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55PROFILE Vol. 13, No. 1, April 2011. ISSN 1657-0790. Bogot, Colombia. Pages 55-74 55

How Do EFL Student Teachers Face the Challenge o Using L2

in Public School Classrooms?

Cmo enrentan los docentes practicantes de ingls como lengua extranjera

el reto de usar una segunda lengua en las aulas de clase de la escuela pblica?

John Jairo Vifara*

niversidad edaggica y ecnolgica de olombia

s an EFL tudent teachers advisor, had constantly perceived that they regarded using the target lan-

guage with their pupils inside their classroom as a challenge. at is why became interested in inves-

tigating how thirteen student teachers in unja public schools aced this issue. While participants were

involved in a reective teaching preparation model, used eld notes, interviews and their portolios

to explore their attitudes and strategies. indings revealed that their history as learners, their teaching

context and preparation inuenced their decisions. Moreover, it was possible to identiy the strategies

they implemented to interact in nglish with their students.

ey words: ommunication strategies, EFL student teachers, L2 in the classroom, student teachers

challenges.

n mi labor como tutor de estudiantes practicantes del ingls como lengua extranjera, he percibido

constantemente que, para ellos, la utilizacin del ingls como medio de comunicacin con sus

estudiantes dentro de la clase es un reto. or esta razn, me interes por investigar cmo trece

estudiantes practicantes en colegios pblicos de unja arontaban esta circunstancia. Mientras los

participantes se involucraban en un modelo reexivo de preparacin docente, utilic notas de campo,entrevistas y sus portaolios para explorar sus actitudes y estrategias. os hallazgos revelan que sus

decisiones ueron inuenciadas por su trayectoria como estudiantes, su contexto de enseanza y su

preparacin. dems, se pudieron identicar las estrategias que utilizaron para interactuar por medio

del ingls con sus estudiantes.

alabras clave: estrategias de comunicacin, estudiantes practicantes de ingls como lengua extranjera,

retos de estudiantes practicantes, uso de segunda lengua en el saln.

* -mail: [email protected]

is article was received on June 8, 21, and accepted on ecember , 21.


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56 Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas, Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras56

Viara

Introduction

n regard to the teaching and learning o

language skills, students exposure to constant

practice is clearly a paramount condition or their

mastery o these abilities. We might think that in

EFL settings, where practice opportunities can be

limited, teachers use o the oreign language in

classrooms is common; however, several expe-

riences have shown me that interacting in nglish

inside the classroom continues to be a challenge or

many educators or uture educators in our country.

uring the EFL practicum in secondary public

schools, have oen observed that most cooperating

teachers do not communicate with their students in

nglish. ther secondary and primary public schoolcolleagues have honestly said they act similarly.

Moreover, along the semester in which this study

took place, noticed that student teachers spoke

mostly in panish or they translated almost every

word they said to their students. e last situation

led me to express my surprise to these prospective

teachers. n turn, they revealed their reluctance to

speak mostly in nglish to their pupils.

tudent teachers thought that using more

nglish in their classrooms could help their pupilsnglish learning; nonetheless, they elt unable to

achieve this aim and believed their students would

understand only i the nglish class was conducted

in panish. ey claimed pupils seemed to be lost,

did not ollow instructions and, as a result, their

interest in lessons vanished. Many expressed their

impression that most o their pupils did not want

them to speak in nglish because o the students

lack o motivation to study the oreign language.

sing a reective approach while guidingstudent teachers, sought to explore how EFL

student teachers ace the challenge o using nglish

to communicate with their pupils in class. is

endeavor involved an examination o both the

actors that shape participants intentions to speak

nglish in the classroom and the strategies they

employ to communicate with their students in the

target language.

is study emerged as an opportunity to con-

tribute to the preparation o in-service and utureEFL

teachers. is is especially signicant considering

that practicum experiences were conducted in

public schools where teaching can be relatively

challenging. ublic schools classes generally contain

4 or more students and teachers struggle with

limited resources or language teaching. n addition,

students social and economic conditions pose

diculties; their need or basic conditions to live

properly can cause their interest in learning to be

less than a priority.irstly, will contextualize my investigation in

relation to EFL education theory. econdly, will

describe the teaching practicum that relates to

student teachers preparation to ace the challenge

o using nglish in the classroom. irdly, will

explain the research design o the study. inally,

conclusions and pedagogical implications drawn

rom the data analysis will be shared.

Literature Reviewwo main areas will be included in the next

section: the practicum as an experience to prepare

student teachers and communication in the nglish

classroom as a vehicle to enhance language learning.

The Practicum as an Experience

to Prepare Student Teachers

long the teaching practicum, student teachers

are expected to integrate their previous university

education to real school contexts. However, asapel (21) and Velez (23) comment in their

studies, very oen the practicum becomes a complex

experience in which student teachers might reveal

concerns about their teaching strategies.


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How Do EFL Student Teachers Face the Challenge o Using L2...

ne o the preoccupations EFL prospective

teachers show reers to their communication with

pupils by means o the oreign language. Melnick

and Meister (28) ound out that providing

ecient classroom communication along with

classroom management and preparation or the

course were the most notable concerns o a group

o beginning teachers. ikewise, rada and Zuleta

(25) ound that a group o pre-service teachers

diculties were connected with, among other issues,

a code-switching dilemma; they doubted whether

to employ nglish or panish to communicate with

their students. re-service teachers claimed they

used L1 more than the target language to prevent

conusion and comprehension problems as well asto help students to eel relaxed.

n order to support student teachers as they

ace their concerns during the practicum, have

generally ollowed a reective approach (ichards

& ockhart, 1994; Wallace, 1991). Guiding student

teachers is not based on prescription but on

supporting their engagement in a critical thinking

process to analyze their own practices in search or

solutions to diculties and doubts (arlett, 199;

ollard & ann, 1993; odgers, 22).arrell (27) reports a case study in which a

student teacher, using such a reective approach,

realized which maxims were governing her

teaching practice and adopted new and more

enriching principles to support her teaching.

ikewise, Viara (25; 27) noticed that by

means o this approach prospective teachers

evaluated their own work, constantly keeping in

mind how the particularities o their situations

afected their plans. s a result, the student teachersoen adapted or experimented with pedagogical

strategies based on their own particular teaching

situation and the previous knowledge built rom

theory or other sources.

