Use of context approach in the foreign language teaching in the senior grades
Context approach in teaching English language in Senior grades. Definition, characteristics and components of metod. Strategies and principles of context approach. The practical implementation of Context approach in teaching writing in senior grades.
Рубрика | Педагогика |
Вид | дипломная работа |
Язык | английский |
Дата добавления | 06.06.2016 |
Размер файла | 574,3 K |
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The researcher made some changes to overcome the weaknesses of previous lesson. The changes are: (1) the researcher planned to make more group activities, (2) the researcher divided the groups based on their test scores, (3) the researcher and the teacher planned to make differentiation.
In this cycle, the researcher implemented the action plan and observed the teaching and learning process in the classroom. She prepared the teaching materials and added more group activities and differentiated them. The second cycle was conducted in two meetings. Each meeting took 60 minutes.
a) The first meeting (Monday, September 28th 2015)
1. Opening. The lesson started at 8.00 a. m. the teacher entered the class. The teacher greeted the students and checked the students' attendance. Students were introduced the topic and the plan of the lesson. Students were asked to find out the objectives of the lesson by asking what they would be able to do after that lesson. After that students were introduced success criteria which included explaining their ideas clearly using opinion expressions, supporting ideas with at least two strong evidences and evaluating others' points of view by commenting and making conclusion.
2. Main Activity. The teacher began awareness raising activities by reading an example sentence aloud to the students. The teacher read the sentence the first time pronouncing each word carefully, then read the sentence a second time in natural speech. After that she asked students which reading seemed more natural and why it seemed more natural. Using the ideas students came up with, the teacher explained the idea of English being a "stress - timed" language.
The teacher told about the differences between stressed words and non-stressed words (i. e. principal verbs are stressed, auxiliary verbs are not). In order to do so, she wrote the following two sentences on the board: The beautiful Mountain appeared transfixed in the distance. He can come on Sundays as long as he doesn't have to do any homework in the evening; and underlined the stressed words in both sentences. Students were asked to try reading aloud.
Students were divided ito two groups according to their post-test results. The teacher asked students to look through the example sentences and underline the words that should be stressed in the worksheet. Each right answer would give one point to the team. The teacher circulated about the room asking students to read the sentences aloud once they had decided which words should receive stresses
3. Closing. Before closing the lesson, the teacher reviewed the lesson of that day by asking some questions to the students. The teacher summed up the lesson together with the students. She also asked the students whether they were happy or not in today's lesson. The students answered "Yes”. The teacher said goodbye and closed the lesson.
b) The second meeting (Wednesday, 30th September 2015)
1. Opening. The second meeting was conducted on Monday, 21st September, 2015. Topic of the lesson was `Sport'. The teacher started the lesson by greeting and checking students' attendance. Then she reviewed the lesson of the last meeting. After that, the students were introduced the topic and the plan of the lesson. Students were asked to find out the objectives of the lesson by asking what they would be able to do after that lesson. After that students were introduced success criteria which included writing a plan and a summary of at least 120 words with grammar accuracy (80 %)
2. Main Activity. Draw a picture of hamburger and explain that the structure of paragraph can be considered as hamburger's ingredients (top bun - topic sentence, meat - concrete details, cheese and tomatoes - commentary, bottom bun - concluding sentence). Ask students to predict what we should write in each part of paragraph. Show presentation (Students should make notes on their copybooks)
Divide students into two groups. Hand out a "paragraph puzzle” envelope to each group, and then instruct them to organize the sentences to restore the paragraph's structure. Team which gives the right answer first will be winner. Ask each group why they have chosen such structure. At the end of presentation there are 4 different pictures illustrating various stereotypes. Discuss what ideas Ss have looking at them. Students should write well-structured paragraph about ideas they have after discussion. Students check each other's paragraphs and give feedback.
3. Closing. The teacher reviewed the lesson of that day by asking some questions to the students. The teacher praised what the students did. Then she asked the students' feeling of that day lesson. When the time given was over, she said goodbye and left the classroom.
c) The third meeting (Monday, October 1st)
In the sixth meeting, the second post test was conducted to know the students' achievement in learning vocabulary after the action of cycle 1 was revised.
2.3 Analysis of Context approach experiment results and findings
The data was analyzed in a qualitative way because most of it relates to the attitudes and behaviours toward the study of English, and they are almost impossible to be tabulated in a quantitative way. The background investigation followed the guidelines provided by the questionnaires students, teachers and parents had to answer, and it included topics as the characteristics teachers must have, how a lesson has to be planned, and also how to improve the way evaluation is carried out, etc.
