SCHOOL SOCIAL CONTEXT ........................................................................"15.5 SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE TEACHING PRACTICES..........................................."15." IMPLICATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH........................................................"25.# CONCLUSION ........................................................................................."3

REFERENCES..............................................................................5

APPENDICES...............................................................................72



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in large classes.

LIST OF TABLES.

TABLE 1 SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES COMMONLY EMPLOYED TO

ENHANCE SPEAKING SKILLS TO YLLS...........................................19

TABLE 2 SUMMARY OF RESEARCH STUDIES ABOUT YLLS AND

SPEAKING SKILLS.......................................................................25

TABLE 3 SUMMARY OF THE CATEGORIES! SUBCATEGORIES AND

CORRESPONDING CODES TAKES FROM THE ANALYSIS OF THE

CLASSROOM OBSERVATION DATA................................................35

TABLE 4 SUMMARY OF THE CATEGORIES THAT AROUSE FROM THE

DATA ANALYSIS OF THE INTERVIEWS...........................................3"

LIST OF FIGURES.

*B?E / S?++5Y 6 T"E 6SEDE2 ST5TEB*ES E+-L6YE2 Y YE5 ) TE5C"E T6

=6> 6 S-E5>*B S>*LLS....................................................................................78

*B?E $ S?++5Y 6 T"E 6SEDE2 ST5TEB*ES E+-L6YE2 Y YE5 0 TE5C"E T6 =6> 6 S-E5>*B S>*LLS.....................................................................................77



#




in large classes.

CHAPTER 1 INTROUCTION

1.1 O!e"!#ew

These days, the necessity of learning English as a second or foreign language is

increasing, (ith English becoming an international language !"armer, $%%%F ro(n,

$%%G'. +oreoer, this has far3reaching conse;uences for young learners4 education. *n

the ne( global educational reality, an important number of children are starting to learn

English from pre3school or primary school, Since it has become a central issue for

goernments, syllabus designers, educators and parents !Cameron, $%%)', the teaching

of English to young learners must be taken seriously. Yet little research has been done

in this field, especially in practical areas such as best teaching practices or approaches to

teach young learners !ixon, /&&&'. ixon !/&&&' remarks on the necessity to enter

classrooms and inestigate young learners and their teachers in action.

*n the educational history of Chile, the teaching of English has been thought of as a key

factor in the deelopment of the country. *ndeed, the national curriculum clearly states

in its guidelines that the English language is regarded as a tool to enable global

communication and to hae access to a (ider amount of kno(ledge, information andtechnology, (hich enables the country to face the demands of global society !English as

a oreign Language, -rimary Education: Curricular asis, $%/$'. Since the Chilean

curriculum (as reformed in /&&H, many changes hae been implemented to improe the

;uality and e;uity of education in Chile !6C2E, $%%8'. The Chilean curriculum has

shifted from being communicatie oriented to putting more emphasis on the receptie

skills such as listening and reading in contrast to the (orld(ide tendency to design

curricula and syllabuses in line (ith the Communicatie 5pproach. The rationale for

this approach is related to the fact that the great ma1ority of Chileans (ould use English

for technical purposes rather than for communicating or (riting !+c>ay, $%%)F Barton

et al., $%//'. 2espite all the improements (ith (hich the Chilean English curriculum

has been experimenting, there is still a gap in the teaching of English to young language

learners, since English language teaching as a school sub1ect is only compulsory from

Year 0 !children aged ten'.

"o(eer, the national curriculum also clearly states that schools, irrespectie of



9




in large classes.

(hether they are public or semi3priate, /are allo(ed to employ their o(n pro1ects or

teaching guidelines as long as they meet the basic re;uirements stated in the national

curriculum for each leel. ecause of this goernment concession, Chilean priate

institutions and uniersities hae proliferated oer the last fie years, offering

alternatie English pro1ects to schools to (ork (ith pupils from Year / on(ards.

This case study attempts to dele into the reality of t(o Chilean English teachers (ho

hae been teaching English to young learners (ith the support and guidelines of a

priate school pro1ect in relation to the strategies they employed to teach speaking skills

to their young learners (ithin the context of large Chilean classrooms.

1.$ A#ms o% t&e st'd(

Little literature and research studies hae dealt (ith the issue of teaching English to

young learners !re(ster et al., /&&/F rumfit, /&&/F ixon, /&&&F ikolo, /&&&F

Cameron, $%%)F +oon, $%%7F -inter, $%%0F ikolo, $%%GF unanF $%//'. Scholars

hae identified the necessity to create appropriate teaching methodologies and actiities

that must be employed (ith young learners regarding the deelopmental processes

children at this stage are experiencing. +oreoer, recent studies such as those of

Yildrim and 2ogan !$%/%' in Turkey and SepAleda !$%%G' in Chile hae remarked on

the importance of haing ade;uate and (ell3trained primary teachers.

This case study seeks to examine the strategies teachers of English utili@e to teach

speaking skills to young learners in their large classes, as (ell as to discoer (hether

those strategies correspond to the school pro1ect or (hether teachers hae to turn to their

o(n experience in classrooms. *n particular, this dissertation (ill examine four main

research ;uestions:

/' =hat are the strategies used by teachers of English to enhance and deelop

young learners4 speaking skills in their large classroomsI

$' 2o the teachers follo( the strategies stated in the guidelines of the school4s

language pro1ect (hen teaching speaking skills to their studentsI

1Semi3priate schools in Chile are those that are partly economically supported by the goernment

!+c>ay, $%%)'.



10




in large classes.

)' =hich of the strategies employed by teachers to teach speaking skills go beyond

the school4s policies !syllabus'I

8' "o( do the teachers oercome the deficiencies of the school4s recommended

strategies for teaching speakingI

1.) Rese*"c& sett#ng *nd sco+e o% t&e st'd(

The school in (hich the case study (as carried out (orks (ith a priate pro1ect, (hich

(as employed to proide English classes along (ith its education programme. The

pro1ect has a communication focus of (hich the ma1or concern is to make studentsspeak in the target language at the end of their schooling. ie hours of English lessons

a (eek (ere therefore included in $%%&. +oreoer, teachers hae to teach and speak in

the target language for the (hole lessonF they are not allo(ed to speak Spanish$. 5s part

of the school pro1ect, teachers hae a superisor (ho has t(o rolesF she obseres classes

once a month and she holds regular meetings (ith the teachers !eery riday' to discuss

topics related to the lessons. 2uring the meetings, the superisor checks actiities, tests,

assessments or (orksheets. The main purpose of this procedure is to assist teachers in

doing their 1ob better.

The school is located in a lo(3income neighbourhood in the south of Santiago). one of

the surrounding schools hae this kind of pro1ect and generally children do not receie

English lessons until they are in Year 0, according to the goernment4s policies.

Benerally, poor neighbourhoods in Chile do not hae access to good schools or ;uality

education, especially not in foreign language education. "o(eer, this school is

different from others (ithin its socio3economic enironment.

The pro1ect is also supported by the use of a book that is different from those issued by

the +inistry of Education. 5t the beginning of the school year, children4s parents hae

to buy the book intended for each child4s class. The teachers receie all the

supplementary material gien to (ork (ith the course book, such as audio recordings to

carry out the listening actiities, flashcards, a (orksheet book, assessments books and

2

Spanish is the official language spoken in Chile J the students4 mother tongue.

3 Santiago is the capital of Chile.



11




in large classes.

een the puppet of the course book. 5dditionally, each teacher of English receies her

o(n C2 player to use in eery class.

1., O"g*n#s*t#on o% t&e d#sse"t*t#on

The oerall structure of the study takes the form of fie chapters, including this

introductory chapter.

Chapter T(o begins by laying out the theoretical dimensions of the research. irstly, it

looks at the general grounds of the Communicatie 5pproach and discusses its

applicability to EL8 contexts. Secondly, it looks at ho( the theory underpins the

teaching of young language learners by pointing out the teaching of speaking skills in

the context of large classes. 5fter(ards, it summari@es research studies carried out on

the teaching of young learners. inally, the implications of this case study are discussed.

The third chapter is concerned (ith the methodology used for this study. irstly, it

discusses the rationale of each research ;uestion. Secondly, the context and focus of the

study are explained, including the strengths and the limitations of the study. Thirdly, the

research instruments and the data analysis procedures are examined, proiding a

detailed description of class obserations and interie(s. Later, the categories and codes

obtained from the data analysis are proided. inally, the processes of ho( reliability

and alidity (ere assured in this case study are explained. +oreoer, ethical issues of

the current study are discussed.

Chapter 8 analyses the findings of this study according to each research ;uestion.

Chapter 7 proides a discussion held on the basis of the findings. The discussion (as

diided into t(o spheres of this study. irstly, the teaching of speaking skills such as the

appropriate pedagogical skills to teach Young Language Learners !YLLs' English,

successful methodology, techni;ues and materials to teach speaking skills to YLLs, and

effectie teaching speaking skills to YLLs in large classes (ere discussed. Secondly, the

context of matters regarding the school pro1ect in the current study is discussed as (ell,

since it proides the general frame(ork of this case study. Suggestions and implications

for further studies are proided. inally, the conclusion of this case study is gien. .

4 EL stands for English as a oreign Language. *n contexts like Chile, English is learned as a foreign

language, since it is not part of a second official language spoken.+5 in 5pplied Linguistics (ith TES6L dissertation


12




in large classes.

CHAPTER $ LITERATURE RE-IE

$.1 Int"od'ct#on

The first part of this chapter (ill be deoted to discussing the main aspects of the

Communicatie 5pproach. The second section is mainly related to the issue of

Teaching Young Learners, including the teaching of speaking skills. The implications of

Teaching Young Learners in large classes (ill be found in the fourth section. inally,

the last section (ill discuss the research conducted in relation to this field, as (ell the

literature implications for the present study.

$.$. Comm'n#c*t#!e L*ng'*ge A++"o*c&

5fter years of employing the Brammar Translation +ethod, a ne( theory arose as the

5udiolingual +ethod. This method (as founded in the ?nited States and became one of

the most popular (ays to teach English !ro(n, $%%G'. "o(eer, both trends had a

similar perspectie in (hich the formal aspects of the language (ere highly estimated

and predominant (hen teaching. Communicatie aspects (ere left aside and often

ignored. eertheless, there (as a change to(ards a need for language as a medium to

transmit information and interchange ideas in (hich context must be regarded as (ell.

Communicatie Language Teaching !CLT' is no( emerging as a ne( approach 7. *ts

main focus is the follo(ing:

• The ob1ecties of the classroom are directly related to a more holistic idea of the

language in (hich all the elements are considered. The lessons are not deoted

to only teaching grammar or the linguistic features of the target language.

• To enhance the use of communicatie actiities in the classrooms (hose main

purposes are related to promoting interaction to employ language to exchange

ideas and sole problems.

• The use of authentic materials, (hose aim is not pedagogic but (hich hae the

po(er to proide examples of Kreal life contexts.

5 5round /&H%, the Communicatie 5pproach emerged. *t (as deeloped by ritish linguistics. *ts

mayor aim is to use language to communicatie. luency and accuracy are both e;ually important.

Communication should integrate the four language skills. *ts principles hae influenced other approachessuch as: Task3based language teaching, Cooperatie Language Learning and Content3ased *nstruction

!ichards M Schmidt, $%%$'



13




in large classes.

• Learners are encouraged to use their creatiity and imagination to explore

different areas of the target language.

•The concepts of fluency and accuracy are seen as complementary precepts

underpinning language teaching. Since the main focus is on meaning, fluency in

some cases may be regarded as more important rather than accuracy.

!ingham M Skehan, $%%$F ro(n, $%%G'

CLT follo(s the notion that if learners receie a large amount of target language

exposure during their classes, (ork on communicatie actiities that (ill hae a

positie effect on the gro(th of learners4 language kno(ledge and the deelopment oftheir skills !"armer, $%%$'. The approach assists teachers in proiding essential

language and communication skills to help learners efficiently utili@e the target

language (ith a meaningful purpose !-achler M ield, $%%/'.

5lthough CLT has become ery popular and (idespread across the globe, as any other

approach it has its limitations. Some scholars !"olliday, /&&8F >ramsch M Sullian,

/&&0' hae started to dra( particular attention to ho( culturally appropriate CLT might

be, since its model has been exported outside the (estern (orld !"edge, $%%%'. 6ne of

the dra(backs encountered (hen (orking (ith CLT is the tendency to oer3generali@e

the cultural context in (hich the approach (ould be employed !ingham M Skehan,

$%%$'. +oreoer, in different EL contexts across the globe, the demands of CLT

(ould be difficult to meet !Li, /&&H'. urthermore, "olliday !/&&8' analysed the

appropriateness of teaching methodologies. CLT is examined in terms of comparing

K55 Ns TESE- cultures !55 being ritain, 5ustralia and orth 5merica and

TESE- being the spread culture in the rest of the (orld'. *n conclusion, for "olliday it

is not appropriate to impose the teaching style of a certain culture on another. The fact

that it (orks in a certain context does not mean that it (ill be appropriate for eeryone.

>ramsch and Sullian !/&&0' also ponder (hether appropriate language teaching could

be e;ually utili@ed in international and local contexts, since CLT mainly focuses on the

use of Kreal, authentic and natie like language in English lessons. +oreoer, most of

the textbooks designed in terms of that frame(ork (ould follo( that orientation.

"o(eer, (hen applying those textbooks to local contexts (here learners are not liing



14




in large classes.

in immersion, such as in EL contexts, the effectieness of Kauthentic language turns

out to be a problematic issue. urthermore, "edge !$%%%' also dra(s attention to CLT4s

cultural appropriateness by pointing out the problems teachers may encounter (hen

(orking (ith imposed course books, (hich instead of being helpful to teachers, might

become a limitation to their classrooms4 reality. The author proposes that teachers must

be allo(ed to hae certain Kfreedom in their classroom. *n this case study children

learn English in terms of a Kcommunicatie oriented pro1ect. *n the follo(ing sections,

the teaching of young language learners (ill be presented.

$.) Te*c&#ng /o'ng L*ng'*ge Le*"ne"s

These days, the teaching of English to Young Learners !YLs' has opened a ne( door

and is gaining more importance. or different reasons, parents, caretakers, school

administrators and goernments are focusing their attention on integrating the teaching

of English to YLs into the primary curriculum !Barton et al., $%//'. +oreoer, the

learning of a second language (ould open different opportunities, such as the early

triggering of a ne( interest in and curiosity and enthusiasm about foreign languages

!-inter, $%%0'. *t also promotes the production of a (ide ariety of materials and course

books (ith ne( methods and approaches specifically designed to teach English to YLs

!"omolo#, $%%&'.

or the purpose of this case study, Young Language Learners !YLLs' (ill be

understood as children bet(een the ages of fie and t(ele years old !ixon, /&&&F

Cameron, $%%/', (hich corresponds to the years Chilean children attend primary

school. 5ccording to -inter !$%%0', Seager !/&&H', "armer !$%%%' and +oon !$%%7',

young language learners4 are characteri@ed by using a language that is mainly focused

on expressing meaning, that is to say, they dra( attention to the (hole message

deliered rather than to particular aspects of the language. Since YLLs are still not able

to analyse language !-inter, $%%0', they dra( meaning from situations and not from the

language employed !"alli(ell, /&&$'.

urthermore, YLLs are mainly characteri@ed by being ery enthusiastic, and since they

are 1ust beginning to kno( the (orld, they hae a necessity and a gro(ing curiosity to

explore it !"armer, $%%%'. +oreoer, they are delighted to play (ith fantasy, creatiityand action !-inter, $%%0'. 5s regards their language skills, YLLs hae limited reading



15




in large classes.

and (riting skills, (hich are still being deeloped !-inter, $%%0F Tough, /&&/'.

5lthough YLLs are not a(are of their role in the learning process because they are still

not part of formal schooling !-inter, $%%0', they employ their language skills long

before they become conscious of it !"alli(ell, /&&$'. *n addition, YLLs report a ery

short attention and concentration span !"alli(ell, /&&$F "armer, $%%%F "armer, $%%G',

therefore tasks and actiities must be short.

