PROMOTING EFFECTIVE SPEAKING

NATHALIA ALBA HERNÁNDEZ

PAPER WORK SUBMITTED AS A REQUIRES QUALIFICATION FOR THE BACHELOR’S

DEGREE IN MODERN LANGUAGES.

ADVISOR.

LINA MARIA CUARTAS FRANCO

UNIVERSIDAD DE CALDAS

FACULTY OF ARTS & HUMANITIES

UNDERGRADUATE OF MODERN LANGUAGES

MANIZALES, CALDAS

2019

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CONTENT

1. Introduction:______________________________________________________5-6

2. Rationale: _______________________________________________________7- 8

3. Institutional Context ________________________________________________ 9

3.1. Location __________________________________________________ 9

3.2. Philosophy ______________________________________________9-10

3.3. Pedagogical Approach ____________________________________11-12

3.4. Mission___________________________________________________ 12

3.5. Vision_____________________________________________________13

3.6. Physical Plant______________________________________________ 13

3.7. Modality and Social Strata____________________________________13

3.8. Human Resources__________________________________________ 13

3.9. Number and description of the teachers and the students_________ 14

3.10. Didactical Resources________________________________________ 15

3.11. Organizational Structure_____________________________________ 15

3.12. Research Seedlings (Seedbeds)________________________________ 16

3.13. Approach to the field of Activity_______________________________ 17

3.14. Focus on the classroom______________________________________ 18

4. Problem Statement:______________________________________________19-20

5. Objectives:________________________________________________________21

6. Research question:_________________________________________________ 22

7. Theoretical Framework:_____________________________________________ 23

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 7.1. Importance of the English language ________________________23-24

7.2. What is speaking?_______________________________________25-28

7.3. Speaking genres__________________________________________ 28

7.4. The communicative competence__________________________29-31

7.5. Classification of communicative tasks________________________ 31

7.6. Social Interactive Tasks__________________________________32-33

8. Proposal: _______________________________________________________ 34

8.1. Workshop Nº1 __________________________________________35-36

8.2. Workshop N°2 ____________________________________________37-38

8.3. Workshop Nº3____________________________________________39-40

8.4. WorkshopNº4____________________________________________41-42

8.5. Workshop Nº5____________________________________________43-44

9. Methodology __________________________________________________ 45

9.1. Participants, population and sample___________________________45

9.1.1. Participants:_____________________________________________ 45

9.1.2. Population and sample:___________________________________ 45

9.2. Instruments and techniques___________________________________46

9.2.1. Observational records:____________________________________ 46

9.2.2. Pedagogical journals:___________________________________47-55

9.2.3. Parents agreement:______________________________________ 56

9.2.4. Survey:______________________________________________57-58

10. Analysis of the results:_______________________________________59-61

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11. Conclusions:___________________________________________________62

12. Bibliography:__________________________________________________63

13. Annexes:______________________________________________________64

13.1. Pictures of the exercises:___________________________________ 64

13.2. Additional supporting file:__________________________________ 65

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 1. INTRODUCTION:
“For the majority of English learners, SPEAKING is the most difficult skill to master.
… When the language is only heard in the classroom and NOT PRACTICED… there is
no support for its use OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM”
Zhang Y

“Creativity is contagious, pass it on”

Albert Einstein

Language is a means of thinking and transferring culture from one generation to

another as well as from one nation to another. It is also a means of communication

among people. English has become the most important foreign language in the world.

At present, English is the language for international communication.

Effective communication in a language that is not the native implies managing a lot of

things, speaking in English fluently is hard for students in some cases because of the

way English is taught in schools, most of them always struggle with the spoken English.

Furthermore, the learning context plays a large role in determining what is

appropriated for students, it is very important for lessons to be interesting and contain

varied activities to give students as much encouragement as possible. Students need

to participate actively to enjoy their English classes and in terms of developing

communicative effective speaking this is essential.

To get meaningful learning you need to get involved in your learning process by

figuring out the academic environment, that is, you need to learn through a guided

path since you are the one who better understands how your mastermind works.

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Consequently, the project intends to help students to reach a new communicative

level through the promotion of interactive and creative English activities to improve

their participation and proficiency in oral production by encouraging the interactive

exchange based on real context situations.

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 2. RATIONALE:

The world is an increasingly globalized place where individuals are communicating among

and between multiple cultures each day. Today, an individual has access to a vast array of

information from a variety of world cultures at the touch of a button. The importance of

learning a second language becomes self-evident. Learning a second language helps you

to communicate across cultures and to reach lands you may never have previously

considered. Additionally, the importance of learning a second language is emphasized

every day when we see the diversity of earth’s cultures and the amazing array of people

that make up our global community. The communicative skills in a scholar context is

fundamental and it is it as well the idea of establishing in the mindset of students the idea

of pursuing the self-improvement through Education, and more specifically, through the

acquisition of a second language.

Although, speaking is seen as a complex skill and a multi-facets cognitive process, it is

important then to consider more closely the features of effective instruction that can

facilitate the acquisition of these skills and processes by ESL learners. The capacity of

teachers to implement strategies that help students, through unconscious practices, and

to acquire the abilities to succeed in real-life contexts is vital and effective instructions

should be characterized by opportunities for learners to practice both linguistic and

communicative competencies.

In order to help students develop their communicative skills, is very important to follow a

built in project that seeks establish social and language skills in a second language,

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prioritizing the interaction of the students in the scholar environment, bearing in mind

that it is not their native language and they are not all the time in contact with the English

language, and that there is also the fact that the school has changed English teachers very

often, it should be a must to have real contact with the language at school.

The students have had the experience of having English teachers that did not feel

confident in speaking English and they used the local language (Spanish) most of the time

in the classrooms.

Therefore, designing a series of five creative and interactive workshops that strengthen

their interactive abilities and improve their proficiency in the English language is a good

tool to open up their interests to go deeper in the promotion of the second language

acquisition and to build confidence when doing it.

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 3. INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT:

3.1 Location

INSTITUTO PARA LA CIENCIA is a school located in the western part of the Plaza de

Bolívar, building Liborio Gutiérrez; a building of three floors of which the second and third

are occupied by the institution (urban area).

3.2 Philosophy

The objectives of this PEI are to show the path traced by the educational community and

to manage the different processes that lead to the fulfillment of the objectives,

particularly the foundation of the insight in Environmental Education as a support to the

institutional philosophy of an integral formation. According to the needs of the graduate

profile that we have proposed; in the same way, to promote the quality and efficiency of

the education of the students, consolidating a human formation that corresponds to the

needs of the country and therefore guide the institutional path towards the fulfillment of

the institutional mission and vision.

The current vision of the institute is supported on the work of renowned pedagogues,

among which the following texts are cited: Aric Sigman (in Ruskin Mill Educational Trust)

states: “Because manual jobs are being replaced by electronic games, today it is possible

to find 11-year-old children with deficits in certain areas of cognitive development.” He

concludes saying that “performing tasks Manuals allow children to experience how the

world works in practice, as well as to understand how different materials work”. Lucia

Inacio Monteiro, specialist in psychomotor skills in childhood, says, “neurons are formed

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at this stage, children discover new forms through the game and acquire different spatial

abilities and notions." She highlights that this process is important for when the formation

of logical thinking begins, since “the entrance to the brain is the senses. He must form his

perception and then the concept." On the other hand, Sigman has extensively studied the

specific influence of television (as a means and not as content) on children's brain

development. He found that the effect on the brain is not stimulating but almost narcotic,

numbing areas of the brain that are stimulated by reading, for example. It also ensures

that modern editing techniques such as "cut jumps” fracture the attention intervals, while

the brain is programmed to reward itself with the neurotransmitter dopamine for being

able to cope with a "novelty attack" on screen. It also considers television as a key factor

in the reduction of melatonin levels, a hormone that regulates the body's internal clock

and regulates the speed at which puberty develops.

