TREATMENT AND ANALYSIS OF THE SPEAKING … · 5.1.1. Types of activities in this pupil´s and activity book ... 5.2.3. Conclusion about Fairyland textbook

GRADO EN EDUCACIÓN PRIMARIA

CENTRO DE PROFESORADO SAGRADA FAMILIA DE ÚBEDA

ADSCRITO A LA UNIVERSIDAD DE JAEN

[CURSO ACADÉMICO 2013-2014]

TREATMENT AND ANALYSIS OF THE SPEAKING

SKILL IN PRIMARY TEXTBOOKS

TRABAJO FIN DE GRADO

Alumna : Esther Mª Fernández García

Director: Jesús J. Risueño Martínez

Fecha : Úbeda, mayo de 2.014

SPEAKING TREATMENT IN PRIMARY TEXTBOOKS

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INDEX

1. ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………… 1

2. JUSTIFICATION…………………………………………………………….. 2

3. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

3.1. Definition of Speaking………………………………………………. 2-3

3.2. How we acquire the Speaking? Theories

3.2.1. Krashen´s viewpoint………………………………………… 3-4

3.2.2. Bygate´s vision………………………………………………. 4

3.2.3. Harmer´s perception………………………………………… 4-5

3.2.4. Chomsky´s point of view…………………………………….. 6

3.3. Speaking skills

3.3.1. What skills should have a good speaker? ………………….. 6

3.3.2. Fluency or accuracy ………………………………………... 7

3.4. Learners problems……………………………………………………. 7-8

3.5. Proposals to encourage the use of English language in the classroom 9

3.6. Activities of Speaking based on communicative approach………… 9-10

4. SPEAKING IN THE SPANISH CURRICULUM

4.1. Royal Decree 1513/2006 of 7 December 2007

(Organic Law of Education)…………………………………………. 11

4.1.1. Contribution to the basic skills……………………………… 11

4.1.2. Goals ………………………………………………………... 12

4.1.3. Contents……………………………………………………… 12

4.2. Order of 7 August 2007 (Education´s Law of Andalusia)………….. 13

4.2.1. Contents……………………………………………………… 13

4.2.2. Methodology and resources…………………………………. 13


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5. ANALYSIS OF SPEAKING RESOURCES AND

SPEAKING ACTIVITIES IN THE TEXTBOOKS…………… 13-14

5.1. Comet 3: Learning English trough content and literature. University of

Dayton Publishing……………………………………………………… 14

5.1.1. Types of activities in this pupil´s and activity book……… 15-18

5.1.2. Other resources…………………………………………… 18

5.1.3. Conclusion about Comet 3 textbook……………………… 18

5.2. Fairyland 3. Express Publishing…………………………………… 19

5.2.1. Types of activities………………………………………….. 19-22

5.2.2. Other resources…………………………………………… 22

5.2.3. Conclusion about Fairyland textbook……………………. 22

5.3. Find Out 3. Macmillan……………………………………………... 22-23

5.3.1. Type of activities…………………………………………… 23-25

5.3.2. Other resources……………………………………………. 25

5.3.3. Conclusion about Find Out 3 textbook…………………… 25

6. CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………. 26

7. BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………. 26-27


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TABLE´S INDEX

Table 1. LEARNING/ACQUISITION DIFFERENCES…………………….. 2

Table 2: TEXTBOOK´S ACTIVITIES TAXONOMY……………………… 14


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1. ABSTRACT

This study shows how is embodied the Speaking skill in primary education´s

textbooks. For this reason, it has been chosen three different publishers and it has tried to

analyze activities from each other which are related with this productive skill. Before starting

this research I already guessed what I concluded at the end: this oral skill is the least worked

in textbooks and how is worked in them is very different from the provisions of our law. It is

true that some publishers embody this skill from a more attractive prospect than others, but

the truth is that I have not encountered any of them that work Speaking over a totally

communicative approach. It is possible than appear isolated activities mixed with others that

have no correlation or are located in any context. However, along the time there has been

some progress but it has been very slowly; so we have to work hardly in order to achieve our

goal: that our students communicate themselves fluently. Moreover, teacher try to find their

own resources in order to improve this skill in students, although there are many cases in

which teacher´s training is inadequate for teaching this skill. So nowadays, we can say that we

are almost devoid of a solid foundation on which support us for progressing in this forgotten

skill.

Key words: speaking, oral interaction, productive skill, meaningful learning, real situations.

RESUMEN: el presente estudio muestra cómo está plasmada la destreza de Speaking en los

libros de Educación Primaria. Para ello se han escogido tres editoriales distintas y se ha

tratado de analizar cada una de sus actividades relacionadas con la destreza productiva de

Speaking. Antes de comenzar esta investigación ya intuía lo que al final he concluido: esta

destreza oral es la menos trabajada en los libros de texto y además la forma de trabajarla en

los mismos, dista mucho de lo establecido en nuestra ley. Es cierto que algunas editoriales

plasman esta destreza desde una perspectiva más atractiva que otras, pero lo cierto es que aún

no me he topado con ninguna que trabaje el Speaking de un enfoque totalmente comunicativo.