The EFL Classroom: Principles

and Opportunities to Support

Students Language Learning

e constant use o nglish in the classroom

is widely considered an opportunity to enhance

students oreign language learning. rom a

social perspective to second language learning,

interactionist theories claim that verbal interaction

is o crucial importance or language learning as it

helps to make the acts o theL2salient to the learner

(llis, 1997, p. 244). aking part in conversations

or oral exchanges benets learners because they

realize how the second language unctions and thus

this realization eventually leads them to participate

in these interactions successully.However, according to (rashen, 1981), learning

the language by means o interaction depends on

to what extent the input students are exposed

to is comprehensible. dditionally, scholars as

ittlewood (1984, p. 59) have remarked on the

relevance o that input in regard to students

immediate interests and its complexity. chieving

comprehensible input also implies, as ightbown

and pada (1993) assert, the modication o

interaction by means o conversational adjust-ments such as slower speech, comprehension

checks or sel-repetition; hence, more procient

speakers and less skilul ones can keep their verbal

communication.

tudies by eliger and limani (in sui, 1995, p.

149) evidenced that input produced spontaneously

by students in conversations generated situations

which implied more contact with the language and

higher achievements in their learning. n the other

hand, the previous assumption might be true only insome cases since other individuals seem to benet

just rom listening and not actually engaging in the

conversation. nteraction in the classroom can also

be inuenced by individual personalities as well


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Viara

as the actions and attitudes o their teachers and

classmates, among other issues.

ikewise, the use o communication strategies

can encourage or limit opportunities or interaction

(llis, 1985). ased on arone (1981), communication

strategies are classied as paraphrasing, borrowing,

employing non-linguistic signals and avoiding

interaction. particular importance to this study

is the borrowing strategy, which entails switching

to the mother tongue. Muoz and Mora (2, p.

32) concluded in an investigation that such code-

switching gave learners the possibility to use their

L1 with communicative purposes since pupils

could nd more resources to express their eelings

and clariy inormation. s teachers and studentscode-switched rom nglish to panish, they

developed discourse unctions that involved topic

switch, interjections and repetition.

o close, language learning strategies such as

code-switching support students development o

linguistic and sociolinguistic competence (arone,

1981); they are behaviors or actions that learners

employ to make language learning more successul,

sel-directed and enjoyable (xord, 199). mong

xords classication o these strategies, thecompensation and the social ones are closely

involved in the issue addressed in this study. art

o the success learners can have when trying to

interact using L1 in the classrooms depends on,

as the next section discusses, how teachers guide

them in this process.

The Role o Teachers in

Supporting the Use o English

in the EFL Classroome language used by educators in the

classroom becomes a major source o input or

oreign language learners. eachers lead, organize

and monitor activities in the classroom providing

ample occasions or students to listen to or engage

in dialogues with them. ince they are regarded

as expert users o the target language, teachers

become models to show how the language works.

Haycra (198, p. 11) gives relevance to the

communication established in the EFL classroom

between student and teacher as ollows: tudents

rom the beginning must accustom themselves to

normally spoken nglish. ikewise, nchez (21,

p. 87) explains that the main task or teachers

should be to provide learners with opportunities

to communicate in all possible contexts and to

avoid overwhelming them with dialogues which

are not ound in students contexts). cholars such

as Harmer (27) explain that the way teachers

talk to students resembles how parents talk to kids:

adapting their speech to learners at lower levels,using physical movements and gestures, and trying

to gain reassurance about the eciency o pupils

communicative eforts by becoming sensitive to

the signs o comprehension. ese are skills that

new teachers need to acquire.

imilarly, the emotional climate o learning

situations can also afect teachers eforts to interact

with students by means o the oreign language:

n an environment where learners eel anxious

or insecure, there are likely to be psychologicalbarriers or communication (ittlewood, 1984, p.

58). eachers need to be sure pupils understand

their speech and eel condent enough to attempt

communication with their peers.

n connection with the previous issue, ell

(25) determined that several o the most ac-

ceptable behaviors o efective oreign language

teachers are related to their competent use o the

target language, their use o it as the predominant

means o classroom communication, their provi-sion o opportunities or students to use the

target language (both within as well as beyond

the school), and their encouragement o oreign

language learners to speak in the target language

rom the rst day o class.


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Hernndez and austino (2, pp. 217-25)

ound that a group o EFL teachers in olombia

considered the constant practice o nglish im-

portant in class; however, it was hard or them to

carry out oral activities in lessons. tudents apathy,

laziness, indiscipline, ear o being ridiculed and lack

o commitment were all actors that compromised

teachers intentions. urthermore, large and het-

erogeneous groups, low numbers o instruction

hours per week as well as the lack o resources

worsened the problem. n addition, pupils did not

regard learning the oreign language as a valuable

tool or their lives. common characteristic in

this classroom was that L1 was used in class more

oen than L2. panish was used to explain, clariy,translate and provide examples. n the other

hand, nglish was used in short interactions: to say

goodbye and hello, instructions, commands, short

dialogues and questions.

imilarly, Wilkerson (28) explored instruc-

tors use o their L1 (nglish) when teaching L2

(panish). e researcher ound that two instruc-

tors did not use or used L1 very little in class to

communicate with students. wo o them usually

used code-switching and one o them spoke entirelyin L1 to students in the classroom. L1 was used

to save time, reduce ambiguity and demonstrate

authority. nstructors use oL2 was based on their

belies about students skills to tolerate, solve and

learn rom the possible ambiguity generated as

they interacted in the oreign language. inally,

the author highlighted that teachers willingness

to use the target language in the lessons might

be inuenced by their urgency to organize and

manage their classroom.