Under the above considerations, the school “Instituto para La Ciencia” has a curricular

design with a broad emphasis on direct experimentation, supported by the insight courses

in Environmental Education. For that reason, it has designed field trips as a didactic

element of the Natural and Environmental Sciences, visits to the industry as a

complement to complex chemical equations, as it encourages walking as a driving

element, reinforcing for the functioning of the vital organs of the human body.

From the hand of social reality, we understand the urgent need to train new generations

for the conservation of the natural and social world as a support to human survival. Our

Insight in environmental education aims to this purpose and therefore the school

INSTITUTO PARA LA CIENCIA invests most of its technical and human resources in it.
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It is also an institutional priority to provide a conductive environment to the growth of

youth and children, among which we propend for an institutional environment, free of the

pressure of drugs and the interests of any type of antisocial group such as the youth

gangs.

3.3 Pedagogical approach

Our pedagogical model is diverse and pluralistic, although in some way we encourage the

practice of the postulates of L. S. Vygotsky from his Sociocultural Theory of human

development. It is semi-personalized, with groups that on average have 15 students,

where the objective is the efficiency in learning as opposed to mass coverage. By virtue of

these considerations, our pedagogical model is of social pedagogy, focused on the

historical and cultural theory of the aforementioned psycho-pedagogue.

The school INSTITUTO PARA LA CIENCIA bases its pedagogical approach on offering

integral and integrated training of the dimensions of the human being: corporal, cognitive,

affective, communicative, ethical, playful, aesthetic and political. We train for the

construction of a life project in a pluralistic and diverse society, and people who value

themselves, respect life and human dignity. We form virtues to live in a community and

for citizen coexistence. Our permanent motivation is towards a humanistic, scientific and

educational practice. The teachers of our institution are people who play a formative role.

They are facilitators and counselors of the student's development processes. The teacher

is a promoter of knowledge, a researcher of his pedagogical practice. The teacher is above

all a humanist who is critical of himself, of knowledge and of the educational context. The

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teacher must teach the students the secrets of life. Our teachers are people committed to

the formation of the human being and to the construction of a more peaceful and fair

society project.

The student of our institution is the main actor in the teaching and learning process. They

are persons with a life project on a personal, family and community level that needs to be

stimulated from the school. They are honest and supportive human beings, respectful of

the rules, institutions, social and cultural values that are built in the school. He is a

knowledge builder based on the reading of his environment and wider contexts.

In summary, the reason for the existence of the school INSTITUTO PARA LA CIENCIA, as a

private institution that offers educational services, is to prepare society, science, culture,

to coexist with the environment and train the individual to adapt to a globalized world.

According to this, it offers comprehensive training from the first grade up to the eleventh

grade, taking into account the characteristics of the diversity of the student population.

3.4 Mision

The school INSTITUTO PARA LA CIENCIA is a private school with an insight in

Environmental Education, which assumes the responsibility of forming bachelors suitable

for social coexistence; characterized to giving a plural, diversified and flexible educational

response to meet the learning needs of all its students.

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3.5 Vision

The school INSTITUTO PARA LA CIENCIA in 2020 will be an institution recognized for the

quality of its educational processes and for the training of human talent, respecting the

difference that facilitates learning, participation and coexistence of all population, whose

preparation will guarantee the advance in life and work.

3.6 Physical plant

The physical plant is distributed as follows: 210 m2 for classrooms, 50 m2 for laboratories,

40 m2 for pedagogical workshops, 600 m2 for sports spaces, 31 m2 for administration.

3.7 Modality and Social Strata

The school INSTITUTO PARA LA CIENCIA is a private institution, offering grades from first

to ninth in Basic and eleventh and eleven in average and whose purpose is based on

providing quality education at educational costs available to all young people of the

municipality.

The school INSTITUTO PARA LA CIENCIA serves an intermediate urban community and

specifically a population of medium socioeconomic stratum, within which most of the

caregivers are professionals.

3.8 Human resources

The school INSTITUTO PARA LA CIENCIA bases the management of human resources on

the coordination and organization of the staff, so that a good performance is obtained in

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the achievement of institutional goals in the long, medium and short term. Both, the

attainment and the dismissal of the staff are regulated by the rules of temporary jobs, as

they only works for hours.

The staff required by the school is enlisted below as follows:

PRINCIPAL: Rosalba Flórez García.

COORDINATOR: Mauricio Giraldo Herrera

ACADEMIC SECRETARY: Sandra Bibiana Delgado

ACCOUNTANT ADVISOR: ---------------

PSYCHOLOGIST: Mayerlid Garcia Cano

GENERAL SERVICES: Diana Marcela

TEACHERS: Andrés Marín Giraldo, Juan David Ramírez Álzate, Lina Marcela Guanumen

Martínez, Luisa Fernanda Cárdenas Vásquez, Luisa Fernanda Robayo Salgado, Jorge Mario

Herrera Lopera, John Jairo Arias Quintero, Diana Katherine Hoyos Padilla, Catalina Mejía

Taborda.

3.9 Number and description of the teachers and the students

The school INSTITUTO PARA LA CIENCIA hires professionals with a minimum

undergraduate on bachelor of Education or postgraduate in education, higher Normalist,

or professional with pedagogical training. The number of teacher is as follows:

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1 teacher devoted to the areas of Spanish and Philosophy

1 teacher devoted to the area of foreign languages (English)

2 teachers devoted to the areas of Chemistry, and Biology and 1 intern student

1 teacher devoted to the area of Mathematics and Physics (trigonometry, geometry and

calculus)

1 teacher devoted to the area of Physical Education and Religion

1 teacher devoted to the area of Social Sciences (geography, democracy, history) and 1

intern student

2 teachers devoted to non-specific areas in the primary section.

Advice note: Religious education and Informatics are oriented by the all the teachers and

the principal as well. In the current scholar year, there are 225 students enrolled and

registered, aged between 6 and 18 years.

3.10 Didactical resources

Since it does not exist a list of articles regarding didactical and pedagogical resources,

there is not a certain way to confirm that there exists any book directly devoted to the

teaching. Although, there is a room of books in the third floor, which can be used for

students as many times as possible.

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3.11 Organizational structure

Academic coordinator (Mauricio Giraldo Herrera)

• Directs academic planning and programming.

• Collaborates with the rector in planning and institutional evaluation.

• Organizes and coordinates the teachers and their actions to achieve the objectives.

• Directs and supervises the development of academic activities.

• Establishes channels of communication between the directives, the professorial staff

and the student.

• Directs and supervises the execution and evaluation of academic activities.

3.12 Research seedlings (seedbeds)

There are different research seedbeds in different areas of knowledge. –Incentive the

taste for basic research according to individual characteristics, in every different grade.

The objective is to offer spaces for the goals proposed in the PRAE, one successful

example is "Scientific thinking"- seedbed created and carried out by eleventh graders,

with the aim of discussing the different issued around the scientific community.

Community Committee (students, teachers, external agents, principal) In accordance with

the legal provisions- particularly those contemplated in the institutional educational

project (PEI)- and considering what the law 1620 of March 15, 2013 dictates: This

committee should be its own regulation, which should include what corresponds to

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sessions, and other procedural aspects, such as those related to the election and

permanence in the teacher's committee that leads processes or strategies of school

coexistence; there will be a community committee in charge of the pacific and healthy

coexistence, to provide fraternity and communion within the academic community.