As this is a research done in class with the students, and that is going to have practical implications for the success of English teaching and learning, the methods used in order to obtain information were:
Questionnaires designed to the director of the English department, parents, teachers and students.
Interviews with students, parents, and teachers.
Progress and achievement tests.
Homework and notebooks presentation.
Extra activities such as role plays.
The students of ninth grade were asked by a person who was not their current teacher to answer a questionnaire about their curriculum preferences. At the beginning the teacher explained that the questionnaire was really important to improve the way lessons were taught. They were said that there was no need to write a name, but that they had to be sincere.
The questionnaire was written in Spanish because that is the students' first language so I considered it will be easier for them to express their ideas.
According to the students' answers the subjects they like the most are: Math, Handicrafts and Science. It has to be taken into account that two of these subjects are taught in English. Physical Education, Music and Social Studies occupied the fourth, fifth and sixth place in the students' preferences. Finally, English and Language have the seventh and eighth places.
It is important to note that students placed English in one of the last positions of their preferences, while they ranked Science and Handicrafts, two subjects taught in English, in the first positions.
The second question asked students why they study English. Most of them answered that they study this subject because it is very useful. Some of them said that they study English because they like it. And a few of them said that they are obligated by the school to take that subject and that is why they study it.
The third question asked students if they would like to learn other subjects in English, half plus one said that they would not like to receive more subjects in their second language. Among their reasons they said that Russian is easier and they also said that English is a difficult language.
Students said that they would like to receive subjects such as Social Studies, Physical Education, history, Biology, and American culture in English. These answers show that students are interested in the culture of one of the countries that speak English as a first language.
The next question asked students if they prefer to speak English correctly or to write it correctly, most of them answered that they prefer the first option. It seems clear that students would like more to communicate in their second language in an oral way. In other words, they prefer to speak rather than write.
The sixth question asked students if they preferred to study English or a subject in English, and most of them preferred to receive a subject in English.
The next question asked students to choose which subject in English they liked the most. The majority of them chose Science. The reasons they gave are:
Science is an understandable subject.
It is very important and nice.
It is interesting and makes people use difficult words.
One of the students wants to be a doctor this reason shows that the student has an instrumental motivation.
The teacher is nice and good and she has patience to treat students.
Question number 8 asked students their opinion about the materials used in the lessons taught in English. Most of them think that the materials are difficult; some think that the materials are attractive and amusing and few of them think that they are boring, and ugly.
The next question was about the materials used in the Science class. Most of the students think that the materials used are amusing and just a few of them think that they are boring and difficult.
Question number ten asked students about the subject in English that they feel more motivated to study.8 students, which are the majority, chose Science, their reasons were:
I like plants and Science.
I want to be a doctor and this subject will help me reach my goal.
I like to learn new things.
I know more things about Science than English.
In the Science class I can speak English more than in the English class itself.
Students were asked to propose ideas to improve the English class. They answered:
Teachers should be more demanding.
Lessons should be more entertaining and less boring.
There must be more group work.
Students want to be heard.
Students do not want to spend the whole hour reading and writing.
Students want to do more projects.
They want to learn by playing.
Lessons should be more creative.
They want teachers to explain slowly.
Teachers should be more patient.
The next question asked students to answer if they would like to receive more hours of English. All of them answered in a negative way. It seems that they misunderstood the question because their reasons relate the question specifically to the subject of English and not to a subject in that language.
The reasons they gave were the following:
I would not like to receive more hours of English because the teacher is not patient.
I have English two hours a day.
I do not like English.
The class is a little bit boring.
To receive more English hours would drive me crazy.
Question thirteen asked students about what they liked the most of the English class. They answered:
Everything (1 student)
The language (two students)
To travel (2 students)
The English accent (2 students)
The book (1 student)
Nothing (2 students)
To read (1 student)
The subject of handicraft (1 student)
To speak the language (1 student).
The following question asked students what they do not like of English and they answered:
To study (1 student)
The teacher (4 students)
Everything (2 students)
To write in English (2 students)
The book (1 student)
Nothing (1 student)
It is a new language.
The answers show that students confuse the language with the English subject.
The next question asked students if they would like to have other activities related to English during the afternoon. Only four answered yes, the rest answered no. It seems that they thought that the question asked them if they would like to receive English lessons during the afternoon.
Students answered that the activities related to English they do are to speak English with their relatives and to have lessons.