Research Design

Qualitative research guided this study. ased on

unan (1992), sought to describe the phenomenon

o my interest within natural conditions. ollowed

a process-oriented approach and my intention was

to comprehend student teachers attitudes rom

their perspective. adopted the methodology o

a descriptive case study. sought to understand a

phenomenon within a specic context, a unit, by

revealing and interpreting its characteristics and

the interrelated actors among them (Merriam,

1988). inally, participants produced language

naturalistically in classrooms, which was studied

by means o interactional analysis (unan, 1992).

The Context and Participants

in the Study

tudent teachers belonged to the Modern

anguages (panish-nglish) rogram in a public

university. ey enrolled in their teaching practicum,rctica edaggica y ocial, in the tenth

semester o their studies and spent sixteen weeks

in schools. ach one taught nglish or eight hours

in two diferent classes. eir previous pedagogical

preparation included, in addition to ve general

pedagogical research courses, lessons on pplied

inguistics, ELT MethodologyI and II and eaching

ractice . urthermore, seven levels o ve-hour,

weekly ommunicative rojects courses, nglish

honetics and Grammar helped pre-service teachersto develop their prociency in nglish.

e teaching practicum took place in public

schools. ese institutions had large classes, rom

4 to 5 students in each classroom. Most courses

include boys and girls. nglish was taught or two

to three hours per week. quipment and printed

material or instructing students, in at least one

school, were limited.

tudents rom social strata one to three attended

these secondary schools. ome o the students livedin unja and others came rom rural settings near

the city. eir economical conditions in many cases

were precarious. ese students nglish level was

very low. e research asked participants to ll

in a small orm to elicit inormation about their

classes and pupils motivation (see ppendix 1).


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Viara

is source indicates that the youngest students,

th to 8th grade, were apparently more enthusiastic

to learn and, in particular, to learn nglish.

tudent teachers counted on the support o

university advisors and the schools cooperating

teachers. e six cooperating teachers in these

institutions were between 45 and 55 years old. ey

were two men and our women who to date had

worked in these institutions rom 15 to 25 years. wo

o them had masters in nglish teaching while the

others had specializations in various pedagogical

elds. ey taught nglish exclusively in the two

institutions. e our teachers at nstitution B had

an intermediate nglish level. e two teachers at

nstitution A had a pre-intermediate nglish level.n general, these educators methodologies included

emphasis on the teaching o grammar, reading

and writing skills. our o them communicated

constantly in panish with their pupils while two o

them alternated their use oL1 and L2.

worked with thirteen student teachers during

the practicum. ey were ve male and eight

emale students. ey were between 22 and 25 years

o age. Most o them were originally rom cities

in oyac and one o them was rom antander.even o them were at chool A and six at chool B.

Judith, Hermes, Yina and Jahir were at school A

working with the same cooperating teacher.

ury, ene and ngelina also taught at school A,

but their cooperating teacher was diferent. e

student teachers at institution B were Marlon,

ina and na who shared the same mentor while

amilo, ina and emesis were guided by another

cooperating teacher. articipants EFL learning

history was similar to the panorama described byViara (28): as secondary students, they had had

a little exposure to nglish in EFL lessons. ikewise,

teachers did not speak in nglish and when nglish

was used, translation was a common practice.

articipants nglish level varied. n this group,

Hermes was close to a high-intermediate pro

ciency level. Marlon, ene and amilo were at an

intermediate stage. ina, emesis, ina and na

were in a pre-intermediate stage and ngelina,

Yina, ury, Judith and Jahir had a low-intermediate

level. n general, most o them revealed problems o

intererence with panish; translation was common

and excessively employed as an attempt to build

their ideas to communicate in the oreign language.

Data Collection Instruments

and Techniques

observed each student teachers 9-minute

lessons twice during the semester and collected 2observation orms totaling 84 pages lled with notes

(see ppendix 2). Generally, participants did not

know when they were going to be observed. n order

to record my observation, took ethnographic eld

notes (entimalli, 25) and paid special attention to

students use o nglish to communicate with their

students. When had the opportunity, supported

these notes with audio-recordings.

e audio-recordings o my conerences with

student teachers comprised another instrument used (ppendix 3 includes examples o the

questions asked). is took place one or two

days aer the observed class session. recorded

participants perceptions about their use o nglish

in the lesson. wo talks with each participant were

recorded or a total o twenty-six audio recordings.

n addition, interviewed a group o students

who attended participants classes (ppendix 4

includes examples o the kind o questions asked).

usually asked 2 to 4 pupils o each class aboutthe student teachers use o nglish and panish,

i they liked when their teachers spoke in the

oreign language, and how they as students coped

when nglish was used. applied a non-structured


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interview (eliger & hohamy, 199) in order

to hold a riendly conversation with the kids.

recorded their answers, taking notes immediately

aer our conversation. interviewed a total o

thirty-six kids in the twenty-six classes visited.

astly, took into account the student teachers

portolios (ppendix 5 includes the guidelines

provided to keep the portolio). ese artiacts

included their plans and ormats to analyze their

progress through lessons, a weekly journal to

reect upon their experiences, and reading logs

that contained participants views about how

they employed theory in their practice. inally,

student teachers selected meaningul materials,

activities or learning situations to reect upon theirexperiences. ortolios were shared with peers and

proessors to obtain eedback and exchange views.

