Final Report

Improving students’ interpersonal communication skills in classroom

activities

TE894-003
Lab and Field Experiences in Curriculum, Teaching, and Schooling
Field Instructor: Wanfei Huang
Yuhang Cheng
Motivation

Communication, connection, comparison, culture, and communities are the 5 standards in

foreign language teaching, which was published by ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching

of Foreign Languages) and widely applied in foreign language teaching. When starting to learn a

language, people spend more time to find out how to communicate with each other in this

language.in other words, people want to achieve the first standard-Communication. The

communication standard has three modes which are interpersonal communication, interpretive

communication, and presentational communication. During my teaching, I found most of my

students understood my question and were able to present their answers in the target language.

But they could not communicate with each other in the target language. Simply speaking, the

students can answer the questions, but they don't know how to ask questions. According to the

three modes of Communication, My students’ performance is consistent with presentational

communication mode, but have not yet reached the interpersonal mode.

Description of the Situation

In each unit, I usually teach vocabularies first, and then teach sentence structure. So, students can

practice the sentence structure with these words. After practice, most of the students can use the

sentence structure to make a sentence and present themselves in the class. If I ask them to have a

conversation about the content with their partner, they will feel overwhelmed and have no clue to

complete this mission. 

For example, after I taught the numbers, I taught my students the sentence structure “我…岁。”

Most of my students can tell me about their age at the f, such as“我七岁。” 我六岁。” On the

following lesson of this unit, I led students to review the previous content they learned. So I
asked my students to ask each other question about their age, and also answer the question.

However, all my students looked at me and showed me the confused faces. Some of them even

asked me “How to ask the question?” They understand the requirement, but they could not

complete this activity at all. Then I asked them”你几岁？”, a number of students can understand

me and answered the question with “七岁” or“我七岁。”there are still didn’t understand my

question. Thus, I repeated my question twice, and then translate the question in English for them

when they still struggle with the Chinese question. But when these students understand my

question, they also gave me their answers, such as “七岁” or “我七岁”。

The similar situation also happened in another lesson. In the unit of 12 zodiacs, I taught the 12

zodiac animals first, then students will learn a sentence “我属…” to introduce the animal of the

year they born. At the end of the lesson, all of my students can tell me about the animal of the

year they born with the sentence, such as “我属龙。” 我属兔。” Some students even trying to

tell me what his or her father or mother’s zodiac animal is in Chinese. When we practice this

sentence structure, I asked one student”你属什么？” He told me “我属龙。” but when I asked

him to ask another student’s zodiac animal in Chinese. He could not recall the sentence and just

looked at me. Then I repeated my question, and he repeated what I said. Interpretation of the

Situation.

Interpretation of the Situation

What I would like to understand the most is why students could not have a conversation with

their classmates in Chinese. In the class, they seem to master the sentence structure and

vocabularies. That is because they can understand me and gave me the correct answers.  But they

could not have an effective conversation with their classmates. Thinking about communication
standards, the students achieved the requirement of presentational communication, which means

they can present speaking to an audience or present a presentation in writing. But they didn’t

meet the goal of interpersonal communication.

To analyze the reasons for this situation. I think the first reason is I paid more attention to

whether students can answer the question instead of whether students can ask and answer this

question. In a typical Chinese class, I normally ask the question in Chinese first. I found some

students understand my question, and also can answer my question. I also will translate the

question in English when some students still confused about the questions. I gave students

necessary assistance when their answers are not in a complete sentence or the pronunciation is

not very well. However, I did not provide students with many opportunities to switch their roles

as a questioner in a conversation.

On the other hand, the most likely reason is the activity I selected for students to practice was

simple and monotonous. Students did not practice fully enough in the class. That is because the

most thing for students to do is to read the sentence or repeat the sentence mechanically. They

fully engaged in the activity when they first time learned this language. As time goes by, students

get bored easily when they were asked to read the learning content again and again, and they

thought they have already mastered the conversation because they know how to read it. If I

didn’t display the conversation on the board or I didn’t give any hints or assistance that will be

very hard for them to complete the conversation activity.