After tabulating the questionnaires done by the students I could come up with the following conclusions:
Students placed two subjects taught in English on the first three places of the ranking, this fact shows that it can be really advisable to teach English through a specific subject. It seems that teaching another subject in this language can be very profitable because students have the option of studying interesting things while they learn a new language.
Most of the students agree that it is very important to learn English because it is very useful to know another language. Even if studying English is an instrumental motivation which will allow the students to succeed in future life, this can help them do an effort in order to learn it. Four students answered that they study English because that class is obligatory at their school. This is not a valuable motivation because it is going to last only during the school years. Students have to find another kind of motivation if they really want to speak this language correctly.
It is important to remark that five students study English because they like this subject. It is very recommendable to have this kind of motivation because it will help the students to overcome any problem in order to learn the language.
Most of the students do not want to take other lessons in English, it seems that they did not understand the question and they thought that the question asked them if they would like to have more English hours per day, therefore they answered in negative way. The results show that the English class is not popular among students. Most of the students asked, answered that they would prefer to speak English rather than write in this language. They think that it is more important to communicate in an oral rather than in a written way. Science and Handicrafts are subjects that do not ask students to write in a perfect way, these are subjects that help students practice listening comprehension, reading and speaking and obviously to acquire specific knowledge.
Students like the Science class because they feel apathy for the teacher and this factor seems to affect their preferences about the subject. Other important thing is that students like to learn new vocabulary and practice it in oral activities. They seem to incorporate new vocabulary very easily.
They like to learn interesting things and Science is a subject that can attract their attention easily because it is about animals and plants.
According to the students the materials which are books and photocopies are difficult. It can be very recommendable to check if the textbooks are adequate to the students' level, because if they are too difficult students can get discouraged to study the language.
Most of the students think that the materials used in the science class are amusing. The book used for this class has many puzzles, questionnaires, experiments and other activities that keep students interested and discovering facts by themselves. The workbook does not have an attractive design and it does not have colours, but the book the teacher uses to show to the class has many photos and graphic sources to learn.
This last resource, the colourful book is not used by the students because it is really expensive, so the school principals decided that to spend that quantity of money on a book was excessive.
Most of the students would like the English classes to be more interesting and they really would like to play in order to learn. According to the questionnaire most of the students feel more motivated in the Science class, because they have the opportunity to do oral activities and learn new vocabulary. Even if learning words and speaking activities are crucial in an English class, students spend more time doing this kind of activities during the science class.
Students gave many suggestions to improve the English and Science lessons. They propose to have more group and oral activities. They would also like to have creative lessons and to learn by playing.
Even if they feel motivated in the Science and Handicraft lessons they do not want to have more English hours a day, because they think that they are going to receive that class instead of another subject in that language.
Students are motivated to study English because they would like to travel in the future and they know that the language is very necessary. A few students do not like the language, sometimes which is a teachers' fault because it is important to present the language in an attractive way and encourage students to learn it. Sometimes students think that the language is difficult so teachers are the ones that have to convince them that they are capable to learn it.
Even if the students do not seem to do any extracurricular activity related to English, it is important to encourage them to read books, watch films and listen to music in that language, so they will be interested in learning.
The director of the English Department of is Anar Bolatovna. She coordinates all the programs, methods, and materials used in any English classroom from kinder garden to senior year. She is also charged of hiring English teachers.
1. What is the objective of the school by teaching lessons in English?
The objective of the school is to prepare students for a globalized world where English is an important tool for communication.
2. Which are the subjects taught in English at the School?
These subjects are Economics, Sociology, Literature, Current Events, Biology, Handicraft, Science, History and Social Studies.
3. What is the percentage of the subjects taught in English to the students of ninth grade?
It is almost the 50% of the entire curriculum.
4. Will this percentage increase as the students pass to the next course?
Yes, the students will receive more subjects in English as they grow and pass to the next grade.
5. Do you think that the elementary school students are motivated to study a second language?
Yes, they are very motivated to learn English.
6. What are the activities done by the school in order to motivate the students to learn a second language?
Students receive many interesting subjects in English. They also have the opportunity to participate in contests done at the school or outside it.
7. Is it easy to find materials to teach English?
Yes, it is easy to find didactic materials and courses to train teachers.
8. What would you suggest the teachers in order to make their lessons interesting and amusing?
I would suggest them to update their lessons, to continue studying, and to look for interesting and modern materials.