t the end o the semester, reviewed pieces that

contained participants thoughts in regard to their

use o nglish in the classroom.

n order to analyze the inormation collected,

employed techniques rom grounded theory.

onstantly comparing and questioning the inor-

mation collected, established commonalities

which then labeled (trauss & orbin, 199).er this initial organization and identication o

data, engaged in categorizing the concepts as put

initial commonalties together. inally, by analyzing

the relationship among the categories, built a

meaningul answer or my research questions.

dditionally, validity in my ndings was one o

my concerns. or this reason, methodological

triangulation was considered among my various

sources o data (Merriam, 1988). n the next lines,

the results o this study are revealed. will use theollowing abbreviations to reer to the instruments

rom which specic pieces o evidence were taken:

ield notes o classes (FNC), ranscription o a

onerence (TCF), tudent teachers portolios

(STPF), ranscription o an audio recorded lass

(TAC), and otes rom unstructured interviews o

pupils (NPUI).

The Use o the Foreign Language

in the Classroom: rom Constraints

to New Meanings

e rst topic reveals the actors that shaped

participants intentions to speak in nglish to their

pupils. s will be shown, at some points participants

seemed not to react in relation to these actors; they

elt unable to overcome the inuence that some

o these issues had on them. onversely, at other

times student teachers acted to reduce the efect o

these circumstances; they perceived the actors asopportunities to reshape their own learning.

English in the Classroom: Beyond

the Burden o an Old Culture

uring participants secondary education,

panish was the main and almost exclusive means

o communication in the EFL classroom. ina, or

example, mentioned that was always concerned

about what experienced at school since most o

the nglish classes were in panish. had a diferentexpectation (TCF). everal student teachers repro-

duced this same model, using panish as the

primary means o communication, with their pupils

at the beginning o the practicum. cholars such as

ichards and ockhart (1994) and arell (27)

have established that pre-service or in-service

teachers practices are inuenced by their previous

experiences as learners.

However, a ew participants did have learning

experiences in which their teachers spoke innglish. e ollowing extract reveals how inas

contact with the oreign language in class, as a

secondary student, has shaped her views as an

initial teacher:


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Viara

uring these weeks, have understood the importance o using

the language inside the classroom. Maybe rom my personal

experience in my high school as a student liked very much

that my teacher spoke in nglish in some parts o the class. t was

a challenge or me. (STPF)

n addition, cooperating teachers reinorced

this traditional culture o speaking panish in the

EFL classroom. n act, many demanded the use o

L1 rom these prospective teachers, asserting that

pupils would not understand i student teachers

talked to them in nglish. Yina explained:

tried to use a little bit more o nglish in class, but the

[cooperating] teacher asked me not to talk to them in nglish

because they wouldnt understand. think that creates certain

predisposition and you dont explore, you dont look at students

reactions to check i they dont really understand. (TCF)

Communicative Nature

o Language as a Real Practice

tudent teachers concept o what language

was and how it unctioned also seemed to be

related to their actions in classrooms. ome o them

commented that nglish was a communication toolor real-lie purposes and looking at their lessons,

could see they tried to implement this principle.

ne o them said, My purpose is that students use

the language to communicate whenever they need

it (TCF, ene). imilarly, in a study conducted by

Gonzlez (28) that helped to establish teachers

concept o communicative competence and how

this concept was related to their practices as nglish

teachers, one o her participants said that the

development o communicative competence impliesthinking about the students themselves as well as the

way they interact in the classroom (p. 87).

However, it seems that because students oen

regard nglish as external or irrelevant to their own

lives, speaking in nglish with their pupils usually

became a challenge. n order to overcome this

challenge some resolved to speak in nglish all the

time [so that] students eel closer to the language

(TCF, ngelina). imilarly, one student reected,

would like my students to apply their grammatical

knowledge to achieve communication in real lie

issues (TCF, amilo).

Pupils Lack o Understanding

and Fear o Being Ridiculed

articipants paid a lot o attention to their

students eelings towards the language. Marlon

commented that when he spoke in nglish some

students started to make aces or laughing, which

think means they dont understand (TCF). imilarly,laughing at their peers who used nglish lowered

the victims sel-condence and discouraged

them rom using nglish: tudents eel ear that

their peers might laugh at them because o their

pronunciation (TCF, Yina).

t seemed pupils rejected nglish even though

many times they understood what was said.

articipants explained that their pupils pretended

not to understand or were lazy to make an efort

to comprehend or use the language. at was thecase o a student teacher who, as shown in the next

extract, was about to start her class:

t: OK, we are going to start. am going to check the list. [ am

going to call the roll]

s: y, proe, no nos hable en ingls va a llamar a lista? [lease

teacher, dont speak to us in nglishyou will check attendance,

right?]. (FNC, na)

nother circumstance was that student teachers

perceived their pupils as individuals who wouldonly eel comortable in class i they were taught in

panish. us, it was really dicult or participants

to change this ingrained habit. n this regard, ury

commented: e idea is to talk just a little in nglish


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since kids are used to being spoken in panish. When

speak in nglish they get lost (TCF).

ue to their constant efort, many pupils did

become more cognizant o the unction o the oreign

language as ina reveals in the ollowing excerpt:

notice that at the beginning students did not agree

when talked in nglish, but aer some time they

tried to understand and it was a way or them to

enjoy nglish (STPF). n act, when asked how they

elt when student teachers talked to them in nglish,

some learners said t is good that he speaks in

nglish because we get used to the language; like

when she speaks in nglish. ne learns vocabulary

and to use cluesto guess (NPUI).