3.13 Approach to the field of activity

There is one (1) English teacher in charge of the subject for all the scholar grades.

His name is Mauricio Giraldo, and he has bachelor´s degree in Music but he finished his

English studies at the Colombo Americano.

The students have a wide comprehension of the basic structures of the language in their

respective levels. Most of the students are responsive to the stimuli they receive from the

teacher.

The average grade in English (as a foreign language) is above the minimum qualification

(2.9), but it is not comprised in 4.0 or above. Therefore, the average grade is 3.7.

The teacher uses different strategies to convey learning such as quizzes, workshops, tests,

homework and readers, as well as visual resources like videos and recordings. There is not

an institutional book.

There is a T.V. available in every classroom; there is an audio-visual room available, there

is a computers’ room available. The spaces different from the classrooms have to be

booked in advanced.

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Locally we interact with other institutions that in some way facilitate the fulfillment of

institutional objectives. Some of them are “Gobernación de Caldas”, which in the week of

Science permits us to participate with a scientific sample. Universidad de Caldas, where

we continuously access the Botanical Garden, the Museum of Natural History and the

Museum of Anthropology and interact with the practicum of their Bachelors’ students .

With the JAC of “El Arenillo - La Quinta”, we have made a permanent conservation work in

El Arenillo Forest, and we actively participate in inclusive proposals in the POT as an

environmental protection area.

3.14. Focus on the classroom

As the number of students per grade is not high, the classrooms are small but dynamic.

There are some resources located in different parts of the classroom; therefore, the

location of the chairs might vary from class to class.

The target population is aged between 12 and 16 years, and the groups are mixed with

boys and girls.

In General, most of the students feel comfortable with the English subject, although

sometimes, they do not want the teacher to speak in English all the time.

There are not major problems regarding the execution of the classes and the activities

proposed, except for the noise that is a constant focus of indiscipline in Seventh grade, it

is the hardest group in this school, most of them lack of interest, and they do not even

make a good effort to try to understand what has been explained many times.

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4. PROBLEM STATEMENT.

The ability to communicate effectively is an essential skill today. Communication is a

dynamic process and how people communicate can positively or negatively influence their

everyday life. As a result, learning a second language is exciting and beneficial at all ages,

it offers practical, intellectual and many aspirational benefits and opportunities.

Second language skills are best learned if speaking is a major component of the learning

process, in fact it is essential, but learning a language in countries where that language is

not universally spoken can be problematic. This is because the language instructors are

not sufficiently versed in speaking that particular second language to teach it. Students,

whether in a school setting or in a language training center often learn to read and write,

but they don't speak enough to be able to get a good grasp of the language to be

proficient in both oral and written communication. In some settings, the teacher doesn't

know the language well enough so resorts to teaching the second language while using

the native language. In other cases, the new language is so badly pronounced that the

student walks away speaking a 'dialect' that only folks from that particular country can

understand. It would not meet international standards.

Learning to speak moves the student on to developing other language skills such as

reading, writing and listening.

Therefore, the aim of teaching should consist in making a classroom communication as

close as possible to real life communication: careful selection of the student’s needs,

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which should be practiced, and selection of relevant teaching strategies and materials so

that planned objectives could be achieved.

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5. OBJECTIVES:

General objective: To promote effective speaking in ten graders of the high school

“Instituto para la Ciencia” by engaging them in communicative activities to develop oral

proficiency.

Specific objective 1: to develop students’ confidence in using English in various

communication situations, both formal and informal through reading, listening and

speaking.

Specific objective 2: To help students understand the importance of performing language

functions in English such as requesting, greeting, apologizing, inviting and giving opinions

through role plays.

Specific objective 3: to facilitate the interaction in the target language recreating a foreign

environment through the application of workshops.

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6. RESEARCH QUESTION:

 How does the promotion of interactive and creative English activities improve

students' participation and proficiency in oral production in ESL classroom settings

of the Instituto para la Ciencia tenth graders?

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7. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK:

7.1 Importance of the English Language.

The English language has become an international language. It is spoken, learnt and

understood even in those countries where it is not a native’s language. Although learning

English can be challenging and time-consuming, we can see that it is also very valuable to

learn and can create many opportunities. Most of the research works are conducted and

compiled in English. Anything written and recorded in this language is read and listened

to, in wider circles. As a result, English is being taught and learned around the world as a

second language today.

A language is expressed in four ways: reading, speaking, writing and listening. These are

also defined as the macro skills of communication. Various researchers conclude that

among the four language macro-skills, speaking and writing have prevalence among the

others as they involve the production of content by the students.

It is often said that learners have many problems, especially in oral communication. When

they try to express themselves orally, they only pronounce isolated words and

disconnected sentences making their production poor and meaningless. Since speaking is

required in academic and professional performances, the lack of oral production skills

becomes a serious disadvantage. (Dorelly, 2005)

The users of a language are commonly referred to as “speakers”, which is one of the

reasons of having placed the speaking skills as the most relevant among the others; it is

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because speaking is the first mean of communication of any human being in any language.

Therefore, interaction is seemed to be essential in the communicative process, the author

refers to links directly to the oral tradition and shows how important constantly usage and

in this specific case the application of some communicative and interactive tasks are

needed to improve oral skills.

Bearing in mind task-based learning and communicative and interactive views, learners

can approach speaking as a way to negotiate meaning and more important to establish

social relations with others. (Dorelly, 2005)

Accordingly, developing speaking skills is of vital importance in EFL/ESL programs. It can

be argued that success in learning a language is measured in terms of the ability to carry

out a conversation in the (target) language. Therefore, speaking is probably a priority for

most learners of English (Florez, 1999). Speaking instruction is important because it helps

students acquire EFL speaking skills thus converse spontaneously and naturally with native

speakers.

In most of the cases, the majority of students are conscious about the importance of

improving speaking skills and the problems that they had in oral communication. Learners

want to communicate in English and consider speaking an important skill (Dorelly, 2005).

But they want to communicate in writing rather than orally because speaking involves

good pronunciation and fluency which is something students lack of. What is more, they

feel scared when they spoke in front of people or when they made pronunciation or

grammar mistakes. In addition, if the average of students per group is very big, it makes

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difficult to train the students in oral skills. Speaking demands a lot of time, especially when

the students are not used to working in groups and monitoring themselves; they are

dependent only on the teacher’s feedback.

7.2 What is speaking?

There are many definitions of speaking stated by different experts as there are shown

below:

1. According to Chaney (1998: 13), speaking is the process of building and sharing meaning

through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts.

2. Huebner (1960: 5) says that speaking is a skill used by someone in daily life

communication whether at school or outside. The skill is required by much repetition, it

primarily neuromuscular and not an intellectual process. It contents of competence in

sending and receiving massage.

3. Doff (1987:2) states that in all communication or conversation, two people are

exchanging information or they have a communication or conversation need.

Another more complete dentation defines speaking as an interactive process of

constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information. Its

form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs, the participants, and

the purposes of speaking (Burns & Joyce, 1997).

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Speaking is defined operationally as well as the secondary stage students' ability to

express themselves orally, coherently, fluently and appropriately in a given meaningful

context to serve both transactional and interactional purposed using correct

pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary and adopting the pragmatic and discourse rules

of the spoken language. Speaking can be understood as the very first stage of the

students’ ability to express orally and fluently in the target language, carrying the meaning

necessary to communicate in a contextual setting, using the pragmatics of the discourse.

Eventually, aspects of the speaking skill need to be closely scrutinized and put into

consideration. These aspects pose some challenges and identify some guidelines for

understanding this skill and hence design instructional activities to prepare learners to

communicate effectively in real life situations.