9. What are the factors that affect the students' success when they learn another language?
The factors that affect the success of the second language learning are: the teachers, the materials used and the English environment that the school has for the children.
10. What would you recommend to the students' parents that notice their kids are not motivated to study a second language?
Most of the students that are not motivated to learn a second language are the ones that have just entered the school so they have a basic level. I recommend the parents to register their children in the English academy so their level is going to improve and they are going to feel more comfortable during the English lessons.
Some ninth grade teachers were interviewed to see what their vision about the teaching of a second language was and to know how they motivate and manage their students.
After interviewing the teachers of ninth grade I could get many good ideas about how to know if the students are motivated and what kind of activities students want to do in order to learn.
Most of the teachers said that their students are motivated to learn
English, but not all of them think that Science and English are ranked on the first places of the students preferences.
Teachers think that students like to do creative and practical activities that let them learn by doing things.
Students are more motivated when they want to do more activities, when they are concentrated, when they look happy and cooperate with the teacher and with their friends. If they are concentrated and do a good work teachers think that students are motivated to learn the subjects they teach.
Most of the teachers take into account the ideas their students gave while planning the lessons.
Teachers encourage their students to participate in class by giving them stickers, or by talking to them. Teachers also plan interesting lessons, make contests with students and play with them.
According to their teachers, students like to act role plays, to have an active participation in activities like games, to do reading activities, to participate in contests, and to paint. Teachers dedicate an average of 65% of the hour to do speaking activities and most of them are based on a certain topic.
As the physical environment is an important factor that determines the motivation to study, I designed a questionnaire about the different classrooms students have to assist in order to receive their lessons. The questionnaire is located in the appendixes.
After observing the classrooms I obtained the following results:
All of the classrooms are well illuminated. The classrooms do not have a CD player, a T. V. or a tape recorder. All of the classrooms have learning posters and bookshelves where the books and notebooks are perfectly organized. They have two boards, comfortable tables and chairs, and enough materials to write.
The students count with the necessary books and notebooks to learn, sometimes they leave them in the classroom and other times they take them home to study or do homework.
The classrooms are cleaned up every day after the lessons. Only the English classroom has a semi circle organization of tables and chairs, the rest of the classrooms have the chairs and tables organized in groups.
The classrooms have windows toward the gardens and courts but they are located on the second floor. Only the Handicraft classroom has windows toward the stairs where students can be distracted by the people that go upstairs and downstairs. Even if the teachers have the windows opened during all the day students are not distracted by the noise coming from outside.
The walls are light gray which is not a really motivating or happy colour but the posters that teachers stick against the walls make the classrooms look more attractive.
Notebook and book analysis included the revision of the handwriting, pictures, charts and the information written on them. After reviewing the students' notebooks and books I discovered that most of them have a good presentation, except for the language notebook which does not have pictures and is written using the same ink colour. I could discover that students do not feel motivated to study that subject and they show their disapproval in the way they use their materials.
The English and Science notebooks have many explanatory pictures where students exemplified the new words. They seem to enjoy this kind of exercises because only two students drew ugly pictures and wrote with a terrible handwriting. Most of the students use different colours of pens to write, so the notebooks have a lot of colours.
Students tend to have a lot of spelling mistakes, but on the Science and English notebooks this kind of errors tend to increase. It can be because English is not their native language and they do not know how to write the words.
The Science books have a good and understandable handwriting but they do not have coloured pictures so students had painted some of the drawings by themselves. It is important to note that students were not asked to colour the pictures but they did it probably because they were interested in improving the books' presentation and that fact certainly shows that they are motivated to learn.
I also observed the way they have their books, some of them have colourful coverings but some of the boys had destroyed the covers and they had drawn pictures and painted them, that is another way to show that they are motivated because they decorated their books and notebooks so they can look better. Only two students had destroyed the coverings and never replaced them, those books look really old and damaged.
It is hard to analyze the tests because they do not really reflect the students' motivation. One of the elements that reflect the students' motivation is the grades because they can tell if students are improving or not.
The grades show that some students improved their performance during the second term in comparison to the grades they obtained after the first three months of school. This can show many important things:
Students got used to the teacher, her method to teach and her way to evaluate.
Students learned more things which helped them to improve their grades.
Students made an effort to improve their grades.
Teachers have known their students for three months and know how to evaluate them.
Students are more motivated to study now than at the beginning of the year.
