Maximising the teaching of listening and speaking skills in large sized classes

Microsoft Word 24 Pham Thi Hong Nhung doc Tuyển tập Hội nghị Khoa học thường niên năm 2019 ISBN 978 604 82 2981 8 613 MAXIMISING THE TEACHING OF LISTENING AND SPEAKING SKILLS IN LARGE SIZED CLASSES Ph[.]

MAXIMISING THE TEACHING OF LISTENING AND SPEAKING SKILLS IN LARGE-SIZED CLASSES

Pham Thi Hong Nhung

Thuyloi University, email: nhungpth@tlu.edu.vn

1 INTRODUCTION

In a foreign language class, it is probably acknowledged that classes should be small

enough for learners to acquire knowledge

more easily and for teachers to organize

teaching and learning activities effectively in

accordance with the level of the learners

Accordingly, students mightfeel more excited

during the class

Although small-sized classesbring significant benefit to the process of teaching

English, large-sized classes are still popular

at most universities in Vietnam, especially

non-specialized, which has been an

unavoidable difficulty for language teachers

To the best knowledge of the researcher, this

situation has still existed due to a number of

underlying reasons

As a lecturer of English, the researcher personally thinks the difficulties can be

shared with the university by finding ways to

overcome the difficulties of teaching large

-sized classes to help students feel more

engaged in class

This secondary research has been conducted to better understand how a

large-sized class is, the difficulties faced by

English lecturers when teaching large classes,

from which the researcher also suggests some

activities to carry out listening and speaking

skills in large-sized classes effectively and

efficiently The steps in organizing those

activities will also be clearly described so

that these activities are easily applied by

language teachers

2 LARGE-SIZED CLASSES 2.1 Definition of large-sized classes

“Large” is a word with neutral meaning; as

a result, to define what large-sized classes is not an easy task In some countries, 25 - 30 students per one teacher is considered large, while in other countries this

is seen to be normal or even quite small (UNESCO Bangkok 2006, p 1) Shamim F

et al state in 2007 that a large class can vary from 22 in US elementary schools to up to

150 in an African classroom

A class which is thought to be large or too large depends to a great extent upon the individual teacher’s perception and experiences (Locastro, 2001) Coleman (1989) concluded that “teachers share no universal conception of the size of the ideal, large and small classes” (p.35)

Therefore, the researcher concludes that a large-sized class is considered large when the teacher feels the class is too large to teach

2.2 Teachers’ perception of the difficulties

Shamim F et al assertthat this part presents the difficultiesin teaching English in large-sized classes which were identified by the Hornby School course participants

2.2.1 Insufficient student involvement/ learning

 Inability to use a student-centered approach

 Limited opportunity for learners to express themselves in English

 Difficulty in ensuring everybody’s participation in activities

 Distractions in group activities

2.2.2 Large classes management

 Class management

 Class control

 Issues of discipline and noise

 Managing group work

2.2.3 Learning assessment and feedback provision

 Evaluating the work of students?

Continuous assessment

 Inability to identify problems of learners

 Inability to know the progress learners make

 Inability to assess students individually

 Inability to provide a remedy based on the feedback from the assessment

2.2.4 Limited resources for teaching

 Lack of adequate materials to be distributed to each student

2.3 Teaching principles

Based on the summary of the difficulties encountered by English lecturers, Shamim F

et al (2007) suggestedsome teaching

principles in large-sized classes Two general

and five specific principles for rethinking

teaching and learning in large classes has

been summarized in the following part

2.3.1 General principles

 Be realistic: There are some things that

are either very difficult or simply impossible to do in large classes

Similarly, there are other things that can

be done well in large classes Instead of feeling guilty about what cannot be done, explore and focus on what can be done well in large classes

 Give more responsibility to the learners:

Consider sharing responsibility for learning with the learners instead of

taking responsibility for everything that happens inside (and outside) a language learning class

2.3.2 Specific principles

 Discomfort: Let students organize their

own learning by asking them to work in pairsor groups This will allow the students to take more responsibility for their learning

 Control: Do not try to monitor everything;

share ‘control’ of learning by giving some responsibilities to the learners

 Evaluation: Do not feel stressed about

evaluating everything that the learners produce This principle suggests deciding either to give more responsibility to learners by asking them to evaluate some

of their own or peer’s work or deciding that not everything which is produced actually needs to be evaluated

 Individual attention: Use activities that

allow for increased opportunities for individual interaction between teachers and learners

 Learning: Organize activities so that

emphasis is placed on promoting learning by learners rather than on teaching by teachers

SPEAKING ACTIVITIES IN LARGE-SIZED CLASSES

In this last part, the researcher would like

to introduce two useful listening and speaking activities in large-sized classes

3.1 Activity 1: English speakers as a teaching and learning resource

Aims:

 To let students learn from others’ experiences

 To get students into the habit of interacting with English speakers

 To improve students’ skills in asking questions

Level: All Language Focus: Listening and speaking skills

Procedure:

Before the session

1 Select an English speaking guest and tell them what you would like them to

do when they visit the class Explain the aims of the visit

2 Fix the time of visit with the guest and inform the students in advance

3 Ask each student to prepare some questions to ask the guest

During the session

1 Introduce the guest to the class

2 Explain clearly the aims of the guest’s visit and the structure of the session

3 When the students are ready, invite the guest to introduce himself/ herself

4 When the guest has finished, thank him/

her and invite students to ask questions

5 After the question and answer section, thank the guest once again

6 After the guest has left, initiate a discussion to find out from the students what they learned from the guest’s visit

3.2 Activity 2: Peer interview

Aims:

 To encourage students to interact with one another (especially at the beginning

of the semester/ term)

 To help them practice asking questions

 To get students into the habit of interacting in pairs or groups

 To help students develop confidence in getting and giving information

Level: All

Language Focus: Listening and speaking skills

Procedure:

1 Explain clearly the aims of the activity and the overall procedure

2 Ask the students to think about what they want to know about their classmates

3 Show them examples of questions for interview e.g What…? When ? Where…? Do you …? Etc

4 Ask two volunteer students to come to the front of the class and role play the interview

5 Discuss the language items to be used

6 Ask students to work in pairs

4 CONCLUSION

The researcher believes difficulties of teaching large-sized classes might be solved

to some extent with the use of two general and five specific principles in the process of teaching

5 REFERENCES

[1] Coleman, H.(1989).The study of large

classes (Project Report No 2) Leeds:

Lancaster - Leeds language learning in large classes research project

[2] Locastro, V (2001).Teaching English to

Large Classes.TESOL Quarterly, 35 (3)

[3] Shamim F., Negash N., Chiku C & Demewoz N (2007) Maximizing learning

in large classes: Issues and options British

Council, ELT-16, 12

[4] UNESCO Bangkok (2006) Practical Tips for

Teaching Large Classes: A Teacher’s Guide Bangkok