Classroom Management

and Lesson Organization

ata analysis revealed a close relation between

pre-service teachers need to implement discipline

and their inability to communicate with pupils in

nglish: couldnt speak nglish more requently in

a grade because it was dicult to control discipline

(STPF, emesis). e ollowing interaction in her

class supports this issue. he had decided some

students would not sit together in her class:t: [akes some time in assigning some students other places to

sit]. it down, attention. [he checks attendance]

: [oud talking as she tries to check attendance] me van a dejar

llamar a lista o no? [Will you allow me to check attendance or not?]

t: OK silence, silence.

s: [eep talking loudly]

t: ontinan as y los evalo.[ you keep up this attitude, you will

be given an evaluation.]

. [eep talking loudly].

t: Good morning, Good mornings: [eep being loud]

t: uenos das, me recuerdan que vimos la clase pasada [Good

morning, can anybody remind me what we studied last lesson?]. (TAC)

is scenario reects that classroom manage-

ment and the use oL1 or L2 in the EFL classroom

have an efect on each other since students lack

o understanding o what happens in the lesson

seemed to generate disruption (rada & Zuleta,

25). imilarly, Hernndez and austino (2)

and Wilkerson (28) underlined that teachers

consider classroom management an important

reason to preer the use o L1 in the oreign

language classroom.

ata collected such as the previous extract

rom emesis class challenged student teachers

idea that changing rom nglish to panish would

surely help them to control indiscipline.

Looking at Themselves: Limitations

as Chances to Gain Personal Benefts

t the beginning o the teaching practicum,

being aware o their limitations to use the language

properly made some participants eel insecure.

our o them, ina, emesis, ina and na, had

a pre-intermediate nglish level. onetheless,

they tried to overcome their ears as ina reveals

it in the ollowing excerpt: t the beginning was

araid to talk in nglish because o my knowledgeand uency, but realized the problem is my sel

condence (STPF). ey considered using nglish

with their students as a way to improve their

own prociency: tried to speak in nglish also

because can keep my level and my students can

learn something (TCF, ngelina).

A Variety of Tactics to Assemble

Communication Channels inside

the EFL Classroomer having considered the actors which

shaped participants intentions to use L2 in the

classroom, the next paragraphs discuss which

strategies pre-service teachers used to try to achieve

this purpose.


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Viara

Raising Awareness about

Using English in Class

everal student teachers started their practicum

discussing with pupils the role that nglish should

have in the class. ey addressed issues such as the

benets o learning nglish through practice and

the possible efects o constant translation between

L1 and L2. ana mentioned: got students to

reect about the importance to be involved in an

nglish environment to handle pronunciation and

comprehension (TCF).

y means o this reection, pre-service

teachers sought to reduce students anxiety about

understanding the language. pparently, this led

some pupils to embrace using nglish in class;however, others continued to be reluctant. When

resistance remained, student teachers agreed with

their students on using various means to acilitate

communication in nglish. or instance, amilo

expressed that t the beginning, prepared a

conversation about the importance o using

nglish. ey agreed to use 5% o nglish and

5% panish (TCF). onetheless, imposing and

not negotiating the use o nglish was an attitude

which, or example, en evidenced: demandedrom them not to speak in panish.

Dosing out the Use o English

and Spanish in the Class

s mentioned in the previous section, one

group o participants revealed that they started

promoting nglish as a means o communication

rom the start o the semester. nother group, in

contrast, increased their use o nglish gradually;

they constantly monitored how their oral com-

munication with their pupils by means o the

oreign language unctioned and supported the

process by using specic strategies when necessary.

n the ollowing situation Hermes is playing a game

about answering personal inormation questions:

t: ay attention to a new question. [He throws the ball]. How

old are you?

s: [ey remain silent].

t: ay attention. am twenty three.

s: h. untos aos tiene? [How old are you] [one o them said;

then, they start talking about ages among themselves].

1: Mi pap tiene 33 aos. [My ather is 33].eacher thirty? [He

asks or help rom his teacher to continue]

t: yesthirty three

s: [keep talking about the topic]. (TAC)

e student teacher leads the activity in

nglish. He is attentive to help his pupils when they

seem to have limitations to continue speaking in

the oreign language. s they directly or indirectly

express their lack o knowledge, Hermes becomesa bridge to acilitate their communication. n

addition to connecting their lessons with real lie

topics, as Hermes did in the previous exchange,

student teachers used nglish to involve learners in

the ollowing classroom situations.

Table 1. Pre-service students uses o L2 in their EFL classrooms

Stageso the lesson Classroom situations

t the beginning

pening routines: greetings, calling the roll, talking about the plan or the lesson, class

objectives and so on.

reaking the ice: ask students about their routines or ree time and talk about previous

lessons.


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n contrast, several student teachers who also

spoke in nglish did not suciently monitor whether

or not their pupils understood what was said. n this

case, strategies to support pupils comprehension

were not used. n the extract below, ina explains an

activity students are expected to develop.

t: You are going to write the words that you understand rom the

song. [he plays the song]

t: [tops the song]. What did you understand?

s. [ilence]

t: Mr. lvarado [he asks a student to say what he understood.]

1: [ilence]

t: ueno qu palabras entendieron? [OK, which words did you

understand?] [he plays the song again.]

s: [isten and take notes]

t: OKWords [he collects a long list o words rom students

and writes them on the board.] (FNC)

ina, in contrast to Hermes, did not make

sure kids had understood the instructions she

had given in nglish beore starting the exercise.

he just continued the lesson and asked students

or answers. he seemed to assume it was clear or

them what they had to do. When a student in inas

class was asked how he elt as his teacher spoke innglish, he said: dont understand because the

teacher speaks too ast (NPUI).

panish kept being used in class, even by those

participants who generally opted or increasing

speaking nglish. re-service teachers perceived the

use o L1 as necessary to support communication

in the classroom. onversely, they believed that

asking children not to resort to panish created

a negative eeling since that was a habit they had.

ata showed that participants used panish or thepurposes included in the next chart.

uring the lesson

rganizing and

encouraging

interaction

ssigning turns and encouraging participation, organizing

group work, asking or students help (e.g. clean the board, stick

something on the board).

valuation

hecking task accomplishment, providing eedback about

perormance, asking students to provide eedback on peers work,

praising students perormance.