It is important to say that in the school tests represent 20% of the total grade, the other 80% represents the grades students get at the end of each month. The grade students get each month is the average of class participation, homework, oral and written lessons and special assignments therefore I think that it is better to observe the way students behave in the classroom, their homework and the way they do their tests in order to know if they are motivated to study.
The types of tests implemented were Progress and Achievement ones.
Progress tests are the ones used to check the students' understanding of a certain topic or lesson and to decide if the methods used to teach were correct or if there is a need to change them.
Two progress tests were designed based on two different topics. The first one was about rocks and minerals, a topic that not all the students liked. The other progress test was about the planets and the space, which was one of the topics that kids like the most.
Both progress tests evaluate performance, because they are designed to test the use of the language. They can also be classified as integrative assessments because students are not asked to illustrate the use of a certain grammar rule but they have to use the language to answer open questions and they have to demonstrate if they understand a reading and do a practical exercise with the information obtained from it.
The tests also evaluate one receptive skill, in this case reading, and one productive skill which is writing. Students had to read the questions and answer them using their own words and applying information they received during the science lessons.
Progress tests are valuable because they can be used to obtain information about the method of teaching and the materials used.
As the first progressive test was based on rocks it is important to describe the lessons that students received about this topic. As all the students know something about rocks and minerals, they were asked to talk about all the previous information they have about them. Then the teacher used picture cards and drawings to explain the differences among Igneous, Metamorphic and Sedimentary rocks. Then, students were asked to describe each kind of rock, and finally they had to use their workbook as well as reference sources to do some oral and written activities.
The materials used during the lessons were rocks, pictures, the workbook and dictionaries. Students were also asked to bring different rocks to be classified.
Even if the topic was not really interesting for students, they seemed to understand the differences and properties of rocks therefore I decided to evaluate the students' progress using a test.
It is important to note that Science and Handicraft teachers are not asked to grade the use of language but the content of the tests. For this time I decided to pay more attention to the students' language performance in order to compare it with the results obtained from the English tests.
The second progress test used was based on the planetary system and all about the space. The space is a topic that all of the students liked, even the ones that had a lot of trouble with the language loved this chapter, this test is also included in the appendixes. Only two of the thirteen students got a grade under 17, both of them admitted no to have studied and they failed the questions related with scientific names and facts. At the beginning of September, the end of the academic year, students were asked to answer an achievement test that contained all the information studied during the third term.
The achievement test included in the appendices is a wide scale test that evaluates three skills and specific knowledge about science. It evaluates language performance because students are asked to use the language to show what they have learned during the last three months. It is also an indirect testing and an integrative assessment because it does not ask the students to clarify or exemplify any grammar rule.
The test evaluates both receptive skill - reading - and a productive skill - writing. When they do not understand a question they have to ask the teacher and most of the times they find out the correct answer when they hear the question from the teacher, so they are also practicing listening. This achievement test is going to be used to plan future curses as well as to know what teachers have to explain next year. Students required 40 minutes to answer all the questions correctly, and the teacher needed less than an hour to correct all the students' tests. It was really easy to correct all the tests and the teacher did not require the help of other person. The achievement test includes a text where students have to use some of the vocabulary they learned in order to complete the phrases. This kind of exercise is very good to evaluate reading comprehension and the use of new words. Students have to express what they know using their own words to answer most of the questions, and this free way to answer is good to test performance. There is also a match exercise where students have to relate concepts and definitions, so they have to show that they understood some of the concepts related to science, this is also a good way to evaluate reading comprehension. The students do not have to stick to a grammar rule they can answer open questions using any kind of expression that helps them do it.
A week before the test, the Science teacher did many reviews to have students ready. Students had to study almost ten pages, so they were not overcharged with material to go through. When students realize that they dominate the topic they feel more motivated and get better results. Only three students got grades under 17 in the achievement test, two of them did a great effort and one of them did not study for the test, so he was so disappointed that he did not even try to answer all the questions, leaving some of them in blank.
It is important to say that most of the students were very happy and said that the test was really easy; some of them said that they did not have to study a lot because they remembered the concepts from the previous lessons, so all the practice and exercises really worth it.
The students did an achievement test in the English class that is also included in the appendixes, the teacher said that they did a good job, at least most of them have gotten great grades.
The students did the progress test about rocks during the third week of November. The test was graded over 11 and only 3 students received a bad grade. It is important to note that these four students do not have the same language level as the rest of the class.
Most of the students failed on the questions about things that they were supposed to memorize, but the questions where they had to summarize a text or to write the main idea of a paragraph, or even to draw what they had understood were successfully answered.