All of these hypothesizes can explain this situation. As a teacher, I designed the lesson according

to the curriculum and standard. If the lesson I designed is focused on teaching students to answer

questions not having a conversation ability, students will not have enough opportunity to practice

their interpersonal communication skill in my lesson.

The Stakes: Who Would Gain or Lose What?

If this condition goes uncontrolled, what would result from it? We can consider this question

from short-term consequences and long-term consequences. From different angles, we can see

more clearly about who would gain or lose what. 

From the point of short-term consequences, students can gain a sense of achievement easily. That

is because most of the words they learned are the noun and is not hard to understand, practice,

and memorize. For example, such as how to say the animals in Chinese. So when they shared the

words they learned to their friends or family, they can receive a lot of praises. After the practice,

students also can equip with the ability to answer questions in Chinese. Which also can help

them to win lots of applause. As a teacher, I also can gain a sense of achievement. I would be

satisfied with my teaching if my students can recall the words and present with a complete

sentence. I also don’t need to take any risk to change my teaching style or try any new class

routines. 

However, if we take a longer view of potential and possibility, it is not hard to find out the

situation will lead to another result. Over time, students probably will lose their learning interests

because they still stay at the point of recall the words and answer questions. They could not start

a conversation with the topic they feel interested in. Their parents also will question my teaching

then. They wish their kids can have the ability to communicate with Chinese people in Chinese

after a period of study. Consequently, the students could not meet their expectation. They

probably will think there is no value to study a foreign language. 

After discussing short-term and long-term gains and losses, I think it is better to start to take a

step and change this situation. It may cause a new challenge for me and students, such as

classroom management. But it really worth my time to study and take action in my teaching.

Deliberation on Alternatives

By thinking thoroughly about the issue was happened in my class, I found some reasons which

might lead to it happened in my class and the short-term results and long-term results which may

cause by this issue. As I mentioned above, according to ACTFL’s communication standard, my

students could not achieve the goal of interpersonal communication. Obviously, the strategies I

applied in the classroom were not fully satisfied students’ needs and not implement them to close

to the interpersonal communication goals. To address this issue, I should make a change in my

teaching and find out a feasible plan for my following lessons.

The first alternative plan I prepare to apply in my teaching is providing students more

opportunities to practice asking and answering questions. In my previous teaching, I focused on

developing students’ ability to understand and answer my questions, such as I played the role as

a questioner in the dialogue practice, and gave students response on students’ answers. But now I

would like to change the practice routine. I will give students more chances to practice the

conversation, not the sentences. Students will be asked to act as questioner or responder. For

example, I will use puppets to demonstrate a dialogue after teaching first. In this way, students

can understand how to present this dialogue. Then, I will pick one student and ask him a
question"你叫什么名字？what is your name?" He will answer me "我叫…。 I am ..." when we

completely present this dialogue in front of students, I will let him change his role to the

questioner and pick another student to answer his question, later this responder also will change

the role to a questioner. Maybe they cannot say the question accurately and fluently for the first

time, but I will assist them to pronounce the words. When assisting students to ask and answer a

question, I am bound to repeat the dialogue overtimes. In this way, students’ understanding will

be enforced. In the lesson, I also can leave time for students to do pair works. Students and their

partners will have the chance to change their roles between questioner and responder. On the

meantime, I can listen to different group’s practice and give them necessary assistance.

The second alternative plan for my class is applying Situational Language Teaching (Oral

Approach). That means I am creating different scenarios in my teaching, and bring students into

this context and practice the contents with each other. The situational language teaching (Oral

Approach) focused on the need for students to practice the language in activities based on

meaningful situations. The purpose of this plan is always giving students a meaningful context,

and motivate them to talk with each other. For example, in the scenario, students are able to act

as different people in a different world with different personality profiles. When students have an

information gap, they will be motivated to want to know the other students’ information. This

plan will need two weeks to complete. In the beginning, I will establish a scenario for this lesson,

and explain it to students. Giving students time to practice the words and sentences in a whole

group or pair. In order to complete the final project, students will need to design their personal

profiles, such as the name, age, zodiac, and favorite color. The last part of this activity is to let

students interview each other, their partner will be assigned randomly. They are not just talking
to each other, they also need to write down the information they heard from others.  At that time,

I will walk around and listen to each group’s conversation to observe students’ performance.