Working in language

skillsre-reading or pre-listening activities.

nvolving students

lives

sking students opinions, asking or examples, explaining real-lie

themes o their interest, bringing sociocultural reality reerents.

Meta-linguistic

unction

alking about language use, answering their pupils questions,

explaining grammar, introducing new vocabulary and providing

linguistic clues.

t the end o thelesson

aying goodbye, mentioning procedures to close the lesson (organizing the classroom,putting belongings away) and assigning homework, among others.


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Table 2. Pre-service students use o L1 in their EFL classrooms

General Function Specifc Uses

o heck and upport omprehension(Monitor i students understand what

they are told in L2 in relation to what

happens in the lesson).

o veriy and clariy students understanding.

o check reading comprehension.o answer a clarication question.

o make sure something will be done.

o explain details in small groups.

o provide a more detailed explanation.

o each (explicitly) the oreign anguage

ometimes panish unctioned as a means to instruct pupils in

certain areas o the oreign language. asically, student teachers

expressed that they introduced new vocabulary and explained

grammar points using L1.

o upport lassroom Management

t certain times, participants spoke rst in nglish and then

in panish. t was also common that classroom management

instructions were communicated rst in panish and then innglish. pecic unctions o panish at this level involved:

o try to control discipline.

o request that procedures were ollowed.

o question students about their attitude.

o encourage students to participate and accomplish tasks.

o allocate participation turns.

o get students attention and keep them ocused.

o ring Meaning to pecic ontexts

tudent teachers used L1 to connect key aspects in situations or

experiences students might have or will be amiliar with and those

events which were the topic in a specic class. us they help to

increase their chances to understand nglish. pecic unctions

include:

o review what was done last session.

o provide eedback.

o talk about uture work in class.

o develop pre-listening and pre-reading.

o change the topic o conversation, thus their students did not get lost.

o check students preparation or the lesson.

chweers (23), Hittotuzi (2), and Higa-

reda, opez, & Mugord (29) have recently helpedto reposition the use oL1 in the L2 classroom taking

into account cultural, political, methodological and

social actors. voiding threatening s identity,

providing them security, and acilitating their

interaction with peers are some o the benets o

using L1 these authors highlight. ey also advise

teachers about analyzing careully how, when, andor what purposes they use and encourage their

students to use L1. inally, their studies incorporate

descriptions o the specic uses that L1 has in the

L2 classroom. everal o those match the ones

included in the chart above.


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A Bridge to Understand

Each Other: Resources to be

Competent Communicatively

ommunication strategies contributed to acil-

itate the interaction in nglish student teachers

tried to establish. cholars such as arone (1981)

and xord (199) have widely explained how

language learners make use o communication

strategies in their attempts to engage in meaningul

interaction with others.

Modiying Ones Own

Speaking in English

eir willingness to interact in nglish with

their pupils led participants to adjust their speechby speaking slowly and simpliying or reducing

what they said. is was not always easy since

student teachers generally had to be attentive to

several aspects o their classes at the same time and

eventually they orgot to do it. amilo expressed:

try to speak in nglish as slowly as can; however,

sometimes realize am speaking too ast (CFT).

Including and Emphasizing

Meaningul Expressionsin order to Ease Interaction

o buttress the communicative process, partic-

ipants oen paraphrased what was said, provided

examples, synonyms or clues, emphasized their

message by means o cognates and words pupils

already knew, recycled language they had taught,

repeated what they thought was relevant, and used

intonation to support meaning. n order to help a

student, Hermes did the ollowing:

1: eacher qu es bedroom? [Whatdoesbedroommean?]: t is the place where you nd a bed, a lamp

1: Humm! a pieza. [Abedroom]. (FNC)

e student teacher provides a denition o the

word and includes several words which might be

more common so that his pupil could understand

the new word. upils developed mechanisms to

connect with the strategies student teachers used,

even i they did not comprehend what they were

told at rst. ey asked other peers to clariy what

the teacher had said, paid attention to other peers

reactions or asked their teacher to explain again. o

ask or clarication, they learned key words such

as What? and epeat please, which helped them

acquire the inormation they needed.

Body and Graphic Language

articipants also used non-linguistic elements

such as contextual clues based on objects, their

body, pictures and writing. am trying to use miming. When mime, translation is not

needed or them to understand. they dont understand, other

peers tell them the idea. Miming makes the lesson unnier and

they pay attention. (CFT, ina)

n addition, pre-service teachers usually wrote

on the board what they said to support students

comprehension.

Using Translationarticipants translated sometimes by using

a kind o interpretation o what was rst said in

nglish. n other words, they expressed a general

idea in panish based on the original nglish

utterance. thers translated word by word or

literally. inally,panglish, mixing the two languages

in a single sentence, was also a common strategy.

n the rst sample, Yina is teaching kids how to

provide and ask or personal inormation.

t: [sks s and then write the question on the board] Wheredo you live?

s: [ead aloud rom the board word by word] where/do/you/live?

t: si yo les digo [i tell you] where do you live? t que me dices?