Puede que aparezcan actividades aisladas entre las demás que no llevan una correlación ni

están ubicadas en ningún contexto. No obstante, a lo largo del tiempo se ha progresado

aunque muy despacio, por lo que todavía estamos lejos de conseguir nuestro objetivo: que

nuestros estudiantes se comuniquen con fluidez. Por otra parte, el profesorado intenta buscar

sus propios recursos con el fin de mejorar esta destreza en sus alumnos, aunque hay muchos

casos, en los que la formación del profesorado no es la adecuada para impartir esta destreza.

Así, en este momento podemos decir que estamos casi desprovistos de una base sólida sobre

la que apoyarnos para progresar en esta olvidada destreza.


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Palabras clave: hablar (Speaking), interacción oral, destreza productiva, aprendizaje

significativo, situaciones reales.

2. JUSTIFICATION

Treatment of the speaking in primary textbooks is a question poorly studied in recent

studies. I took the decision about this option because I think this skill is not sufficiently

worked in textbooks. Thus, the few activities that we usually dispose are not very various, and

they are repetitive and unattractive.

In contrast to what is registered in the law, the most of the textbooks published are

not based in the communicative approach. A large part of the activities are based on repeat

words or sentences at that. A lack of exercises that embody everyday and real-life situations is

observed.

My interest consists of knowing why this is so and why speaking is not given as

importance as it would be necessary in textbooks. Are difficult to design these activities? Is

there a lack of teacher training which limits the exploitation of these activities? Are there too

many available resorurces to us on the Internet? Maybe, after a while, the present situation

can change or maybe not: anything might happen.

3.1. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

3.1. Definition of Speaking

When we talk about what is speaking, we have to take into account that it is one of

the most important skills from all of them (listening, writing, reading and speaking). A main

feature in this skill is the negotiation for meaning. This is a process that involves trying to

understand and to be understood. Now, we are going to define speaking from different ways:

1. “Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing,

receiving and processing information” (Brown, 1994; Burns & Joyce, 1997).

2. Tarigan (1990:3-4) claims that speaking is a language skill that is developed in child

life, which is produced by listening skill, and at that period speaking skill is learned.

3. Speaking is a productive skill so that a good speaking skill is the act of generating

words that can be understood by listeners. A good speaker is clear and useful.

Speaking skill is a productive skill that must be mastered in learning foreign language

and could not be separated from listening. It, like the other skills, is more complicated


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than it seems at first and involves more than just pronouncing words.

3.2. How we acquire the Speaking? Theories

3.2.1. Krashen´s viewpoint

“Language acquisition does not require extensive use of conscious grammatical

rules, and does not require tedious drill”.

Stephen Krashen

According to Krashen, there are different hypothesis in order to acquire any

language. These hypothesis are the following:

The Acquisition-Learning hypothesis

In this stage, Krashen distinghishes between acquisition and learning. To clarify

this distinction we are going to show the table below:

Table 1. LEARNING/ACQUISITION DIFFERENCES

LEARNING ACQUISITION

Conscious process

Knowing the rules

Results in accuracy

Formal, traditional teaching helps

Available for correction

Subconcious process

Picking up the learning

Results in accuracy and fluency

Formal, traditional teaching does not help

Available for automatic production

Source: (www.ccsenet.org/elt English Language Teaching Vol. 6, No. 1; 2013)

The Monitor hypothesis

According to Krashen, acquisition is in charge of generating statements. These

statements will eventually be corrected by the monitor. There are three kinds of users from

monitor: over-monitor users, under-monitor users and optimal-monitor users. These last

users have more communicative competence than the other ones.


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The Natural Order hypothesis

This hypothesis claims that language acquisition follows a specific order which

starts learning easier structures towards more difficult structures. Krashen also talks about the

mistakes and errors. He sets that mistakes will be there during the acquisition process, above

all, when dealing the late structure.

The Input hypothesis

When Krashen tell us about this hypothesis he explains that individual have to be

provided with comprehensible input and also this input goes one ste beyond ( i+1) so that

students can improve the development of their language.

The Affective Filter hypothesis

Besides all hypothesis above, Krashen thinks that there are additional causes that can

influence in the acquisition of a language. These factors could be the anxiety, the self-

confidence, the motivation, and the stress.

3.2.2. Bygate´s vision

“We do not merely know how to assemble sentences in the abstract: we have to produce them

and adapt to the circumstances. This means making decisions rapidly, implementing them

smoothly, and adjusting our conversation as unexpected problems appear in our path”.

(Bygate 1987, 3)

According to Bygate (1987, 3), in order to achieve a communicative goal through

speaking, there are two aspects to be considered: knowledge of the language, and skill in

using this knowledge. It is not enough to possess a certain amount of knowledge, but a

speaker of the language should be able to use this knowledge in different situations.

Bygate views the skill as comprising two components: production skills and interaction skills,

both of which can be affected by two conditions: firstly, processing conditions, taking into

consideration the fact that “a speech takes place under the pressure of time”; secondly,

reciprocity conditions connected with a mutual relationship between the interlocutors (Bygate

1987, 7).

3.2.3. Harmer´s perception


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“The ability to speak fluently presupposes not only a knowledge of language features,

but also the ability to process information and language on the spot”.

(Harmer 1991)

Harmer (2001) distinguishes between two aspects when he refers to speaking:

knowledge of “language features”, and the ability to process information on the spot, it

means “mental/social processing”. The first aspect, necessary for spoken production,

involves the following features:

1. Connected speech: conveying fluent connected speech including assimilation,

elision, linking ‘r’, contractions and stress patterning and weakened sounds.

