Lúcio António

A Proposal to Effectively Raise Students’ Interest in Learning English

(Case of Corrane Secondary School ‒ Grade 10, Stream A, Dayshift, 2020-2021)

Universidade Rovuma

Nampula

2022
 ii

Lúcio António

A Proposal to Effectively Raise Students’ Interest in Learning English

(Case of Corrane Secondary School ‒ Grade 10, Stream A, Dayshift, 2020-2021)

Monograph to be submitted to the

Faculty of Social Sciences and Letters,
for the conclusion of ‘Licenciatura’
degree in English Language Teaching,
and Minor in Portuguese.

Supervisor: Bernabé Cachele, MA

______________________________

Universidade Rovuma

Nampula

2022
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Content page

Declaration.................................................................................................................................................vi

Dedication.................................................................................................................................................vii

Acknowledgements..................................................................................................................................viii

List of tables...............................................................................................................................................ix

List of figures..............................................................................................................................................x

List of appendices.......................................................................................................................................xi

List of abbreviations and acronyms...........................................................................................................xii

Abstract....................................................................................................................................................xiii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................14

1.1. Background information....................................................................................................................14

1.2. Statement of the problem...................................................................................................................14

1.3. Objectives..........................................................................................................................................15

1.3.1. General objective........................................................................................................................15

1.3.2. Specific objectives......................................................................................................................15
1.4. Critical questions...............................................................................................................................16

1.5. Hypothesis.........................................................................................................................................16

1.6. Merit of the study...............................................................................................................................16

1.7. Area of the study................................................................................................................................17

1.8. Structure of the study.........................................................................................................................17

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW..................................................................................................18

2.1. Concepts............................................................................................................................................18

2.1.1. Raise...........................................................................................................................................18
2.1.2. Students' interest.........................................................................................................................18
2.1.2.1. Interest in the restrict sense..................................................................................................19
2.1.3. Learning (English)......................................................................................................................19
2.2. Importance of interest in language learning.......................................................................................20

2.3. Types of interest.................................................................................................................................21

2.4. Features of interest.............................................................................................................................24

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2.5. Teachers’ guiding roles in stimulating students’ interest in English learning.....................................24

2.6. Applying new teaching methods to stimulate students’ interest.........................................................27

2.7. Activities that may help to raise students’ interest in learning English..............................................29

2.8. The important of learning English......................................................................................................30

2.7. English for Specific Purposes (ESP)..................................................................................................33

CHAPTER III: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY............................................................36

3.1. Research Paradigm.............................................................................................................................36

3.2. Research Approach............................................................................................................................36

3.3. Research design.................................................................................................................................37

3.4. Target population...............................................................................................................................37

3.5. Sample population.............................................................................................................................38

3.6. Sampling method or technique...........................................................................................................39

3.7. Data collection instruments and methods...........................................................................................40

3.7.1. Interviewing................................................................................................................................40
3.7.2. Observation.................................................................................................................................40
3.7.3. Questionnaire..............................................................................................................................41
3.8. Procedures..........................................................................................................................................41

3.9. Data Analysis Techniques.................................................................................................................42

CHAPTER IV: DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION.........................................43

4.1. Data presentation and analysis...........................................................................................................43

4.1.1. Result from the interview............................................................................................................43

4.1.2. Data from the questionnaires.......................................................................................................47
4.1.3. Results from the classroom observation......................................................................................52
4.2. Discussion..........................................................................................................................................54

4.2.1. The techniques for raising the students’ interest in learning English...........................................54
4.2.2. The activities for students to practice and raise their interest in learning English.......................55
4.2.3. The students’ attitude towards the importance of learning English.............................................56
CHAPTER V: PROPOSALS, RECOMMENDATIONS, IMPLEMENTATION AND CONCLUSION. 58

5.1. Proposals............................................................................................................................................58

5.1.1. The teaching techniques for raising the students’ interest in learning English............................58
5.1.2. The teaching activities for raising the students’ interest in learning English...............................59
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5.2. Recommendations..............................................................................................................................63

5.2.1. To the government......................................................................................................................63

5.2.2. To the school managers...............................................................................................................64
5.2.3. To the teacher..............................................................................................................................64
5.2.4. To the learners.............................................................................................................................65
5.3. Implementation..................................................................................................................................65

5.4. Conclusion.........................................................................................................................................66

Bibliography.............................................................................................................................................67

APPENDICES..........................................................................................................................................70
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Declaration

I declare that this research work is the result of my own research with the guidance of my
supervisor, and its content is absolutely original. All sources consulted for the production and
compilation of this work are accordingly and thoroughly referenced throughout the text and
faithfully listed on the reference page. Furthermore, I declare that this work has never been
presented in any institution for attainment of any academic degree.

Nampula, _____/_____/2022

____________________________________

(Lúcio António)
 vii

Dedication

I dedicate this work to my parents, wife and children. To my parents because whatever I have
been doing so far is for their benefit. To my wife because of the most of the time that she wanted
to be with me, but I was not there for here given that I had to dedicate my time in the studies. I
also dedicate the work to my children because of my apparent absence in their lives. I hope that
they grow up healthy and get the opportunity to read and get inspired by this paper.
 viii

Acknowledgements

My deepest gratitude is addressed to the Almighty God for giving me life, strength and wisdom
to see and transform the life’s obstacles into opportunities to achieve success and, hence,
increase my self-esteem.

A deeper gratitude is addressed to my parents, wife and brothers for their wonderful and
priceless moral and emotional support, and for having put up with my ‘financial’ absence within
these four challenging years.

I am also deeply grateful for the laborious, insightful and marvellous guidance that my
supervisor has been unconditionally giving me. Lecturer Bernabé Cachele MA, I am
immeasurably thankful.

Furthermore, I would be unfair if I did not extend my acknowledgements to all English

Lecturers. All of them have been profoundly supporting me.