Giving them necessary help if they need. The interview sheet is their final report paper. The

student will present their report paper in the class.

Both of these plans I brought above should be working in my class and will able to solve the

problem I found in the class. Let’s take a close look at these plans. They provide students

opportunities and time to practice the conversation with partners. At the same time, they also

giving teacher time to observe students’ reactions during the practice. The first plan may help

students to improve their interpersonal communication skill in a short-term. But the second plan

will be more interesting and enlightening. In the short term, both of the plans require the teacher

to have strong classroom management ability. If the teacher cannot give clear and detailed

instruction for each activity, the activity may cause a chaotic classroom. However, students

should able to follow the procedures well after a period of practice and the teacher’s detailed

instructions. Despite these plans may not act as designed, the students and I still will benefit a lot

from these plans. My teaching skill will be improved in the process of design or modify the

activity; the students’ learning interests will able to maintain in a good condition if I always try

to design various activities for them.

Compare these two plans’ pro and cons, the second plan’ strength will be more obvious. First, it

provides students with the opportunity to apply the sentences in a simulated situation. Students

will know how to behave in a real situation in the future. Second, the activity also provides

students with the right to design the characters in the activity. The role of the students is not a

passive participant, but the designer and participant of this activity. The second option also

requires the teacher do much research about students’ interests and design the details of the
whole activity, it includes the scenario structure, the format of the final project, worksheets,

learning materials. However, I believe it deserves to try and I will gain a lot in the process of

design and implementation.

Develop a Plan

After spring break, my first grade will be ready to study a new lesson- color. So, my plan is

focused on having a conversation with classmates about their likes or dislikes color. In the

activity, students will also be able to apply the sentence or words they learned before, such as

how to ask and answer questions about name, age, and zodiac. This project will be complete in

two weeks. Each week, my first grade has two classes. At the beginning of the lesson, I will

introduce the scenario to students, then impart the new content. Students will practice the words

and sentences in the whole class or with partners. In the scenario, students will act like a

different person. That means they need to design their own character. When they designing their

own character, I can ask students to come to my table and giving them instruction on the new

content. The third lesson will be the time for students to apply their knowledge they learned. I

will demonstrate the activity first, and then students will start to interview the students I assigned

to them. If this activity could not finish in one class, we can use another 10 minutes in the fourth

class to complete. At last, I will collect students’ papers, and provide students with chances to

present their works.

My Plan

Week 1

Lesson 1 (April 11)

I will introduce a scenario for students. There is another planet in the universe and you are the

residents on this planet. The plants and animals on this planet look different from the earth. The

tree is yellow, the dog is purple... and you are a different person with a different appearance. In

the story, the students will learn the vocabularies and sentences about colors. The main practice

mode is I do-we do- you do. I will focus on students’ understanding of the first lesson. For

example, I will assess students’ understanding of the vocabularies by point to the color and ask

them to say the words in Chinese. I also will give students time to practice the conversation with

their classmates.

Evaluate:

1. Whether students can complete the objectives for this lesson. Such as can they say the

color words; can they have the conversation with their classmates about their likes or

dislikes color. 

2. I will check my records about their pronunciations, if there are some words they could

not say very well, I can make a plan for next class to reteach. 

Lesson 2 (April 12)

At the beginning, I will tell my students that they will visit earth next week. So, today, they will

design their own appearance and personal profiles. I will design a character before this lesson,

and display my picture and profile to students. Then, the whole class will be divided into 5

groups. Students will design their own character by themselves. They are not allowed to talk
about their designing. At the same time, I will ask different group students to come to my table

and give small group instruction. In this lesson, I will focus on their pronunciations.

Evaluate:

1. Each student should complete their pictures and profile in this lesson. I will collect the

works at the end of the lesson, and check their drawing and writing. 