2. Expressive devices: pitch, stress, speed, volume, physical and non-verbal means for

conveying meanings.

3. Lexis and grammar: supplying common lexical phrases for different functions

(agreeing, disagreeing, expressing shock, surprise, approval, etc.);

4. Negotiation language: in order to seek clarification and to show the structure of

what we are saying. (Harmer 2001, 269-270).

In order to wage a successful language interaction, it is necessary to realize the use

of the language features through mental/social processing, with the help of “the rapid

processing skills”, as Harmer calls them (p.271). The second aspect is the “Mental/social

processing” and it includes three features:

1. Language processing: processing the language in the head and putting it into

coherent order, which requires the need for comprehensibility and convey of meaning

(retrieval of words and phrases from memory, assembling them into syntactically and

proportionally appropriate sequences).

2. Interacting with others: including listening, understanding of how the other

participants are feeling, knowledge of how linguistically to take turns or allow others to do so.

3. On the spot information processing: i.e. processing the information the listener is

told the moment he/she gets it (Harmer 2001, 271).

This perspective proposes that the ability to wage oral communication, it is necessary that the

participant possesses knowledge of language features, and the ability to process information

of the language on the spot.


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3.2.4. Chomsky´s point of view

"All children share the same internal constraints which characterize narrowly the

grammar they are going to construct."

(Chomsky, 1968)

Noam Chomsky claims that the mechanism of the language acquisition is resultant

from the innate processes. Innate is something which is already there in mind since birth. The

theory proposed by Chomsky is tested by the children living in the same linguistic

community. On the other hand, they are not influenced by the external knowledge which

bring about the comparable grammar. For Chomsky, language acquisition is very similar to

the development of walking. The environment makes a basic contribution in this case, the

availability of people who speak to the child. The child, or rather, the child's biological

endowment, will do the rest. This is known as the innatist position. (Chomsky 1959).

3.3. Speaking skills

3.3.1. What skills should have a good speaker?

A good speaker should possess these features:

Put words together in correct word order.

Make the speech hang together so that people can follow what is being said.

Use an adequate lexis.

Make clear to the listener the main sentence elements (subject, object, verb, etc.).

Use the main ideas stand out from supporting ideas for information.

Use the correct form of words: correct tenses in the verbs, gender, etc.

Use intonation patterns and stress and rhythmic patterns of the language clearly

enough so that people can understand what is said.

Pronounce the different sounds of a language clearly enough so that people can

distinguish them. This includes making tonal distinctions.

Besides, we are going to summarize the skills which should have any good speaker

in a different way:

Linguistic competence: selecting vocabulary, using grammar structures correctly,

etc.


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Sociolinguistic competence: knowing and understanding how to speak given the

circumstances you are in (Canale & Swain, 1980).

Strategic competence: applying strategies in order to improve the comprehension.

These could be using gestures, key words, body language and so on.

Discourse competence: interconnecting utterances to form a meaningful text.

Interaction: this skill is given in Speaking only. Speaker must pay attention in the

vocabulary, rate of speech, explicitness, etc. trying to improve the listener

comprehension.

3.3.2. Fluency or accuracy

After we read the paragraph above, I wonder if we will be able to choose

between fluency and accuracy when an individual is speaking. Let´s see; both of these

concepts are very important. The balance would be the best. Depending on the

environment you are in that moment, you must have more or less fluency or accuracy. For

instance, if you have to expose a lecture about any topic, your accuracy would be loud.

However, it is no necessary your accuracy is very loud if you go to the canteen of your

school and you ask to the waiter a piece of pizza. Anyway, we have to be very respectful

with any people. Furthermore, we can show two different approaches related with fluency

and accuracy:

Fluency-oriented approach

This approach stand out two aspects, that the meaningful communication is the key

to develop spoken skills. The other is that small grammatical or pronunciation

errors are insignificant. It is said this approach can lead us to fossilization. It means

that mistakes in the target language can become chronic along our life.

Accuracy- oriented approach

This approach places most emphasis on accuracy by pursuing mainly grammatical

correctness. If we compare this approach with approach above, it can have some

advantages over it. Feedback is one of the most important advantages since

students are given the chance to correct their own mistakes.

3.4. Learners problems

The learners have their own difficulties in learning the language. Particularly in

improving speaking skill is not easy for the students. Some of these problems can be, in

general:


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Lack of vocabulary.

Students rarely practice to use English to communicate.

Most of the students are not confident to speak English in class.

Students are not used to participating in conversational classes.

Students are not interested in the material.

According to Munjayanah (2004) these problems could be the following:

1. Inhibition

Unlike reading, writing or listening activities, speaking requires some degree of real-

time exposure to an audience. Learners are often inhibited about trying to say thing in foreign

language in the classroom: worried about mistakes or simply shy of the attention that their

speech attract.

2. Nothing to say

Even they are not introverted, you often hear learners complain that they cannot

think of anything to say; they have no motive to express themselves beyond the guilty feeling

that they should be speaking.

3. Low or rough participation

Only one participant can talk at a time if he or she is to be heard; and in large group

this means the each one will have only very little talking time. This problem is compounded

of some learners to dominate, while other speaks very little or not at all.

4. Mother tongue use

It is easier for the student to use their mother tongue in their class because it looks

naturally. Therefore, most of the students are not disciplined in using the target language in

the learning process.

