An Academic Summary of a Research Article
In
the article named “A Small-scale Study of Primary School English Language
Teacher’s Classrooms Activities and Problems” the author described the
situation in Turkey as regards English education in primary classrooms. As the
author pointed out “The aim of the present study is to identify the types of
English language teaching activities carried out in Turkish primary schools
along with the problems they face while teaching” (Arikan, 2011, p. 1).
Consequently, a small-scale study based on 46 teachers’ answers to a
questionnaire is presented throughout the article.
At
the beginning of the article, the author provided a complete description of English
teaching in Turkish primary schools as well as the classroom activities and the
teaching materials that are used to facilitate English learning. For example,
“Özdemir and Uşun (2009) found that primary school English language teachers
(n=95) from Çanakkale considered themselves to be sufficient in using speaking
activities, providing pupils with writing activities that can enhance their
correct use of English grammar, and using drama and songs” (Arikan, 2011, p. 2).
Subsequently, the
methodology of the study is described by the author. First, a description of
the participants involved in it is included. The author explained that “All of
the participants were ELT graduates and were under the age of 30” (Arikan, 2011,
p. 3). Then, the method that was used to calculate the mean values, standard
errors and standard deviations of the results is presented.
After that, the results obtained
during the study are introduced. For example, “Teachers report that filling in
the gaps/ blanks (4.13), students reading aloud (4.07), completing grammar
exercises (3.93), and children repeating after the teacher (3.83) are the
leading activities employed in Turkish EFL classrooms” (Arikan, 2011, p. 4).
Finally, the
conclusions achieved after the study are presented. One of the conclusions states that some of
the teaching materials which are used in Turkish classrooms are not sufficient
to achieve English acquisition. The other conclusion has to do with the teaching
activities that do not seem to benefit English acquisition either.
All things
considered, Arikan (2011) concluded the article stating that both materials and
activities should be updated in future teaching contexts in Turkish, in order to
obtain better results as regards English learning in primary school classrooms.
References
Arikan, A. (2011). A small-scale
Study of Primary School English Language Teacher’s Classrooms Activities and
Problems. International Conference on New Trends in Education and their
Implications.
My Personal Vignette
At the moment I am
teaching in a Public Primary School in Cordoba City, in a Program named
“Jornada Extendida”. In this program students have classes until noon, they
have lunch at school and after that they have English, Arts, Physical Education
and Science lessons.
I could find
myself identified when I read this passage of the article “English language
teachers considered themselves to be sufficient in using speaking, grammar, drama
and singing activities, but insufficient in using audio materials such as the
tape recorder and CD player, using films and computers”.
I think that I can provide my
students different teaching activities in the classroom as well as different
teaching materials but the school does not provide students with enough
technology in order to practice English in the classrooms.
As the author, I also believe that
both teaching materials and teaching activities should be updated to improve
our daily teaching practice to achieve better results in our learners’
development in their English acquisition.
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