Most conversations take place face to face which allows speakers to get immediate

feedback, i.e. “Do listeners understand? Are they in agreement? Do they sympathize

(Cornbleet &Carter, 2001: 16). Thus communication through speaking has many assets,

such as facial expressions, gestures and even body movements. Speaking also occurs,

most of the time, in situations where participants or interlocutors are present. Such

factors facilitate communication (El Fayoumy, 1997: 10, Widdowson, 1998 & Burns, 1998).

Interactive speaking takes place when talking a face-to –face or over the telephone, to

one person or a small group, the wheels of conversation usually turn smoothly, with

participants offering contributions at appropriate moments, with no undue gaps or

everyone talking over each other (Bygate, 1998: 30 and Cornbleet & Carter, 2001: 27).

26
Turn taking, a main feature in interaction, is an unconscious part of normal conversation.

Turn takings are handled and signaled differently across different cultures, thus causing

possible communication difficulties in conversation between people of different cultures

and languages (Mc Donough & Mackey, 2000: 84).

Speaking happens in real time, that means during conversations, responses are unplanned

and spontaneous and the speakers think on their feet, producing language which reflects

this (Foster et al., 2000: 368). These time constraints affect the speaker's ability to plan, to

organize the message, and to control the language being used. Speakers often start to say

something and change their mind midway; which is termed a false start. The speaker's

sentences also cannot be as long or as complex as in writing. Similarly, speakers

occasionally forget things they intended to say; or they may even forget what they have

already said, and so they repeat themselves (Miller, 2001: 27).

This implies that the production of speech in real time imposes pressures, but also allows

freedoms in terms of compensating for these difficulties. The use of formulaic

expressions, hesitation devices, self-correction, rephrasing and repetition can help

speakers become more fluent and cope with real time demands (Bygate, 1987: 21; Foster

et al., 2000 and Hughes, 2002: 76). Actually, exposing students to these spoken discourse

features facilitates their oral production and helps them compensate for the problems

they encounter. It also helps them sound normal in their use of the foreign language, as

much as they use the language in an interactive and creative way, they self-confidence

increase and the mistakes they made in previews situations are corrected.

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“In interaction students can use all they possess of the language, all they have learned or

casually absorbed in real life exchanges” (Rivers, cited in Brown, 1994, p.159). This quote

addresses the importance of real interaction which gives the learners the opportunity to

demonstrate what they can do in the foreign language. Interaction is the basis of human

communication and all elements of communicative and interactive competence

(grammar, discourse, sociolinguistics, and pragmatics) are involved in human interaction.

They must work together for successful communication to take place. (Dorelly 2005)

On the other hand, it is important to create a positive environment to encourage the

learners’ interaction. As such, they can express their ideas, feelings and opinions without

feeling afraid of making mistakes. Students can also carry out communicative tasks in an

effective way. Willis (1996) states that creating a low stress atmosphere and using the

language for real purposes are ways to get meaningful communication and through

interaction learners have the chance to acquire discourse skills. Willis also highlights the

essential conditions for effective language learning, such as exposure, use, and

motivation. With this view of language, task-based learning offers many advantages in the

designing of communicative activities and the development and improvement of oral

skills.

7.3 Speaking genres

The genre theory assumes that different speech events result in different types of texts,

which are distinct in terms of their overall structure and kinds of grammatical items

28
typically associated with them (Hughes, 2002: 83). Carter and McCarthy (1997) classify

speaking extracts in terms of genres as follows:

 Narrative: A series of everyday anecdotes told with active listener participation.

 Identifying: Extracts in which people talk about themselves, their biography, where

they live, their jobs, their likes and dislikes.

 Language-in-action: Data recorded while people are doing things such as cooking,

packing, moving furniture… etc.

 Comment-elaboration: People giving casual opinions and commenting on things,

other people, events and so on.

 Debate and argument: Data, in which people take up positions, pursue arguments

and expound on their opinions.

 Decision-making and negotiating outcomes: Data illustrating ways in which people

work towards decisions/consensus or negotiate their way through problems

towards solutions.

7.4 The communicative competence

Communicative competence refers to a learner's ability to use language to communicate

successfully.

“…a normal child acquires knowledge of sentences not only as grammatical, but also as

appropriate. He or she acquires competence as to when to speak, when not, and as to what to talk

about with whom, when, where, in what manner. In short, a child becomes able to accomplish a

29
repertoire of speech acts, to take part in speech events, and to evaluate their accomplishment by

others.” (Hymes 1972, 277)

Canale and Swain (1980) defined it as composing competence in four areas in

communicative competence:

Grammatical competence includes language rules such as vocabulary, formation of words

or sentences, and pronunciation.

Sociolinguistic competence addresses the appropriateness in terms of both the meaning

and form, which can vary with the status of participants, objectives of the communication

and norms of the communication.

Discourse Competence includes an understanding of how spoken texts are organized and

is related to the cohesion and coherence of utterances.

Strategic Competence is compensatory in nature, drawn on when the developing

language system of the second/foreign language learner is deficient in some regard. It

refers to mastery of both verbal and nonverbal communication strategies.

For foreign language learners, the classroom may be the only available environment

where they can try out what using the foreign language feels like, and how more or less

comfortable they are with different aspects of FL pragmatics (Kasper, 2001: 520). Thus

using tasks conforms to the most prominent hypotheses interpreting FL acquisition.

The use of tasks as vehicles for facilitating L2/FL development is supported by Swain's

output hypothesis (1985). Swain argued that it is through the process of producing

30
language (output) that learners may be able to test their theories about the target

language, gain control over form, and perhaps internalize linguistic knowledge. Thus,

output produced in tasks is not the result of the language learning process, but rather a

step in the process (Adams, 2003: 248).

On the other hand, several definitions of tasks were provided by communicative approach

theorists; most of them focus on the interactional and purpose- driven nature of tasks and

use these characteristics to distinguish between tasks and other activities.

7.5 Classifications of communicative tasks

Previous research in the domain of task- based interaction has provided insight into a

variety of task types, and the potential effect of those types on oral performance.

Reviewing previous research on task types relevant to developing speaking skills, it is

apparent that tasks can be grouped in different ways:

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Pair/ Group tasks: According to Scarcealla &Oxford (1996: 159) pair tasks involves

students' work one-on-one with others in class. On the other hand, group tasks involve

more than two students.

Closed/ open tasks: Closed tasks have just a single correct answer. They are very

structured and have very specific goals. On other hand, open tasks are more loosely

structured, with a less specific goal, for example exchanging anecdotes on a theme

(Nunan, 1999: 53 and Willis, 1996, a: 28).

Opinion gap/ reasoning gap tasks: Opinion gap tasks involve identifying and articulating a

personal preference, feeling, or attitude. The task may require using factual information,

formulating arguments, and justifying one's opinions.

7.6 Social interactive tasks

These tasks are those involving a relatively detectable degree of role transparency.

Examples of these tasks are role-play, drama, scenario, and interviews.

a) Task -based role plays: Role play refers to all sorts of tasks where learners imagine

themselves in a situation outside; sometimes playing the role of someone other than

themselves (Dinapoli, 2000: 6 and Liao, 2001: 40). The most critical element to consider

when designing role-play tasks is that they should satisfy communicative tasks criteria

especially the focus on a certain outcome to be achieved at the end of the task. In other

words, role play tasks should include a problem solving element (Willis, 1996,b: 54).

Bygate (1987: 67).