5. What to do when we have these kinds of problems?

Try to use English everyday in our class, and or outside the classroom. This can

stimulate our behavior to always use English as habitual even daily conversation. Create a

small group to train our English, whether in class or outside the class. Learning by doing is

really very important in the learning of the speaking in English language.

While we have problems in our dialect, the solution is taught our pronunciation to be better.


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Find some videos, music, or authentic conversations in English. See or hear, then practice the

sounds that we have heard in the source.

3.5. Proposals to encourage the use of English language in the classroom

Gradually more communities are opting for bilingual project in schools that I have

already begun its work and it is a very motivated project. Past ten years of experience in

teaching English as a second language, both in private and in public schools, still believe that

the most important part when learning a language is the oral communication.

I also believe it is our duty, as language teachers, encourage the use exclusive of

English in our classes and to improve the skills communication of our students. This, of

course, would be ideal. However, I think it is still making the same mistake , giving more

importance to grammatical knowledge despite many calls to change linguists and education

professionals to adopt an approach where communicative speaking part of playing a key role.

Speak and express themselves well are very important for our students. Besides, spoken

language not only reflects cultural and social aspects of a person but also a piece of their

identity as speaker.

Nowadays, the leader written English educational context in recent years is more

adapted to the communicative approach, presenting the student with real situations and

contexts of everyday life. But in the context of the class, daily routine in the classroom also

has to change and adopt English as communication vehicle. I have to admit that it is very

difficult to satisfy all levels of a group, following a schedule and also attempt to promote the

one way or another the use of English as the medium of communication in the classroom.

3.6. Activities of Speaking based on communicative approach

If we check the last researches about speaking, we notice that the most of exposition of

the students to the target language is provided in the school. Pupils have no much

opportunities to practice speaking outside the classroom so that we have to try they get as real

situations as possible. Furthermore, we have to offer them activities that encourage them

trying these are interesting and meaningful.

Associated with it, I would like to appoint “drills”. Learners have to become familiar

with the mechanics of oral speech. Repetition can be crucial here, as we suggested in the

previous section. In addition, some specific exercises, called "drills" can be devised. Drills are

systematic (sometimes highly mechanical) speaking activities usually used to practise

grammatical structures, sometimes vocabulary and always intonation. Although useful in


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order to practice some formal aspects in English, they present some drawbacks teachers

should bear in mind. I believe that this type of activity is not based on the communicative

approach.

Independently, we are going to present different activities about speaking:

Information-gap exercises: students work in pairs; a communicative need is created

because the two students in each pair are given different information.

Split dialogues: one half of the dialogue is given and the student contributes the other.

Reading aloud: apart from other advantages, it presents the positive point of

connecting spelling and pronunciation and it allows students to speak longer stretches

of English without problems of vocabulary, structure and memory; we must admit that

it is not really a natural activity, it takes a lot of time, really only one student is active

and it is difficult to check if they understand; more often than not it becomes a

pronunciation exercise.

Answering questions orally: we should not ask for grammatical perfection here but

for the conveying of information.

Role-play: this may be motivating because students assume the personality of another

person and it provides practice in social talk but there should not be too much

correction by the teacher; “role cards” are a very useful help for students.

Communication games: these games help students to improve the oral fluency. They

ask for each other in order to get information about any topic or about themselves.

Role-plays and simulations: the Dictionary of Education explains role-playing as "an

instructional technique involving a spontaneous portrayal (acting out) of a situation,

condition, or circumstances by selected members of a learning group."

Other activities: games with mime, gestures and physical movement, dialogues,

jokes and riddles, guided interviews, question and answer patterns, games, surveys

and questionnaires, discussions and debates, describing pictures, maps and charts,

identifying picture differences, problem solving activities, information gap activities,

role plays, dialogues, simulations and plays, story-telling activities, cross-cultural

activities and so on.

More oral activities: (See Harmer, 1991, Chapter 8):

Reaching a consensus (p. 122)

Relaying instructions (p. 125)

Problem solving (p. 129)


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Talking about yourself (p. 131)

Simulation (p. 132)

4. SPEAKING IN THE SPANISH CURRICULUM

We are going to examine the different laws that support our curriculum. These are

the next:

4.1. Royal Decree 1513/2006 of 7 December 2007 (Organic Law of Education):

“The Foreign Language area is to prepare people who can use it to understand, and

speaking, reading and writing, so its use should be the starting point from the beginning of

learning […] it will have a lot of importance knowledge, skills and experiences in the

languages that children know to understand and build meanings, structures and strategies

along the participation in acts of communication”.

“The limited use of foreign languages in the environment is a determining factor […]

necessary to include contents that incorporate real situations of communication in different

ways”.

“The area of foreign language in the curriculum is composed for the procedures to

achieve an effective oral communication skill […] with increasing effectiveness and

correctness and covering all uses and registers as possible”.

“Contents are grouped into blocks: […] oral language; written language; […] each

other requires different skills and knowledge so that the contents refer to them separately”.

Speaking is treated in Block 1: Listening, Speaking and Talking. We are interested

in Speaking now, so that we are going to focus in this skill. “The restricted presence of

foreign language in the social context makes the language model provided in the school is the

first source of knowledge and language learning. The speeches used in the classroom are both

a vehicle and an object of learning so the curriculum has attended both the knowledge of

linguistic elements as to the ability using them to perform communicative tasks”.

4.1.1. Contribution to the basic skills

“Learning in the foreign language based on the development of skill communication

will contribute to the development of this basic skill in the same way that the first language

does it”.