Lastly but by no means the least, I would like to acknowledge my brilliant classmates’ and
friends’ role, who have never bothered giving their supports even if I could not give them
anything in return.
 ix

List of tables

Table 1: The target population (Corrane Secondary School) .......................................................36

Table 2: The participants of the study (Corrane Secondary School) ...........................................36

Table 3: The English teachers from Corrane Secondary School ………………………………..42

Table 4: Distribution of the students inquired ..............................................................................45

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List of figures

Graph 1: Percentage of the participant students ………………………………………………...37

Graph 2: Percentage of the students who (do not) enjoy learning English ……………………..46

Graph 3: Students' attendance in the English lessons …………………………………………..47

Graph 4: Students' participation in the English lessons ………………………………………...47

Graph 5: Students' voluntariness to participate in the English lessons …………………………48

Graph 6: Students' struggle to study English at home …………………………………………48

Graph 7: Frequency of home-study amongst students ………………………………………….48

Graph 8: Students' use of English outside the classroom ……………………………………….49

Graph 9: Students' attitude concerning the helpfulness of learning English ……………………49

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List of appendices

Appendix I: Interview to the teacher ............................................................................................69

Appendix II: Questionnaire for the learner ..................................................................................71

Appendix III: Questionnaire for the learner (Portuguese Version) ..............................................73

Appendix IV: Observation Form ..................................................................................................75

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List of abbreviations and acronyms

Calif. – California

CUP – Cambridge University Press

EFL – English as a Foreign Language

ELT – English Language Teaching

ESL – English as a Second Language

ESP – English for Specific Purposes

Ltd. – Limited

MA – Master of Arts

NY – New York UP – Universidade Pedagógica

OUP – Oxford University Press

St – Saint

ST-EP – Sustainable Tourism – Eliminating Poverty

TLP – Teaching and Learning Process

UK – United Kingdom

UR – Universidade Rovuma

USA – United States of America

 xiii

Abstract

This research paper is entitled “A Proposal to Effectively Raise Students’ Interest in Learning
English”. The study took place at Corrane Secondary School in 2021, and its main objective was
to find out the reasons why most of Grade 10, Stream A, dayshift students from Corrane
Secondary School do not show interest in learning English. The study was governed by a
pragmatic paradigm and a mixed approach. A sum of 31 people encompassed the participants of
the study, all of which were selected systematically out of the Universe of 93 people, through the
principles of the probability sample. The data from students were collected through
questionnaire, and from the teacher were gathered on the basis of interviewing and classroom
observation. The data are presented and analysed through tabulation, figures and description.
The findings of the study demonstrate that the main reasons why most of the grade 10 stream A
dayshift students from Corrane Secondary School do not show interest in learning English are:
the teacher’s inconsistency in planning lessons, the teacher’s use of ineffective techniques and
activities for raising the students’ interest in learning English and the students’ negative attitude
towards the importance of learning English. Therefore, among the recommendations urged
herein are: the teacher’s laboriousness and consistency in planning lessons, the teacher’s
adoption of participative and discovery techniques and communicative activities, and the
promotion of incentives, commendations, praise or rewards by the teacher or the school
managers to students.
Key words: Raise effectively, Students’ interest and Learning
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background information

The teaching of English language in Mozambique, either as a Second Language (ESL) or as a

Foreign Language (EFL) holds a crucial role. Due to the massive presence of foreigners in the
country, many Mozambican citizens might need English to interact with such people in
various contexts. Or else, other citizens might be willing to learn English to use it abroad for
the achievement of various purposes.

Henceforth, this monograph entitled A Proposal to Effectively Raise Students’ Interest in

Learning English seeks to find out the reasons why most of the countryside students tend to
be less interested in learning English. Such problem occurs despite the fact that English
language has been witnessing a tremendous trending spread round the whole world and,
particularly, in Mozambique where that language is a compulsory school discipline from
6thclasses.

On the course of its flow, this paper also intends to propose a range of practical activities,
appropriate techniques and strategies for incrementing students’ interest in learning English
language and, thus, help them enhance their possibilities to communicate in the language,
mainly amongst students who live in the countryside or rural areas. So, that is also an
opportunity which can lead most teachers to understanding how much profitable the Teaching
and Learning Process (TLP) can be for teachers and learners if, effectively, both strive
tirelessly in the fulfilment of their actual roles as they build up and raise students’ interest in
learning English as more expectant and more motivated as possible.

1.2. Statement of the problem

The problem under investigation in this research paper is not a novelty for most English
teachers who work in the countryside, like the researcher of this paper. The idea to conduct
this study arose during the process of Teaching Practices IV, at Napipine Secondary School,
late in 2020. It was at that time when the researcher, as a teacher trainee, was in the process of
observing lessons, though he also had the opportunity to teach in some lessons; the researcher
had the opportunity to see that most of the students were more interested in learning English
than the students of grade 10 in the countryside, at Corrane Secondary School. Compared to
 15

such students met during the Teaching Practice, most of the grade 10 students in the
countryside have been showing disdain or annoyance towards English, which has been
leading them to be less present, less participative, less vivid or excited and less active in
English classes and activities.

The problem has been hampering the teaching and learning process among the countryside
students referred to in this study, as far as English language is concerned. In turn, that
problem has also got meaningful impacts on the students’ pedagogical results in this subject.

Henceforth, this paper aims at answering the following research question: “Why do most of
Grade 10, Stream A, dayshift students from Corrane Secondary School not show
interest in learning the English language?”

1.3. Objectives

In this work, there are two types of objectives, namely: general objectives and the specific
ones.

1.3.1. General objective

The general objective of this research paper was to find out the reasons why most of Grade
10, Stream A, dayshift students from Corrane Secondary School do not show interest in
learning English.

1.3.2. Specific objectives

The specific objectives of this research are stated below:

a. To find out about the students’ awareness regarding the importance of English
language in the community and in their villages.
b. To analyse the techniques and activities used by the teacher in the attempt of raising
students’ interest in learning English;
c. To propose suitable and effective techniques and activities which teachers can use in
order to help students be much more interested in learning English.
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1.4. Critical questions

The critical questions of this research are the following:

a. What is the level of awareness of the students concerning the importance of English
language in the community and in their villages?
b. What is the level of efficiency and effectiveness of the techniques and activities used
by the teacher in the attempt of raising students’ interest in learning English?
c. What techniques and activities can the teacher use in order to help students be much
more interested in learning English?

1.5. Hypothesis

The assumptions assumed by the researcher as the hypothesis in relation to the

aforementioned critical questions are the following:

a. Probably, the level of awareness of the students concerning the importance of English
language in the community and in their villages is down.
b. Presumably, the level of efficiency and effectiveness of the techniques and activities
used by the teacher in the attempt of raising students’ interest in learning English is
defective.
c. Perhaps, the teacher should use other techniques and activities in order to help
students be much more interested in learning English.