*n regard to language learning, by nature YLLs learn in a different (ay than teenagers

and adults !"armer, $%%%' !?r, /&&0'. The process children go through to learn a

second language is ery similar to the cognitie process of their first language

ac;uisition !Bordon, $%%G'. +oreoer, teaching a second language to YLLs hae its

adantages as learners hae already deeloped the linguistics structures and mental

connections of learning a language, on (hich the teacher can rely and build ne(

kno(ledge, taking into account that learners bring (ith them a bag of experience and

innate language abilities (hich boost their English language learning !+oon, $%%7'.

5s regards language teaching to YLLs, -inter !$%%0' argues that teachers should lo(er

their expectations of students4 accomplishments in the target language, because younger

students are less proficient than they are in their o(n mother tongue, being less

e;uipped in terms of the skills they hae to master the second language. "o(eer,

according to Cameron !$%%/', een though young learners hae a limited range of

linguistic kno(ledge, teachers need to design and set goals that may be achieable for

them. 6ne of the main principles to successfully teach English to YLLs is to proide

opportunities for learners to experience scaffolding actiities to offer more challenging

actiities. urthermore, (hen teaching YLLs, it is necessary to address children4s

affectie filters, since they need to be praised and need the approal of their teachers!"alli(ell, /&&$'. *n addition, ikolo !/&&&' conducted research, (hich attempted to

identify children4s interaction patterns among their peers in the "ungarian EL context.

The author discoered that the speaking of English represents the discourse expected by

the teacher in the classroom, therefore younger learners feel (illing to put effort into

practising it to please their teachers. Teachers should create a positie classroom

atmosphere that helps and improes students4 confidence by giing them a clear sense

of security, ensuring their self3esteem and lo(ering their affectie filters !+oon, $%%7F

Cameron M +c>ay, $%/%'. urthermore, in the case of EL contexts, the teachers4 role



1"




in large classes.

has a releant importance, because the teacher is the one (ho is in charge of proiding,

in some cases, the only source of input and exposure to the target language that students

(ill hae, carrying (ith them the releant role of being a model, especially in the early

stages !+oon, $%%7'.

$.).1 Te*c&#ng /o'ng L*ng'*ge Le*"ne"s0 S+e*k#ng Sk#lls

Since skills such as reading and (riting take more time for learners to deelop, the

teaching of English to YLLs relies more on communicatie aspects than reading or

(riting. Therefore, YLLs English education is based more on speaking skills !Cameron,

$%%)'. 5ccording to "alli(ell !/&&$', the teaching of speaking skills is one of the most

challenging skills that teachers hae to deal (ith. urthermore, a fre;uent difficulty

(hen learning speaking skills is the fact that students may encounter problems since it

oerlaps (ith reading, (riting and listening, and also (ith different areas and exercises

!"ughes, $%%$'. *ndeed, unan !$%//' exemplifies this situation by pointing out that the

teaching of speaking to young learners is profoundly linked to the teaching of listening

skills, since, to produce (ords, students need to receie input and different kinds of

exposure in the target language, (hich can be proided by listening actiities.

Eidently, at the initial stages, YLLs (ill re;uire input from the target language until

they are ready to produce it !"alli(ell, /&&$'. *n addition, teachers should respect

YLLs4 language deelopment, as (ell as dra( attention to and being a(are of YLLs4

language competence, since een in their mother tongue they are still not a(are of

aspects of the communication process such as turn3taking, politeness, or haing a

limited idea of (hat the interlocutor kno(s about a certain topic !-inter, $%%0'.

$.).$ Act#!#t#es to de!elo+ s+e*k#ng sk#lls w#t& (o'ng l*ng'*ge le*"ne"s

5ctiities for YLLs are ery important since they are the focus of instruction.

+oreoer, YLLs4 actiities emerged from the 5udiolingual +ethod and the

Communicatie Language 5pproach !Linse, $%%7'. or the purpose of this section,

actiities of both method and approach (ill be discussed.

irstly, the 5udiolingual +ethod (as characteri@ed by presenting a strong reliance on

memori@ation, mimicry and the use of tapes. -atterns (ere taught utili@ing repetitie



1#




in large classes.

drills and dialogues, among others !ro(n, $%%G'. 5ccording to -inter !$%%0', drilling

!repetition' is crucial at the beginning stages to trigger YLLs4 production. 2rilling can

be diided into t(o groups: repetition and substitution drills, the former being 1ust

listening and then repeating, (hile the latter implies a more demanding task, since in

this kind of drilling, the teachers4 input is 1ust a one3(ord clue and the learners hae to

fill in the gap (ith the corresponding (ord !unan, $%//'. "o(eer, one of the main

dra(backs of drilling is the fact that there is not a communicatie aspect to itF little

language is produced and receied !Cook, /&&G', (hich becomes boring to learners

after a (hile !Linse, $%%7F unan, $%//', and (hich goes against the belief that children

do not only repeat like parrots !+oon, $%%7'. +oreoer, choral response and dialogues

are contributions from the 5udiolingual +ethod as (ell. =hat is more, choral responses

are utili@ed (hen YLLs are re;uired to repeat parts of songs, rhymes, poems, chants,

among others !Linse, $%%7', (hilst dialogues act like a grammar pattern that can be

meaningful (hen using them in real life !Linse, $%%7'. 5ccording to Cameron

!$%%/:0H', dialogues Kproide communicatie phrases that children can learn. *n

addition, applying dialogues in the language classroom enable children to (ork

undependably (hen reducing the gap bet(een the controlled actiities and freer tasks,

permitting instances of mimicking, acting and performing, (hich seem to be erysuccessful (hen (orking (ith YLLs !"alli(ell, /&&$'.

*n regard to the Communicatie 5pproach !see section $.$', its ma1or focus is on

proiding the language students4 need to appropriately employ it in the out3of3

classroom context !unan, $%%)'. +oreoer, CLT3oriented actiities mainly focus on

deeloping children4s fluency !Linse, $%%7' as (ell as engaging in Kreal3life situations

(ith the target language !"armer, $%%%'. "o(eer, one of the difficulties teachers may

encounter (hen (orking (ith CLT is the fact that some of the tasks might be too

linguistically demanding for YLLs. or that reason, Linse !$%%7' recommends that

teachers be (illing to adapt them to make them meaningful and achieable for their

learners. urthermore, (hen (orking (ith children, actiities from CLT are merely

games !rumfit et al., /&&/'. 5ccording to -hillips !$%%/', games hae the po(er of

enabling learners to perceie language learning as a fun, actie, pleasing process,

improing learners4 motiation. +oreoer, (orking (ith games in the language

classroom can be ery beneficial to learners, since not only does it enable students4

language proficiency, but it also fosters the intellectual4s as (ell as YLLs4 affectie+5 in 5pplied Linguistics (ith TES6L dissertation


1$




in large classes.

filters !"omolo#, $%%&'. y using games, the teacher engages YLLs in an actiity that

comes naturally to children. +oreoer, games promote other skills in learners such as

being cooperatie, sharing, and team (orking. inally, games hae a language purposeF

there are certain features of the target language that students can learn by heart through

them !Cakir, $%%8'. =hen learners concentrate on games, their attention is focused

directly on accomplishing the games4 goal. Children are unconsciously internali@ing and

ac;uiring language !"omolo#, $%%&' because games are designed (ith the purpose of

proiding more opportunities for using the target language !Linse, $%%7'.

6ther actiities such as learning chunks, songs, chants, rhymes, tongue t(isters and

roleplays, are (idely accepted and employed in language classrooms !Linse, $%%7F

unan, $%//F "omolo#, $%%&F "armer, $%%%F -inter, $%%0F Cakir, $%%8F >lippel,

/&&8'. They present language in a fun (ay, (here pupils practise specific patterns of

English unconsciously. +emory is also enhanced through chunks !re(ster et al.

/&&/'. 5ccording to -inter !$%%0', the use of chunks (ith YLLs is ery important since

children put certain language features into practice (ithout consciously analysing them.

+oreoer, songs and chants do appeal and simulate the techni;ues employed by

children to ac;uire their mother tongue, like natie speakers of English learn their first

language. Therefore, a (ide range of authentic songs can be utili@ed by English

language teachers !Linse, $%%7'. Songs also proide opportunities for memori@ing and

repetition, (hich is one of children4s ma1or learning strengths. *n addition, songs are

fun, enthusiastic and creatie. Learners do not hae to kno( eery single (ord

!"omolo#, $%%&'. Youngsters learn grammatical points and ocabulary items in an

unconscious (ay by learning (ithout noticing !Ca@ir, $%%8'.

Table / Summary of actiities commonly employed to enhance speaking skills to YLLs.

5CT*D*T*ES EE*TS 5?T"6S

2rills *t is used for practising sounds,grammar or certain sentences of

language. Buided repetition andpractise are often used.

!ichards, 9. M Schmidt, .$%%$'

ro(n, !$%%G'F -inter !$%%0'Funan, !$%//'

2ialogues 5ctiities employed to practisespeaking skills. Commonly they

come in (ritten form and proidedifferent examples of language in

use. !ichards, 9. M Schmidt, .

Linse, !$%%7'F Cameron !$%%/'F"alli(ell, !/&&$'F 5rgondi@o,

!/&&$'



19




in large classes.

$%%$'

Bames 5re organi@ed actiities, (hich

main ob1ectie is to accomplish acertain task. *n relation to

speaking skills, they proideopportunities to communicate

and enhance fluency. !ichards,9. M Schmidt, . $%%$'

rumfit et al. !/&&/'F -hillips

!$%%/'F "omolo#, !$%%&'FCakir, !$%%8'.

Learning chunks Chunks are small unit oflanguage. They are often used in

order to enhance comprehensionof (ords or phrases. +oreoer,

they facilitate production.!ichards, 9. M Schmidt, .

$%%$'

Linse, !$%%7'F unan, !$%//'F"omolo#, !$%%&'F "armer,

!$%%%'F -inter, !$%%0'F Cakir,!$%%8'

Songs Songs proide fun (ays to learnEnglish. They also simulate firstlanguage ac;uisition (ays of

learning.

Linse, !$%%7'F "omolo#,!$%%&'F "armer, !$%%%'F -inter,!$%%0'F Cakir, !$%%8'

Chants, rhymes and tongue

t(isters

-resent language in a fun (ay.

Children unconsciously practicepatterns of language.

re(ster et al. !/&&/'F -inter

!$%%0'F "omolo#, !$%%&'F-inter, !$%%0'F Cakir, !$%%8'

$.).) Te*c&#ng /o'ng Le*"ne"s #n l*"ge cl*sses

Little research has been done that can truly proe the effects of class si@e (ith YLLs.

+any scholars inestigating this field hae focused their studies on the benefits smaller

classes bring to language learners. *n fact, studies conducted in primary school kno(n

as the K-ro1ect Star !The Tennessee Class Si@e Study' in the ?nited States, hae

contributed to exploring class si@e and its impact (hen teaching children !enbo( et al.

$%%G'. +oreoer, latchford and +ortimore !/&&8' conducted a study on class si@e as

(ell. The authors concluded that class reduction has a real impact on younger learners

during their first school years, especially in relation to more disadantaged children and

less e;uipped learners in the language classroom.

These days, there is a (orld(ide tendency to hae larger classes because of political

issues and goernments4 educational budgets !enbo( et al., $%%G'. *n this section large

classes !LC' (ill be understood as classrooms (ith more than forty or fifty students in

(hich the physical e;uipment and space are not enough !Coleman, /&H&'.

Large classes bring (ith them a (ide range of difficulties for both teachers and learners



20




in large classes.

!Lo Castro, /&H&'. +oreoer, according to Careless !$%%$', teaching large classes often

presents a tendency of noise and a lack of students4 discipline. The implication of these

problems for speaking skills can be seen. The difficulties (ith noise and behaiour

management of large classes affect pupils4 deelopment of communicatie skills, since

there are not many communicatie materials aailable for teachers to apply in a large

class context !"siao, /&&)'. +oreoer, according to Lo Castro !/&H&', one of the main

pedagogical difficulties faced by teachers teaching in large classes are related to

actiities inoling speaking and receptie skillsF teachers find it difficult to gie

feedback and to superise students4 (ork, leading to the impossibility of giing more

personali@ed instruction and more use of communicatie actiities.

Smith and =arburton !/&&G' also argue that YLLs are more dependent on their

teachers4 help and need more attention from adults. Since one of the ma1or dra(backs

of large classes is the limited amount of teachers4 attentieness students receie,

affecting students4 learning. The success of the lesson depends on the amount of

attention pupils pay !latchford M +ortimore, /&&H'. Thus, they need help to become

effectie students !+osteller, /&&7'. "o(eer, the teacher is unable to dedicate time to

pupils4 indiiduality, such as learning students4 names, for example !-asigna, /&&G'.

$., Re!#ew o% "ese*"c& on te*c&#ng (o'ng l*ng'*ge le*"ne"s #n EFLcontets

*n the follo(ing section different research studies in relation to teaching young language

learners and speaking to young language learners (ill be presented.

5lthough traditionally, the research of YLs has been limited, the field has experienced

an increasing interest !2re( M "asselgreen, $%%H'. Studies focusing on YLLs4 teaching

hae been carried out by researchers like Barton et al. !$%//'. To get the (orld(ide

picture, the authors conducted large scale research in fie different countries

representing different parts of the (orld, such as Tan@ania !6ceania', South >orea

!5sia', *taly !Europe', ?nited 5rab Emirates !+iddle East', and Colombia !South

5merica'. *ts main purpose (as to inestigate practices employed by YLLs4 teachers of

English. The results sho(ed that most of the teachers did not start their careers as



21




in large classes.

teachers of YLLs. They therefore had little experience. +oreoer, teachers used a (ide

ariety of actiities appropriate for YLLs, such as drilling, games, role3plays and the

support of isual aids, like flashcards. "o(eer, teachers had to adapt those actiities to

the reality of their classrooms.

6n the ;uestion of teaching speaking to YLLs, Cameron !$%//', in a more local

context, conducted research in a northern or(egian school, testing children4s speaking

English performance in their use of discourse (hen interacting (ith their teacher in

Year 8. Seen children and their teacher participated in the study. The results of the

study sho(ed that it is easier for children to talk (hen they hae to ans(er ;uestions

about things that seem more familiar to them than to describe something. The author

concluded that to assist young learners in deeloping discourse skills, it is necessary to

consider pupils4 participation. "o(eer, the teacher also needs to proide opportunities

to help learners deelop skills to interact in the target language. 5nother example of the

field of speaking skills is the research study conducted by Llinares Barc<a !$%%7'. The

author analysed the role of teachers in helping young learners in a lo( immersion

context to deelop skills in L$. The main purpose of the study (as to test ho(

"alliday4s0 language functions theory in language classrooms can be transferred from

pupils4 mother tongue to the target language. ie3year3old children of a school

participated in the experiment. Classes (ere diidedF each group (as assigned a

different teacher and (as taught one hour of English a day during four classes. The

study reealed that the experimental group improed their results after the experiment.

5ccording to the author, een if children are learning English in lo(3immersion

contexts, they are able to interact orally and start a conersation by using the target

language.

*n general, studies on YLLs do not consider their opinions about the (ays they hae

been taught. To address this issue, Yildrim and 2ogan !$%/%' conducted a study on the

perception YLs hae of their teachers. The research aimed at inestigating the profile of

YL teacher from the students4 perspectie. The participants of the study (ere 778 ten

and eleen3year3old students from the fourth grade learning English as a foreign

language in Turkey. The data (as collected through the application of ;uestionnaires.

" "alliday, +. !/&G7' diided language into six functions, such as: "euristic function, informatie

function, personal function, regulatory function, instrumental function and interactional function.



22




in large classes.

This study discoered that teachers did not follo( any methodology or put into practice

actiities or tasks from the (ide ariety aailable that (ould be more suitable (hen

(orking (ith YLLs.