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4.1.2. Goals

2. Express and interact themselves orally in usual situations and routines with known

contents and developments using verbal and non-verbal procedures and adopting a respectful

and cooperative attitude.

5. Learn to use with progressive autonomy all means available, including new

technologies to get information and to communicate in foreign language.

6. Assess the foreign language and languages, in general, as a means of

communication and understanding between people from diverse countries and cultures and

like a learning tool of different contents.

7. Expressing a receptive and confident attitude in their own ability to learn and use

language foreign.

8. Use knowledge and previous experiences with other languages in order to get a

faster, effective and autonomous acquisition of the foreign language.

9. Identify phonetic aspects of rhythm, stress and intonation, and linguistic structures

and lexical aspects of the target language and use them like basic elements of communication.

4.1.3. Contents

I have only chosen the contents related with speaking skill so that this is the skill

about we are studying in this project. These contents are:

Understanding and using expressions related with the habits and routines about the

organization of space, the use of objects and materials and the control of the time

during the school day.

Production of known oral texts by active participation in class routines,

representations, songs, recitations, drama, repeating and reproducing short sentences

or parts of a poem.

Oral interaction in real or simulated situations through verbal and non verbal

responses often used in communication routines.

Development of basic strategies to support comprehension and oral expression: use of

visual, gestural and verbal context and previous knowledge of the subject or situation

transferred from the languages they know to foreign language.

Play in group simple oral texts, with playful or literary (poems, songs, stories ...)

repeating parts or the whole text.


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4.2. Order of 7 August 2007 (Education´s Law of Andalusia)

“Attach to Spanish and Foreign Language and Literature areas, in particular, but not

in general, the development of the four basic language skills: listening, speaking, reading and

writing”.

4.2.1. Contents

In the autonomous community of Andalusia must be addressing, in particular, the

following contents:

Analyze the Andalusian talk in various media, radio and television.

Knowing how to express orally contents of the literature of Andalusian oral tradition

at their various levels of expression (flamenco, folklore...).

Express themselves naturally through the Andalusian linguistic modality, accepting it

and recognizing it.

Approach, when the circumstances so require, to the speech corresponding to diverse

models of the cultural and academic Andalusian world.

Know creating and planning oral messages, on the basis of its local context, which in

our case is the Andalusian, with a communicative intention.

Know creating and recreating texts orally with literary or fun purpose that depart from

the Andalusian cultural reality.

4.2.2. Methodology and resources

[…] Talking means learning to realize, starting using a natural language (mother and

foreign), and the conventions of the communicative oral exchange. After it should plan and

deliver short messages with the knowledge of essential elements to achieve their effectiveness

[…] Later, it would be raised the planning and delivering of messages more elaborated and

complex […]. This will allow a gradual training in the fusion listening-talking.

5. ANALYSIS OF SPEAKING RESOURCES AND SPEAKING

ACTIVITIES IN THE TEXTBOOKS.

First of all, I would like to tell that this research is totally objective, that is to say, I

am going to analyze three different editorials of textbooks writing down what I notice. Then, I

will expose my own conclusions about each other.


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The textbooks that are going to be analyzed belong to the third primary level.

Furthermore, we are going to propose an own taxonomy in order to classify the different

activities that are showed in each analyzed textbook.

Table 2: TEXTBOOK´S ACTIVITIES TAXONOMY

TEXTBOOK´S ACTIVITIES TAXONOMY

1. Activities based on oral

interaction

These are activities that a negotiation of

the meaning is looked for speakers and

listeners.

2. Activities based in

vocabulary acquisition

These activities are based on the

vocabulary acquisition. They are very

important in this level.

3. Activities based on

pronunciation and

intonation

These are activities based on how can

be the correct pronunciation and

intonation in the target language.

4. Activities based on drills

These kinds of activities are based in the

repetition and routines of structures,

vocabulary, etc. in order to achieve a

certain goal.

Now, let´s analyze the first editorial.

5.1. Comet 3: Learning English trough content and literature. University of Dayton

Publishing.

This editorial possesses a lot of resources besides the textbook so that we are going

to analyze firstly the textbook although we will discuss something about the other materials.

Then, we are going to show the fronts of the pupil´s and activity book.


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5.1.1. Types of activities

s in this pupil´s and activity book.

According the taxonomy showed above, we can classify the following activities in

this way:

1. Interaction

Presentation

Tell pupils that you will play a jingle again and ask them to join in. Play it twice.

Continue with the jingle, using it now to present the language for this lesson. Ask pupils to

listen again and to write […]. After they listen, twice, if necessary, ask them to say words

they have written down. Write the jingle up on the board and ask pupils what the first word

about feelings is. Underline it. Make different gestures and say: Am I happy? Say: Show me

how you look when you are happy? Ask for the next word about feelings. Say: When you are

hungry, what do you want? Show me how you look when you are hungry

Point and name the odd photo

Children will not be familiar with this activity so that a little introduction is

necessary. Ask them to look at the pictures and to pick the odd one out. They must then

explain why to a partner, using the language in the book.

Talk about the picture above!

Put children into pairs and ask them to look at the picture again and talk about what

the children in the picture are doing. Mingle and help with vocabulary such as (lesson´s

topic). During feedback, ensure that this vocabulary is covered, writing it up on the board.