Only one of the students answered the questions using expressions or textual ideas taken from the Science book, which shows that they are acquiring the knowledge and using the target language to express it.
It is important to note that this test was based on rocks, which are considered one of the most boring topics by all the students, and the one that they found hard to understand.
The second progress test was based on the solar system, this topic seems to be very interesting and most of the students had a lot of previous knowledge about it.
Besides written tests, there were used some other mechanisms of evaluation. Teachers are supposed to evaluate the oral performance of their students. Grading the oral performance can become a subjective activity and teachers are not always aware of what they have to evaluate, therefore I used some ideas from the holistic scales of Caroll, B. J. and I included the scales used in the appendices. The following holistic scales were used to classify students during the English, Science and Handicraft lessons because these are the classes where students use the target language.
After observing students and evaluating them, students were located as follows:
Eight students were classified in the first category, because they can understand questions and directions and they answer all the questions clearly. They read fluently and understand the information read.
No students were included in the second category, where students understand what they hear but make some mistakes both grammatical and phonetic when talking. In this category they read fluently and understand most of what they read. Only one student was placed in the third category because he asks for repetition and clarification when being talked. He also makes many mistakes while talking but can be understood. He has to read several times the same text before getting the main idea or understanding what the text is about. Two students entered in the fourth group because they do not understand the language at normal speed. They do not participate in the conversation. They do not speak fluently and make a lot of mistakes. They use L1 vocabulary and need to read a text slowly and to check the dictionary to understand.
Two students were placed in the fifth category because they have a lot of difficult to understand conversation. The students mix up the first with the target language. They cannot read a text without a dictionary and have to read many times the same text before getting the main idea. Those students are the ones that required extra lessons to understand their English classes and were the least motivated in the lessons that used that language.
In order to do the classroom observation I had to apply the observation guide designed using the Flanders' Interaction Analysis categories (FIAC) and the Foreign Language Interaction (FLINT) as a reference. It is important to note that students and teachers are not natural when they are observed so some of the observations were done through the window of the classroom or behind the door in order to obtain precise information.
Here are some aspects in analyzing the observation and interview above, here:
1. Constructivism aspect. Before the teacher explains what does Happy, Unhappy, Satisfied and Unsatisfied mean and how to express, he asked the students first to explore what they knew about that, he let them answer.
Student 1: I am very happy
Student 2: Thank you very much
Student 3: He cooked rice
Student 4: He used cooking utensil to cook
It means that the teacher built the student knowledge in making the teaching and learning is student-cantered, the teacher is a facilitator and just helps the students get learning difficulties (activating knowledge).
2. Inquiry aspect. Teacher asked the students to look for a daily activity that makes us be Happy, Unhappy, Satisfied and Unsatisfied and Cooking, the teacher gave students an opportunity in looking for information that needs to analyze data and taking conclusion based on their experience, so the students felt an easiness to express their ideas in real world or student's condition. Student: I am glad meet my friend
3. Questioning aspect. In teaching and learning process, teacher gave a question first before explaining a material. The student more active to participate in teaching and learning, because they motivated to answer, teacher never said Wrong although the students answered by opposite answered. This strategy helped student to share each other because each of student getting new knowledge from the other. So that, teacher just guide student in improving their ability especially in speaking skill.
4. Modelling aspect. In making a teaching and learning process actively, teacher asked the student to express: Happy, Unhappy, Satisfied and Unsatisfied by standing up and coming forward. The student does not understand what the teacher explained or they were nervous and no self confidence in expressing it, they could imitate other student especially in pronounce it.
They were not shy to ask to the student or teacher because teacher hoped them to ask if they did not understand.
5. Leaning community aspect. In implementation of Contextual Teaching and Learning method, learning community is important to improve the student's cognitive and affective competence. After observing at senior grades at NIS, the writer found a weakness of implementation of Contextual Teaching and Learning method that Learning community did not implement yet optimally.
6. Reflection aspect. Reflection is one of the important parts of contextual Teaching and Learning method, it is the way of thinking of everything that has been learned in the past and affective evaluation in teaching and learning process. Such as what the teacher tough, he reviewed what learner before. He asked about the Active and Passive voice and Simple Past, although the student have learned the material before, they would not forget because the teacher always review what student learned.
7. Authentic assessment aspect. Assessment is collecting data that describes learning student development. It is important to know the result as long as the teaching and learning process not only the test (middle and final test) but all of the student process. The teacher at senior grades at NIS the teacher stressed on the student's participation in the class to evaluate the student's development especially in speaking skill such as the teacher marks the student's name.