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(b) Interview tasks: Interviews can encourage students to share personal information of

different kinds. This includes: anecdotes (talking about terrible accidents), personal

reminiscences (talking about past regrets of doing or not doing something), attitudes,

opinions, preferences (talking about favorite places to go) and personal reactions (what

makes you annoyed/ stressed/ happy and so on) (Martin, 1997). Interviews encourage

students to use the necessary question-and-answer structures. With advanced learners,

language functions like asking for confirmation (Did you mean that ...? Do you really think

that...?) hesitating (well, let me see ...), contradicting and interrupting (hold on a minute)

can be practiced as well (Dinapoli, 2000).

Teachers should be encouraged to offer more creative play opportunities beyond early

years such as intermediate learners. Time for literacy and numeracy, the fear of “chaos”

and handing the knowledge exclusively to children is narrowing the possibility to reach

other stages of the learning process.

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8. PROPOSAL:

In terms of learning a foreign language, the real and significant interaction is vital.

Nowadays, there are many theories and methods which suggest that prioritizing an

interactive setting, in which students can freely and naturally express what they think and

what they know, affects in a positive way, the oral communication and production of the

students in the target language. Thus, when there is poor or null interaction, students and

teachers fail in the task of pursuing an environment in which they both can effectively

establish patterns of communication.

Taking this into account, my proposal resides on the fact that the students need

appropriated settings that allow them interaction in the target language in order to help

them to improve their proficiency in oral production.

I propose a series of activities carried out as themed workshops that intend to maximize

the capabilities of the students to use their communicative skills along with the new

knowledge they acquire during classroom time. Every activity promotes the use of the

foreign language in a creative and real way that will facilitate the interaction between,

every person inside a classroom.

The result of every interactive activity will show the abilities they have acquired during

this process. They will also have the chance to improve pronunciation, intonation and self-

confidence when using the target language in context.

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 WORKSHOP N° 1
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

INTITUTO PARA LA CIENCIA

DATE:
SUBJECT: ENGLISH, TENTH GRADE
TEACHER: NATHALIA ALBA HERNÁNDEZ

PURPOSE: To encourage students to talk about someone else traits and personality
through the creation of their own character and the usage of different adjectives in order
to get students to speak and help them to increase their confidence when speaking.

LET’S CHECK IT OUT! Start by making your character, every student

has to draw it on the character profile template. He or she can live in the real
word, or can be more fantastical. Your character can be based on a celebrity
or on another fictional character, they can have a lot in common with the
learner or who the learner wishes they were. Keep in mind that while the
characters can be really amazing, they shouldn't be awesome at everything;
they need to have shortcomings. Here are some aspects each student should
consider:

 Name
 Age / gender / ethnicity / occupation / residence / etc.
 Personality
 Strengths / special abilities / special tools or equipment
(by the way, 'special skills' could be anything from 'wizardry'
to 'olympic-level gymnast'
 Weaknesses
 Favorites: activities / food / color / animals / etc.
 Companions: friends / teammates / pets
 What makes them really excited? what makes them frustrated
or annoyed?
 What motivates them?

USEFUL VOCABULARY! Ambitious, bad-tempered, big-headed, brave, cantankerous,

carefree, careless, charming, conceited, full of oneself, conservative, cowardly, crazy, nuts,
cruel, forceful, fearful , spontaneous, respectful , undisciplined, observant, optimistic, rude,
generous, bossy , inspiring, adventurous, idealistic , moody, friendly, patient, stubborn,
selfish, intelligent, creative, honest.

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LET’S PRACTICE TOGETHER! Once the character is created the
students present it to their classmates, they have to mention every single
important aspect about him or her by using complete sentences not only
mentioning words.
After the character is presented the others students may ask questions about
the character likes, personality, social life etc… (What does he/she do for
living? What does he/she usually eat? Where does he/she live with?

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 WORKSHOP N° 2
DAILY ENGLISH CONVERSATIONS “Role play”

INTITUTO PARA LA CIENCIA

DATE:
SUBJECT: ENGLISH, TENTH GRADE
TEACHER: NATHALIA ALBA HERNÁNDEZ

PURPOSE: To encourage students to develop elementary conversations, practicing and

learning words and phrases by simulating daily English conversations when shopping,
ordering a meal, talking about transport, and asking directions. The idea is to facilitate the
insertion of role activities for tenth graders of the school “Instituto para la Ciencia” in
order to help them create mini role-play conversations.

LET’S CHECK IT OUT! The students take a look at the expressions used
in the given examples (shopping, ordering a meal, talking about transport,
and asking directions conversations) they read and understand when to use
the expressions. They practice the pronunciations and take into account the
useful vocabulary.

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USEFUL VOCABULARY!
Asking Directions Transportation Shopping Ordering a Meal
- How do I get to …? - Catch / get on - Can / May I help you? I'd like to reserve / book
- What's the best way to - Get off - Can I help you find a table for…
…? - Platform something? - I'd like the ............,
- Where is …? - Depart / leave - What size would you please.
- Go straight on (until - Arrive like? - For starters I'll have …
you come to …). - Take off - Is there anything else I - Could I have the bill,
- Turn back. /Go back. - Tickets can help you with? please?
- Turn left/right - Would you like to try it - Do you take Visa?
on?

LET’S PRACTICE TOGETHER! Once the students practiced, they

create a mini role-play in groups using the useful vocabulary given, each
group role-plays different situations, shopping, ordering a meal, talking
about transport, and asking directions, after that they act it out in front of the
class.

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 WORKSHOP N° 3
RECORDING YOURSELF

INTITUTO PARA LA CIENCIA

DATE:
SUBJECT: ENGLISH, TENTH GRADE
TEACHER: NATHALIA ALBA HERNÁNDEZ

PURPOSE: To help students to improve their pronunciation through a video and also learn
new vocabulary. The idea is to show a useful strategy to tenth graders of the school
“Instituto para la Ciencia” for improving intonation and helping them to correct their
mistakes pronunciation by listening to their own recordings.

LET’S CHECK IT OUT! Students watch the following video with the
subtitles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rnwwo9Zol6w, they must be able to
read the words; they start with a short sentence. Later, as they practice more,
read longer paragraphs, they need to pay attention to the intonation and
pronunciation of every single word, it is not only abut reading and repeating
it is also about knowing what they pronounce and how to do it.

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USEFUL VOCABULARY!
Yikes: expression of shock
Carnivore: meat eater
Dissected: having been cut up, divided
The office: principal’s office
Tack: a small, sharp nail
Barely: only just
Got away (with it): (informal) to scape,
blame
Booking: (informal) run really fast, depart
Encouraging: give support, confidence
Honey: term of affection

LET’S PRACTICE TOGETHER! This activity has to be done in triples,

after the students listen carefully to the video and use the subtitles to
understand and practice, they record themselves twice, in the first audio they
record their voices just reading the subtitles from the video, and in the second
audio they read the subtitles again but this time they have to try to imitate
what they listen and the way they characters from the video pronounce every
single word and phrase, that means using the tone and intonation the
characters use. Students have to send the audio to the teacher, it is going to
be heard in class and also, students need to summarize what was the audio
about and tell their partners about the experience when doing the exercise.

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 WORKSHOP N° 4
TOURISM AND HOLIDAYS

INTITUTO PARA LA CIENCIA

DATE:
SUBJECT: ENGLISH, TENTH GRADE
TEACHER: NATHALIA ALBA HERNÁNDEZ

PURPOSE: To focus on developing fluency through a range of discussion questions, such as

"How important is it for young people to visit other countries? The idea is to help tenth
graders students from “Instituto para la Ciencia” to speak in a fluent way about a popular
topic among them.

LET’S CHECK IT OUT! Students organize in pairs or in small groups;

they read the questions and socialize their own answers.