1.6. Merit of the study

Through the findings of this paper, teachers will be capable to raise students’ interest in
learning English as a global language. As a matter of facts, teachers will be in a better position
to make learners understand how much important the English language is for students, no
matter the context in which they are in the world and, particularly, in Mozambique. Therefore,
there will also be notorious changes in English classes, as students will tend to be much more
present, more participative, more vivid and more active. That, in turn, will make them
gradually achieve brilliant results in English as a school subject and as a tool for
communicative purposes in different levels of social interaction.
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1.7. Area of the study

This research will be conducted in the countryside, at Corrane Secondary School, where the
researcher currently works as a teacher. As far as geography is concerned, Corrane Secondary
School is located in the Administrative Post of Corrane, in Meconta district, in the Northern
region of Nampula province.

1.8. Structure of the study

This research project comprises four chapters: Chapter I is the introductory part of the
research. The emphasis is on background information, statement of the problem, objectives
(general and specific), critical questions, hypothesis, merit of the study, area of the study, and
structure of the study;

Chapter II, portrays the precisely Literature Review. It presents views related to the field of
ELT from different authors, tackling aspects of interest and or motivation in learning English.
Such views have been examined and engaged in the context of the Mozambican education,
particularly for the countryside students, at Corrane Secondary School.

Chapter III depicts Research Methodology. This chapter depicts the research paradigm,
research approach, research design, target population, the sample, research instruments
(interview, questionnaires and observation), procedures, data analysis techniques and
limitation of the study.

The Chapter IV is reserved for Data presentation, analysis and Discussion. The aim of this
chapter is not only to present the data collected from the participants and make their analysis
and answer the critical question, but also to discuss the findings in order to yield conclusions.

The last chapter (V) but not the least is entirely related to Proposals, Recommendations,
Implementation and Conclusion. It is in this chapter where strong and plausible
recommendations are stated to such entities as the government, school managers, teachers and
students, and also how these proposals and recommendations have to be implemented.
Furthermore, conclusions are also presented and remarks on the effective techniques and
activities are proposed for teachers to use while endeavouring to raise the students’ interest in
learning the English language.

Finally, in the post-textual elements, the paper portrays the bibliography and the appendices.
 18

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter attempts to look at many writers’ perspective and beliefs about the concept and
importance of such aspects as interest in learning English. We shall also look at the
pedagogical relevance of endeavouring to increase students’ interest or motivation for
learning English. That process will be done by seeking to unveil a wide range of benefits in
the classrooms context and outside there.

2.1. Concepts

Concept can be said to be a philosophical idea about a given thing or reality. In other words,
the term ‘concept’ has to do with how someone views something, what or how it is, what it
means, what it involves, etc. Hence, in this particular chapter the following key concepts will
be defined: to raise, students’ interest and learning (English).

2.1.1. Raise

According to Krapp (2005:64), raise is a verb which means to increment or to lift something.
The same author also states that raise may mean to make something higher. In other words,
raise is to increase something or make it grow into other subsequent levels.

As for the purpose of this study, therefore, raise means not only to increase the students’
interest in learning the English language, or to make their interest grow higher, but also to
arouse their interest, struggle to maintain it and continuously make it grow higher.

2.1.2. Students' interest

With the global spread of English as an international language, many students around the
world learn English as part of their school curriculum and formal education. While some learn
English because they are required to do so, others engage in the activity of learning English
motivated by interest or develop interest as they engage in the learning task.

Schraw et al (2001:132) give a definition of interest as “a feeling of curiosity or attentiveness;

also, something that has such power.” This view is also corroborated by Good (1998:311)
apud Tin (2013:130), because he defines interest as “a subjective-objective attitude, concern
or condition involving a perception or idea in attention and combination of intellectual and
 19

feeling consciousness;”for this author, interest may be temporary or permanent, based on

native curiosity, conditioned by experience. On the hand, Scarr et al (1984:133) state that the
best learning takes place when the learner interested in the work at hand. Doing something
with the interest will give someone more spirit to finish it. For this author, interest also refers
to the kind of thing that someone appreciates and enjoys. In the same line of ideas, Davis
(2005) states interest is an attitude which continuously accompanies one's attention in closing
an interesting object. It is dealing which determines activities, liking, or object that are valued
for someone and is a certain motivation that leads one's behaviour, to particular aims.

Succinctly said, we could conclude that interest is a kind of intellectual and conscious feeling
of curiosity or attentiveness that motivates someone attitude and behaviour to do and finish
something.

2.1.2.1. Interest in the restrict sense

Favero et al.(2007:102) apud Tin (2013:131) pointed out that, in Educational Psychology,
interest is widely recognized as a critical motivational variable that influences learning and
achievement. These authors believe that, among many variables that make up ‘motivation’,
interest is one of the set of important motives that may result in intrinsically motivated
behaviour. However, Hidi (2006:37) apud Tin (2013 ibid) argue that many researchers
identify interest as ‘a unique motivational variable’ or ‘a motivational variable with a
difference’, requiring separate attention of its own. The author also highlighted that recent
research on interest in learning is increasingly being used to complement research on
motivation in mainstream education.

With reference to language learning, Crookes & Schmidt (1991:98) advocate that ‘interest’ is
ill-defined: it sometimes appears as a synonym of ‘intrinsic motivation’ or ‘inherent curiosity’
and is often likened to liking and enjoyment. Drawing on interest research in educational
psychology, a conceptualization of interest is now timely to complement L2 motivation
research especially the ‘motivation’ theory itself has undergone many changes in recent
years.Based on the definitions above, it is possible to conclude that interest is a feeling of
wanting to know or learn (about) something.
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2.1.3. Learning (English)

Krapp (2005:52) defined learning as “the process of gaining knowledge of something or of

how to do something.” In the same line of ideas, Richards & Schmidt (2010:328), define
learning as “the process by which change in behaviour, knowledge, skills, etc., comes about
through practice, instruction or experience and the result of such a process.

In other words, learning is not something static, it is a dynamic process that happens
continuously in the life of someone. As a matter of facts, learning ends with the end of
someone’s life.

