HOW TO PROMOTE ORAL INTERACTION IN THE CLASSROOM WITHOUT CAUSING ANXIETY ... PDF
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STUDY OF FACTORS THAT AFFECT ORAL PARTICIPATION IN THE STUDENTS OF 6th GRADE AT MARÍA AUXILIADORA SCHOOL IN SAHAGÚN CÓRDOBA” LIRIS LAFONT MENDOZA FUNDACIÓN UNIVERSIDAD DEL NORTE INSTITUTO DE ESTUDIOS SUPERIORES EN EDUCACIÓN MAESTRIA EN EDUCACIÓN AREA DE ÉNFASIS EN LA ENSEÑANZA DEL INGLES BARRANQUILLA 2007 STUDY OF FACTORS THAT AFFECT ORAL PARTICIPATION IN THE STUDENTS OF 6th GRADE AT MARÍA AUXILIADORA SCHOOL IN SAHAGÚN CÓRDOBA” LIRIS LAFONT MENDOZA Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Education Advisor LIDA VARGAS Magister in Education FUNDACIÓN UNIVERSIDAD DEL NORTE INSTITUTO DE ESTUDIOS SUPERIORES EN EDUCACIÓN MAESTRIA EN EDUCACIÓN AREA DE ÉNFASIS EN LA ENSEÑANZA DEL INGLES BARRANQUILLA 2007 2 ACCEPTATION PAGE ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ President of the Judge Judge Judge BARRANQUILLA 2007 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Once I saw this day very far, now it is a dream that has come true. And I feel pleased to have had the support of many people around me, at home and school, who encouraged me to go ahead. To God for giving me strength and faith . To my mother who taught me discipline since I was a child and has encouraged me to fight in order to get my goals. To my advisors, specially Lida Vargas who has guided me a lot along this process. To my son, thanks a lot for helping me and understand my absences. To my students at María Auxiliadora School, who I really thank for their collaboration. 4 CONTENT Page INTRODUCTION 9 1. RATIONALE 13 2. CONTEXTUALIZATION AND RESEARCH PROBLEM 22 2.1. CORE QUESTION 25 2.2. SUB QUESTIONS 25 2.3. OBJECTIVES 25 3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 26 4. METHODOLOGY 82 5. RESULTS 121 5.1. DESCRIPTION OF RESULTS 121 5.1.1 Results of the Questionnaires about their oral participation activities and their anxiety in the English Classroom. 121 5.1.2. Results of Video Recordings about students´ reactions and oral participation activities in the English classroom. 123 nd 5.1.3. Results of the 2 Video recording about the strategies and activities that promote oral participation and reduce negative reactions in the English classroom. 125 th 5.1.4. Results of the Interview carried out with students of 6 grade in order to know the factors that influence in their oral participation, attitudes and types of activities that they feel confident. 127 5 5.1.5. Results of the Diaries 128 5.1.6. Results of the Personal Scale of Communication Anxiety. 129 5.1.7. Results of the Personal Test related to Anxiety of the students under study. 130 5.1.8. Results of the Personal Test related to Students ´self confidence. 130 5.1.9. Results of the Class Observation (3) to identify classroom activities and students´ strategies used for easing Oral Participation. 131 5.1.10. Results of the Class Observation (4) to identify classroom activities and students´ strategies used for easing Oral Participation. 132 5.1.11. Results of Individual Interviews to identify students´ strategies and activities that help students to reduce anxiety and ease Oral Participation. 133 5.2. ANALYSIS AND CATEGORIES 135 5.2.1 Types of activities that may affect oral participation. 136 5.2.1.1 Types of activities that provoke anxiety and make difficult Oral Participation 140 5.2.1.2 Types of activities that provoke relaxation and ease oral Participation. 146 5.2.2. Socio affective and Academic Factors that influence students´ Oral Participation 152 5.2.3. Students ´Attitudes to Oral Production 194 5.2.4. Students ´Strategies for Oral Production. 215 6 PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS 224 CONCLUSIONS 229 BIBLIOGRAPHY 235 APPENDIXES 244 7 CONTENT OF THE APPENDIXES Page 1. Questionnaires and Graphics. 245 2. Students´ Group Interview. Transcription and Video. 261 3. Students´ Individual Interview. Table, Video and Audio. 283 4. Personal Report of Communicative Anxiety Test (PRCA) 286 5. Personal Test: Tiene Usted confianza en si mismo? 291 6. Facilitating and Debilitating Anxiety Scale Test. 297 7. Class Observation (1). Transcription and Video. 303 8. Class Observation (2). Transcription and Video 333 9. Class Observation (3). Transcription and Checklist. 346 10. Class Observation (4). Checklist. 358 11. English Teacher´s Comments abut the Group of Students under Study 361 12. English Teacher´s Comments about the Students´performance in class. 364 13. Diaries. 377 8 INTRODUCTION th This piece of research was carried out with young learners of 6 grade at María Auxiliadora School in Sahagún Córdoba, mainly with some cases of students who show symptoms of anxiety in specific situations, such as conversations, role plays, oral participation, or any other oral activity . However, an opposite reaction or behaviour is seen when they participate in other types of classroom activities, in the case of written exercises, group works, reading home works, etcetera. Facing this type of problem in which such feelings, affect and behaviour are involved is a little difficult, specially if we as teacher do not have the appropriate knowledge or adequate strategies to deal with it. Therefore, this research work, aims to identify the most relevant factors that affect the oral participation of the th students of 6 grade, determine what types of classroom activities ease and diffictul oral participation in class, recognise the characteristic or symptoms of anxiety in order to know if it is or not anxiety what these students feel, to identify the strategies the students use to participate orally, to analyse students´behaviour to find positive and negative attitudes towards the second language learning. On the other hand, it is important to take into account that affect and all kind of feeling that have to do with negative attitudes can affect students´ performance, block their memory and even impede their learning and provoke other emotional 9 problems that could be irremediable if they are not treated on time. (Jane Arnold, 1999: 43). It might be said that in most of the Educative Institutions, these cases are sent to Psychologist office, but there is a lack of communication between the psychologist’s process and teachers´ process; this factor makes this situation much more difficult to deal with. Therefore, the study of aspects related to students´ behaviour, feelings, affect and the teachers´ participation as a consequence of these factors, in order to get academic goals and promote oral interaction in the group, make this research a significant work. It is obvious that students´ good performance has to do with many aspects which involve not only positive emotions, but also getting academic high grades, integral formation and others. The quality of Education has been a concern for many years, mainly about what we must teach and how we must do it according to the students´ necessities and their context. On the other hand, education has been defined as “a permanent learning process that involves a personal and social character” (Procesos Curriculares MEN, 1995). It is personal because it happens inside each individual and it is social because participate with the society, their groups through the interaction in which students, teachers, parents, administrators and psychologist take part of the process. In this way, it is understandable that interaction and personal attitudes are important factors for qualify education. 10
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