TeachingEnglish
EFL English Teaching
Submitted by antiwelt on 14 January, 2009 - 17:11
Hi, everyone!I'm a Korean English teacher. Below are the comments from my EFL middle school students - about 14 years old or so - in reference to the speaking componet of their English class.
Minsu : You makes us memorize and practice all of the dialogs in our textbook. But I'm not sure that memorizing dialogs will guarantee any improvement in my speaking ability. When will I ever have a chance to talk about the things I want to?
Homin : I'm very worried about my mistakes. I'm sure that I often make mistakes, but my teacher doesn't correct me at all. I don't expect to be corrected all the time, but I'd like to get some feedback, at least, on the more serious mistakes I make.
Sujin : Why does our teacher always want us to speak English in class? No matter how often I use English, it won't have any real impact on my grade because speaking in class only accounts for a small percentage of our score. Besides, he only tests how well we memorize dialogs.
Based on the comments above, what problems does each student have exactly? Next, how should I design a speaking task for helping solve Minsu's and Homin's problems and why? Finally, would you suggest any solution which will address Sujin's problems in terms of the washback effect of assesment.
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1-Memorizing
Memorizing a dialogue is very useful for the beginners because they become familiar with the new English sentence patterns but as the level of students ‘ knowledge go up we should ask them to use the sentences learnt in other contexts so that the new words become a part of their active vocabulary.
2-Correcting mistakes
I usually take notes when students are giving a lecture or making a conversation and try not to stop them as they lose their confidence if I stop them all the time. After finishing the conversation, I mention the mistakes. Sometimes, when the mistakes are too much than expected, I ask them to repeat the conversations by saying corrected dialogues.
3-Our teacher wants us to speak English all the time in class.
It is quite natural that a teacher wants his/ her students to speak English but we should remember that there are many people who can speak well but can't write well. Speaking is one of the requisitions of the language learning and other aspects like reading, grammar, listening must be practiced too. When students are assessed, they are usually given a written test which consists of all parts of language learning. Emphasizing on speaking is not enough for students to learn a language and get a good mark. Even dictation and handwriting is also important.
I think pre-devised teaching materials which focus on all aspects of language learning requirements help a lot.
Best wishes
Ali asghar Mazinanian