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USEFUL VOCABULARY!

Travel / enjoy / book / visit / stay / I thin… / I will go… / you can stay…/ you can buy…/
Improve the language…/ Know other culture… / Journey / Wild animals / Look at / To see
/ To explore / Natural habitat / Landscapes /

LET’S PRACTICE TOGETHER! After students discuss their answers in

small groups, they participate on a round table discussion in which all of them
give their opinions about the questions in an improvising way, not read
answers are allowed. They can use the useful vocabulary above and also give
their opinion about other student’s answers. After that, the teacher asks four
more questions in order to elicit student’s participation.

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 WORKSHOP N° 5
FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS INTERACTIVE PRACTICE

INTITUTO PARA LA CIENCIA

DATE:
SUBJECT: ENGLISH, TENTH GRADE
TEACHER: NATHALIA ALBA HERNÁNDEZ

PURPOSE: To focus on developing fluency using adjectives related to feelings and

emotions. The idea is to help tenth graders students from “Instituto para la Ciencia” to
create situation in which they can show feelings.

LET’S CHECK IT OUT! Students watch to short videos, the first video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOkyKyVFnSs is to help them to review
feelings vocabulary, and the second video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7QUtdIRbkc shows how to express feelings
in real conversations. After watching the second video students have to
answer the following questions.

 What makes you happy?

 What upsets you?
 What makes you feel Sad?
 What makes you laugh?

USEFUL VOCABULARY!
I'm so happy / I don't have to worry about / I'm a little nervous / a little depressed

/ pretty exciting / how do you feel? / I am so upset / What is wrong?

43
LET’S PRACTICE TOGETHER! After students watch the videos and
try to answer the short questions above, they take a look to the following
conversations, they need to create and role play a similar one, using feelings,
emotions as it is shown in the dialogues. When this is done, they act it out in
front of the class.

A: "Hey Matt. I just got a job at a consulting firm."

B: "Congratulations. That's great!"
A: "I'm so happy. I don't have to worry about finding a job and interviewing anymore."
B: "When do you start?"
A: "I start next Monday."
B: "You're going to have to put in a lot of hours you know."
A: "I know. I'm a little nervous, but it's pretty exciting."
B: "I bet. You must be stoked."
A: "Yeah. I'm going to celebrate tonight. Do you want to hang out?"
B: "Sure. It's on you right?"
A: "Of course. How about Toby? Should we call him?"
B: "I don't know. He's a little depressed. He's having a hard time finding a job right now."
A: "I should still tell him. In the least, I can refer him to my company. It might help."
B: "That sounds like a good idea."

A: "Why the long face?"

B: "I'm getting sick of work man. I can't take the political bull in the company anymore."
A: "Did you just get your review or something?"
B: "Yeah, but that's not why I am upset. I just found out another guy got a promotion. He
doesn't know how to do anything. He sits there and kisses the managers butt all day long."
A: "That sucks."
B: "I'm just pissed that management can't see behind his smooth talking lies."
A: "Look on the bright side. At least you have a job."
B: "Yeah. I shouldn't stress about this anymore. It's not like I can do anything about it."
A: "Exactly. Instead, we should have some drinks tonight."
B: "How about a cold bottle of beer."
A: "Now you're talking."

A: "Martha. What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

B: "Jake just broke up with me."
A: "I'm sorry. When did this happen?"
B: "Yesterday. I didn't even know it was coming. He just told me he found someone else."
A: "What a jerk. He doesn't deserve you."
B: "But it still hurts. I thought I loved him."
A: "He didn't treat you that well either. Maybe you don't want to hear this, but I think you
can do better."
B: "Better or worse, it doesn't matter. I had a lot of feelings for him. I really liked him"
A: "It must be really painful. I remember when Josh and I broke up. I was crying for a week."
B: "I know I'll get over him. My first breakup was painful because I was naive."
A: "Exactly. You'll find someone again. You should get your mind off of this. Let's go
shopping."
B: "Maybe tomorrow. I don't feel like it tonight."

44
 9. METHODOLOGY:

9.1. Participants, population and sample:

9.1.1. Population:

The school INSTITUTO PARA LA CIENCIA is a private school with an insight in

Environmental Education, which assumes the responsibility of forming bachelors who are

suitable for social coexistence; which is characterized for giving a plural, diversified and

flexible educational response to meet the learning needs of all its students. One of its

main characteristics is the personalized education they offer, enabling the opportunity to

make the learning processes highly qualified. The school comprises 11 teachers, all of

them having an undergraduate in education or related areas. Some of them are doing

their master’s degree.

9.1.2. Participants and sample:

The students who participated in this educational project inhabit the urban area of

Manizales, dwelling in varied and different urban neighborhoods. The scholar day is

offered during daytime, from 7:30 am to 2:00 pm. The group chosen to conduct this

project is tenth grade, with 16 students, of which nine of them are boys and seven of

them are girls, aged between 15 and 16 years. Three of the boys are new in the school this

year; one of them came from a school, in which he suffered from bullying from teachers

and students because of his sexual condition, he has a medical diagnosis of severe

depression, but he is happy at this school now because nobody messes with him,

classmates and teachers respect him.

45
All of them have internet supply at home; some of them have supervised access to

internet. Almost all of them are eager to learn everything proposed at school.

9.2. Instruments and techniques:

9.2.1. Observational records:

The observations held in the school started on February 2019. The teacher who was at

that time and is still in charge of the English subject is Mauricio Giraldo Herrera, who

started his teaching process at the school this year. Although he graduated from the

Colombo Americano he holds a Bachelor’s degree in music, he focused more on teaching

English through his area (music), and leaving a little bit behind the curriculum topics

students should know in each grade. Furthermore, when I had the first contact with

students they were a little bit surprised about my English and they also ask if I speak

Spanish, they were so interested and tried to ask a lot of questions about myself and my

teaching experience. Having informal talks with the students, I could confirm that they

were so willing to learn and most of them made a very good effort to make themselves

understood but it was still , especially the output abilities (speaking (pronunciation, lack of

vocabulary, word context) and writing). In that moment, I decided to establish the route

to implement some training activities that helped them to improve proficiency in oral

production speaking more fluent and with confidence. Although this impairment was

generalized in the community, I chose tenth graders because the showed interest in

learning more and also saw potential to develop.

46
 9.2.2 Pedagogical Journals:

The latest volume of Journal of Pedagogical Research was recently published this year; an

international scientific journal that publishes the peer-reviewed research articles on any area

of education. Respectively, they clearly define their view on the pedagogical journal as

follows: “…the journal provides a means for teachers, teacher educators or teacher

training institutions, any instructors of all levels of education as well as students or people

who are interested in the area. One of the aims of the journal is to serve to share

reflections from effective learning environments, to foster efforts to improve meaningful

understandings, conceptual understanding as well as theoretical and experimental

advancements in educational sciences…” (2018)

PEDAGOGICAL JOURNAL

Activity No. 11

Date: May 17th, 2019

Kind of activity: Tenth grade workshop

Description: It was Friday May 17th I was in class with 10 graders, as they are the ones that

are participating in my internship project this time this class was focused on that, they

worked on one of the worksheets I proposed to help them to develop the communicative

competences. They created a mini role-play in groups using the useful vocabulary given,

each group role-played different situations, the idea of this was to encourage students to

develop elementary conversations, practicing and learning words and phrases by

simulating daily English conversations when shopping, ordering a meal, talking about

47
transport, and asking directions. To facilitate the insertion of role activities for tenth

graders of the school “Instituto para la Ciencia” in order to help them create mini role-play

conversations.