2.2. Importance of interest in language learning

According to Nurlailah (1991:35) apud Krapp (2005:78), interest supports the person to
appreciate and enjoy an object. For this author, the selection of an occupation and the
satisfaction a person gets in a work usually depends more on his or her interest and abilities,
where interest gives the person more motivation to use their ability.

Nurlailah (ibid) argue that the relationship between interest and learning is further fleshed out
by the observation that new learning upon interest. For this author, learning cannot occur
unless the organism is interested in learning. But, in the perspective of this author, interest
also works to promote continuance in and perseverance at practice in activity. It is also the
reason why the select one activity over another in which to participate.

In the same line of thought, Singer (1980:131) apud Krapp (2005:79) advocate that interest
and learning are also closely bound together, as dependent upon and affected by one another.
For Singer (ibid), it is impossible to frame good definition of learning without reforming to
the interest.

In addendum, Schraw et al (2001:52) have let crystal clear that interest in learning is a
situational interest sensed by students in class because of the teacher's enthusiasm for what is
being taught, and an individual interest that prompts the individual to learn eagerly with a
focus on his/her prerequisite knowledge and emotions. In the thought of these authors, interest
is the direct motivation to stimulate students’ learning, because it is only when they are happy
to learn and interested in learning, can they improve their English.
 21

Both teachers and students have to spare no effort to stimulate students’ interest in English
learning. On the one hand, teachers had better adopt more useful and new teaching methods to
enliven the classroom atmosphere, guide students to maintain the interest of learning. They
should cultivate students’ good habits of learning English, and help them get right methods of
learning English step by step. On the other hand, students are expected to build their interest
and determination of learning English, and they should have the clear intention to learn, the
positive attitude, and the confidence to improve their English.

In a word, interest in English is the most important starting-point for students to learn English
well; hence, the foremost duty of an English teacher is to try his/her best to arouse students’
interest, and a sustainable interest in English learning will play an important role in their
English learning and improving.

Further, he says that in pursuing the complex relationship between interest and learning, we
should realise that some interest is learned or acquired. Therefore, it is essential to arouse
students’ interest in English learning and teaching.

2.3. Types of interest

According to Schraw et al (2001:53), there are five types of interest in learning, namely: latent
interest, actualised interest, text-based interest, task-based interest and knowledge-based
interest.

a) Latent interest

For Schraw et al (2001 ibid), this is a long-term interest of an individual in learning; it is also
a specific topic or discipline. These authors argue that latent interest is an internal inclination
that guides an individual through cognitive activities, including interests (in learning) related
to all senses and values. In other words, the latent interest occurs when an individual
reinforces his/her emotional attitude toward the task of learning he/she is engaged in, and an
individual’s value-related beliefs of knowledge/tasks are probably a critical part of his/her
goals in a long-term learning process.

The researcher’s view is that latent interest is of a paramount importance in English language
learning both for learners of English as a Foreign Language and for learners of English as a
 22

Second Language. In fact, they come into to the classroom with an internal pre-disposition to
learn English.

So, it is fair to conclude that students who have this type of interest might not need any
external probing either from the parents or from the teacher for them to learn the language.

b) Actualised interest

According to Schraw et al (2001:54), in this kind of interest, the motive is to learn a specific
topic or discipline. Compared to the latent interest, the actualized interest involves specific
content that is more precise and clearly defined and, therefore, refers to the degree of an
individual’s participation in a certain task of learning.

Succinctly said, students who possess this kind of interest may either be interested in learning
English or not, depending upon the topic. Some students may perform well in tasks that focus
on modern technology, science or sustainable development, but they may perform badly in
tasks that focus on such topics as politics, business or entrepreneurship, or the other way
round.

c) Text-based interest

Schraw et al (2001:55) state that the text-induced interest in learning is characterised by

inductivity, vehemence, and consistency. It also refers to the interest sparked by a text
individual plan to learn.

The researcher’s perception on the above statements is that text-based interest is linked to the
students’ choice of genre. In this perspective, the student’s interest in language learning may
be determined by the student’s inclination in text genre selection. Some students are more
likely to perform well in activities that involve prose or poetry, but perform badly in activities
that involve narratives or descriptive texts (and vice-verse).

d) Task-based interest

According to Schraw et al (2001 ibid), this kind of interest is elicited from altered teaching
materials that an individual is exposed to. For instance, an individual's interest in learning
may be affected by altered objectives/text (of learning) which, in turn, varies depending on
the task of learning assigned.
 23

The above sayings lead the researcher to assume that the teacher’s selection of tasks and
teaching materials for students to get engaged in may affect the students’ interest in English
language learning. In order to avoid letting students bored during the lessons, the teacher
should break the routine and, hence, vary the teaching materials and tasks. As a matter of
facts, students are more likely to respond positively if the teacher varies the teaching materials
and tasks, and if they are relevant to the students’ lives, interests or purposes for learning the
language.

e) Knowledge-based interest

Schraw et al (2001:560) believe that the influence of prerequisite knowledge and experiences
are on an individual's current task of learning. In other words, the so called schema or
schemata (students’ previous knowledge on something) plays a crucial role on the students’
interest in English language learning. Henceforth, in order to trigger students’ interest in
language learning, the teacher should prepare students psychologically before a lesson or an
activity starts. Otherwise, everything in the lesson or activity will be an absolute novelty and a
way above for the students’ level and they may get at a loss and, therefore, lose their interest
in language learning.

In the same line of ideas, Hidi & Anderson (1992:108), in their researches on interest,
postulated two types of interest: situational and individual. For them, situational interest is
temporary and context-specific and is often triggered by the attractive, novel and stimulating
aspects of an object or environment. Individual interest, on the other hand, is a relatively
stable predisposition to attend to and reengage with particular objects, ideas, events, or
activities. Individual interest develops slowly over time and is associated with deepening of
personal value, knowledge and positive emotions attached to the interest object. Situational
interests become vehicles for more stable individual interests.

Moreover, similar distinctions have been made between ‘interestingness’ and ‘interestedness’
by Frick (1992:136), or between ‘cognitive interest’ and ‘emotional interest’ by Kintsch
(1980:90). Cognitive interest, in Kintsch’s view, is a type of situational interest
(interestingness), resulting not from the type of topic or event but from the cognitive
processing of information in the text or event. Emotional or topic interest (interestedness) is
caused by ‘reasons such as preference or usefulness of a topic’ and ‘is usually paired with
knowledge (or belief) about the topic’ or ‘preference about a topic’.
 24

By and large, the researcher has drawn the conclusion that cognitive or situational interest has
received increased attention because of its value for educators. Regardless of topics and
individual preferences, any individual can be sensitive to cognitive interest as it can be
generated by the structure of information in the text or the order of events one experiences.