The data that was taken from the observation sheets and notes at the first and the second meeting, the writer summarized that all elements of CTL namely Constructivism, Inquiry, Questioning, Learning Community, Modelling, Reflection, and Authentic Assessment had been good implemented by the teacher in her teaching learning process.
The researcher observed students' interaction and involvement by using observation sheet. In the first meeting with topic like and dislike, students more easy to understand the material because they had learned Simple Present Tense in the first grade. It helped them to make a sentence that related with their like and dislike.
Table 1. Observation sheet of students' involvement during teaching learning process in the first meeting
No |
Students' Activity |
Researcher |
Rate |
|||
Total of students involved |
% of students involved |
Total of students involved |
% of students involved |
|||
1 |
Pre Activities ? Interested in the opening of the class. (Constructivism) ? Responding to topic enthusiastically. (Constructivism) |
32 29 |
84% 76% |
34 28 |
89% 74% |
|
2 |
While Activity ? Following the teacher's instruction (work in group). (Inquiry), (Learning Community) |
38 |
100% |
38 |
100% |
|
? Paying attention to the teacher's explanation. (Inquiry) |
28 |
74% |
24 |
63% |
||
? Responding to the teacher's questions (Questioning) |
25 |
66% |
23 |
60% |
||
? Following teacher's modeling enthusiastically. (model) |
30 |
66% |
23 |
60% |
||
? Actively presenting the results of group discussion in front of the class. (Learning community) |
10 |
26% |
10 |
26% |
||
3 |
Post Activity ? Actively involved in doing what have been learned. (Reflection) ? Doing the speaking task. (Authentic Assessment) |
29 38 |
76% 100% |
33 38 |
87% 100% |
|
Average |
28.7 |
75.6% |
28.3 |
74.4% |
The table shows that the percentage of students' response between the researcher and the rate was almost same. Generally, they had same assumptions about the situation of the class. In pre activity, when the teacher opened the class, there were 32 students who were interested in the opening. The other (6 students) did not pay attention to the teacher and they were busy with themselves. In responding to the topic, there were about 29 students who responded the topic enthusiastically. Unfortunately, there were still 9 students who did not respond to the topic enthusiastically. These students only became the viewer of their friends. In inquiry, all of the students responded to the teacher's instruction as shown at the table that 38 students responded to the teacher's instruction to work in group. But in paying attention when the teacher explained the material only 28 students involve. In questioning, 25 students responded to the teacher enthusiastically. The rest, there were 13 students only keep silent. There were 30 students followed the teacher enthusiastically when the teacher read the dialogue to give modelling in pronunciation. In having discussion in group the observer found that 10 students could present their discussion in front of the class. In reflection, the teacher asked 8 the students about what they had been learned, 29 students could answer and seemed understand about the material had given. In authentic assessment, teacher gave students speaking task and all students followed it.
Table 2. Observation sheet of students' involvement during teaching learning process in the second meeting
No |
Students' Activity |
Researcher |
Rater |
|||
Total of students involved |
% of students involved |
Total of students involved |
% of students involved |
|||
1 |
Pre Activities ? Interested in the opening of the class. (Constructivism) |
35 |
84% |
34 |
89% |
|
? Responding to topic enthusiastically. (Constructivism) |
25 |
66% |
24 |
63% |
||
2 |
While Activity ? Following the teacher' s instruction (work in group). (Inquiry), (Learning Community) |
38 |
100% |
38 |
100% |
|
? Paying attention to the teacher's explanation. (Inquiry) |
22 |
56% |
24 |
63% |
||
? Responding to the teacher's questions (Questioning) |
15 |
39% |
17 |
45% |
||
? Following teacher's modelling enthusiastically. (modelling) |
22 |
58% |
26 |
68% |
||
? Actively presenting the results of group discussion in front of the class. (Learning community) |
19 |
26% |
10 |
26% |
||
3 |
Post Activity ? Actively involved in doing what have been learned. (Reflection) |
25 38 |
66% 100% |
22 38 |
58% 100% |
|
? Doing the speaking task. (Authentic Assessment) |
||||||
Average |
25.5 |
66.1% |
25.8 |
68% |
The table shows most students involved in teaching and learning but some students had difficulty to get the material because there were many tenses had been learned in this meeting. It was easier for students to make a sentence by using conditional type 1 and 2 but they had difficulties to make a sentence by using conditional type 3. It could be seen from students' response to the teacher's questions, only 15 students involved. The rest were still confused what to do.