$.,.1 C&#le*n "ese*"c& st'd#es

*n the Chilean reality, little research has been conducted on this topic. "o(eer,

SepAleda !$%%&' conducted a study on fifty primary teachers of English from public

schools. The research attempted to inestigate the affectie content of Chilean course

books. The ma1or findings of the study reealed that course books did appeal to the

affectie aspect of YLLs through actiities such as songs, games or stories. "o(eer,

teachers did not apply those actiities in their classes, especially not more experiencedteachers (ith a better command of English. Children commented that they felt happier

and more confident in the English lessons (hen those actiities (ere put into practice.

+ore recently, *nostro@a !$%//' conducted research on thirty Chilean teachers of

English in relation to their perspecties on group (ork and large classes. The study

reealed that teachers encountered many problems (ith class si@e.

$.2 3et&odolog#c*l cons#de"*t#ons.

The follo(ing section (ill present a compiled summary on different inestigations

carried out in relation to the field of young language learners as (ell as the

teaching of speaking skills to young language learners, (hich underpins the

current case study.

Table $. belo( comprise a summary of different research studies conducted on the

fields of young language learners and speaking skills.



23



Chilean teachers of English as a foreign language: Teaching Speaking Skills strategies to young learners in large classes.

Table $ Summary of research studies about YLLs and speaking skills.



25






TEACHING TO /OUNG LEARNERS.

o. Study Type of study ocus +ethodologyN5nalysis +ain indings

/.

Yildrim. M

2ogan. Y

!$%/%'

Exploratory Young

learners4

perspecties

on theirteachers of

English.

778 fourth grade students, (hose natie

language is Turkish, aged /%3// years old.

They (ere asked to ans(er a 07 items

;uestionnaire in relation to the perspectiesthey hae about their teachers of English in

terms of classroom preparation and

personal features.

/. *n relation to classroom preparation

aspect, according to the students4 responses,

children perceied that their teachers (ere

prepared, ho(eer, 1ust some of them utili@eappropriate methodology and actiities to

teach young learners.

$. *n terms of the personal traits, students felt

their teachers (ere respectful and honest

(ith them. "o(eer, (hen it comes to

re;uiring extra help or being tolerant (ithmistakes, learners4 responses (ere less

positie.

$. ikolo, +.

!/&&&'

6bserational -eer3peer

interaction

/// classes (ere obsered in order to

identify the patterns follo(ed by studentsin peer3peer interaction in the "ungarian

EL context, examining ho(, (hat kind of

interaction is exchanged by students in

different educational contexts.

The obseration transcripts (ere analysed

according to the categories found by theresearcher, exemplifying each categories

(ith different obsered episodes.

/. *n peer3peer (ork actiities, students tend

to use "ungarian instead of English, sincethey are exposed to little English language

from their teachers and most of them do not

understand the input gien by them, relying

on their classmates4 clarification.

$. -atterns of interaction changed (ith age.

Younger learners make more attempts topractise the target language since they feel it

is the authoritatie language in the classroom

context. "o(eer, (hen gro(ing older,

students, tend to stop trying to use the target

language, because they (ant to aoid being

considered the teacher4s pet from their fello(classmates.

). Cameron, L.

!$%%/'

6bserational 2iscourse

skills.

The study (as conducted in a small

or(egian school. The participants (ere

seen pupils aged // years old, (hosemother tongue is or(egian and hae

learning English for almost a year. Een

tough children (ere isolated in terms of

liing conditionsF they did hae access to

technology, (hich help them to keeplearning English.

The discourse eents (ere recorded and

/. Children engaged better in tasks that (ere

more related to their interest and reality,

rather than all the topics that appear in thecourse books, (hich makes them feeling

more (illing to produce in the target

language.

$. Children struggled (hen being asked to

describe pictures, because YLs need preious

training, from the teacher, before being askedto perform a task.

2"




in large classes.

$.4 Im+l#c*t#ons %o" t&e +"esent st'd(

5fter reising the literature and going through different research studies related to the

teaching of YLLs as (ell as the teaching of speaking skills, this section (ill focus on

the gaps detected in the literature on the follo(ing topics:

• There is limited literature related to the processes YLLs go through (hen

learning a second or a foreign language like English, since this is a field that is

1ust emerging.

• +oreoer, limited numbers of research studies hae been conducted on YLLs.

• Teachers do not put into practice actiities that enhance children4s interest and

potential.

• Teachers receie little instruction on ho( to conduct appropriate actiities to

teach language to YLLs.

• +ost of the time children4s opinions about the teaching practices employed to

teach them are not considered.

egarding the former points, this case study attempts to address these issues by deling

into the reality of t(o teachers and reealing the strategies they use to teach English to

their YLLs. The class obserations and the interie(s (ill proide further information

about the current teaching practices employed by these teachers. *n addition, it (ould

also be possible to inestigate ho( appropriate those actiities are and their effect on

children.



2#




in large classes.

$.5 S'mm*"(

The teaching of speaking English to young learners is a field that has not been explored

ery extensiely. There is little literature on this topic, especially the field of deeloping

speaking skills in young learners (ho are lo(3immersion EL students !"ughes, $%%$'

!similar to the Chilean reality'. Speaking skills seem to be one of the most difficult

areas for teachers to teach !Cameron, $%%/'. "o(eer, the current reality of the (orld is

that children are starting to learn English, in earlier stages, by follo(ing the (ell3kno(n

concept of Kthe younger, the better !Yildrim M 2ogan, $%/%'. eertheless,

appropriate methodologies or actiities are not being put into practice. 6ften, they do

not consider that young children do learn differently from adults or older learners. *n

some cases teachers are not trained to use primary teaching practices in their lessons

(.hen teaching YLL.



2$



Chilean teachers of English as a foreign language: Teaching Speaking Skills strategies to young learners in

large classes.

CHAPTER ) THE RESEARCH STU/

).1 Int"od'ct#on

5fter examining literature on research methodology, this section (ill deal (ith the

presentation of the design of the current research. The second part (ill deal (ith the

research ;uestions !).$'F the third part (ill treat the context and the focus of the study by

determining its strengths and limitations !).)'F the fourth part (ill explain the kind of data

collected, pointing out the methods employed during the research as (ell as the definition

of codes and categories taken from the data collected. The fifth section (ill be deoted to

the methodological approach of the research. The sixth section discusses ho( reliability

and alidity (as ensured in the research. inally, the last part of this section (ill deal

(ith ho( the ethical issues (ere treated in the present research.

).$ T&e "ese*"c& 6'est#on

).$.1 Rese*"c& 6'est#on 10 &*t *"e t&e st"*teg#es 'sed 7( t&e te*c&e"s o%Engl#s& to en&*nce *nd de!elo+ (o'ng le*"ne"s8 s+e*k#ng sk#lls #n l*"gecl*ss"ooms9

5ccording to -inter !$%%0', young language learners hae not fully ac;uired language

skills, especially not (riting and reading. Therefore, in the early stages like in primary

school the strength of EL instruction relies on the deelopment and employment of

speaking skills. *n addition, the school ob1ect of the study employs its o(n English

programme, (hich is underpinned by the Communicatie 5pproach, (hose main

ob1ectie is to enhance communicatie skills in learners. Since they hae to rely on a

priate institution to proide English classes to their students, the main interrogatie is to

determine in class (hat procedures they use to promote speaking skills in their classes.

Since the teaching of young learners is an emerging and unusual educational situation in

Chile, this study aims at discoering the strategies teachers are currently employing to

teach speaking skills in their eeryday lessons. 5dditionally, the issue of large classes

!LC' is considered because it is part of the case study4s context. +oreoer, (ithin LC

speaking is one of the most difficult skills to put into practice because of noise and class

discipline !*nostro@a, $%%/'. inally, no materials hae been designed to (ork on

communication in LC !"siao, /&&)'.



29




large classes.

).$.$ Rese*"c& 6'est#on $0 o t&e te*c&e"s %ollow t&e st"*teg#es st*ted #n t&eg'#del#nes o% t&e sc&ool8s l*ng'*ge +"o:ect w&en te*c&#ng s+e*k#ng sk#lls tot&e#" st'dents9

The ma1or focus of the Communicatie 5pproach is on the expression of meaningthrough the deelopment of speaking skills. *t considers a (ide ariety of actiities and

strategies teachers may follo( to (ork on the oral component in the classroom !unan,

$%//'. 6ral competence can be deeloped through (arming3up actiities such as

guessing games, 1igsa( tasks, ;uestioning actiities among others !>lippel, /&&8'.

Teachers in this school count (ith the help of a structured pro1ect and (ith the aid of a

superisor. *t is releant to discoer (hether teachers teach their English lessons by

strictly follo(ing the school4s policies, or (hether, in their o(n class context, teachers

are left on their o(n and employ (hat their experience, professional competences or een

their heart dictate.

).$.) Rese*"c& 6'est#on )0 &#c& o% t&e st"*teg#es em+lo(ed 7( te*c&e"s tote*c& s+e*k#ng sk#lls go 7e(ond t&e sc&ool8s +ol#c#es ;s(ll*7's<9

5ccording to the (ork of "olliday !/&&8' and >ramsch and Sullian !/&&0', scholars

hae dra(n attention to the effectieness (hen applying the Communicatie 5pproach

out of the (estern boundaries, since some of the principles that guide it are difficult to

apply in EL contexts. *n Chile English is taught as EL. *n the sub1ect school teachers

hae to (ork (ith the Communicatie 5pproach. "o(eer, as has been proen by

scholars, (hen teaching in their o(n classes, most of them hae to employ their o(n

strategies to meet the school4s as (ell the pro1ect4s re;uirements.

).$., Rese*"c& 6'est#on ,0 I% *t *ll= &ow do t&e te*c&e"s o!e"come t&ede%#c#enc#es o% t&e sc&ool8s "ecommended st"*teg#es %o" te*c&#ng s+e*k#ng9

5s (as mentioned aboe, to oercome problems (ith the actiities or (ith teaching in

general, teachers sometimes hae to use their o(n experience. "ence, it is important to

detect through obseration if there are any problems (hen applying the actiities or any

strategy suggested by the school4s pro1ect, specifically for teaching speaking skills, since

the school4s context is large classrooms. LC often produce problems related to discipline,

behaiour and noise. These factors affect especially students4 attentieness because of the

number of students !>umar, /&&$F "erbert et al., $%%)'. Therefore, the specific

techni;ues teachers employ in their local contexts need to be reealed, as (ell as the



30




large classes.

strategies they use (hen encountering difficulties or challenges during their application.

).) T&e contet *nd %oc's o% t&e st'd(

This research has been conducted on t(o Chilean teachers of English to Young Learners

in relation to the strategies they employ to teach Speaking Skills in their eeryday classes

in a Chilean semi3priate school, (hich is located in one of the poorest neighbourhoods

of Santiago called La -intana. ?nlike the oerall Chilean educational reality in foreign

languages, this particular school (orks (ith a special pro1ect designed for teaching

English, starting from kindergarten until the last year of Secondary School. Currently, the

teaching of English in Chile is a compulsory sub1ect in schools4 curricula only from Year

0 !ten years old'. Therefore, this study is focused on discoering ho( the teaching to

YLLs is being deeloped in terms of priate pro1ects offered to schools. The Chilean

goernment curriculum states that all schools are free to employ their o(n programmes

as long as they ackno(ledge the minimum educational re;uirements established by the

goernment. Therefore, the teaching of English to YLLs is left free for schools in Chile.

5s a conse;uence, there is a big gap in terms of formal research studies, lesson plans,

materials and books in this field, being the rationale underlying this case study.

).).1 St"eng&ts o% t&e st'd(

6ne of the strengths of this study is that it proides opportunities for opening a ne(

branch related to the teaching of English Speaking Skills to Young Learners regarding the

prominent lack of research in this field in Chile, sering as a starting point of possible

ne( research studies. +oreoer, this small3scale research (ould outsource priate

pro1ects for English education. *t (ould proide opportunities for discoering the

teachers4 point of ie(, the effectieness of this kind of pro1ect, as (ell as the

methodologies, techni;ues, strategies, materials, class design and the superisor4s role,

among others. Since this kind of pro1ect is an alternatie to the Chilean national

curriculum, it has been designed to replace (hat the Chilean goernment is not offering

for teaching EL in primary school. urthermore, this study reeals that the educational

reality of a particular social group is often ignored in the Chilean context (here access to

extra educational support is generally limited and remote and (here good results are

seldom expected. "o(eer, this study seres to demonstrate that emerging and

appropriate methodologies are possible to apply and put into practice in eery context



31




large classes.

regardless of its economic status.

).).$ L#m#t*t#ons o% t&e st'd(

*n this research there are some limitations. irst of all, since it is a case study there is a

particular issue related to generali@ing the outcomes because of the limited number of

participants. urthermore, limited time (as aailable for carrying out the study, (hich

restricted the possibilities of going deeper into certain issues. +oreoer, the remote

location of the sub1ect group limited the data collection to be done in a ro( (ith a ery

restricted agenda, almost (ithout leaing time for many changes. Lastly, as class

obserations (ere recorded, the camera as (ell as the presence of the researcher may

hae distracted the participants !2Ornyei, $%%G'.

)., Rese*"c& #nst"'ments *nd d*t* collect#on +"oced'"es

5s part of ;ualitatie research techni;ues, case studies hae been a common approach

utili@ed by researchers in the field of social sciences, especially in small3scale studies

such as the present study !2escombe, $%//'. y nature, case studies proide an in3depth

description of a particular phenomenon (hose main focus is to dele into that reality by

getting the insights of a specific situation in a real3life context, (hich existed prior to the

research being conducted and (ould continue existing after the study has been done !Yin,

., $%%)'.

+oreoer, case studies4 main interest is aimed at understanding and reealing the

processes, relationships and experiences, among others !2escombe, $%//F ro(n, $%%0'

regarding the perceptions, ideas or opinions of indiiduals inoled, in (hich the

researcher (ould proide a thorough description of the contextual features underpinning

the case study being researched !+c>ay, $%%0'. 2escombe !$%//' and Cohen, +anion M

+orrison !$%%G' identify seeral adantages of case studies such as the (ide ariety of

data collection methods the researcher (ould employ, the possibilities of getting to kno(

the intricacies, particularities as (ell as the subtle and uni;ue aspects of a specific

context, (hich may be ignored in large3scale data.

*n this particular study, a case study approach (as chosen to allo( a more detailed insight

into the strategies employed by teachers to (ork on speaking skills (ith YLLs in their

classrooms. T(o data collection methods (ere utili@ed: interie(s and class schedule



32




large classes.

obserations. irstly, according to 2Ornyei !$%%G', interie(s are one of the most

common methods (idely employed in ;ualitatie research to foster not only full ans(ers,

but also to go deeper into more complex matters !Cohen, +anion M +orrison, $%%G'.

Secondly, ;ualitatie classroom obserations are characteri@ed by proiding direct

information !2Ornyei, $%%G' from eents occurring in realistic settings (hose focus is to

naturally obsere participants4 behaiour in their eeryday life !+ertens, $%%7'.

1.,.1 Inte"!#ews

2ue to participants4 time limitations, interie(s (ere conducted prior to the application

of classroom obserations. Therefore, the first phase of the study attempts to ans(er the

research ;uestions. ace3to3face interie(s (ere conducted (ith t(o teachers of Englishand their superisor from the school4s priate pro1ect. irstly, the purpose of the

interie(s (as to discoer and dele into issues related to teachers4 use of strategies to

teach speaking skills !+c>ay, $%%0'. Secondly, the researcher attempted to collect their

opinions, perceptions, emotions and experiences of their o(n reality !2escombe, $%/%'.

The superisor4s opinions and perceptions are releant for this case study due to the close

relationship she has (ith these t(o teachers. She has been assisting and obsering these

teachers right from the pro1ect4s start up until no(. Therefore, she kno(s the teachers and

she is also the pro1ect4s representatie in the school. The participants (ere contacted

through phone calls and emails to obtain their oluntary participation. Later, the

researcher agreed to a date and aailability for arranging the trip to Chile.