Even though it is not in the listening activity, children are likely to be curious, since all things

are clearly illustrated.

Listen and say the number

[…]Then ask the children to compare their answer with their classmates talking

among them.

Listen and say

Tell the class they are going to listen to children´s talking about the same pictures,

and saying if each one is good or bad. Ask them to imagine if the things in the pictures are


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good or bad, and give them time to tell a partner/the class. (Example: The kite is in the tree,

that´s bad). Encourage the class to try to explain why this is bad.

Listen, find and say

Ask the class to look at the picture on page…. Give them a little time to look and

then say: What can you see? What are the children doing? Point to the children reading and

say: What are they doing? Elicit “They´re reading…”

Discussion

Ask the pupils to tell you some of the things that are on their list of bad things that

are on the list of bad things and write them up on the board. Lead a simple discussion as to

why the things are bad. (Example: Why are cars bad? They´re dirty).

Describe your progress

Ask the pupils how they feel they are going. Example: Have you learnt something

today, Juan? What? Ask the class together to call out some words from the last unit as you

write them up on the board. Say: Well, that´s 6/8 new words, that´s good.

Play a guessing game. Say and ask

Point out the exchange on the page. Give another example: it´s blue, it´s on the right.

Encourage the class to say: is it number…? Practice a number of times with different

numbers. Put the class in pairs and tell them to continue playing the game.

Wrap-up

Ask children to close their books. Ask them to tell you what they can remember

about the picture, for example: The children are reading.

2. Vocabulary

Warm-up

Ask children to try to remember some words from the previous lesson. As they call

them out, we can write the word on the board.

Choose and say

Tell the class that this is the beginning of a story. Ask them for ideas for the next few

words. Then explain than they actually have to choose from the pictures on page…. Ask them

to open their books and look at the pictures. Ask children to finish the sentence on the board,

and ensure that they now understand that they must either choose a word or another. Ask

them to copy […]


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Describe your progress

Ask the pupils how they feel they are going. Example: Have you learnt something

today, Juan? What? Ask the class together to call out some words from the last unit as you

write them up on the board. Say: Well, that´s 6/8 new words, that´s good.

3. Pronunciation and intonation

Listen and repeat. Then circle and write.

Play the first part of the recording. Ask the class to listen and repeat the words. Show

them how to make the “eye” sound and the “eat” sound. Then, explain that they will now hear

the words again and have to say “kite” if the word has de “kite” sound in it, or “no” if it

doesn´t. Play the recording, pausing if necessary. This is a precise example:

Kushida: Listen to me and circle

the “kite” words.

Narrator: Is this a “kite” word?

Listen and say “kite” or “no”.

Narrator: I

Kushida: Kite

Narrator: Eat

Kushida: No

Narrator: Bike

Kushida: Kite

Narrator: Write

Kushida: Kite

Narrator: Fly

Kushida: Kite

Narrator: Swim

Kushida: No

Narrator: Well done!

4. Drills

Listen and repeat

In this activity is intended that students repeat any text (song, dialogue, etc) that they

have previously heard. Thus, a text is listened by them and next they repeat.

Listen, find and say

Ask the class to look at the picture on page…. Give them a little time to look and

then say: What can you see? What are the children doing? Point to the children reading and

say: What are they doing? Elicit “They´re reading…”

Listen, sing and say

There are many songs which can include a lot of structures we want students learn.

Then, pupils have to say which photo is being described. In this case, learners are practicing

present continuous and they are repeating a lot of times the question “Which photo is it?

Let´s see the lyrics of this song:


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The children are in the sun. The children are tired.

Which photo is it?

The children are happy. They are watching a dolphin. The dolphin is swimming.

Which photo is it?

The dolphins are hungry. Look! They are eating.

Which photo is it?

[…]

This textbook shows the same structure in each of the units so that I have chosen

activities from different lessons along it. Thus, we can observe that about several topics are

studied in it.

5.1.2. Other resources

For this textbook are available multimedia resources but there are very few activities

related with the speaking skill inside them. Some activities are about repeat a dialogue, a

song, a piece of sentence, etc. In the CD, we can listen to different texts but there are very few

speaking activities about speaking. Some of them have been analyzed above.

5.1.3. Conclusion about Comet 3 textbook

It has a great variety of activities.

It studies the oral interaction.

Some activities are based in grammar structures although they ask for speaking, they

do it repeating the same structures that they are studying.

Pupils have not freedom in order to speak about usual things but they speak about

concreted structures. Example: “I´m reading…”, “What do you do?” “Where do you

work?” and so on.

Activities about pronunciation and intonation are low.

In spite of study the oral interaction in this way, we would like this interaction were

based on communicative approach.

However, at least, this textbook proposes speaking activities. As we notice then, there

are many editorials that do not work out anything about this skill.


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5.2. Fairyland 3. Express Publishing.

Fairyland 3 is intended a course specially designed to introduce young learners to

the English language. The syllabus is based on graded structures and vocabulary enabling

pupils to use English effectively and ensuring that they enjoy themselves while learning.

Let´s start to analyze Fairyland 3 in order to check what the perspective that is showed in.

First of all, we are going to introduce all the resources that are part of this project.

5.2.1. Types of activities


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As we can see, it seems a very full project at least at first appearance. I have to say

that this textbook has the same setup all of their units so that I have chosen activities from

different lessons. Now, we are going to use the same taxonomy above to classify the activities

from this textbook.