[What would you say to me?] [he indicates a specic student].

s. [ilence]


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t: Where do you live? que signica [which means...]: nde

vives? [Where do you live?] stoy preguntando [am asking you]:

Where do you live? (TAC)

Yina tried to make students understand the

question; she writes the question on the board,

says it word by word and repeats it several times,

but pupils dont seem to comprehend. inally, she

translates the question into panish.

n such situations, pupils would attempt to

translate into nglish or they would press pre-

service teachers to do so. tudent teachers reported

that they employed panglish to reduce their pupils

anxiety when they seemed not to understand and

thus help their students to complete activities morequickly. onversely, some pre-service teachers

would promote translation themselves. ome par-

ticipants used translation aer rst trying several

times to get their message across in nglish while

others used it simultaneously rom the beginning o

the lesson. everal o them translated long pieces o

speech, whereas others translated only key words.

ranslation rom L1 to L2 also took place, but it

was a strategy that was employed less requently in

comparison to translating rom nglish to panish.articipants used it to tell their pupils how an

utterance was said in nglish. or instance:

s: Voy a pasear [ am going on a trip] [says a student talking

about uture plans].

t: h, you will take a trip. (FNC, Marlon)

tudent teachers mentioned that a drawback o

this strategy was that it promoted students laziness

in trying to understand. urthermore, they also

remarked it could become a bad habit.

Teaching the Lesson around Topics

Which Facilitate the Use o L2

o begin with, student teachers built a ramework

or comprehension by means o contextualizing the

lesson in realistic scenarios. o accomplish this, they

used several techniques. or example, student teachers

made the language seem relevant to the students

own lives and interests ocusing the lessons on games,

the sharing o personal inormation, stories, everyday

classroom situations, and local culture reerences.

is was the case in the ollowing situation in which

the student teacher checks attendance:

t: uisa erez?

s: resent.

t: Miguel amacho.

s: resent, teacher.

t: [sks the previous student] id you come last class? [He

pointed back with his pen as showing something behind] then

he repeats the question.

s: o, estaba enermo. [o. was sick]. (FNC)

e student teacher goes beyond asking

students i they are in class or not. He goes urther

and having this common classroom practice

involves a student in a short conversation about

his absence in class. ough the student answers

the question in panish, his answer reveals he

could understand. e student teacher employed

body language which in the specic context o theconversation seemed to be efective.

n another situation, ene explains about the

homework they have to do:

t: n the 1st part, you are going to look or the meaning o the

words and then make a sentence using amous places.

s: [isten to him and some stick some pictures on their

notebooks]

t: or instance, laza de onato is a amous place in unja.

s: Yes

t: n the second point, you are going to describe that amousplace in unja.

s: escribir un lugar amoso de unja. [escribe a amous place

in unja]

t: ike what?

s: laza de olivar, a asa del undador (TAC)


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e previous exchange reveals how student

teachers reerencing amiliar places or students

seems to increase their chances to comprehend the

explanation and participate in the conversation.

n the contrary, participants expressed that

certain themes inuenced the amount o nglish

they produced during the class:

use less nglish in this opportunity. think it was because o the

topic. n the previous lesson the topic was the uture and today

present perect. ast class it was easier and students gave more

examples about their uture proessionssentences were shorter.

resent perect is more complex think because o that today

used more panishwell, used both. (CFT, Marlon)

or Mario, talking about the uture impliedmore possibilities to involve students since they

talked about their plans, whereas a complex

grammar topic or him, as present perect, meant

to speak also in the native language to support

pupils comprehension.

Conclusions and Implications

e motivation and knowledge that teachers can

inculcate in their students by speaking to them and

promoting the use o nglish in classrooms can besubstantial. us, this study revealed a series o actors

and strategies needing serious consideration to

understand what can limit or avor student teachers

attempts to speak in nglish during EFL lessons.

urthermore, the ndings suggest several actions

that can be taken to support prospective teachers

in acing this communication challenge, increasing

their pupils and their own leaning opportunities.

tudent teachers initiative to speak nglish in

the classroom was inuenced by several actors.o begin with, participants history as learners

revealed their tendency to create the same kind

o environments they experienced when they

were secondary school students; using panish to

communicate in the classroom was the rule and

translation was a common practice. ince nglish

was scantily used by pupils and cooperating

teachers, such conceptions were reinorced.

ikewise, participants were afected by the act

that their students had not been encouraged to

communicate in nglish and those pupils who

spoke in nglish run the risk o being ridiculed

by others. inally, some participants aced serious

challenges because o their low nglish level and

their scarce experience in managing classrooms

and indiscipline. ll the circumstances mentioned

above made them hesitant to speak in nglish.

However, pre-service teachers conception o

the language as a means or real communication

and their perception o limitations as obstaclesthey needed to overcome led them to seek specic

means to achieve oral interaction in nglish with

their students. ne strategy that student teachers

applied was to discuss with their pupils how and

why the target language should be spoken inside

the classroom. ey also tried to control the

amount o nglish they used and made agreements

with learners. urthermore, they altered their

normal nglish speech using verbal and nonverbal

language and communication. Moreover, as parto their lesson implementation, they created or

ocused on meaningul contexts or students to

make language more understandable. ombining

the previous strategies, participants tried to involve

pupils in a riendly nglish speaking environment

inside the classroom.

n general, such strategies worked as long as

student teachers monitored how and when they

were employed. is implies that the idea is not to

achieve communication with pupils in the oreignlanguage at all costs or to impose the constant use

o the oreign language while neglecting to monitor

how successul communication with pupils is. is

can produce not only rustration, but also rejection

toward the oreign language by learners.


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n contrast, the goal should be to establish

an atmosphere in which pupils eel secure and

motivated when using the oreign language. tudent

teachers should show pupils through various means

that the oreign language can ulll real purposes

in lie. urthermore, they can help their students to

become aware and skilul in using communication

strategies as tools to support their oral interaction

and their learning o the language.

t is relevant to count on university preparatory

programs which provide prospective EFL teachers

plenty o opportunities to reect upon nglish

and to experience this language in its various

communicative purposes. Moreover, these pro-

grams need to integrate strategies that lead studentteachers to become aware o which and how

particular actors can afect their decisions as to

using or not using the oreign language in the

classroom. eective practices can guide uture

teachers in exploring their belies about language,

identiying how these conceptions originated and

how they inuence their teaching.

ooperating teachers and advisors, as people

who greatly afect student teachers pedagogical

ideas, need to be tuned into the prospective teachersintentions to interact with their pupils in nglish.

ollaboration between these two parties might

provide student teachers with valuable proessional

support rom varied, but enriching perspectives.