*n this study the interie( utili@ed (as semi3structured (ith ;uestions constructed

according to the research ;uestions and the insights from literature. The interie(s4

guideline can be found on appendix /. Less formal interie(s such as semi3structured

ones allo( the researcher to ask the same ;uestions to the participants, but (ith more

flexibility, permitting the change of ;uestions4 order, the (ording and also the inclusion

of supplementary ;uestions according to the key issues that may arise during the

interie(4s dynamic !2Ornyei, $%%GF unan, /&&$F +c>ay, $%%0F 2escombe, $%/%'.

).,.$ Cl*ss o7se"!*t#on

The second phase of this case study consisted of carrying out three systematic classroom

obserations of each teacher of English that participated in the interie(s. 6ne teacher

(as obsered during her Year ) class and the second teacher (as obsered in her Year 7+5 in 5pplied Linguistics (ith TES6L dissertation


33




large classes.

class. Like ;uantitatie research, obserations in terms of the ;ualitatie approach are

(ell planned and structured in their particular form, for instance counting (ith classroom

obseration checklists or an elaborated and fully planned scheme !ro(n, $%%0'. or the

purposes of this case study, classroom obseration (as conducted (ith the help of a

scheme that matches the focus of this study !unan, /&&$'. The scheme (as deeloped

by the researcher according to the strategies to teach speaking skills in the school4s

priate pro1ect for teaching English to both groups !Year ) and Year 7', to establish

(hether the strategies mentioned in the school pro1ect as (ell as the ones mentioned by

the teachers (ere utili@ed (ithin the context of their classes. +oreoer, a special space

for listing, (here appropriate, (as proided in case, ne( strategies or alternatie

strategies (ere employed by the teachers. The classroom obseration scheme can be

found on appendix $.

5s part of a case study, classroom obserations in this particular case proided the

opportunity to gather detailed information in relation to the school4s settings !2Ornyei,

$%%G', such as students4 response to the teachers4 input, children inolement in class, a

class4s discipline, students4 behaiour, and students4 speaking time. =hat is more

important, the study allo(ed the obseration in real context of the performance of the

strategies mentioned in the school pro1ect as (ell the ones mentioned in the interie(s

(ith teachers.

).2 3et&odolog#c*l *++"o*c&

This section (ill proide the categories, subcategories and codes that emerged as a result

of the data analysis process. The categories are subdiided from the research instrument

they arouse. +oreoer, they also represent the main (orks of teaching young learners,

speaking skills and the issue of large classes !re(ster et al., /&&/F rumfit et al /&&/F



34




large classes.

"alli(ell, /&&$F -inter, $%%0F Linse, $%%7F +oon, $%%7F among others.'

).2.1 C*tego"#es *nd codes

*n the follo(ing section the categories, subcategories and codes obtained after the data

analysis (ill be explained in detail. eleant ;uotes from the participants (ill also be

proided to exemplify each point. urthermore, each table is constructed under the

categories and subcategories raised from the analysis of each research instrument. They

are separated into different tables. The definition of each code can be found in appendix

).

).2.1.1 C*tego"#es t*ken %"om t&e o7se"!*t#on d*t* *n*l(s#s

Table ). Summari@es the categories, subcategories and codes obtained after the classroom

obseration analysis. *n this section categories and subcategories (ill be defined. The

codes are explained in appendix ).

Table ) Summary of the categories, subcategories and corresponding codes takes from the analysis of theclassroom obseration data.

CATEGORIES SUBCATEGORIES COES

Strategies for deelopingspeaking skills

Speaking 5ctiities

lashcards

Puestions and ans(ersSongs

Children ask the teacher;uestions

Bames

2rills

Spelling

2escriptions

-erforming short dialogues

Chanting

Listening 5ctiities Listen to stories

Listen to music

Teachers4 input in L$.

Classroom management

Lack of students4 attentieness

Change seating

Enhance students4 confidence

Engaging students4 attention and participation

Q=ork on isolated groups

5ddress their students by their names

Q?se of L/ in the classroom

Q Codes taken from data reealed in the interie(s.

STRATEGIES FOR E-ELOPING SPEA>ING S>ILLS



35




large classes.

This category can be understood as the tasks teachers perform to enhance the speaking

skills practice of their young learners in their classroom. This category has one code:

Teachers4 input in L$. This definition has been constructed in terms of re(ster et al.

!/&&/' and rumfit et al.4s !/&&/' (ork on teaching English to YLLs. urthermore, it

responds to the (ork of SepAleda !$%%& and Yildrim and 2ogan !$%/%'.

“The teachers use different techniques that can foster the production of English in anoral way, for example there is a lot of singing, there is a lot of chanting, there is a lot

of… for example dialogues that the children have to reproduce, there is a lot of games

where the children have to produce a little bit of the language or second language, in thiscase, orally, so all that, help, helps to have the kids begin to communicative in English, in

the first levels…” *S003+

S+e*k#ng *ct#!#t#es

Speaking actiities are those that are employed by teachers to enhance the oral skills of

YLLs. Teachers employed a (ide ariety of them as a (ay to make students speak. They

are also used at different stages of the class, especially at the beginning and at the end.

This subcategory also contains the follo(ing codes: flashcards, ;uestions and ans(ers,

songs, children asking the teacher ;uestions, games, drills, spelling, descriptions,

performing short dialogues and chanting. rom (hat the school4s superisor had

obsered in classes, she commented:

“n pre!school, for example, it is basically through singing, listening to stories andchanting and playing games, right" #nd the children learn the basic commands and the

basic instructions, for example, and a little bit of vocabulary and as they grow up, they

start increasing the number of activities where they have to speak in English in theclass…” $%&&'(

L#sten#ng *ct#!#t#es

Listening actiities are also employed to enhance speaking skills. The course book

includes a (ide ariety of actiities such as listening to dialogues or pictures stories that

students listen to first. 6ften, after students hae listened to the dialogues, teachers

encourage them to go to the front of the class and perform the dialogues orally (ith their

classmates. This subcategory is constructed by t(o codes: listen to stories and listen to

music. or example, one of the teachers commented:

“)e listen to stories, to music, teach songs that you can listen to on the radio” !T%%$'



3"




large classes.

CLASSROO3 3ANAGE3ENT

This category embraces ho( teachers sole the difficulties they encounter in their

eeryday practice, as (ell as ho( they create a good learning enironment. rom (hat(as obsered, teachers (ere fre;uently controlling their students4 behaiour. They did

not start their lessons unless the class (as in silence. +oreoer, (hen asking students

;uestions, teachers asked children to be ;uiet. *f they (ere not listening, teachers scolded

them. This category comprehends seen codes, such as lack of students4 attentieness,

change seating, enhance students4 confidence, engage students4 attention and

participation, (ork in isolated groups, address their students by their names, and the use

of L/ in the classroom. *n relation to this category, one of the teachers commented on her

feelings about classroom management:

, don*t have, ehh, serious problems with behaviour, because tell them that they have to

be in silence, because can ask them some questions before the child finishes with his

presentation, so in general they are paying attention carefully, most of the time+”

*T001+

).2.1.$ C*tego"#es t*ken %"om #nte"!#ews d*t* *n*l(s#s

Table 8. Summari@es the categories, subcategories and codes that emerged after the data

analysis. Categories and subcategories (ill be explained in this section, mean(hile codes

(ill be mentioned. The explanation of each code (ill be found in appendix ).



3#




large classes.

Table 8 Summary of the categories that arouse from the data analysis of the interie(s.

2ifficulties

Lack of opportunities to practise English

Lack of accessibility to the course book from students

School4s social enironment.

Large Classes

Teachers lack of time to preparematerial

Students4 inolement.

Qoise

Class si@e

Teachers4 perspecties Young Learners

Limited deelopment of (ritingand reading skills

YLs go through a silent period

YLs are (illing to participate

YLs learn through repetitie

actiitiesThe younger the better

Teachers4 experience

elying on professionalNteachingcompetences

Teaching style

P-/

Lessons are diided in different stages

Lessons must be done /%%R in English

Superisor4s role

Superisor4s support

QCode taken from obserational data analysis.

IFFICULTIES

5ccording to the (ork of Shamin et. al. !$%%G', difficulties can be regarded in the study4s

context as the challenges encountered by teachers and the problems they hae to face

eery day (hen attempting to teach their lessons. Commonly they are a lack of students4

inolement, limited opportunities for students to express themseles, children getting

easily distracted, and off3tasks. This category contains the follo(ing codes: lack of

opportunities to practise English, lack of accessibility to the course book from students

and school4s social enironment. 2ifficulties are also related to the fact that teachers

hae to deal (ith students (ho are hard to handle, or (ith other topics, for example:

“)e have some hyperactive students, so they are not quiet, it*s difficult for them to keep,

to keep quiet, yeah, sometimes we have problems with these students, with time…”

!T%%$'



3$




large classes.

L*"ge Cl*sses

Large classes are classrooms (ith more than forty or fifty students in (hich the physical

e;uipment and space are not enough !Coleman, /&H&'. oth teachers in this case studygie their lessons in LCF their classes are compounded of forty3fie children. They

consider this situation as a limitation because of the number of students per class. This

subcategory is constructed by four codes such as: teachers4 lack of time to prepare

material, students4 inolement, noise and class si@e. Chilean teachers also daily deal

(ith the reality of large classrooms. 5n example of this (as gien by a teacher:

“f classes were smaller, we could have had better results, eh because we could focus on

giving each student more time speaking is a difficult skill, because is producing, so itmeans that involves producing language rather than receiving, so it-s difficult…”

*T001+

TEACHERS8 PERSPECTI-ES

This category arises from (hat (as stated in the interie(s (ith teachers . *n the context

of the classroom, teachers are the ones responsible for many of the processes that take

place in there. +oreoer, this category contemplates the opinions and points of ie(

teachers hae about the t(o axis of this case study: young learners and their teachers4

experience.

/o'ng Le*"ne"s

This subcategory has emerged from the perceptions and the features teachers consider

important (hen teaching their YLLs. oth teachers demonstrated an interest in them and

appreciated the potential of their children. This subcategory compiles fie codes such as:

limited deelopment of (riting and reading skills, YLLs go through a silent period, YLLs

are (illing to participate, YLLs learn through repetitie actiities, and the younger the

better. or example, one of the teachers commented on YLLs4 process of learning

English:

“They receive and cannot produce immediately, would say, because they also have ehh

a silent period for them to internali.e the contents or the new language we want them to produce ,and then, when they feel more confident, they /ust produce” !T%%/'



39




large classes.

Te*c&e"s8 e+e"#ence

This subcategory is related to (hat teachers mentioned in the interie(s about the role of

their experience (hen (orking (ith the school pro1ect. Since they (ork under the

guidelines of a priate educational pro1ect, sometimes teachers combine actiities from

their personal repertoire (ith the ones of the school pro1ect. This subcategory has t(o

codes: relying on professionalNteaching competence, and teaching style. To address this

issue, the school4s superisor noted:

“ think there is something of a personal style in every teacher, for example” !S%%)'

PRO?ECT

This category refers to (hat the role of the school pro1ect is (ithin the context of the

sub1ect school. *n addition to that, it is also constructed considering the role the

superisor plays (ithin the school. *t also considers the importance the superisor has for

the teachers. This category also points out adantages and disadantages commented on

by the teachers. *t has four codes such as: lessons are diided in different stages, lessons

must be done /%%R in English, superisor4s role, and the superisor4s support.

urthermore, the school pro1ect (orks independently from the Chilean +inistry of

Education. 6ne of the teachers beliees this is an adantage. She commented:

“n 0hile, we don*t have a pro/ect in the early stages, so, eh, the 1inistry of Education

ehh, has a book from firth grade on, and here, in this school, children began speaking

English or had English classes from kindergarten that is a strong advantage” !T%%$'.

).4 Rel#*7#l#t( *nd !*l#d#t(

).4.1 Rel#*7#l#t(

*n ;ualitatie research defining reliability becomes ;uite controersial. Scholars hae

argued about the accuracy of transferring this term from ;uantitatie to ;ualitatie

research !=inter, $%%%F Stenbacka, $%%/F Bolafshani, $%%)F Cohen, +anion M +orrison,

$%%G'. urthermore, specifically for case studies, according to Yin !$%%)' and 2escombe

!$%%0', reliability should not be assured as in experimental research, since case studies do

not focus on the outcomes of the study, but on the processes, (hich (ere undertaken to

produce those outcomes. Statistical generali@ations are appropriate in experimental

researchF mean(hile, analytical generali@ations are for case studies. Een though assuring+5 in 5pplied Linguistics (ith TES6L dissertation


40




large classes.

reliability seemed to be one of the ma1or criticisms of case studies, as it (as mentioned

before, one or a single case is not enough to proide a generali@ation. "o(eer,

according to 2escombe !$%%0:0%', Kalthough each case is in some respects uni;ue, it is

also a single example of a broader class of things. ollo(ing 2escombe4s ideas, this

particular study can sere as an example of or a starting point for other schools (orking

(ith the same priate pro1ect in the lo(3income, large classes, semi3public context (ithin

the Chilean reality. "o(eer, the same ;uestions could be interpreted differently by

different people !Cohen, +anion M +orrison, $%%G'. To address this issue, the data (as

double3coded (ith the help of second research. The summary of the agreement can be

found in the appendix ).

).4.$ -*l#d#t(

Traditionally, alidity has been regarded as ho( alidly an instrument measures (hat has

to be measured. "o(eer, this conception has eoled. *n ;ualitatie research, for

instance, alidity (ould be addressed in relation to ho( truthful the participants4 ans(ers

are, the scope and the richness of the data collected, as (ell as triangulation and

researchers4 ob1ectiity !Cohen, +anion M +orrison, $%%GF =inter, $%%$'.

To enhance the alidation of this study, both instruments of data collection (ere piloted

in adance before the actual application (ith the target participants (as inoled. irst of

all, the interie( (as piloted (ith the help of a parallel teacher of English. "o(eer,

changes (ere made and the sub1ect did not express ma1or problems in understanding and

ans(ering the ;uestions. 5fter the first pilot, ;uestions (ere added to the interie(s4

guide to better address the issues of the difficulties faced by teachers. *n the second part

of the study, the classes (ere recorded and the obserations (ere piloted (ith the parallel

teachers (ho (ere teaching the same leels as the target teachers employing a

preliminary scheme. 5fter each pilot, the scheme (as modified according to the notes

made by the researcher and the necessities faced (hen obsering the classes.

).5 Et&#c*l #ss'es

Ethical approal by the School of Language and Linguistics (as granted to this study.

+oreoer, consent forms !appendix 0' (ere signed by the participants (ho agreed on

participating in the interie(s as (ell as being recorded as part of the class obseration

stage. The consent forms (ere gien to the participants directly by the researcher.



41




large classes.

).@ S'mm*"(

This chapter presents the methodology insights of the current study. The research

;uestions presented are in relation to unexplored areas of the teaching of young learners

(ithin the Chilean reality. Thus, its ma1or strength is in relation to reealing a reality

often unkno(n in Chile, as (ell as sering as a starting point for subse;uent research on

the teaching of speaking skills to YLLs.

Case studies proide the possibilities of deeply penetrating the reality of a particular

context, in (hich the most important side of the study are the opinions, beliefs and

perceptions participants hae of reality or the reality they are liing in. Therefore, the

research methods employed such as interie(s and class obserations, (hich sered as a

(ay to accomplish the purpose of a case study approach. The codes and categories

obtained from the data analysis emerged from both interie(s and obserations, (hich

(ere related to issues discussed in the literature.



42




in large classes.

CHAPTER , ANAL/SIS AN FININGS

,.1 Int"od'ct#on

The follo(ing chapter (ill explain ho( the data obtained from the interie(s and the

class obserations (ere analysed !see section 8.$'. The findings of this case study are

presented according to each research ;uestion in section 8.).