2. When I work with different groups of students, I can observe their facial expression and

listen to their pronunciation. Then giving them immediate assistance.  

Week 2

Lesson 3 (April 18)

It is time for students to apply for their knowledge. They will act like the character they designed

in the previous class. In the beginning, I will demonstrate the whole process of the activity to

students, and then, students will start to interview their classmates following the instructions. I

also will prepare an interview sheet for students to use. So they can record the information they

heard.

Evaluate:

When I review my records, I wish to see and hear students can fluently ask and answer questions

about color, name. For advanced students, I wish they also can have a conversation with their

partners about age and zodiac. If the results do not meet my expectation, I may reteach or

demonstrate the process one more time at the next class. 

 

Lesson 4 (April 19)

If students could not complete the interview activity at the previous lesson, they may continue to

process in this lesson. After they complete the interview mission, I will collect their papers and

giving them time to present the works in the class.

Evaluate:

Whether they can clearly express the information they collected from each other? If they can

complete this task, that means they meet the goal of this activity. If most of them cannot

complete this task, they probably have problems understanding the instruction, or they still need

assistance with the sentences. 

  Description of the Implementation 

      Considering classroom layout, the number of students, and the schedule, I chose Mrs.

Vernon’s first grade class to implement my plan. That is because in this classroom, students are

divided into 4 different groups, they are set with their partners in a station. All four stations were

located on the outside of the carpet. Students can move between carpet and seats in a short time.

That is much better for me with the whole class instruction and small group practice. There are

24 students in this class, so students can work in pairs. Compared with the schedule of other first

grade classes, this class’s time is more connected. Two lessons’ time is set up on Thursday and
Friday. I think the less time gap between two lessons is better for students to review and

consolidate the previous knowledge.  

Journal of event

Lesson 1 (April 11th, 2019)

According to my planning, I described a context before I started to teach the new lesson at the

first class. Overall, the class effect is good and achieves the goals I set up for this lesson. In the

30 minutes, I led students to complete the objectives. One is that students can recognize and read

6 color words in Chinese. The words are 蓝色，绿色，红色，黄色，紫色和橙色。The other

one is having a conversation with classmates about their favorite color. The sentences are” 你喜

欢什么颜色？我喜欢…” However, there was something happened in the class are different

from my expectation. After I displayed the picture of a planet and described the scenario,

students actively raised their hands or just blurt out their ideas or questions about this scenario.

For example, D said that the color of this planet is the same as the earth; M asked where the

planet is; G asked about why the animal has different colors with ours? I thought they will be

interested in the pictures and laughing at the silly colors of the animal, not questioning. So, when

I encountered this situation, I felt a little overwhelmed. I am not sure how to deal with these

problems. Should I ignore them or trying to give them a reasonable explanation? After quick

thinking, I chose the second option. I answered their questions like this:” them this planet is

similar with our earth, and this planet is far away from our earth; this is a good question,

probably we can find the answer together. Because I think my explanation can encourage

students’ learning interests, and we also can have more interactions. Most students seemed to
understand my explanation, but some students still trying to ask me questions about this planet.

In order to continue my lesson in the limited time, I told my students that they can keep their

questions in their head, and share their ideas later. 

Lesson 2 (April 12th, 2019)

In the second lesson, I focused on small group teaching and leave time for students to complete

their worksheet. In the beginning, I led students to review the words and sentences through the

games. Then, I told students that they are the residents of this planet, they will look different,

have different name and age, and likes different colors, have different zodiac. After I

demonstrate how to complete the worksheet, I asked students back to their seats and working on

their paper by themselves. At the same time, I called different groups to come to my table and

study with me. I led the students to practice sentences and pronunciation. This is my first time to

try small group teaching in first grade. From my perspective, this teaching strategy is more

efficient and can provide me with more chances to communicate with students and test students’

understanding more directly.

 I also had time to jot down the problems I found when I listening to them. I noticed that student

S has a problem to pronounce the “x” in pinyin; student Z has trouble to say the question “你几

岁？”；student L would like to speak more when he studying with me in the small group; Some

students cannot recall the zodiac animals very quickly. Based on the data I collected in this

lesson, I revised the worksheet I designed for the next lesson.