2.4. Features of interest

Throughout many years, several unique features of interest have been identified by various
researchers. For instance, Hidi & Renninger (2011:46) said that interest arises from
interaction between a person and an interest object. These authors believe that such
interaction is both a cognitive and affective process featured with focused attention, affect and
concentration. The amount of affect and cognition one experiences varies depending on the
level of interest development.

Hidi (2006:103) also pinpointed that the interactive view of interest development indicates
that interest is also content-specific. Rather than being globally interested, people have
interest in some activity, task, subject, or topic. It also indicates that the development of
interest may include both intrinsic and extrinsic motivational components and that it is
inappropriate to describe interest as either intrinsic or extrinsic; no wonder why Krapp
(2005:76) argued that a person may not always be metacognitively aware of interest being
triggered during a particular task if he/she is so absorbed, although it may be possible to
reflect on the sources of interest at a later stage.

So, among various situational features that affect interest

include: prior knowledge, coherence and informational
completeness, unexpectedness of information, concreteness
and vividness, suspense, imagery and valuing,
unexpectedness and post-dictability.

(Schraw et al., 2001:140)

Therefore, it is the researcher’s conception that interest can be constructed as both a

predisposition and a psychological state. A person may engage in an activity with interest
acting as a predisposition, or may experience interest as a psychological state generated by
both task and predisposition.
 25

2.5. Teachers’ guiding roles in stimulating students’ interest in English learning

In students’ English learning, teachers’ guiding roles are increasingly important, and teachers
do play a very indispensable role in the course of teaching and learning. To be a qualified
teacher, one should not only pay much attention to protecting students’ interest but also make
every effort to arouse students’ interest in learning English.

It is often said that all the intellectual work relies on interest. How a teacher inspires students
to learn and improve their learning initiative is the first key point in English teaching. From
the psychological point of view, the students have emotional instability and unsustainable
interest. Therefore, teachers should make full use of interest to let their students participate
actively in learning and really become the masters of the whole class. In English teaching,
teachers should bring their guiding roles into full play.

Therefore, the following aspects postulated by Yueguo (2010:84-87) may be effective and
necessary.

a) Raising students’ consciousness in English learning

Although the students are full of curiosity, they usually cannot concentrate on doing things
long. Considering this, Yueguo (2010:84) has emphasised that having a better idea of the
learning aim can raise students’ consciousness in English learning. In this way, students
cannot only raise their enthusiasm and activeness, but also keep their interest for a longer
time. On the contrary, if teachers could not help students set up the correct learning aim, it is
impossible to stimulate the students’ interest successfully.

The above statements show us that, in order to raise students’ consciousness and encourage
their initiative in English learning, all teachers are supposed to do their best to raise the sense
of responsibility in their teaching. Teachers should call the students’ attention that they are
engaged in a language learning process and help them to grasp the aim for learning such
language.

b) Arousing students’ desire for knowledge and skills

Yuego (2010:85) wrote that John Locke once said, “Where there is no desire, there will be no
industry.” For this author (ibid), teachers should encourage students to use the creative way
 26

to solve problems, which will make them keep the desire for the knowledge and regard
learning as fun.

Simply put, we may state that keeping students interested in learning is supposed to be a good
way for them to experience a happy learning process. So, it is important to encourage students
to arrange their time for study autonomously.

c) Helping students to set realistic goals

According to Yueguo (2010:85), setting realistic goals is a crucial factor in stimulating the
interest of students, and it is usually a way to make them believe they are making progress
day by day. It is thus important for teachers to set realistic goals for students before the start
of learning, and through this step, students can do better than before.

In the process of teaching and learning, letting students experience the sense of success is
very important and necessary. In this process, students can collect information, discuss
problems with their classmates, work hard on questions, and take an active part in class
activities. In the practical learning, students themselves can experience much sense of success,
which will further enhance their interest in English learning.

d) Helping students build confidence

It is commonly accepted that confidence can make one have great achievement. Similarly, if a
student has enough confidence, he/she will probably achieve success. However, Rome was
not built in one day, so confidence cannot be built overnight. Confidence is very important for
one person though it is built difficultly.

In order to help students build their confidence, Yueguo (2010:86) proposes three steps: First
of all, teachers should be good at using examples to inspire students. Secondly, teachers
should create opportunities for students so that they can experience success instead of failure,
and they will not doubt their own abilities. Thirdly, teachers should be adept at discovering
their students’ merits, because this could be a kind of motivation for confidence. For instance,
some students do well in pronunciation, so teachers can praise them and ask them to read in
the class as models, and in this way, these students will not only be good at pronunciation
after a period of time, but also perform better in many other aspects.
 27

So far, the researcher reasonably concludes that if teachers can use good methods and give
them more encouragement instead of criticism, students would have more confidence and
interest to learn English. Teachers surely have responsibilities to make students realise that
making mistakes in learning is normal and acceptable. In addition, teachers should make
students realize that there are no so called easy or difficult questions, and encourage them not
to be afraid of making mistakes in front of classmates or other people. To some extent,
students’ confidence plays a decisive role in arousing the interest in learning English better.

e) Building good relationships between students and teachers

As the old saying goes, “a student will believe in teachings only when he gets close to his
teacher.” Yueguo (2010:87) believes that the students’ interest has a very great relation with
their teacher. If students admire a teacher, they would love his/her lesson, and then have the
interest in learning the subject which he/she teaches. Therefore, teachers should try their
utmost to establish an environment which is full of trust, respect, help, solidity, and make
every student love English from the love of the teacher. As a teacher, it is very necessary for
him or her to communicate with students and establish a good relationship with students. It is
the premise for teachers to love their own students and help them build interest in English.

In fact, each student needs make a close relationship with teachers and sometimes they want
to draw their attention. If this need gets satisfied, it can make the student learn English
initiatively and actively. But every student has unique personality, so teachers should spend
much time in finding out how to get along with their students and make friends with them,
then students will be active in English class and consider learning it as a happy thing in their
spare time.