2etailed descriptions of the data analysis are proided. +oreoer, the different steps

follo(ed in the data analysis process are illustrated in this section, proing the rationale

behind each action. Since this study follo(s the ;ualitatie approach, the focus is on

proiding detailed information on the data as (ell as the opinions, perceptions or

feelings of the participants inoled.

The main findings of this empirical research are reported in relation to each of the

research ;uestions.

,.$ *t* *n*l(s#s

The analysis of the ;ualitatie data obtained from the interie(s and the obserations

began (ith the erbatim transcription of the three interie(s. The transcription process

helped to immerse the researcher deeply in the data. 5fter doing the transcriptions, the

data analysis proceeded by categori@ing and assigning codes, (hich emerged from the

interie( transcripts, as (ell as complementary information taken from class

obserations and the scheme employed. urthermore, to check the preliminary codes

obtained after t(o coding processes from the researcher, the use of computer soft(are

called Transana $./$ (as employed. inally, from the crossing of both coding

processes, the definite categories, subcategories and codes (ere organi@ed in a table

!see section ).7./'. *n addition to that, and to increase the consistency as (ell as the

inter3rater reliability of the study, the data (as double3coded by a second researcher

(ith a &7.$R leel of agreement.

The organi@ation of the data analysis in this section (ill be presented follo(ing the

argument and organi@ation of it used by Smith and =arburton !/&&G'. irstly, each

research ;uestion (ill present the data analysis from releant information extractedfrom the obserations as (ell as from the interie(s, ;uoting the participants4 opinion



43




in large classes.

(hen necessary. "o(eer, in research ;uestion one as (ell as research ;uestion four the

analysis (ould be presented by intert(ining data obtained from the interie(s and class

obserations.

,.) Rese*"c& 6'est#on 10 &*t *"e t&e st"*teg#es 'sed 7( t&e te*c&e"so% Engl#s& to en&*nce *nd de!elo+ (o'ng le*"ne"s8 s+e*k#ng sk#lls#n t&e#" l*"ge cl*ss"ooms9

The school pro1ect is described in its guidelines as a Kcommunicatie pro1ect (hose

main ob1ectie is to make students speak English. Teachers employed t(o (ays of

accomplishing this ob1ectie. irstly, teachers had to gie their classes /%%R in English.

Secondly, they put more emphasis on the speaking skills during the first school years

!from nursery school to Year &'. *n this particular case, the course book and the syllabus

re;uired teachers to put speaking skills actiities into practice to a greater extend in

comparison to others skills to accomplish their main ob1ectie.

1ain characteristics of the lessons observed+

rom (hat (as obsered in the lessons, both teachers used a (ide ariety of strategies

to teach speaking skills to their young learners. *t could be appreciated that the focus on

the oral skill (as mainly concentrated on the first fifteen and the last ten minutes of the

lessons. The rationale behind this is mainly related to ho( the pro1ect designed the

classes, (hich are diided into fie steps. The first t(o stages are called K(arm3up and

Kclass routineF the former corresponds to the use of a song or any fun actiity to attract

pupils4 attention to the English class, (hich are especially suitable to beginners, (hile

the latter refers to a set of ;uestions teachers hae to ask their learners in eery class,

(hich are related to the (eather, dates and seasons, among others, as (ell as ;uestions

that are taken from the course books4 contents. 2uring the actiity stage, the oral

production decreases for a (hile and children (ork on more grammar and indiidual

exercises. inally, the classes finish (ith a summary of the class and the round3up,

(hich should also be done through a communicatie actiity like singing a song, or

playing a game, for instance.

igure / proides a summary of the most commonly obsered strategies used by

teachers (hen (orking on speaking skills (ith YLLs !Year )'. These (ere taken fromthe schema that (as employed to obsere the lessons, (hich includes the strategies



44




in large classes.

suggested by the school pro1ect on its syllabus as (ell as alternatie strategies. *n regard

to Year ), one of the most salient strategies employed by the teacher (as related to

asking and ans(ering ;uestions at the beginning of the class. "er reasons for using this

strategy are as follo(s:

“2ecause, the results+ can see the results faster than other ways don*t know,

but practicing the same questions, the same patters, every day ehh little students

are used to those patterns, so then they can give an answer” !T%%/'

+oreoer, drills (ere also often utili@ed by this teacher (ith the purpose of correcting

pronunciation mistakes or reinforcing ocabulary. 5ccording to the school superisor,

drills are one of the most common strategies used by teachers to (ork on speaking skills

because:

“)ell, teachers use a lot of repetitions, techniques, and a lot of drilling,

because, maybe it*s the easiest way to get students to produce words, initially

and words and sentences afterwards, so drilling is something that they use alot…” !S%%)'

5dditionally, spelling, chanting and the use of flashcards (ere also a strong tool

employed by the teacher to practice speaking skills in her English lesson. Surprisingly,

to a lesser extent songs and action songs, (hich are (ell3kno(n for being the most

commonly used strategy to foster speaking skills !Yuliana, $%%)F "alli(ell, /&&$' are

employed on fe(er occasions than the actiities mentioned aboe.



45




in large classes.

ig./ Summary of the obsered strategies employed by Year ) teacher to (ork on speaking skills. S/stands for: SongsF S$: 5ns(ering orally in relation to numbersF S): 5ns(ering and asking ;uestionsF S8:

ChantingF S7: SpellingF S0: ead aloudF SG: 2rillingF SH: +emori@ing and performing poemsF S&:aming and describing elements about classroom ob1ectsF S/%: Expressing (hat the students and others

canNcant doF S//: Looking at flashcards and ans(ering ;uestionsF S/$: Children ask ;uestions to theteacher

=ith reference to Year 0, igure $ sho(s the strategies used by the teacher. *ndeed, they

do not differ from the ones employed in Year ) to a great extent. +oreoer, in year 0,

the strategy most commonly employed by the teacher also corresponds to theans(ering, asking ;uestions and drilling. eertheless, this teacher includes many

descriptions of pictures and characters from children4s course book, as (ell as games.

-erhaps the rationale behind the use of these actiities at this leel and not before !Year

)' is related to the age and the linguistics maturity older learners hae ac;uired !-inter,

$%%0'.



4"




in large classes.

F.2 S667-8 : ;<-=> <-7< 6?@8> ;8 Y7- " 7:- -B <?7B

<B@@<. S/: SongsF S$: -erforming short dialoguesF S): 2escribing images or picturesF S8: 5ns(ering andasking ;uestionsF S7: 2rillingF S0: ead aloudF SG: 6rally elicit information from studentsF SH: 5sking

and ans(ering ;uestions about daily life actiitiesF S&: BamesF S/%: SpellingF S//: Check actiitiesorallyF S/$: ChantingF S/): aming actiities students canNcant do.

nterviews

*n the data taken from the interie(s, teachers expressed their reasons for using these

kinds of actiities. Teachers and the superisor belieed that children should be engaged

in actiities that permit their participation and actie inolement, making their learning

more meaningful, since they are fun, dynamic and energetic, since the participants

beliee that children is Kfun. 6ne of the teachers stressed the importance of using these

actiities by stating the follo(ing:

“ think that those activities are very meaningful for them, they participate, they

express themselves, they can speak, they can listen to the songs they want to,

they give me ideas of the songs they want to listen to, so we can study, we can

ehhm, we can study the background of a specific song, in the case of the songs,

in the case of the stories, they can act the stories, so think they participate and

that is the way it should be+”!T%%$'

,., Rese*"c& 6'est#on $0 do t&e te*c&e"s %ollow t&e st"*teg#es st*ted #nt&e g'#del#nes o% t&e sc&ool8s l*ng'*ge +"o:ect w&en te*c&#ng



4#




in large classes.

s+e*k#ng sk#lls to t&e#" st'dents9

5lthough the school4s pro1ect has its o(n guidelines, (hich define the aims and the

general re;uirements teachers and learners hae to meet in the English language class,

teachers also hae the freedom to adapt their lessons to their students4 needs regarding

their indiidual differences. +oreoer, both teachers claimed that een though the

pro1ect is (ell designed, the course book is interesting and they receie support from the

pro1ect. They are the only ones (ho kno( their students and kno( ho( they are going

to react to certain actiities. or instance, they emphasi@ed the fact that they often hae

to adapt the proposed strategies. *ndeed, one of the teachers addressed this issue by

commenting:

K“)e know our students, ok" )e know what they can do, and we know their

strengths and their weaknesses…” !T%%$'

*n addition, teachers remarked that they needed to adapt the policies according to their

o(n class context. 5mong the teachers and the superisor there is a consensus that each

teacher puts into practice a combination of the school syllabus4 strategies, her

experience and her o(n personal teaching style.

1ain characteristics of the lessons observed

The obseration data sho(ed eidence that teachers follo(ed the school pro1ect4s

actiities. Eery class (as based on the use of the course book and its exercises, (hich

are the main tool the pro1ect has to unify the English lessons. "o(eer, it (as

demonstrated that alternatie strategies (ere employed (hen teaching speaking skills,

(hich go further than the proposed actiities of the school4s pro1ect for English

education. Therefore, teachers4 classes (ere a combination of the school4s pro1ect and

their experience. The alternatie strategies detected (ere discussed in section 8.7.

nterviews

Since teachers used a combination of their experience and the pro1ect in the classes,



4$




in large classes.

during the interie( session, one of the teachers commented that the school had had a

preious pro1ect (here she learnt ho( to (ork (ith young learners. +oreoer, one of

the teachers pointed out that is not al(ays possible to follo( the school pro1ect. *n some

circumstances, depending on the content or the class, they decide (hen to use the

guidelines or the actiities they feel are better for their learners. 6ne of the teachers

commented:

“1ost of the time, they are mixed, because can use the ideas of the guidelines

and can use my ideas, that*s why am saying use both, but sometimes

change it, change the ideas of the guidelines…” !T%%$'

*n the English lessons of this school there therefore is a combination of their

professional competences, experience and the school pro1ect4s guidelines. *n addition,

their experience accumulates the aid and the tools proided by a former pro1ect. The

teachers noted:

“2efore we had this pro/ect, we had another one+ n that pro/ect, would say,

learned a lot to work with little kids” !T%%/'

urthermore, sometimes, teachers hae to turn to their o(n experience instead of strictly

follo(ing the school4s pro1ect due to the large classes they hae to teach. This issue

arose as a limitation to both teachers, since the policies seem difficult to put into

practice in a real context. or instance, actiities like oral presentations, (hich are often

suggested as a techni;ue for practising speaking skills, are considered a limitation in

relation to ho( many times that actiity can be used in the classroom. or these teachers

it is hard to listen to forty3fie students one by one. Teacher may spend a long time

listening to each pupil. This (ould produce problems (ith class behaiour and noise.

Therefore, that strategy is used only once a term.

urthermore, both teachers as (ell as the superisor remarked on teachers4 limited free

time. Teachers pointed out that the lack of time for preparing material does not allo(

them to keep creating and put into practice ne( actiities as the school pro1ect or the

superisor asks them to do.

,.2 Rese*"c& 6'est#on )0 &#c& o% t&e st"*teg#es em+lo(ed 7( te*c&e"s

to te*c& s+e*k#ng sk#lls goes 7e(ond t&e sc&ool8s +ol#c#es;s(ll*7's<9



49




in large classes.

1ain characteristics of the lessons observed

rom the analysis of the schemata both teachers demonstrated the use of alternatie

strategies in their lessons. The actiities that go beyond the school4s policies are:spelling, games, orally eliciting information from pupils, chanting, drilling, reading

aloud, orally eliciting information from students, checking actiities orally.

*n addition, in Year ), the teacher does not only use the songs that are included in the

course book. =hen planning her lessons, she looks for songs she has been accumulating

throughout her experience and that are related to the topics. *n t(o out of three classes

obsered, the Year ) teacher used complementary isual aids support. *n the first class

she stuck a big poster on the (hiteboard (ith the alphabet to sing the 5C song. *n the

third obsered lesson, to sing a song related to colours, the same teacher pasted a big

stae on the (all in (hich, instead of music notes, there (ere dots arranged according

to the colours mentioned in the song. These seemed to motiate children, because all of

them (anted to go to the front of the class to sing the song. *nnoatie actiities are

ery important. *ndeed, the school4s superisor supports this idea by commenting:

“The idea is to have, to be changing the activity constantly, so that the students

don*t get bored if they are doing the activities over and over, right"” !S%%)'

nterviews

2uring the interie(s, insights complementing (hat (as obsered in the classrooms

arose. =hen discussing personal experience, one of the teachers said that one of her

alternatie strategies (as to increase the contents seen in the course book. She

commented:

“ try to introduce more than the, than the pro/ect requires, that means if see

that the class can respond include more topics, more questions for them,

because think they are available or capable of answering” !T%%/'

5nother alternatie strategy mentioned by both teachers and the superisor, (hich (as

also present during the obseration of data, is that in the set of routines children also ask

the teachers ;uestions. 5ccording to the superisor, this is a special peculiarity of this

school only. She commented:



50




in large classes.

K n the little grades sometimes they do role play and they play to be the teacher,

so they have to go in front of the class and they perform the initial routine which

is always oral and then they ask the same questions the teacher asks in the

routine, but they are the teacher, right" That also creates a very relaxed

atmosphere and it helps them to start speaking in English+ #haI !S%%)'

6ne of the teachers pointed out:

“They like not only to answer questions, but to ask me questions, to the teacher

and that*s a little difficult for them, to ask questions, because they are used to

answer” !T%%/'.

*n general, a (ide ariety of alternatie strategies to teach speaking skills in their large

classes (as not obsered. "o(eer, it (as obsered that, in some cases, teachers (ere

follo(ing the school4s syllabus, but they added extra or special features to the same

actiity proposed by the pro1ect. *n other (ords, the teachers, for different reasons,

changed the actiities proposed by the school4s pro1ect to make them more challenging

or more interesting for their learners, as is the case (ith songs preiously mentioned.

,.4 Rese*"c& 6'est#on ,0 #% *n(= &ow do t&e te*c&e"s o!e"come t&ede%#c#enc#es o% t&e sc&ool8s "ecommended st"*teg#es %o" te*c&#ngs+e*k#ng9

*n general, teachers did not face many problems, since the actiities employed in the

English lessons are simple, easy and achieable for both teachers and learners. +ost of

them are ade;uate and ad1ust to children4s (ay of learning. "o(eer, teachers beliee

that:

“%peaking is a difficult skill, because it is producing, so it means that it involves

producing language rather than receiving, so it-s difficult+” !T%%/'

5s (as mentioned in section $.)./, according to "alli(ell !/&&$', speaking is one of the

most difficult skills to teach. 5lthough the teacher has this feeling about speaking skills,

in the interie(s both teachers felt confident about achieing the school pro1ect4s main

goal, (hich is making pupils speak. 6ne of the teachers noted:

“3evertheless, think the purpose of speaking is to communicate meaning, eh,



51




in large classes.

in one or other way, and think that goal, think have achieved with them+ 3ot

with the whole group, but a big part of the class…” !T%%/'

Surprisingly, in the interie(s the teachers pointed out different issues related toproblems they encounter in their lessons. Some of them (ere not directly related to

teaching speaking skills, but they do hae an impact on this skill. irst of all, since both

teachers inoled in the research hae an important difference in terms of their years of

teaching experience, there is a clear implication of the (ay they manage their

classrooms. +oreoer, the teacher (ith more experience remarked that apart from

English itself, she does not hae ma1or problems (hen (orking (ith speaking skills in

her lessons. This (as erified during the obseration of her classes, (here she looked

confident and the children sho(ed great interest in the sub1ect. Children (ere (illing to

participate. =hen they (ere asked to go in front of the class to sing or perform a poem,

the great ma1ority of students in her class raised their hands to take part in the actiity.

*n the context of large classes4, like the reality in (hich this study took place, problems

(ith students4 behaiour or noise often affect communicatie actiities. "o(eer, from

(hat (as obsered, in the classes of the more experienced teacher !Year )', children

(ere (illing to listen to each other and (hen the pupils (ere too noisy, the teacher (as

strong enough to raise her oice to make students ;uiet and listen to each other.