Table 3. Observation sheet of implementation of CTL components during the teaching learning process
No |
Components |
Implementation |
||
Yes |
No |
|||
1 |
Constructivism ? Ask previous experiences related to the material. ? Review the previous topic. |
v |
v |
|
2 |
Inquiry ? Ask to find and choose the topic of conversation. ? Ask to create simple dialogue. ? Ask to present the dialogue in front of the class. |
v v v |
||
3 |
Questioning ? Invite questions during the learning process. ? Give chance to ask anything about conversation. |
v v |
||
4 |
Learning Community ? Give a chance to sharing ideas. ? Give time for discussion. ? Ask to find problem based learning. |
v v |
v |
|
5 |
Modelling ? Teacher as a model or source. ? Ask the student to be a model. ? Ask the students to imitate or learn from the source or model. |
v v v |
||
6 |
Reflection ? Review the lesson. ? Motivate the students. |
v v |
||
7 |
Authentic Assessment ? Monitor the students' activity. ? Follow up by giving direction or task |
v v |
For doing the teaching learning process which is related with the components of CTL, the teacher did it well. The teacher applied the teaching learning process which was suitable with the students' need. When the teacher applied the Contextual Teaching and Learning, the students looked interested in following activity. Unfortunately, the teacher could not coordinate teaching and learning process well during the teaching learning activity. Though she was strict enough to her students but sometimes she could not control the class. Controlling the class here means the teacher should make the atmosphere of the classroom to be comfortable for the students to study in order to make the teaching learning process conducive.
In order to support the observation findings, distributing questionnaire was conducted after teaching and learning activities. First, questions about implementation of constructivism were answered `yes' by 76.4% of students. Most of them concurred that the teacher did the activities such as began the lesson by greeting, asked the students' previous experiences related to material, etc. Second, 76.8% of students experienced the inquiry process. This step contained giving the students opportunities to find, choose, and conclude the topic of conversations. Third, related to the questioning, 66.6% of the students were interested in discussing with friends when they found some problems. Fourth, 75.8% of students agreed that learning in community was effective, and they had done it in learning activities, especially in speaking class. Fifth, 71.8% of students said `yes' that the modelling component was applied in learning activities. Sixth, 71.6% of students concurred that their teacher did reflection at the end of session. The last is authentic assessment, 77.4% of students agreed that their teacher asked them to do any simple conversation after studying session.
By analyzing the whole activities of the teaching and learning process, the researcher found that the teacher implemented each element of CTL well. Each element had been presented good enough. Learning community was the strongest element which stimulated the students' interest in studying. When the learners involved actively in learning community, they studied cooperatively. The results of this research support Harmer (1984) mentions that grouping is one of the ways to make students freer to express their idea with their own friend before it is presented in the class. It is in line with Larsen's statement (1986) that in group students can learn from each other as well as the teacher. In terms of questioning the teacher had less satisfactory performance. The less satisfactory result of teacher's questioning technique was caused by the unclear questions given by the teacher which mostly happened in the pre activity and in some part during the while activity. As a result, the students seemed confused in responding to the teacher's questions.
In conclusion, after working with the students, observing their classrooms and lessons, talking to parents, and teachers I found out many interesting conclusions that will lead to improve my teaching as well as the other English teachers of the school. Motivation to learn is the most important factor that leads to the success in learning a second language. Even if students do not have a great ability to speak a second language or a place to practice it every day, they will always make an effort if they are motivated to do it.
Learning another language through a specific subject can be very good and profitable because students have the option to study interesting things while they learn a new language and the subject they are studying in English will motivate them to learn that language. Content based learning helps students to learn a language developing all its skills and not only the study of its grammar. Besides that, students learn to communicate in that language without being asked to use specific expressions and constructions. Finally, they can apply all the skills they use in other subjects.
The study of specific subjects in a second language can help teachers and students to do interesting group work and oral activities, as well as it helps students to use previous knowledge and it generates curiosity that will motivate students to learn.
Learning has to have a purpose. With young students the purpose of learning is not really clear so teachers have to help them discover the objective of everything they have to study. Students always remember and learn better when they are doing the things and not only listening to the teacher's explanations. Students enjoy the lesson if they play an active part in it. Students like to play in order to learn, they like to do amusing activities too, and content based learning provides teachers with interesting and motivating activities.
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