2.6. Applying new teaching methods to stimulate students’ interest

To some extent, most traditional teaching method definitely could not stimulate students’
interests and could not give pleasure and joy to students. Students should never be merely
sitting in the classroom and just acting like empty bottles waiting to be filled.

Yuefa (2011:91) suggests that teachers adopt diversified teaching methods instead of
unchanged ones to enliven the dull atmosphere in the classroom and achieve good effect of
learning. As a matter of facts, society is developing, so teaching methods should be changed
with it, too. It is necessary for an English teacher to create an attractive language environment
 28

for students, which can foster the students’ learning interest, so using some modern teaching
technologies may be a necessity in English class.

Along with the statements above, the researcher has reached the conclusion that English
teachers have to use various kinds of teaching forms or techniques to arouse the students’
interest in English learning, as the ones suggested by Yuefa (2011:92-95) and discriminated
below.

a) Using media

No doubt that using media which are full of pictures and colours can draw students’ attention
successfully because students are much easier attracted by the things they see, such as an
object, a picture or a chart, and this interesting method can let them have a better
understanding of what is being taught in class. Yuefa (2011:93) has pointed out that by using
visual aids, students could not only memorise the new words, but also learn cultural
information in a very easy and relaxing way. Interesting pictures make them learn English
voluntarily and arouse their interest to search for more new words and sentences, and to speak
more to each other.

b) Holding various English activities

As is known to all of us, the classroom is the main place for students to study and use
language. The traditional teaching with boring and depressing atmosphere cannot arouse
students’ interest in learning. Teachers should use appropriate language, expression and
movement to motivate students to learn according to students’ psychological characteristics
and their capacities.

The main goal of English teaching is to train the English communicative ability of students.
However, communication is inseparable from activities. That is the reason why Yuefa
(2011:94) asserted that colourful English activities can give their creativity and
competitiveness a full play, and can make a positive atmosphere to create the space for the
students to perform. There can be a wide variety of English contest, such as singing
competition, tongue twister contest, story contest, riddle contest, recitation contest, and
speech contest and so on. During these activities, students with different levels of knowledge
can have the opportunity to join and win, have the sense of accomplishment from learning
English, and have more profound understanding of what they have learned from the activities.
 29

So far, the researcher has perceived that if the teacher strives to engage students in a wide
range of English activities in the classroom, not only will they attend English classes
energetically, but also they will get much experience of success and improve their English
skills of listening, reading, speaking and writing. What is more, it can make them have more
durable interest in English learning and let them know that it is not difficult to learn English
well.

c) Giving commendations and rewards

As it clearly stated by Yuefa (2011:95), Lincoln once said, “Everyone likes praise in the
human nature; the most pressing need is eager to be commended.” An appropriate recognition
is an incentive. Especially for the students, it can increase their confidence of learning, and
enhance their interest in learning English. Ten times criticisms must be not better than one
time praise.

Therefore, repeated stimulation can make students have the enjoyment of success, and then
have more interest in learning and they will study harder and harder.

2.7. Activities that may help to raise students’ interest in learning English

It is believed that language learning is a challenging task, requiring constant effort both from
the learners and from the teacher. However, it is the teacher who has got the big portion of
responsibility when it comes to talk about activities that may help to raise the students’
interest in learning English. Given that it is the teacher who should take the lead in the
planning of the lessons, he or she should select very well the activities to be practiced by the
students in the classroom and, henceforth, raise their interest in learning the English subject.

In relation to the selection of activities that may raiser the students’ interest in learning
English, Little (1991:3-5) advocates a functional approach whereby the emphasis lies on the
ability of students to express themselves orally and in written form in creative ways. For this
author, this approach is one of the ways to address the challenge of making students interested
and wanting to learn English in funny ways.

So, the activities that go along with this approach should: (i) be task-oriented, (ii) engage
students in creative language use, (iii) have less teacher control and more student control, (iv)
 30

build learners’ autonomy, capacity of detachment, critical reflection, decision-making skills

and independent action, and (v) develop students’ proficiency in second or foreign language.

In this order of ideas, among many other activities that can be used by teachers for raising the
students’ interest in learning English, the researcher has resolved corroborating with the
activities postulated by Shanti et al (2019:13-17) and Shanti & Jaafar (2018:26-31). The
former have proposed the following activities for raising the students’ interest in learning the
English language: (i) readers theatre, (ii) the melody of Pilah, (iii) spell-it-right and (iv)
storyboard. While, the latter proposes such activities as (i) I Have Never, (ii) Debates, (iii)
Impromptu speaking, (iv) Desert island activity, (v) Storytelling activity and (vi) Who’s
Telling the Truth.

2.8. The important of learning English

Crystal (1995:79) said that English is the most widely spoken language in the world and, it
has been used for different purposes around the world such as education, commerce, tourism,
science ... People all around the world continue to teach and learn English to reach their
different aims. So English is taught for different purposes around the world each country has
their aims and purposes within the English language.

So for the case of the Mozambican reality, the principle objective of teaching English in this
country is: to communicate in English.

a) Communication

As it is known that Mozambique was a Portuguese colony hence the official language is
Portuguese. Recently there have been so many investors coming into the country from
overseas and they are offering a lot of job opportunities. That is very much welcome in any
developing country; but the only problem and hiccup is that they require English as a
prerequisite to get employment in their companies. Not just that there is a great need from the
nation at large of learning English because they need to fit in with the rest of the world
community.

Since English is widely taught and used around the world, it is a convenient language for
communication across national boundaries and in a wide range of professions. In many cases,
the speakers (or writers) involved both may be using English as a foreign or second language.
 31

b) Economic development

Many countries see English as important to their economic development. A recent report
published on New York Times (28th of October 2018) suggested that countries with poor
English-language skills also have lower levels of trade, innovation and income. The report
ranked 54 countries where English is not a first language and claimed that English is a key to
innovation and competitiveness. The top five were Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands,
Finland and Norway. The lowest were Colombia, Panama, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Libya.
The report also suggested that Italy, Spain and Portugal were held back as a result of poor
English-language skills. So it is reasonable to agree with Hutchinson & Waters (1993:120)
when they say that teaching English means to form people to rise up economic development
to the certain country.

c) Business and entrepreneurship

According to Crystal (1995:23), as the United States emerged as a global economic power
after World War II, international trade and commerce became increasingly dependent on the
use of English. Today, large business organizations are increasingly multinational in their
operations, and English is increasingly the most frequent language used for both written and
spoken communication within such organizations.