1. Interaction

Beginning the lesson

In pairs, pupils ask and answer questions based on the topic of the lesson. Go around

monitoring, offering help when necessary. They can use all words they know.

Discuss, listen and circle

Point each picture and discuss them with the class. Elicit the names of the animals

and a description of their appearance. Tell the pupils to listen carefully to the recording […].

Now I can

Once all the exercises have been corrected, ask the pupils to tell you how they feel

about the unit. Ask if they can tell you what they have learned and which exercises, stories,

songs they liked the best.

2. Vocabulary

Let´s play

Before going into class bring a small box containing small pieces of paper with the

numbers 1-10 written on them. Present the box with the folded pieces of paper to the pupils,

read the example and explain the game. Each pupil picks a piece of paper from the box and

unfolds it. The pupil to his/her left asks him/her: How old are you? And the pupil has to give

an answer according to the number shown on the piece of paper he/she has picked. The pupil

has to show the piece of paper to the rest of the class.

Let´s sing

Say pupils go through the song on page…. Teacher explains any unknown words.

Then teacher plays the CD. The pupils listen and sing along. If it is necessary CD can be

played again encouraging the pupils to sing along with the accompanying actions.


Talk with your friend

Pupil´s books closed. Write on the board: “Who is George? The pupils repeat after

you. Then write this question. Repeat with “That is George” and “That´s George”. Explain to


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the pupils that the meaning remains the same but that we use the contracted form more often.

Besides, the pronunciation is different.

Listen and repeat

Play the CD for pupils to listen and repeat. Draw the pupils’ attention to the /s/ and

/k/ sounds. Ask individual pupils to read out the sentence and correct their pronunciation.

Singing a song

Songs are of great value in language learning. They are vivid examples of how the

language taught is used in a real context and highlight both pronunciation and intonation.

Now we are going to sing a song about Mother´s day.

4. Drills

Ask and answer

Pupil´s book closed. Point to yourself and say: “I am a teacher”. Write “I am” on the

board. Point to a female pupil and say: “You are a girl”. Do the same for all persons singular.

The pupils look at the board and read out the affirmative form of the verb to be. Show the

pupils how the short forms are made. Follow the same procedure to present the negative and

interrogative forms of the verb to be singular. Drill your pupils.

Example: Teacher: I/teacher

Pupil 1: I am a teacher!

Teacher: He/boy

Pupil 2: He is a boy!

Teacher: It/red

Pupil 3: It is red!

Flashcards

Pin the flashcards on the board, one at a time. Point to each flashcard and say the

corresponding word. The pupils listen and repeat, chorally and individually. Individual pupils

say the words. Ask the rest of the class for verification.

Finally, we have noticed a very good activity about speaking. Its name is “Poppets

Puppet Show”. This activity doesn´t appear in all of the units. In fact, there are only three

plays along the textbook. It is an extremely full activity about speaking since a lot of items are

worked of this skill. For this reason I have not included it in the classification above. It is due

to the activity can be included in any point of it. Let´s see this activity:

Poppets Puppet Show


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Each play can be covered in approximately two to three lessons including the

performance. In the first lesson present or revise the language to be used, the songs and the

setting of the scene as suggested in the before the play section. In the second lesson, play the

recording of the whole play while the pupils follow the lines in their books. Then play the

recording again and allow the pupils to repeat. This will help them to practice intonation and

pronunciation. In the third lesson split the class in two groups. Make sure that each group has

at least one complete cast of characters needed to perform the play. Each pupil who is going

to perform must know that when he/she is speaking, he/she must move his/her puppet.

Note: If you wish, you can use the plays for stage performance with the pupils playing the

role of the characters.


Picture flashcards; these enable the pupils to make the connection between the visual

prompt and the spoken word.

Posters; these help us to consolidate the new vocabulary.

Class CDs; CDs include many recording and the school plays we have commented

before.

Interactive Whiteboard; we can improve our activities with additional features such

us: the audio of the activity, videos, songs, etc.

5.2.3. Conclusion about Fairyland textbook

It is a very full textbook since it works all of the skills.

It possesses a lot of complementary materials in order to improve the pupil´s learning.

As we can see, there are many activities about oral interaction.

Intonation and pronunciation are worked through different activities.

There are many activities of speaking about drills.

There are many activities of speaking about vocabulary too.

In spite of this, I do not detect along this textbook the desired communicative

approach which is proposed in our curriculum. I do not observe real situations of

communication but a lot of activities much closed and not meaningful.

5.3. Find Out 3. Macmillan.


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This textbook shows in its syllabus two important goals related with speaking:

Express and interact orally in simple and regular situations that have a known content,

using verbal and non-verbal procedures and taking a respectful and collaborating

attitude.

Identify phonetic, rhythmic aspects, accentuation and intonation, as well as linguistic

structures and lexical aspects of the foreign language and use them as basic elements

of communication.

In each unit, the activities are developed in very similar sequences along the lessons.

First, we will start with the activities related to listening and speaking to follow with the ones

related to reading and writing, always with an increasing level of difficulty. We are going to

analyze speaking activities only in this research. Each lesson has the following division:

Opening activities: we find here the greeting activities, the opening routine and the

word of the day game, used to recycle vocabulary.

Main activities: these are the main activities addressed to the achievement of the

intended unit's objectives. They are arranged in sequence and deal with the

development of basic skills, besides stimulating the acquisition of vocabulary and

reinforcing pronunciation.