+oreoer, the teacher did not continue asking ;uestions if the children (ere too noisy

to listen to each other. Sometimes, teachers encountered problems in carrying out oral

presentations, (hich means haing one pupil presenting in front of the class (hile the

rest must be ;uiet. To cope (ith this problem, the Year ) teacher commented:

“ tell them that they have to be in silence, because can ask them some

questions before the kid finishes with his presentation, so in general they are

paying attention carefully, most of the time…” !T%%/'

*n regard to Year 0, this teacher has by far less experience than the teacher from Year ).

She seems to hae more problems, perhaps not only (ith speaking skills, but also (ith

classroom behaiour and noise, (hich affect the deelopment of actiities enhancing

speaking skills. To address this issue, during the interie(s she mentioned that she

changes students4 seats, and during the obserations it (as sho(n that she uses a(histle to control students4 noise. eertheless, een though sometimes doing speaking



52




in large classes.

actiities brings (ith it a nosier class, she does play games and follo(s the school

pro1ect4s main ob1ectie.

+oreoer, this teacher seems to encounter problems (ith oral presentations as (ell. Tooercome difficulties (ith this actiity, one of the solutions she suggested are related to

enhancing students4 confidence. She commented:

K try to make them feel confident, because, well sometimes they say the

presentation /ust with me in private and then give him or her the feedback and

when they feel confident they can say it in front of the class, most of the time,

that works, because when the student is shy or have problems, they do it very

well in private with me and have to encourage him or her to give it in front of

the class and students can see in front of their classmates doing the same thing,

so that is motivating for him or her… !T%%$'

The teacher has ackno(ledged that one of her problems (ith speaking skills is (ith shy

students. She kno(s that if pupils do not feel at ease (ith the speaking actiity, they

(ould not be able to effectiely deelop speaking skills.

,.5 S'mm*"(

This case study found that the teachers of English of the sub1ect school employed a

(ide ariety of actiities to enhance their YLs4 oral proficiency similar to the tasks

suggested by the literature !see section $.)./'. "o(eer, it is a rare example (ithin the

Chilean context. +oreoer, this study sho(ed eidence of teachers putting their o(n

personal style and experience in the language classroom into practice to meet the

re;uirements of the school4s priate English pro1ect, (hich also inoles the adaptation

of tasks. inally, the results of this study in relation to the problems encountered by

teachers (hen teaching speaking skills, sho(ed some differences compared to (hat the

literature on large classes argues !see section $.).$', since these teachers did perform

communicatie actiities in their classes.



53




in large classes.

CHAPTER 2 ISCUSSION AN CONCLUSION

2.1 Int"od'ct#on

This chapter discusses the rationale behind the actiities employed by teachers to teach

speaking skills to their YLLs. *t (ill be diided into t(o areas of the main findings.

irstly, the teaching of speaking skills to YLLs, (hich is subdiided into appropriate

pedagogical skills to teach YLLs English, successful methodology, techni;ues and

materials to teach speaking skills to YLLs, and effectie teaching speaking skills to

YLLs in large classes. Secondly, the discussion (ill be deoted to the school pro1ect

and the adaptation of the school4s policies. +oreoer, the influence of the context

underpinning this study (ill be treated. 5fter(ards, suggestions for future teaching

practise (ill be gien. inally, implications for further research in the field of teaching

speaking skills to YLLs (ill be discussed.

2.$ Te*c&#ng s+e*k#ng sk#lls to (o'ng le*"ne"s0 #sc'ss#ng t&e %#nd#ngs

2.$.1 A++"o+"#*te +ed*gog#c*l sk#lls to te*c& /Ls Engl#s&

To teach YLs, scholars hae argued about the best pedagogical skills for primary

teachers of English !rumfit, /&&/F rumfit, /&&/F 2ickinson, /&&/'. 2ifferent research

studies !2re( M "asselgreen $%%HF SepAleda $%%G' hae pointed out that primary

language education is not successful, mainly because teachers do not set tasks that are

appropriate for YLLs. Conersely, this study demonstrated through class obserations

and interie(s that these teachers are a(are of ho( children learn and the most

appropriate actiities to gie meaningful lessons that are suitable to YLLs4 interests and

(ay of learning, although the school4s pro1ect did not proide formal instruction on ho(

to teach young learners.

*n their eeryday teaching practice these teachers represent the ;ualities of a good

primary teacher since they are confident about the language skills and hae an

exhaustie understanding of ho( children learn !rumfit, /&&/'. +oreoer, the teachers

of this school are not particularly different from other Chilean teachers. oth of them

(ent to uniersity and graduated as teachers of English and none of them receied

specific training during their bachelor4s for YLLs. "o(eer, (ith time and properinstruction, both of them learned ho( to (ork (ith children. 5ccording to rumfit



55




in large classes.

!/&&&', secondary teachers (ho (ant to teach YLLs (ill encounter difficulties, since

they (ill hae to learn a ne( methodology and the characteristics of this ne( sub1ect

group. 6ne of the teachers commented:

“ didn*t know how to work with them, because /ust work with older students and

panicked in the beginning, but now love little kids and prefer them to the older ones”

!T%%/'

Teachers in the school receied training before (orking (ith the current pro1ect !see

section 8.8'. *n other (ords, as this teacher argues, (ith good guidance and training

teachers may become good primary teachers. +oreoer, the school4s pro1ect also

proides teachers (ith some support in terms of additional (orkshops or seminars once

or t(ice a year to get more ideas or to get to kno( ho( to use the course book

according to the needs of the teachers.

5nother limitation often presented by primary teachers is the limited English

proficiency they hae !SepAleda, $%%8'. eertheless, in this study teachers do not

encounter this problem because they are specialists. oth of them demonstrated that

they could conduct a class fully spoken in English by using simple language. *ndeed,

they might make some mistakes, but at the same time they managed to be successful.

The ideo recordings sho(ed that they (ere excellent in capturing pupil4s attention by

employing a (ide range of actiities, actiely inoling children and creating a (arm

learning enironment !re(ster, et al., /&&/F +oon, $%%7'.

2.$.$ S'ccess%'l met&odolog(= tec&n#6'es *nd m*te"#*ls to te*c& s+e*k#ngsk#lls to /LLs.

2ifferent from the reality of many primary schools in (hich teachers, because of noiseor other issues, prefer to ignore communicatie actiities !Careless, $%%$', one of the

main findings of this case study (as the eidence left by teachers through the class

obserations of the (ide ariety of actiities they employed to teach speaking skills to

their YLs. Children are by nature enthusiastic and charming !"armer, $%%%'. They loe

entertaining themseles, and they learn by playing (ith language !"alli(ell, /&&$F

+oon, $%%7'. 2uring the class obserations teachers employed actiities such as:

performing short dialogues, singing songs, chanting, riddles, T- songs, drilling, use

of formulaic ;uestions, games and descriptions, among others. The rationale behind



5"




in large classes.

using these actiities is related to the fact that children learn by being inoled in their

language process. These tasks enhance their exploration of the (orld by creatiely using

their imagination. *n addition, these actiities also reach children4s affectie filters,

motiating them to increase their interest in the target language !Ca@ir, $%%8F Linse,

$%%7F -inter, $%%0F ro(n, $%%GF 5rgondi@o, /&&$'. *n this respect, the school4s

superisor commented:

“t*s another way of practising the language, because when they do games and the

songs and the chants and everything in English, right" t*s got like another appearance

if you want+” !S%%)'

“#t the beginning of the class and introduction to the class, which is usually something

fun 4it can be a song, a rhyme, a tongue twister, a game, a word game and any activity

that is fun that can attract the children to get into the class+” !S%%)'

*n the interie( session the school4s superisor pointed out that the use of these

actiities also hae a positie impact on children, since they (ill beliee that English is

fun, therefore the English lessons must start and finish (ith a fun game. rumfit et al.

!/&&/' asserts that teachers must balance fun actiities (ith the time spent on them,

since often they (ould become a (aste of time in the language lesson. "o(eer, in the

school fun actiities are presented in the class (ith a restricted time, (hich benefits both

teachers and children.

5ccording to rumfit !/&&/', experienced EL teachers of YLs are a(are of the

proceedings needed to teach YLLs. Conersely, SepAleda !$%%G' discoered in the

Chilean reality that more experienced teachers did not employ actiities like songs or

games, because they thought it (as a (aste of time !Seager, /&&H'. 5s a result, children

(ere not happy in their classes and often afraid. *n the classroom obserations of this

study, ho(eer, children looked happy and motiated eery time the teachers

introduced a ne( actiity, (ith the great ma1ority of the pupils eager to participate by

raising their hands. *ndeed, one of the teachers commented:

“They want to speak, they want to participate all the time, they want to do many things

and they don*t… that is not a problem for them, for young learners, because they want

to speak, they want to participate all the time+” !T%%$'

5ccording to Cameron and +ckay !$%/%', teachers should ealuate and balance the



5#




in large classes.

extent to (hich the communicatie actiity is ade;uate for children (ith the language

aimed to be practised. They emphasise that for successful results children should be

confident and at ease (ith the speaking actiity, other(ise they (ould not (ant to try it

and (ould feel threatened in the English language lesson. +oreoer, in others contexts

like Turkey, Yildrim and 2ogan !$%/%' reported that a significant number of YLs4

teachers do not put appropriate actiities, techni;ues, materials and ade;uate

assessments pertinent to YLLs into practice.

2.$.) E%%ect#!e te*c&#ng s+e*k#ng sk#lls to /Ls #n l*"ge cl*sses

6ne of the main dra(backs often mentioned by scholars in relation to teaching (ithin

large classes is the lack of opportunities for teachers to (ork on speaking skills. *nregard to the Chilean reality, *nostro@a !$%//' conducted ;uestionnaires and interie(s

!see section $.7' (ith Chilean EL teachers of large classes in public schools. The

participants of the study said that one of their ma1or difficulties !0%R of the teachers'

(as to Kproide students the opportunity to speak English in the lesson and to Kgie

learners the opportunities to express themseles in English. The teachers of this study

relate these difficulties to the limitations they hae in dedicating time to each student.

"o(eer, in this case study one of the teachers addressed this issue by commenting:

“ separate students, mean, for instance, on 1onday focus my class on the round up

of five or ten students, then, the next day with five or ten students other, new five or ten

students, so can cover the whole class at the end of 5riday” !T%%/'

*n others contexts like 9apan !Lo Castro, /&H&' or "ong >ong !Careless, $%%$' teachers

also deal (ith problems to perform speaking tasks. Lo Castro !/&H&' found that (ithin

the main pedagogical difficulty encountered by 9apanese teachers, there (ere actiities

inoling speaking and receptie skills, because according to the teachers, they (ere

harder to get done. 5dditionally, "siao !/&&)' discoered that it (as difficult to gie

more chances for students to practise. +oreoer, Careless !$%%$' reported that teachers

did not (ant to (ork on communicatie skills, because they (ere more demanding and

they brought noise and discipline problems as (ell.

This case study is a good example of ho( teachers are effectiely able to put speaking

actiities in their large classes into practice. 2uring class obserations, teachers dedicate

at least the first fifteen minutes eery day to the speaking skills, (hich are understood+5 in 5pplied Linguistics (ith TES6L dissertation


5$




in large classes.

by the pro1ect as the K(arm3up. 2uring this stage, the teachers ask children ;uestions,

they ans(er back and sometimes they ask the teacher ;uestions like:

67 1iss 8imena, have you got a pet"

T7 9es, *ve got a pet+

67 )hat pet have you got" !6S)T%%/'

5ccording to re(ster et al. !/&&/', teachers should proide opportunities for their

learners to speak as much and as soon as possible. +oreoer, in Year 0 the teacher took

time to play (ith her learners and perform short dialogues in front of the class. 2uring

the actiities she allo(ed children to make a little noise she could manage. Teachers

(ere often calling for students4 attention. 6ne of the teachers actually used a (histle to

make students ;uiet and the other one had a flashcard (ith a stop sign. oth of them

also employed chants like:“:,;,', silence please<<” to reduce the noise leel of their

classes and to keep students ;uiet. Therefore, to practise speaking skills, teachers also

need to hae good control of their classroom management.

2.) Sc&ool +"#!*te +"o:ect o% te*c&#ng Engl#s&

The teachers and the superisor hae been (orking together on this pro1ect for four

years. Een though none of the participants mentioned in the interie(s !neither the

teachers nor the superisor' receied any special training in speaking skills, teachers

demonstrated the use of appropriate and meaningful actiities for YLs that comply (ith

literature !see section $.)./' 5ccording to ixon !/&&/' and Linse !$%%7', the actiities

selected to (ork (ith young learners should be specific strategies and exercises that

follo( the ob1ecties of the program along (ith the pupils4 deelopment phase.

5ccording to the findings of this study, the school pro1ect follo(s this premise, the

actiities, the materials and the course books fit for YLs4 (ay of learning.

This pro1ect is regarded as an adantage for teachers. *t is different from the one

proided by the Chilean +inistry of Education and has the peculiarity of children

starting to learn English since they are in nursery school. This seems to be something

that makes teachers happy and special (ithin the Chilean teaching reality. *ndeed, one

of the teachers remarked:



59




in large classes.

“The 1inistry of Education ehh, has a book from fifth grade on, and here in this school,

children began speaking English or have English classes from kinder, that is a strong

advantage” !T%%$'

2.).1 Ad*+t*t#on o% t&e sc&ool8s +ol#c#es

2ata obtained from the interie(s and obserations reported that teachers employed a

combination of their experience and the actiities from the school4s pro1ect. 6ften

English pro1ects, the syllabus and een the goernmental curriculum to teach in EL

contexts seem a bit ambitious, since they are too demanding for the teacher. or

example, teachers, as in this case study, commented that sometimes they cannot use

English during the (hole lesson. They need to turn to Spanish (hen children do notunderstand a (ord or instructions although it is prohibited by the school pro1ect4s

policies. Therefore, meeting the re;uirements of the syllabus also presents a difficulty to

teachers !+oon, $%%7F *nostro@a, $%//'. 6ne of the teachers of this study pointed out:

“%ometimes it is, mean, the pro/ect it*s a bit greedy” !T%%$'

*n some cases or (ith some actiities, the school pro1ect seems to be too demanding for

teachers. irst of all, teachers are not allo(ed to speak in Spanish, not een to clarify

doubts. Secondly, teachers hae to follo( a determined structure to carry out their

lessons, and finally they hae to put the communicatie actiities of the course book

into practice, among others. "o(eer, to cope (ith their (ork, especially in relation to

teaching speaking skills, teachers commented in the interie(s that they follo( the

textbook, but (hen they feel it is necessary, they adapt the actiities or change them

(ith others they think are more appropriate. or example:

“=h, think use both, because can take ideas from the guidelines, ammm, some ofthem and interesting and can do them in a particular class…” !T%%$'

5ccording to Yildrim and 2ogan !$%/%', a (ide ariety of materials or songs suitable

for YLs (ould be better rather than 1ust merely adhering to the course books. Similarly,

ixon !/&&/' argues that teachers should adapt the ideas they find by detecting (hich

language features are meaningful to (hat they are teaching. The author asserts: Klet the

syllabus or course book be your backbone, but seek ribs to add to it !ixon, /&&/:87'.

Therefore, it seems ineitable that teachers adapt the pro1ect guidelines, because it isalso the (ay teachers deal (ith the problems they encountered (hen applying the



"0




in large classes.

school syllabus.