Many of the world’s English language learners require knowledge of English in order to enter
the workforce in their countries and in order to advance professionally. Countries like
Mozambique and Angola, knowledge of English provides a chance to market their expertise
outside of their countries. Their fluency in English, together with their creative and innovative
thinking, is part of the driving force of thousands of successful businesses and companies
worldwide.

d) Education

Dudley-Evans et al (1998:3) highlighted that in many parts of the world where English has
traditionally had the status of a school subject, it is now becoming the medium of instruction,
and the motivation for teaching subjects through English is partially to improve the English
language skills of graduates. These authors also believe that another factor likely to further
consolidate the spread of English is the growing popularity of content-based teaching, the
teaching of school subjects in English starts at primary school and continue at university. And
 32

just as English-medium education was crucial in establishing local varieties of English, we

can assume that the teaching of content subjects through English is likely to produce students
who speak English fluently, but with marked local features.

e) Travel

Today’s citizens are often mobile, either moving to a new location for tourism or to seek
employment. The development of tourism within a country is often dependent upon providing
resources in English for visitors, and international travellers generally find that they need
some knowledge of English in order to travel abroad. This provides a reason for many people
to acquire some mastery of the language.

In fact, it is undeniable that a person can travel around the world more easily with English,
given that there will be many chances or opportunities for the person to ‘encounter’ English in
such places as airport, supermarket, touristic instances and so on.

f) Popular culture

Crystal (1995:25) asserted that English today is an important language for the expression of
western popular culture, as seen in movies, television and music. It is visible everywhere in
sport, in advertising and in packaging and labelling of consumer items, particularly those
aimed at younger buyers.

The researcher cogitates that for the Mozambican context, there are might be some people
who get interested in learning English also to get familiar with the culture of the English
speaking countries. It is quite true for those people who work for or with foreigners, whose
culture is English, or for the people who are expecting to live for or study in an English
speaking country.

g) The media

English is the language used in newspapers intended for an international readership, such as
the Bangkok Post or China Daily, and in international magazines like Time and Newsweek.
Similarly, it is used by international television networks, such as CNN and Al-Jazeera, and for
television channels, such as RT, an English-language news channel which presents the
Russian view on global news for an international audience, or CCTV, which presents the
Chinese view of China and the world through English.
 33

It is the researcher’s cogitation that apart from the need of English that some students may
have in order to grasp the messages spread by the international press, other students might
need English in order to get in touch with other people through such media means as
Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram, and other social networks. Therefore, the teacher
should also follow the waves of the globalisation development in order to reach out the
students who might have this interest or purpose for learning the English language.

h) International tourism

The Books For Africa (2013) has let crystal that international tourism is already a huge
international commercial undertaking. Tourism is expected to continue to grow rapidly and
the importance of English in international tourism is well recognised. There is a dynamic
commercially driven response to the need in the form of English language training provided
as part of tourism training programmes and in the publication of English language course
books designed particularly for those engaged in the tourism industry. The United Nations
World Tourism Organisation recognises this importance through its ST-EP (Sustainable
Tourism – Eliminating Poverty) Programme which provides assistance for the development of
tourism in poor, rural and marginalised communities.

The researcher’s belief is that International Tourism is particularly important to developing

countries. Examples of current projects include English language training for the staff of
tourist lodges in Mozambique.

i) International student mobility

The movement of students from their country of origin to universities elsewhere is also a
well-recognised phenomenon. Many international students are studying in countries like:
USA, UK, Australia and Canada. These four destinations are said to be attractive not only
because of the perceived quality of their higher education institutions but also because they
use English. Many international students believe that by studying in one or other of these
nations they will be able to achieve not only the qualification for which they have enrolled but
also an improved degree of competence in English.

Even some international students are studying in France, Germany, China and Japan; these
students are also studying through the medium of English, so that is why the importance of
English in international student mobility has been well recognised for many years.
 34

2.7. English for Specific Purposes (ESP)

Dudley-Evans & St John (1998:14) address three of the most widely-recognized definitions in
the field in their book Developments in ESP: A Multidisciplinary Approach. The first is the
one provided by Hutchinson & Waters (1987:86), who viewed ESP as an approach, not a
product, meaning that it “does not involve a particular kind of language, teaching material, or
methodology”. This might be considered the most general of the definitions. Dudley-Evans
(2001:29) also cited Strevens’ definition, which aims at defining ESP by distinguishing both
its absolute and variable characteristics. Among some of the absolute features, the author
mentioned ESP’s relationship with other disciplinary areas and occupations by using their
methodologies and activities, its focus on and analysis of the language related to a particular
area, and its contrast to General English. Anthony (1997:2) stated that, during Japan’s
Conference on ESP, Dudley-Evans included another feature within this definition, that “ESP
is defined to meet specific needs of the learners”. In addition, the two variable characteristics
are its restriction in terms of skills to be learned and the lack of a pre-established
methodology.

Moreover, Dudley-Evans (2001:31) briefly explained Robinson’s view of ESP as a goal-

directed approach that has a limited time period and is aimed at adults in homogeneous
learning environments. According to Anthony (1997:3), Dudley-Evans also stated that ESP is
usually aimed at professionals or tertiary-level students with some target language basic
knowledge but is not limited to these populations exclusively. All these absolute and variable
features emphasise the purposeful nature of ESP as an approach that shapes itself according to
the learner’s needs.

In spite of recognising the strengths of these definitions, Dudley-Evans & St John (1998:20)
insisted on the idea that ESP should be defined neither as a subject-content directed discipline
nor as a distinct area from General English. They considered ESP a discipline that attempts to
meet the needs of a specific population of students, employs methodologies and materials
from the discipline it is centred on, and focuses on the language and discourse related to it.

Dudley-Evans (2001:36) also included three variables: ESP has to be related to specific
disciplines, use a different methodology from the one used in General English, and be aimed
at intermediate to advanced adult learners. Such definition resembles the one provided by
Strevens, which might be ranked as the most comprehensible one; yet Dudley-Evans & St
 35

John modified it by omitting variables such as the one contrasting ESP to General English,
and including others such as whom ESP is aimed at.