  

(when students come to my table, I asked students to read

the sentences to me.   )

Lesson 3 & Lesson 4 (April 18th, 2019)

Because of the unexpected situation, I had to switch my lessons with other teachers. So, I taught

the third and fourth lessons on the same day and the same period. Which means I didn’t have

time to revise my lesson plan according to students’ performance. I spent about 5 minutes to lead

students to review the conversation. Base on my records, students have some common problems

of the pronunciation. So, I focused on these words, such as 喜欢，几，什么，叫。 After that, I

demonstrated the whole process of the interview activity and told them whom their partner is. In

order to make the activity more real, I gave each group a printed microphone. So, they can use
the microphone to interview the partner. Students showed more engagement in the activity. I

think the reason is students are totally don’t know their partner’s new profiles, hence, they are

very interest in each other’s new information and willing to ask and answer the question about

this information.

 Assessment of the Effort 

In my teaching, I found my students can quickly master the vocabularies or the sentence

structure, But they could not have an effective conversation with their classmates.

Communication is an important function of language. In order to improve their interpersonal

communication ability, I recapped my teaching process and teaching materials and analyzed the

most possible reasons for this situation. The first one is I paid more attention to whether students

can answer the question instead of whether students can ask and answer this question. The

second reason is the activities I selected for students to practice their interpersonal

communication skill is easy, simple or not much changing between each time. Even though I

gave students more chances to practice the conversation in the class, the practice result probably

will not as good as we thought. This is largely because, the activities I provide to students only

can give students a chance to practice the pronunciation, but not stimulate their inner learning

interests. So, I decided to find the solution for the second hypotheses and improve their
interpersonal communication skill. In addition to using some simple or mechanical practice, I

also want students to be able to practice in real situations. It will be not easy to plan a field trip or

ask someone who can speak Chinese come to the classroom and practice Chinese conversation

with students. So, the most reasonable and operative method is to create a situation for students

to practice.

I hope my plan is a gradual process. Students will be immersed in the context I set up for unit

and learn the words and sentence. This project took four lessons to complete. In the beginning, I

introduced a scenario to students. In this scenario, we talked about new vocabularies, and

sentence, and conversation. Then, I did small group teaching and plan an individual work time

for students. That is a good chance for me to collect students’ learning data, and then I revised

my teaching material based on these data. Because of the unexpected situation, I had to teach the

3rd lesson and 4th lesson in one day and one period. To some extent, students actively

participated in the interview activity. They do not just ask or answer questions, they also jot

down the information they heard from each other. In some content, students engaged more than

before. They are not just mechanically repeat the words or sentences, but also willing to use the

content they learned to the accomplished task.

Besides the good parts of this plan, I think the result is not quite satisfied and have some

differences with my expectation. First, just like I mentioned in the part4, the new plan did cause

a new classroom management issue. For example, when I doing small group teaching, I called a

group of student come to my table, and other students were told to doing individual work at the

same time. However, some students still come to me and ask me questions. Even I have already

told them how to write the paper; Students were excited and talkative when I introduced the story
background. For the classroom management problem, I think it should be solved if I consistently

teach and reinforce the procedure after a while. Second, after I implemented this plan, I found

some challenges for my future teaching. For example, Students willing to say the sentence to

their partner, but they still could not say the sentence fluently. I find a way to motivate their

learning interest. However, the content of the task I designed for them is not easy for them to

complete. If I just require students to have a conversation about their partner’s name and favorite

color at the end of the lesson. At the following lessons, I can add more sentences or topics on the

task. In this way, students will not feel stressful but have a sense of success, and they could

master the conversation better than this time.

 According to the curriculum and content, designing different learning contexts for students will

be a big challenge for me in the future. I need to consider several questions when I plan my

lessons. For example, whether the context satisfied students’ interest; what kind of task can

motivate students to speak and talk in the class; How to evaluate students’ learning at the end.