Interpretative- Reflexive: Speaking is one of the most difficult skills to develop; it requires

a lot of discipline and practice. As it is hard for students, it is necessary to encourage them

and give the tools to do that.

“According to the teacher’s classroom web site

http://www.teacherjoe.us/TeachersMotivate.html” As a teacher, we should focus on our

students successful attempts to use English. At first, reward ANY success however small. If

students speak out loudly and clearly, but make a mistake, praise them just for speaking

out or for pronouncing it well. As students improve, we can focus on the most outstanding

successes. Whatever we encourage, students will continue to do. On the other hand, if we

do not encourage them, they will likely become passive in class.

Propositional: “Positive Reinforcement and having Clear Goals and Instructions can be

used right from the beginning, in every class. Introducing Surprise, Variety and

Competition to our lessons slowly generates small changes in every lesson.”

Teacher-trainee signature:

48
PEDAGOGICAL JOURNAL

Activity No. 12

Date: May 24th, 2019

Kind of activity: - workshop task

Description: It was Friday May 24th I was in class with 10 graders, this time the class was

focused on one of the workshops development, First, the students had to draw a

character the way they would like to create, it could be a fantastic or real one, then they

had to characterized it by giving it a name, and adding family information, job, interests

information, likes and dislikes, physical appearance and etc. Then, I asked them to

present the characters in front of the class, the used vocabulary already used and they

made a complete description without reading, after that the audience asked question

about things they would like to know about the character. At the end, it was grateful to

see how they all were keen on developing the activity.

Interpretative- Reflexive: In most cases the way to teach English varies as much as

possible. This time, the integration of some skills in the learning process was the way.

Even if the goal is to practice speaking, the students have to go through a process that

integrates other skills so that they can finally have their oral production.

“… according to Skehan (1998), focusing on the development of one aspect of language

skills can—and often does—affect the quality of another. That is, when people are

learning L2 speaking integrated with other skills, their language abilities are not likely to

progress at even rates. For example, when learners work to improve their speaking

49
fluency, the accuracy of their language use may lag behind. Or, when the teaching and

learning focus is on the uses of vocabulary and grammar, pronunciation and articulation

may not be encouraged. Typically, in integrated L2 speaking instruction some subsets of

skills advance faster than others. The teacher needs to take into account such uneven skill

development when designing integrated‐skills courses…”

Propositional: The idea of integrating two or more skills in one task was successful.

Teacher-trainee signature:

PEDAGOGICAL JOURNAL

Activity No. 13

Date: May 31st, 2019

Kind of activity: - workshop

Description: It was Friday May 31st I was in class with 10 graders, the class was focused on

one of the workshops development, and the students had to create a conversation using

the expressions of opinion studied during the last class. They read the questions that I

proposed in the workshop, they worked in triples and they all give answers to the

questions and after that they discussed, they agreed and disagreed, after they discussed in

small groups, I lead the activity to make all the students to speak and give their opinions

about the questions, by giving clear reasons. The Other students should react to the

opinion of their classmate whether it was agreeing or disagreeing. They listened to the

50
each other as I was checking the most visible mistakes regarding the topic of the activity.

Most of the time, could understand what they meant with the conversation without

making them repeat the sentence. At the end, all of the students had completed the task

successfully.

Interpretative- Reflexive: “According to Improving second language education, 2009

https://sites.educ.ualberta.ca/staff/olenka.bilash/Best%20of%20Bilash/speaking.html ”

“In planning speaking activities, teachers need to decide whether students need high

structure (for example drills and controlled practice) for practice in learning or Getting It

or low structure (for example role-plays, simulations) for Using It. Questions to consider

in relation to speaking include the following: Is it necessary to review the language to be

used in a task? Will the learners work in pairs or small groups? How will learners be

monitored as they complete task? How will teachers provide feedback to students?”

Propositional: The students could understand that the final purpose was to use the

expressions of opinion studied in the previous lessons and also they realize the

importance of giving reasons when supporting ideas.I will try to intervene less during their

performance, instead will give them feedback at the end of their task.

Teacher-trainee signature:

51
PEDAGOGICAL JOURNAL

Activity No. 14

Date: June 7th, 2019

Kind of activity: - Workshop Application

Description: It was Friday June 17th I was in class with 10 graders, I gave them a workshop

related to my project, it was about effective interaction of the students in daily real life

situations. The students contributed to the normal course of the lesson as they all felt

engaged in the activity. They first had to be acquainted with new expressions and

vocabulary related to the interaction between costumers and clerks at a restaurant and

some others when going shopping. They studied the expressions and the pronunciation of

the new words along with the teacher. Then, they had to read a conversation between a

client and a waiter in order to act it out in front of the class. They finally had to create

their own conversation engaging themselves, as they had to use their names and be as

creative as possible. They completed the task in the same groups of the previous exercise,

and they were all given a grade for their oral production results.

Interpretative- Reflexive: “According to 1998-2006 by Randall S. Davis, the Japan

Association for Language Teaching, pp. 313-317.”

“Giving the students the chance to create and simulate their own reality in day-to-day

classroom lessons is an essential tool to reduce the gap between real life language and in-

classroom language. The students need to understand the importance of the target

language by setting their own environment as if it were a scenario. As Randal S. David

says, the pressure and level affect needs to be reduced by letting themselves decide and

52
imagine how real life scenarios can be translocated so that they do not fell in an empty

lesson where they do not find further uses of it.”

“The innate benefits of simulations include: (a) fulfill students' need for realism---a desire

to "relate to life 'out there' beyond the classroom's box-like walls… (b) increase student

(and teacher) motivation.

Propositional: I will replicate the use of in-context conversations that stimulate the

students’ speaking skills. I will also try to give them real life materials.

Teacher-trainee signature:

PEDAGOGICAL JOURNAL

Activity No. 15

Date: June 11th, 2019

Kind of activity: - Workshop Application

Description: It was Tuesday June 11th I was in class with 10 graders, As part of the

educational project, the students were enrolled in a series of activities compelled to

enhance the possibilities that the students have to use the target language in the

classroom effectively, this time the objective of this workshop was to help students to

improve their pronunciation through a video and also learn new vocabulary. The idea was

to show a useful strategy for improving intonation and helping them to correct their

pronunciation mistakes by listening to their own recordings. Students watched the

53
following video with the subtitles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rnwwo9Zol6w,

they read the words; they started with a short sentence. Later, as they practiced more,

read longer paragraphs, they needed to pay attention to the intonation and pronunciation

of every single word, it was not only about reading and repeating it was mainly about

knowing what they pronounced and how to do it.

After doing the first part of the exercise, and after practicing they had to work in triples

and record an audio performing the characters from the video, this time trying to use the

same intonation and a very god pronunciation.

Interpretative- Reflexive: “According to the British council web site: Teaching speaking -

Unit 4: stress and intonation.”

“It is very important to teach students where to put the stress when speaking, and there

are also some concepts that should be taught before doing this kind of exercises, for

example stress is about which sounds we emphasize in words and sentences. For example

in the word ‘banana’ the stress is on the second syllable, in the word ‘orange’ the stress is

on the first syllable. In sentences, we usually stress the most important, ‘content’ words.

Rhythm is about how we use a combination of stressed and unstressed words in

sentences. Sentences have strong beats (the stressed words) and weak beats (the

unstressed words). Intonation is the way the pitch of a speaker’s voice goes up or down as

they speak. We use intonation to help get our message across. Pitch movement is the way

the quality of the voice changes as a speaker communicates. English often uses changes in

pitch to communicate meaning, especially attitude.”