2., Sc&ool soc#*l contet

Since this school is located in a particular enironment, teachers signalled Kthe school4s

context as another constraint in their teaching. *n this respect both teachers and the

superisor commented on this issue:

“2ecause of many reasons, one of them is because of the social environment where they

live, this is a special school, a school were most of the children come from, eh, not poor

families, but a low social level” !T%%/'

“n this school, most of the children are poor, ok" The social environment is not good”

!T%%$'

“t*s a school that is located in an area, there are a lot of social and economic

problems, a lot of disrupted families, here, we have a lot of children who do not have a

father or a mother, children with step parents, children with parents in /ail and they

have a very sad reality in their houses so that makes it even more valuable to think that

in spite of the…this terrible reality they have to face it that they are still able to come to

school and learn English, which is something totally far from their world and think we

are doing a good /ob with them…” !S%%)'

5ccording to the participants, the school context seems to be an additional difficulty for

these teachers. The school is located in a lo(3income area in (hich children4s liing

conditions tend to be problematic. +ost of their parents hae dropped out of primary or

secondary school and almost none of them hae receied education in a second

language. Therefore, outside the school or the English class, pupils do not hae

opportunities to use or practise (hat they hae learnt during the lessons. Thus, although

children are motiated and hae the additional help of the school pro1ect, the results are

limited mainly because some of them do not see the adantages that learning a foreign

language (ill bring to their lies. 5ccording to ikolo !/&&&' !see section $.8', in

foreign language contexts like Chile, children do not need the language outside the

classroom. They therefore do not perceie it as a useful tool for interaction in the future.

This makes the teachers4 1ob more aluable but also more challenging.

2.2 S'ggest#ons %o" %'t'"e te*c&#ng +"*ct#ces



"1




in large classes.

This case study (ould sere as an example to support (hat scholars hae discussed

about the issues of appropriate methodologies and actiities that must be employed (ith

YLLs. rom (hat (as obsered, the use of these kinds of actiities increases children4s

motiation and attracts their attention, among others. "o(eer, since this case study

represents an uncommon reality in Chile, it suggests that good results can be obtained

(ith accurate instruction, support and appropriate materials regardless of its social

context. urthermore, since teachers hae to teach (ithin the contexts of large classes,

this case study (ould be useful for those sharing the same context that may beliee that

because of class si@e limitations, innoatie and effectie classes cannot be achieed in

those contexts.

2.4 Im+l#c*t#ons %o" %'"t&e" "ese*"c&

Little research studies hae been carried out in this field in Chile, especially in the field

of YLLs, Therefore, some semi3priate schools and, to a lesser extent, some public

schools are 1ust beginning to teach English to YLLs. Thus, this case study (ould sere

as a starting point for other research studies in the field of YLLs by offering a picture of

appropriate teaching practices to (ork on the speaking skills (ith YLLs. Teachers or

future researchers could take the results of this case study and see ho( practical and

successful the methodology employed in this study is in other contexts. -erhaps,

schools from the same area might benefit from the teaching practices reealed in this

case study in case they (ould be interested in starting to teach English to their YLLs.

+oreoer, it can help school administrators, teachers or syllabus designers to get

general guidelines of a pro1ect that has been carried out in the same school for four

years.

*t is releant to point out that because this is a case study, generali@ations about the

findings of this study must be done carefully. eertheless, there are three possibilities

in dealing (ith this issue. irstly, this case study can be taken as an example for other

research that shares the same context !EL in primary school'. Secondly, the possibility

of generali@ing this case study (ill depend on ho( similar the setting or contexts of this

case study (ould be to others. inally, readers themseles (ould also be responsible for

1udging to (hat extent the reports made in this case study (ould be useful or applicable

to this field of interest !2escombe, $%/%'.



"2




in large classes.

urther studies are also re;uired in the fields of EL primary teachers4 training, since

Chilean uniersities or educational institutions do not hae programmes specifically

oriented to the teaching of English to YLLs. +oreoer, further research (ould be

necessary in the fields related to appropriate materials design, especially for Chilean

YLLs. inally, it (ould be essential to bear in mind the possibilities of deeloping Ka

child3centred English language teaching syllabus, (hich (ould be designed in terms of

children4s characteristics, cognitie and psychological stages of deelopment, as (ell as

the internali@ation of appropriate material and books.

2.5 Concl's#on

This case study has inestigated the strategies employed by t(o teachers of English to

teach speaking skills to YLLs in their large classes (ith the support of a school pro1ect.

*n regard to the research ;uestions presented at the beginning of this dissertation pro1ect,

it is possible to contend that the teachers of English, (ho (ork (ith the T5S>S school

pro1ect, hae a strong communicatie focus on their classes. irstly, teachers put a (ide

ariety of actiities into practice to teach speaking skills to their YLLs. Secondly, some

of those actiities correspond to the ones recommended by the school4s priate pro1ect

syllabus. "o(eer, others are part of their personal experience or teaching style. efore

the implementation of this ne( school pro1ect, both teachers receied training in ho( to

(ork (ith YLLs. Thirdly, teachers do use alternatie strategies that go further than the

school4s policies as (ell as the actiities suggested in the course book. Some of them

(ere a (ay teachers found to make their lessons more challenging !children asking

teachers ;uestions', (hile others (ere used (ith the purpose of haing a more

entertaining lesson !singing (ith a stae, a colours song'. +oreoer, in some

circumstances, teachers need to adapt the actiities from the course book, because they

are not ade;uate for the reality of the school, or the actiities might be too demanding

for the children4s leel. inally, teachers did not encounter many problems (hen

performing the actiities because most of them (ere appealing to children4s interest.

"o(eer, they faced problems (ith oral presentations because they are time3

consuming, because there is large number of children in the class, and because they are

tiring for teachers. +oreoer, there is a big gap bet(een the years of teaching

experience. The more experienced teacher therefore has less difficulty (hen soling



"3




in large classes.

problems. eertheless, both teachers hae good control of the class.

This case study also seres as a contribution to the emerging research in the field of

appropriate teaching practices for YLLs (ithin Chile but also in the (orld.



"4



Chilean teachers of English as a foreign language: Teaching Speaking Skills strategies to young learnersin large classes.

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"9




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#0




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7 !/', 0$300.



#1




APPENICES.



#2




APPENI 10 INTER-IE GUIELINE.

CHILEAN TEACHERS OF ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE0TEACHING SPEA>ING S>ILLS STRATEGIES TO /OUNG LEARNERS INLARGE CLASSES.

INTER-IE GUIELINE.

5t any time during your participation, (o' &*!e t&e "#g&t to w#t&d"*w %"om t&e#nte"!#ew, (ithout haing to gie a reason. 5ll the recordings (ill be stored and

organi@ed by code (ith no access to your personal information. Thus, con%#dent#*l#t(*nd *non(m#t( *"e *ss'"ed. There are no right or (rong ans(ersF therefore, the

success of this study depends on that your ans(ers are as truthful as possible regardingteaching speaking skills to young learners.

INTER-IE ITH THE TEACHERS.



Study +ethod School Teacher 2ate

#3






THE3ES SA3PLE UESTIONS

*.

1<

*ntroductory comments and (arm up;uestions

3 "o( long hae you been teachingI

3 "o( long hae you been in this

schoolI

3 =hat grades are you currentlyteachingI

$<

Teaching Speaking Skills

3 "o( often do you practise speaking

skills in your classesI

3 =hat kind of actiities do you do inyour classes in order to teach

speaking skillsI

3 =hat are the most common

strategies used by you in order to

teach speaking skillsI

3 Can you gie me reasons (hy youprefer using themI

)

School4s pro1ect

3"ae you read T5S>4 pro1ect of

EnglishI

3 2o you take actiities from the

school syllabus to (ork on speakingskills in your classesI

3

3 2id you receie instruction of ho(to apply T5S>4s pro1ect (hen

(orking (ith speaking skillsI

,<

Experience

=hen teaching speaking skills to

your students. 2o you use more yourteaching experience or the guidelines

gien by T5S> pro1ectI =hy9

2<

Strategies !-ro1ect'

3 2o you prefer using your o(n

strategies to teach speaking skills orthe ones proposed by T5S> teaching

English pro1ectI

3 =hat are the adantages for you to(ork (ith T5S> guidelines to teachspeaking skillsI

3 Can you mention any

disadantageI

3 =h I

#4






#5




APPENI $0 CLASS OBSER-ATION SCHE3A

P"otocol %o" *t* Collect#on0 P*"t $ Cl*ss"oom O7se"!*t#on (e*" ).

6 E5C" 6SEDE2 LESS6.

A'd#oD!#s'*l "eco"d#ng0

• ecord (hole session !uninterrumpted' using digital ideo camera.

• ecord t(o different teachers.

• Label all 2D24sNrecording using identifiers.

F#eldnotesDw"#tten "eco"d#ng0

/. Complete 6bsered Lesson Summary Sheet.

$. Take field notes.). Tick in the blank s;uare and (rite the detail of the alternatie strategy employed

(hen needed.

Ident#%#c*t#onDCollect#on o% m*te"#*ls.

• School pro1ect of English.

• Extra resources: Course Wbooks !Q'

• Lesson plans.

!Q' 6n first isit.



Study +ethod School Sub1ect Topic 2ate


#"




OBSER-E LESSON.

SU33AR/ SHEET.

Time: 2ata collected:

Target teacher:

Total -upils in class.

2igital recordings:

• Camera4s code:

• =hole lesson ideo

!code'

T4s lesson plan 6ther

Lesson %oc's.

Lesson plan.

Course book unit

Class content.

6TES !eg. -hysical conditions, unexpected problems or any external interention'



##




TEACHERS8 SPEA>ING S>ILLS STRATEGIES /EAR ).

Strategies suggested in theEnglish Language -ro1ect

!T5S>'

Strategy employed by the teacher.

StrategySuggested inthe pro1ect

5lternatiestrategy

2escriptionof alternatiestrategyemployed

Timededicated tothe strategy

Stage of thelesson(here thestrategy (asemployed

"o( manytimes (asthe strategyusedI

-urpose ofthe strategy.

Extra notes

/' Singing songs.

$' -erforming shortdialogues.

)' *nterie(ing others andpresent results.

8' +emori@ing and saymore.

7' +emori@ing and



+ethod School Sub1ect Topic 2ate

#$




perform poems.

0' =atching ideos andorally report (hat (asseen.

G' aming and describing

elements about theclassroom ob1ects.

H' 5ns(ering orally inrelation to numbers.

&' 5ns(ering ;uestionsabout ;uantities.

/%' aming clothes items.

//' Expressing (hat thestudents and others

canNcan4t do



#9




P"otocol %o" *t* Collect#on0 P*"t $ Cl*ss"oom O7se"!*t#on /e*" 2.

6 E5C" 6SEDE2 LESS6.

A'd#oD!#s'*l "eco"d#ng0

• ecord (hole session !uninterrupted' using digital ideo camera.

• ecord t(o different teachers.

•

Label all 2D24sNrecording using identifiers.•

F#eldnotesDw"#tten "eco"d#ng0

8. Complete 6bsered Lesson Summary Sheet.

7. Take field notes.

0. Tick in the blank s;uare and (rite the detail of the alternatie strategy employed(hen needed.

Ident#%#c*t#onDCollect#on o% m*te"#*ls.

• School pro1ect of English.

• Extra resources: Course Wbooks !Q'

• Lesson plans.

!Q' 6n first isit.




$0




OBSER-E LESSON.

SU33AR/ SHEET.

Time: 2ata collected:

Target teacher:

Total -upils in class.

2igital recordings:

• Camera4s code:

• =hole lesson ideo!code'

T4s lesson plan

6ther

Lesson %oc's.

Lesson plan.

Course book unit

Class content.

6TES !eg. -hysical conditions, unexpected problems or any external interention'




$1




TEACHERS8 SPEA>ING S>ILLS STRATEGIES /EAR 4.

Strategies suggested in theEnglish Language -ro1ect!T5S>'

Strategy employed by the teacher.

Strategy

Suggested inthe pro1ect

5lternatiestrategy

2escriptionof alternatiestrategyemployed

Timededicated tothe strategy

Stage of thelesson(here thestrategy (asemployed

"o( manytimes (asthe strategyusedI

-urpose ofthe strategy.

Extra notes

/' Singing songs.



+ethod School Sub1ect Topic 2ate

$2




$' -erforming shortdialogues.

)' *nterie(ing others.

8' +emori@ing andperform poems.

7' 2escribing images orpictures.

0' 5sking and ans(er;uestions about daily lifeactiities.



$3




countries holidays orfestiities.

//' 5ns(er and ask;uestions.



$5




APPENI )0 COES.

The follo(ing section (ill explain in detail the codes (hich emerged from the dataanalysis. Categories, subcategories and codes are summari@ed in section ).7./.$. irstly,

the codes taken from the obseration data analysis (ill be explained. Secondly, thecodes, (hich emerged from the interie(s data analysis, (ill be described. The codes

are exemplified (ith extracts taken from the interie(s.

1. COES TA>EN FRO3 THE OBSER-ATION ATA ANAL/SIS.

S'7c*tego"(0 SPEA>ING ACTI-ITIES.

/' lashcards.

5s it (as demonstrated on the obserations, teachers employed different types of isualaids such as flashcards, pictures from the books, dra(ing made by them on the board, inorder to elicit oral production from students.

“%howing pictures and they have to describe the pictures” !T%%/'

$' Puestions and ans(ers.

This strategy is often used along the (hole class, especially in the first part of the

lesson. 5s part of a routine, the teachers ask ;uestions to pupils from the cousebook orfrom topics approached by teachers.

“)ell, first ask them several questions, personal questions or related tocurrent affairs, for example the weather, TI programmes, likes and dislikes and

they answer about them, then start the class as a sum up asking them the

contents we studied last class, yeah"” !T%%$'

)' Songs.

Songs are employed by teachers as a (ay to expose children to L$. Songs as (ellengaged pupils to produce chunks or fixed patterns of the language in a fun (ay.

“%ongs, listen to songs, filling the gap with the songs, they can listen to thespecific word we are learning” !T%%$'

8' Children ask ;uestions to the teacher.

2uring the routine of ;uestions, at the beginning of the class. *t (as obsered that notonly the teachers asked ;uestions to children. -upils ask ;uestions to the teacher as (ell.

“They like not only to answer questions, but to make questions to me, to theteacher and that*s a ?ittle difficult for them to make questions, because they are

used to answer” !T%%/'

7' Bames.



$"




Bames are used at the beginning and at the end of the lesson. 6ne of the teachers

obsered, used games in order to practice oral production (ith her pupils. irst, she

played in one class tic3tac3toe and in the third class she played (ords from (ords duringthe round up.

“%ome games, some games when we start de class and we finish the class ehwith the same strategy, round up the class with the topic we have talked that day

and we can finish with a game or singing a song again” !T%%/'

0' 2rills.

2rills are often used (ith the purpose of checking or reinforcing pronunciation. *n

addition to that, teachers utili@e drilling in order to make students produce chunks or torepeat ;uestions like: +ay * go to the bathroom pleaseI

“)ell, if cover a specific topic, ehh we usually do some drills, that meansrepetition”$ T%%/'

“)ell, teachers use a lot of repetitions, techniques, and a lot of drilling…”!S%%)'

G' Spelling.

Spelling refers to the deconstruction of a (ord by saying each of the o(els or

consonants that compounds it. Teachers used spelling along the class, in order to

practice the alphabet they hae learn in Year $.

“)ell, ?ittle kids like for instance, eh spelling words” !T%%/'

H' 2escriptions.

This strategy is (idely used in order to elicit oral production as (ell as predicting

information from their students. -upils are asked to describe principally pictures orcharacters from their course books actiities or picture stories.

“f we are about to read a story, they can look at the pictures and they infer,

can infer the information from them…” !T%%$'

&' -erforming short dialogues

This is a common strategy employed by teachers in order to promote oral productionfrom pupils. *t can be (orked by teachers in t(o (ays. or example, children can read

and perform the dialogues in front of the class mean(hile they can improise and repeatsome (ords from the original dialogues, but they can make their o(n sentences as (ell.

“#lso there is a lot of role playing and dialogues of the class, which is

something that the kids love to do, usually the same dialogue they have on the

book the teachers go and they read it in, like dramati.ed…” $%&&'(

/%' Chanting.+5 in 5pplied Linguistics (ith TES6L dissertation


$#




6ften, chants are used by these teachers (ith a double purpose. irst, children learn a

chunk in an unconscious and entertaining (ay. Secondly, chants are utili@ed by teachers

(hen they (ant to call students attention, keep ;uiet or tide up.