Within their EFL teaching practicum structure,

universities should establish solid alliances with

schools in order to help cooperating teachers keep

amiliar with the most current EFL issues.

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teaching. n J.. ichards & . unan (ds.), econd

language teacher education (pp. 22-215). ambridge:

ambridge niversity ress.

ell, . (25). ehaviors and attitudes o efective oreign

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eign anguage Annals,38(2), 259-27.

apel, . (21). econdary students development as

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llis, . (1985). Understanding econd anguage Acquisition.

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llis, . (1997). econd language acquisition research and

language teaching. xord: xord niversity ress.

arrell, . (27). ailing the practicum: narrowing the gap

between expectations and realities with reective prac-

tice. TESOL Quarterly, 41(1), 193-21.

Gonzlez, M. . (28). nglish teachers belies about com-

municative competence and their relation with their

classroom practices. PROFILE ssues in eachers roes-

sional Development, 1, 75-9.

Harmer, J. (27). How to teach nglish. ssex: earson-

ongman.

Haycra, J. (198). An ntroduction to nglish language

teaching. ondon: ongman.

rashen, . (1981). econd language acquisition and second

language learning. xord: ergamon.

Hernndez, ., & austino, . . (2). n estudio sobre la

enseanza de lenguas extranjeras en colegios pblicosde la ciudad de ali. enguaje, 34, 217-25.

Higareda, ., opez, G., & Mugord, G. (29). uermes

mucho ony? nterpersonal and transactional uses o

L1 in the oreign-language classroom. PROFILE ssues in

eachers roessional Development, 11(2), 43-54.

Hittotuzi, . (2). e earners mother tongue in the

L2 learning-teaching symbiosis. PROFILE ssues in

eachers roessional Development, 7, 11-171.

ightbown, ., & pada, . (1993). How languages are learnt.

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Melnick, ., & Meister, . (28). comparison o begin-

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Muoz, J., & Mora, Y. (2). unctions o code-switching:

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classes. How, 13, 31-45.

unan, . (1992). esearch methods in language learning.

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xord, . . (199). anguage learning strategies. ew York,

Y: ewbury House ublishers.

aulson, . ., aulson, . ., & Meyer, . (1991). What makes a

portolio a portolio? ducational eadership, 48(5), -3.

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ollard, ., & ann, . (1993). efective teaching in the pri-

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rada, ., & Zuleta, X. (25). asting teaching avors: a

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ticum. PROFILE ssues in eachers roessional Devel-

opment, 5, 157-17.

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About the AuthorJohn Jairo Vifara is an assistant proessor at niversidad edaggica y ecnolgica de olombia

(UPTC), in unja. He holds a BEd in ducation (nglish) rom niversidad acional de olombia, a

Masters in pplied inguistics (niversidad istrital) and currently is a ulbright scholar working toward

his PhD at e niversity o rizona. His interests include pre-service and in-service teacher education,

pedagogical research and ELT Methodology.


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Appendix 1. Form to Elicit Information about Participants Classes

GradeNumbero boys

Numbero girls

Agesbetween

Previous teachercommunicated

in English

General

descriptiono students

attitudes towardsEnglish

Yes ( ) o ( )

Appendix 2. Counselors Class Observation Form

Class observation Number

Student Teacher: Date:_______________________

Grade: Time: ______________________

Description o lesson Student teachers comments


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Appendix 3. Questions Asked Student Teachers about their Use of English

during Conferences

1. How did you perceive your use o nglish during the class?

2. o you think you are using more nglish or more panish at this point?

3. o you eel comortable using this language to communicate with your students?

4. How has your process to try to use nglish taken?

5. What strategies do you use to try to communicate with your pupils?

. Have the strategies worked?

7. Why do you think this has been so?

Appendix 4. Samples of Questions Asked Student Teachers Pupils during

the Unstructured Interview*

1. o you like nglish?

2. What do you think about this class?

3. oes your teacher (student teacher) speak in nglish or in panish during the class?

4. Has s/he always talked in this language or has this changed?

5. What do you think about the act that he/she speaks in this language?

. How do you eel when the teacher talks in this language?

7. s/he speaks in nglish, do you understand?

8. What do you do when you dont understand?

9. What does the teacher do when you dont understand?

* Questions were asked in panish and translated into nglish or the purpose o this publication.


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Appendix 5. Guidelines to Keep Portfolios

Guidelines to keep your portfolio

ortolio: purposeul collection o students work that exhibits their eforts, progress andachievements in one or more areas. e collection must include student participation inselecting contents, the criteria or selection, the criteria or judging merit and evidence ostudents sel-reection (aulson, aulson, & Meyer, , p. 60).

1. How to start:

Getafolder(spaciousenoughtostoreagoodamountofmaterial)anddecorate.

Filetheevidencesofyourworkchronologically(recorddates),weekly.

2. e sections o the portolio.

a. eection: include a weekly entry o a journal in which you reect on your teaching practice:

lesson planning, school contexts, interaction with pupils, what you learn, and what is dicult.

b. eep your lesson plans and corrections when necessary in chronological order.

c. nclude your reading logs (analytical summaries o readings: make connections between theory

and practice, evaluate theory, and contextualize theory in your experience).

d. nclude a collection o samples which reveal the most meaningul work or situations you have

developed or experienced. Write a text reecting upon the meaning o this evidence in your

teaching.

usingl2instateeducation[1]

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