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Closing activities: here we have, basically, the word of the day revision activity and

the class closing and farewell routines.

5.3.1. Type of activities

1. Interaction

Listen and read. Act.

Pupils must acting out a small dialogue in each unit so they will be able to interact

with their partners.

Ask and answer

Students have to make questions and answers to each other in order to acquire

fluency in English language.

2. Vocabulary

Listen and read. Sing the song

Song´s lyrics are always related with the unit´s vocabulary so that pupil´s learn

vocabulary singing a song.

Say the words

Students have to say the words in each unit. For example, the days of the week,

sports, carnival and so on. Thus, they increase their vocabulary in each unit.


Listen and read. Say the chant

Students have to say a chant in the same way that they have heard before. The

teacher says firstly and then they repeat this. So, they will improve their pronunciation ad

intonation about the words studied in this unit. Do it at least twice.

Listen and say.

This activity consists of pronounce the words we have heard before. The textbook

recommended us to say it well. Example: “Vicky and Mrs. Crisp have got six pink bins”.

Listen and read. Sing the song

When we singing a song we are producing speaking and we are learning the

pronunciation and intonation of several words because we try to reproduce the same sound we

have heard.

Say the words


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This activity is recommended for practicing pronunciation and intonation of each

word. Teacher says a word and next student have to repeat it. Do it twice.

4. Drills

Ask and answer

A question´s structure is taught by the teacher. Then, students have to ask their

classmates and they have to say an answer previously showed by the teacher too. This action

is repeated a lot of times.

Example: What is this in English?

This is a cupboard

What is this in English?

This is a basket…


This project is composed of:

Flashcards

Story cards

Word cards

Audio CDs

Stories and songs CDs

CD-ROM

DVD

Website

All of them help us to complement the speaking learning; however, these resources

are focused in the rest of skills mostly.

5.3.3. Conclusion about Find Out 3 textbook

This editorial has got a simple organization. I like this feature because it is easy to

work w

ith this textbook.

As the others publishers, it does not work a lot of the speaking skill. However, I

like some activities which are based in oral interaction and it has good activities

about pronunciation.


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It does not work drills a lot so I like it since I prefer other kind of activities.

The books are not too longs in order not to oppress too much to the students. I

prefer less content but better learned.

Again, I repeat that also this publisher´s house does not study the speaking in the

same way that we would like, since does not show real life situations. Only it

shows short dialogues at the beginning of each unit. I think it is not enough.

6. CONCLUSION

As we can know all instances of oral interaction have emphasized that both teaching

and learning are interactive processes which require a dynamic participation of teacher and

students. Mostly of activities showed in textbooks do not use to work dynamic activities.

Usually, the students do not create nor acquire a meaningful learning in speaking. We have

checked by mean of this research, that speaking and oral interaction in primary textbooks

have a lot of gaps which would be desirable to full. This problem could be solved in diverse

ways:

1. Proposing to publishers house a different approach about this productive skill.

2. Improving the teacher training in order to get an optimal use of these resources.

I hope we all work together in order to solve this problem. In fact, in many schools

are carrying out new and attractive projects related with this skill; but it is a different topic

that we have been researching to.

7. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brown, H.D. (2001). Language Assessment Principle and Classroom Practice. New

York: Longman.

Burns, A. & Joyce, H. (1997). Focus on speaking. Sydney: National Center for

English Language Teaching and Research.

Bygate, M. (1987). Speaking. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Bygate, M. (1991). Speaking. Oxford: Oxford University Press.


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Canale, M. Swain, M. (1980). Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to

second language teaching and testing". Applied linguistic 1, 1-47.

Chomsky, N. A. (1965). Aspects of the Theory of Syntax: Cambridge: MIT Press.

Chomsky, N.A. (1968). Language and Mind. Barcelona: Seix-Barral.

Dooley, J. & Evans, V. (2008). Fairyland 3. EE.UU: Express Publishing.

Harmer, J. (1991). The Practice of English Language Teaching. Edinburgh: Longman.

Harmer, J. (2001). The Practice of English Language Teaching. Edinburgh: Longman.

Head of State (2006). Organic Law 2/2006, of 3 May, Education Official Gazette, 106

of May 4, 2006.

Junta de Andalucía (2007). Order of August 10, 2007. BOJA Bulletin No. 171, August

30, 2007.

Munjayahah, A. (2004). The Implementation of Communicative Language. Retrieved

of: http://cdigital.uv.mx/bitstream/123456789/32935/1/castellanoscalles.pdf the 20th

of April 2014.

Nunan, D. (1991). Research Methods in Language Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

Tarigan, H.G. (1990). Speaking as a language skill. New York: Publishers Space.

Ormerod, M. (2007). Find Out! 3. New York: Macmillan.

Wallace, D.A. (1978). Junior Comprehension 1. England: Longman.

Wilson, S. (1983). Living English Structure. London: Longman.

http://ibatefl.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/CLT-Canale-Swain.pdf

http://ibatefl.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/CLT-Canale-Swain.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspects_of_the_Theory_of_Syntax

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_Press

http://cdigital.uv.mx/bitstream/123456789/32935/1/castellanoscalles.pdf

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TREATMENT AND ANALYSIS OF THE SPEAKING … · 5.1.1. Types of activities in this pupil´s and activity book ... 5.2.3. Conclusion about Fairyland textbook