“The teachers use different techniques that can foster the production of Englishin an oral way, for example there is a lot of singing there is a lot of chanting$ S%%)'

S'7c*tego"(0 LISTENING ACTI-ITIES.

/' Listen to music, dialogues and stories.

efore speaking children need to be exposed to the target language by proiding input

(ith multiple listening actiities. The most common used in the classes obsered (asthe listening to songs, dialogues and short stories from the course books actiities.

“)e listen to stories, to music” !T%%$'

C*tego"(0 STRATEGIES E3PLO/E TO TEACH SPEA>ING S>ILLS.

/' Teachers input in L$.

Since teachers are asked to speak /%%R in English. *n this case study teachers talk

during eery class is a complementary tool for students to receie comprehensible input.

“The classes are done a hundred per cent in English” !S%%)'

“9eah… first of all, we have to speak :&&J in English we are not allowed tosay every single word in %panish…” !T%%$'

C*tego"(0 CLASSROO3 3ANAGE3ENT.

/' Lack of students4 attentieness.

ecause of the class si@e, some students lose their concentration span during the English

lesson and stop paying attention. =hen pupils are distracted, often they make noise and

misbehae. 5ccording to the teachers this situation happens especially to studentssitting at the back. 6ne of the teachers commented:

“2ecause they don*t focus, they are not concentrated in the class, sometimes, so

the, maybe we are reading a story or we are listening to the story and they are

lost, they don*t know even the page or sometimes they don*t have the work, and you have to work with those students and you have to make them speak, and

make them participate, because the counsellor is asking you for results at theend of the term…” !T%%$'

$' Change seats.

*n order to deal (ith the problems of students behaior, children misbehaing are askedto moe from their seats and sit closer to the teacher, therefore she can hae a better



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management of their behaior.

“%ometimes sit the students who are not concentrated in the class, sit those

students in the, in front of the class, next to me, near me, so can control them

easily, and that works, think and most of the students like English, so don*thave problems, so keeping under control those students have a good class,ok…” !T%%$'

)' Enhance students4 confidence.

*n order to lo(er affectie filters, children need to feel confident in English lessons.

Therefore, (hen encountering these problems teachers, praise students orally, ask them

to perform their presentations (ith her before, (hen feeling unsecure.

“9eah, sometimes, once or twice, but try to make them feel confident, because,

well sometimes they say the presentation /ust with me in private and then givehim or her, the feedback and when they feel confident they can say it in front of

the class, most of the time, that works, because when the student is shy or have

problems, they do it very well in private with me and have to encourage him orher, to give it in front of the class and students can see in front of their

classmates doing the same thing, so that is motivating for him or her…” !T%%$'

8' Engaging students4 attention and participation

5ccording to the teachers one of the main strategies employed by them in order to

control their classes is to call students attention, inoling them in class by constantlyasking ;uestions, (alking around the classroom, checking their (orks progress.

“ ask them anyway the set of questions, what is your name" >ow are youtoday" ask them and they listen to the answers, they listen to their classmates

and they are used to listen to English, so they have to learn, they know, they

know something, it*s impossible for them not to know anything …” !T%%$'

“They try at the beginning not to follow you, but when you start and you push

up the class with you, they surrender and they follow me and the class…”!T%%/'

7' =ork on isolated groups.

6ne of the (ays teachers found in order to pay attention to eery student4s oral

performance is to (ork on small groups. 2uring the routine of ;uestions teachers

concentrate on certain students, after they hae asked them seeral ;uestions, theteachers focus on some other group. *n that (ay they can manage to listen to all

students.

“%o, separate students, mean for instance on 1onday focus my class on the

round up on five or ten students, then, next day with other five or ten students,

new five or ten students, so can cover the whole class at the end of 5riday”!T%%/'

“%o, it*s a ?ittle difficult to have the chance to eh listen to every student, so, we



$9




try to focus each day with some group, a determine group” !T%%/'

0' 5ddress their students by their names.

*t (as obsered that in order to manage discipline (ithin the language classroom, theteacher addressed students by their names. ot only to scold them, but also to ask them

;uestions or to enhance their participation.

G' ?se of L/ in the classroom.

Teachers feel that sometimes is not possible for them to gie the class /%%R in English,therefore (hen students dont understand concepts or instructions, teaches use their

mother tongue. *n addition to that, L/ is employed as (ell for scolding pupils.

“2ecause our 6ro/ect, one of the main goals is try to all the class in English, notto speak %panish, so when they got problems in English, sometimes have to

use, ehh %panish, to give an example, they definitely don*t understand, even if do some mimics and, but if can see their faces that they do not understand

anything, unfortunately have to use %panish+” !T%%/'

“%ometimes have to scold students in %panish, because it*s mean %panishsounds, mean more strict than English, don*t know… 9eah…” !T%%$'

$. COES TA>EN FRO3 INTER-IES8 ATA ANAL/SIS.

C*tego"#es0 IFFICULTIES.

/' Lack of opportunities to practice English

-upils hae limited opportunities to practice (hat they hae learned in their English

lessons outside the school, because their parents do not speak English, they do not haechances to meet natie speakers or access to authentic materials.

“They do not hear at home, so they produce English here, /ust in the class in ourschool, in the school…” !T%%/'

“The class, stop here when they go home, they do not speak English…” !T%%/'

“)e have one hour, sorry, five hours of English a week, eh the only sub/ect in

English is English, ok we don*t have any other sub/ect like science or math orlanguage, like other students, like other school…” !T%%$'

$' Lack of accessibility to the course book from students.

Since the schools social enironment belongs to a lo(3income neighborhood.Sometimes, parents cannot afford to buy a priate book because of its high price.



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Therefore, teachers hae to encounter this reality and find solutions on their o(n.

“%ome parents hasn*t got money or enough money to buy the book, so

sometimes we have that problem, because the books are expensive and not all

the children can afford that, eh…” !T%%$'

)' School4s social enironment.

5ccording to teachers as (ell as the superisor, since the school is settled do(n in a

shantyto(n, the reality itself brings (ith it many disadantages like disrupted families,etc. =hich makes harder to teach in that enironment.

“This is a special school, a school were most of the children come from, eh, not

poor families, but a low social level, so they do not hear at home, so they produce English here, /ust in the class in our school, in the school…” !T%%/'

“)ith the kind of children that we have here in this school, we have big problems, most of them…” !T%%/'

“n this school, most of the children are poor, ok", the social environment is not

good !T%%$'

“2ecause this is a part subsidi.ed school is not a private school, it*s a school

that is located in an area, there are a lot of social and economical problems, alot of disrupted families, here, we have a lot of children and do not have or

father or a mother, children with step parents, children with parents are in /ail

and they have a very sad reality in their houses so that makes it even more

valuable to think that in spite of the…this terrible reality they have to face isthat they are still able to come to school and learn English, which is somethingtotally far from their world and think we are doing a good /ob with them…”

!S%%)'

S'7c*tego"(0 L*"ge Cl*sses.

/' Teachers lack of time to prepare material.

Teachers are (ell kno(n for not haing time because of the multiple tasks they haerespond to. *n this school, teachers refer to their lack of time in relation to creating ne(

materials or looking for ne( strategies to make their lessons more aried.

“)ell it is well known that teachers don-t have many, don-t have much time to

prepare or classes or to make a, mm, don*t know, more… maybe we don*t have

time to prepare innovative activities, we are always running out of time…”!T%%$'

K2ecause we have to plan from class to class and sometimes we don*t have time,

we are always in a rush, and we have to keep lesson plans on time…” !T%%$'



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“#s they usually they don*t have time to look at extra stuff, we provide that,

right"” !S%%)'

$' Students4 inolement.

ecause of the large number of students, teachers considered that it affects on students

attentieness. or example, children in the first ro(s, often pay more attention thatpupils sitting at the back do, affecting in the deelopment of the target language.

“The number of students per class might be a problem because, sometimes youare in the class, the students that are sitting in the first rows, in the first rows,

sitting in the first rows, students pay attention, participate and the students who

are sitting at the back, doesn*t, don*t pay attention, it*s difficult to make themconcentrate on the class…” !T%%$'

“%o, it*s a ?ittle difficult to have the chance to eh listen to every student, so, we

try to focus each day with some group, a determine group” !T%%/'

“)ell, in general terms would say, teaching specifically this skill, speaking eh

it*s not a disadvantage, but it*s a difficult to follow all the steps when there areforty five! forty!six students in the class” !T%%/'

)' oise.

2uring the obserations, teachers fre;uently encountered problems (ith noise. Teachers

(ere constantly asking students to be ;uiet, to close their mouths and to (ork in silence.

Chants (ere also used to control students4 noise. "o(eer, according to the teachersthey do not hae many problems (ith noise:

don*t have ehh++ ehhh++ hard problems with noise inside the classroom, thestudents behavior in general+ They try at the beginning not to follow you, but

when you start and you push up the class with you, they surrender and they

follow me and the class…” !T%%/'

8' Class si@e.

Teachers complained about the number of students per class, since it is difficult forthem to carry out oral actiities. They feel like if classes (ere smaller, they (ould hae

more opportunities to dedicate attention and time to pupils indiiduality.

“2ut you know… it*s a little difficult, because we teach large classes, forty five,forty, forty six students on each class…” !T%%/'

“f classes were smaller, we could have had better results, eh because we couldfocus in each student more time…” !T%%/'



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C*tego"(0 TEACHERS8 PERSPECTI-ES.

S'7c*tego"(0 /o'ng Le*"ne"s.

/' Limited deelopment of (riting and reading skills.

5ccording to the teachers as (ell as the superisor, young learners bet(een 0 or H years

old are still in the process of deeloping and strengthen their (riting and reading skills.Therefore, the mean of instruction to teach them must be speaking.

“#t the same time, it might be a little bit more difficult for them to discriminatebetween the two languages, so it is better to begin with the oral skill, right"

)ith the speaking first and then when they are in second grade or so we

introduce the reading and writing…” !S%%)'

“The little kids you know, they don*t know how to read, they don*t recogni.e ehletters” !T%%/'

“=ne because the kids for example in first and second grade they are /ustbeginning to read and write in their mother tongue, so if you start with reading

and writing together, right" !S%%)'

$' YLLs go through a silent period.

6ften, (hen 1ust starting to learn English, children (ould not speak immediately. They

may need time to begin their oral production, (hich is understood by one of the

teachers as Kstudents4 silent period. or example, one of the teachers pointed out:

“They receive and can produce not immediately, would say, because they also

have ehh a silent period for them to internali.e the contents or what the newlanguage we want to produce on them and then when they feel more confident

they /ust produce” !T%%/'

)' YLLs are (illing to participate

The teachers as (ell as the superisor, expressed in the interie(s that children are

often happy, they are playful, and they are motiated and the great ma1ority of childrenlike, feel enthusiastic about English and they en1oy different actiities.

“They are more motivated” !T%%/'

“ think, children are very playful, they want to speak, they want to participate

all the time, they want to do many things and they don*t… that is not a problem

for them, for young learners, because they want to speak, they want to participate all the time…” !T%%$'



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“5or me it*s a very good class and they are opened to receive and to learn

everyday more things…” !T%%/'

8' YLLs learn through repetitie actiities.

Teachers expressed in the interie(s that YLs learn ocabulary, songs, games and

language structures by repetition. -art of the class routine, is constructed by asking thesame kind of ;uestions to pupils eeryday. This is done (ith other strategies too.

“ can see the results faster than other ways don*t know, but practicingeveryday the same questions, the same patters, ehh little students are used to

those patterns, so then can give an answer” !T%%/'

7' The younger the better.

*n the interie(s, the teachers and the superisor belieed that the younger children

begin to learn a foreign language the better results and high leel of achieement (ill be

accomplished.

“5or example if we see the kids that began with this pro/ect four years ago andthey are now on third grade, right" f they started in kinder, they are in thirdgrade now, the kids are able to answer a lot of questions…” !S%%)'

“%ince children have English from kinder, it is easier for them to produce someideas in English…” !T%%$'

“mmhh well, first of all, they have English from kinder and that*s a very goodadvantage, because you can do many things with them, when they are in first orforth grade, they are listening to English, when they are in third or forth grades,

you can check the pronunciation in early students, they can speak, because in

first grade, they… some of them don*t know how to write so you can develop thespeaking strategy and the listening…” !T%%$'

S'7c*tego"(0 TEACHERS8 EPERIENCE.

/' elying on professionalNteaching competences.

Een though teachers hae the support and guidelines from the schools pro1ect, (hen

putting in practice the actiities they are asked to do, sometimes they struggle and mustfind resources, (hich are part of their personal repertoire or teaching experience.



94




“=h, think use both, because can take ideas from the guidelines, ammm,

some of them and interesting and can do them in a particular class…” !T%%$'

“1ost of the time, they are mixed, because can use the ideas of the guidelines

and can use my ideas, that*s why am saying use both, but sometimes change it, change the ideas of the guidelines…” !T%%$'

$' Teaching style.

Teachers hae their o(n style (hen teaching. The teachers of this school are asked to

fulfill the re;uirements of an external pro1ect. "o(eer, both of them hae they o(n

personal (ay of applying the demands, (hich is connected to their o(n teaching style.

“ think there is something of personal style in every teacher, for example, there

are some teachers who are very keen on using visual aids, which is veryimportant to produce oral language…” !T%%)'

KThere are teachers who like drilling more than others, right" =thers that likestudents to perform in front of the class or to dramati.e a dialogue…” !T%%)'

C*tego"(0 PRO?ECT.

/' Lessons are diided in different stages.

The pro1ect states that English lessons must be diided in fie steps: the class mustbegin (ith a (arm3up, set of ;uestions, (hich is follo(ed by the actiity stage !use of

course book'. inally, the summary of the lesson and the round up.

“#t the beginning the first part of the 6ro/ect we have to follow some steps thatmean starting with warming up or lead in, then practice the activities, ehh in

which learners have the opportunities to use the language, then we have thewarm up, sorry the round up or the post activity in which learners do free

activities on the topics and work with the language that we are using+ think

those are the three main steps we follow” !T%%/'

$' Lessons must be done /%%R in English.

The main ob1ectie of the pro1ect is that teachers hae to do their classes /%%R inEnglish. y asking their students to reply in English as (ell. *n order to create an

immersion atmosphere for 87 minutes.

“yeah… first of all, we have to speak :&&J in English we are not allowed to

say every single word in %panish…” !T%%$'

“The instructions are given in English that students must communicate in

English too, if they want to go to the bathroom they have to say it in English…”!T%%$'



95




“The teacher has to do those five hours completely in English…” !S%%)'

“The main reason is that the classes are done a hundred per cent in English and

also during the class we tried to have the teachers use different techniques that

can foster the production of English in an oral way…” !S%%)'

)' Superisor4s role.

5s the person in charge of the pro1ect, the superisor has got many roles. She obseres

lesson, proides feedback, (rite reports and has (eekly meetings (ith the teachers.

“9es, we have a counsellor, she comes every week, we gather together, all the

colleagues we discuss the results of the classes, also she once a month, she

supervises our classes” !T%%/'

“9es, we have a feedback” !T%%/'

8' Superisor4s support.

"er role (ithin the school as (ell is to help and assist teachers in their eeryday

problems, such as proiding extra material, going to obsere in more occasions (hen

needed, checking tests and discussing classroom problems like misbehaior.

“%ometimes we receive feedback from the counselor, because the counselorcomes to observe classes once a month and she gives her feedback from ourclasses the good strategies and the strategies, which are not so good…” !T%%$'

“9eah, she can give us ideas to manage some problems or classroom

management, she can gives us ideas, she brings us ideas to work with somegrammar points like extra materials…” !T%%$'

“3o, apart from the materials taken into account in the book, no, no any othermaterial…” !T%%$'

“9es, we have a counselor, she comes every week, we gather together, all thecolleagues we discuss the results of the classes, also she once a month, shesupervises our classes” !T%%/'

“9es, we have a feedback” !T%%/'



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in large classes.

chilean teachers of english

Documents