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Propositional: Students enjoy this way of showing intonation patterns. As well as simple

rises ( e.g. on yes/no questions) or simple falls ( e.g. on affirmative statements or “wh”

questions), they can also show more complicated patterns, such as the polite fall_rise (e.g.

on “Can I help you?”)

Teacher-trainee signature:

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9.2.3 Parents Agreement:

Manizales, ______________________ de 2019 Yo _______________________________

acudiente identificado(a) con documento de identidad N° _____________, expedido en
_______________, autorizo la fijación de la imagen de mi hijo (a) _________________________;
para muestras del proyecto de grado realizado por la docente practicante de Ingles de lenguas
modernas de la Universidad de Caldas Nathalia Alba Hernández. Entendiéndose así, cedido este
derecho sobre tal fijación a favor del proyecto de grado en el cual sus hijos han participado
llevando a cabo talleres con el fin de ayudar a que los estudiantes de Décimo grado mejoren su
habilidad comunicativa en la lengua inglesa.

Cordialmente
Nathalia Alba Hernández
Docente practicante de inglés

56
 9.2.4 SURVEY:

UNIVERSIDAD DE CALDAS
Departamento de Estudios Educativos
Práctica Docente – Licenciatura en Lenguas Modernas

Encuesta – Proyecto Pedagógico “The promotion of interactive and creative English activities to
improve students' participation and proficiency in oral production” realizado por la estudiante
practicante Natalia Alba Hernández.

El objetivo de la siguiente encuesta es conocer la percepción de los estudiantes frente a los

talleres aplicados en varias clases, evaluar la efectividad de los mismos en el proceso de
aprendizaje de una lengua extranjera, específicamente los avances logrados respecto a la
habilidadde producción oral.

La información recogida a través de la presente es confidencial y solo será utilizada con fines
académicos. Conteste las siguientes preguntas marcando una X en la opción de 1 – 5 (siendo 1 la
ponderación más baja y 5 la más alta) de acuerdo con su experiencia.

1. ¿En qué nivel considera que estaba su habilidad para hablar inglés a comienzos del
presente año? 1___ 2___ 3___ 4___ 5___

2. Que tanto considera que su vocabulario fue enriquecido al desarrollar cada uno de los
talleres 1___ 2___ 3___ 4___ 5___

3. De 1 a 5 que tanto aportaron las actividades realizadas en el aumento de la confianza para

expresarse en inglés?
1___ 2___ 3___ 4___ 5___

4. Considera que el uso de actividades creativas facilitan el aprendizaje y la producción de

una lengua extranjera?
SI _____ NO _____

5. Cree que la implementación de talleres como los realizados generan un impacto positivo y
los motivan a hacer uso del inglés en diferentes situaciones?
SI _____ NO _____

6. De 1 a 5 que tanto cree que su pronunciación en inglés mejoró?

1___ 2___ 3___ 4___ 5___

Comentarios:
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

57
 UNIVERSIDAD DE CALDAS
Departamento de Estudios Educativos
Práctica Docente – Licenciatura en Lenguas Modernas

Encuesta – Proyecto Pedagógico “The promotion of interactive and creative English activities to
improve students' participation and proficiency in oral production” made by the intern student
Natalia Alba Hernández.

The objective of the following survey is to know the perception of the students related to the
workshops applied in different classes, to evaluate the effectiveness of them in the learning
process of a foreign language, specifically the advances achieved regarding the ability of oral
production.

The information collected through this is confidential and will only be used for academic purposes.
Answer the following questions by marking an X in the options 1 - 5 (1 being the lowest mark and
5 the highest) according to your experience.

1. At what level do you consider your ability to speak English at the beginning of this year?
1___ 2___ 3___ 4___ 5___

2. How much do you consider that your vocabulary was enriched by developing each of the
workshops? 1___ 2___ 3___ 4___ 5___

3. From 1 to 5 how positive did the activities carried out increase the confidence to express
yourself in English?
1___ 2___ 3___ 4___ 5___

4. Do you consider that the use of creative activities facilitates the learning and production of
a foreign language?
SI _____ NO _____

5. Do you think that the implementation of workshops such as those carried out has a
positive impact and motivates you to use English in different situations?
SI _____ NO _____

6. From 1 to 5 how much do you believe your English pronunciation improved?

1___ 2___ 3___ 4___ 5___

Comments:
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

58
10. ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS:

1st Question.

1. At what level do you consider your ability to speak English at the beginning of this year?

Bajo
Medio Bajo
Medio
Medio Alto
Alto

5 students are in low average level

2 students at the middle level
5 students in medium high level

2nd Question.

2. How much do you consider that your vocabulary was enriched by developing each of
the workshops?

Bajo
Medio Bajo
Medio
Medio Alto
Alto

3 students are in the middle level

7 students are in medium high level
1 student is in high level

59
3rd Question.

3. From 1 to 5 how positive did the activities carried out increase the confidence to
express yourself in English?

Bajo
Medio Bajo
Medio
Medio Alto
Alto

1 student is at medium low level

1 student is at medium level
3 students are in medium high level
6 students are in high level

4th Question.

4. Do you consider that the use of creative activities facilitates the learning and production
of a foreign language?

Si
No

The 11th students said “yes” that means the 100%

5th Question.

5. Do you think that the implementation of workshops such as those carried out has a
positive impact and motivates you to use English in different situations?

60
 Si
No

The 11th students said “yes” that means the 100%

6th Question.

From 1 to 5 how much do you believe your English pronunciation improved?

Bajo
Medio Bajo
Medio
Medio Alto
Alto

1 student is in medium low

3 students are at medium level
5 students are in medium high level
2 students are in high level

61
11. CONCLUSIONS.

Having the opportunity to do the internship process at the “Instituto para la Ciencia” was

a great experience; in general, the outcomes obtained from implementing the series of

activities in tenth grade surpassed the expectations proposed at the beginning. According

to the purpose of this educative project, it can be concluded that:

 Students expressed their motivation to speak and participate in the different

activities proposed for their self-improvement.

 The conversational approach, contributed giving the students a major confidence

when speaking.

 The variety of interactive and creative activities built new English vocabulary;

students improve their pronunciation and developed fluency.

62
12. BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Albert, A. (June 2004) "Creativity and Narrative Task Performance: An Exploratory

Study". Language Learning, V. 54, n.2, Pp: 277- 381.

• Canale, M and Swain, M. (1980). “Theoretical Bases of Communicative Approaches

to Second Language Teaching and Testing”. Applied Linguistics, V. 1, n.1, Pp: 1-47.

• Djigunovid, Jelena and Bagarid, Vesna (2007). Defining Communicative

Competence. Faculty of Philosophy, University of Osijek, Faculty of Humanities and

Social Sciences, University of Zagreb

• Bygate, M. (1987). Speaking. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

• El Fattah Torky, Shaimaa (2006) The Effectiveness of a Task- Based Instruction

Program in Developing the English Language Speaking Skills of Secondary Stage

Students: Ain Shams University Women’s college Curricula and Methods of

teaching Department.

• Dorelly Gutiérrez Gutiérrez (2005) “Developing Oral Skills through Communicative

and Interactive Tasks” . Profile: Issues Teach. Prof. Dev., Volume 6, Issue 1, p. 83-

96, 2005. eISSN 2256-5760. Print ISSN 1657-0790.

63
13. ANNEXES.

13.1 Pictures of the workshop’s development.

Students were role playing different everyday life situations.

Students were reading the workshop instructions before doing it.

64
Students took turns to present they characters by describing them in a fluently way.

The Students performed a daily activity situation.

65
13.2 Additional supporting files.

One of the parents’ consent properly filled out.

These are two of the survey’s results after its administration

66