In the words of Smoak (2003:27), “ESP is English instruction based on actual and immediate
needs of learners. ESP is needs based and task oriented”. In the same line of ideas, Gatehouse
(2001:3) addressed the very name of the field in her paper “Key Issues in English for Specific
Purposes (ESP) Curriculum Development,” where she discussed the meaning of the word
“specific” and clarified that it addresses the specificity of the purpose or aim of this teaching
area, not the special registers or vocabulary entailed.

All the previous definitions and statements have contributed, at some point or another through
the history of the field, to better delimit the scope and aim of ESP. They have all built ESP’s
niche within foreign language teaching and they have all emphasized that:

“In ESP . . . the purpose for learning is paramount and related directly to
what the learner needs to do in their vocation or job”. ESP was born and will
continue to address the learners’ needs and purpose to learn a language that
will most likely help them to communicate in a globalized world where the
sense of immediacy of need can best be fulfilled by English for Specific
Purposes instruction.

(Harding, 2007:6) apud (Gatehouse, 2001:3)

Succinctly said, the above insights concerning the importance of learning English and English
for Specific Purposes (ESP) may contribute largely for the teacher’s effectiveness in raising
the students’ interest in learning English. The teacher should be attentive, careful and cautious
enough to understand the real learning needs of the students and, therefore, strive to suit the
teaching techniques and activities to the students’ interests. The teacher should bring, for
instance, activities related to business for the students who are also interested in that field,
activities that are related to media or social networks for the students who enjoy spending
their time watching or listening to international Television or Radio channels or getting in
touch with other people online. Therefore, the teacher should abide by the principles of
flexibility and variety in language teaching.
 36

CHAPTER III: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

The present chapter, seeks to explain the methodologies used in conducting the study, it
describes different techniques used for data collection, and eventually, it explains the
procedures used for conducting the research.

3.1. Research Paradigm

Richards & Schmidt (2010:416) define paradigm as “a term used very widely and loosely to
refer to a conceptual framework of beliefs, theoretical assumptions, accepted research
methods, and standards that define legitimate work in a particular science or discipline”.

The aforementioned definition is convergent to the concept postulated by Murnane (2010:1)

who believes that a paradigm is a set of assumptions, concepts, values and practices that
constitute a way of viewing the reality. Therefore, research paradigm is a set of beliefs that
guide the research process.

For the production of this work, the researcher used the pragmatic paradigm because it
advocates a relational epistemology. As Kivunja & Kuyin (2017:33) wrote, “relationships in
research are best determined by what the researcher deems appropriate to that particular
study.” This entails that reality should be examined using whatever tools are best suit to solve
the problem. It is believed by the researcher that there is no single reality, therefore, all
individuals have their own and unique interpretations of reality which should always be
debated and negotiated.

3.2. Research Approach

Myers (2009:12) defines research approach as “a strategy of enquiry, which moves from the
underlying assumptions to research design, and data collection.” Although there are other
distinctions in the research modes, the most common classification of research approaches is
into qualitative and quantitative.

As far as the research approach of this work is concerned, the researcher employed a mixed
approach, that is to say, the research used both qualitative and quantitative approaches. It is
through the qualitative approach that the researcher studied the everyday life of different
groups of people and school communities involved in this study in their natural setting. It is
 37

also by means of this approach that the researcher explored and discovered issues about the
problem on hand, which in turn, and as Dawson (2002:14) wrote, it helped the researcher
explore attitudes, behaviour and experiences of both students and teachers concerning the
relevance of learning English.

Additionally, the researcher employed the quantitative approach to measure variables on the
sample of the subjects (target population) and express the relationship between such variables
using different effect statistics, such as correlations and relative frequencies.

3.3. Research design

Yin (2003:19) states colloquially that “a research design is an action plan for getting from
here to there, where ‘here’ may be defined as the initial set of questions to be answered and
‘there’ is some set of answers (conclusions).”

Therefore, research design can be thought of as the logic or master plan of a research that
throws light on how the study is to be conducted, showing how the major parts of the research
study work together in an attempt to address the research questions.

From the perspective of method, this study was a descriptive research, which aimed at not
attempting to manipulate variables, rather, concerned in both describe and interpret individual
case treated as unit, thus it was a case study. From the perspective of goal, this study was an
applied research, within which, action research was the one to be undertaken, aiming at
solving local immediate practical problems.

3.4. Target population

According to Fonseca (1995:109), target population is a set of people or a joint people

gathered together who present or share common features.

The target population is the total group of potential participants from which a sample is
drawn. So the target population of this research was composed by 93 people, that is, 2 English
language teachers, of which 1 (female) in charge of the first cycle (grade 8 to 10) and 1 (male)
in charge of the second cycle (grade 11 and 12); and 91 students of the whole grade 10 at
Corrane Secondary school, of which 30 (19 female and 11 male) of the stream A, 30 (20
female and 10 male) of the stream B and 31 (13 female and 18 male) of the stream C.
 38

Table 1: The target population (Corrane Secondary School)

Grade 10 Students Teachers of Total

English
Stream A Stream B Stream C 1st 2nd Students & Global
Cycle Cycle Teachers Total
Fem. Male Fem. Male Fem. Male Fem. Male Female Male Fem. &
Male
19 11 20 10 13 18 1 1 53 40 93

Source: the summary books of Grade 10, all the streams

3.5. Sample population

According to Lakatos & Marconi (2003:223), sample is a portion taken from selected people
of the Universe (target population); it is a subset of the Universe.

The participants of this study encompassed 31 people (33.3 %); 30 out of this number were
students of grade 10 stream A, that is, 19 female and 11 male; and the remaining 1 (50 %)was
a female teacher who was in charge of the 1st cycle at Corrane Secondary School. These
participants are shown in the table below:

Table 2: The participants of the study (Corrane Secondary School)

Students Teachers
Global Total
Female Male Total Female Male Total
Nr % Nr % Nr % Nr % Nr % Nr % Nr %
19 36.5 11 28.2 30 32.9 1 50 --- --- 1 50 31 33.3

Source: primary, 2021

By in large, if the number of the students who partook in this study is regarded comparatively
as far as sex or gender distinction is concerned, it will be clear that the majority of participant
students pertain to the female sex. That is, 19 female student participants out of the 52 total
participants corresponds to 36.5 % (thirty-six point five per cents) of female participants only;
and 11 male student participants out of 39 total participants corresponds to 28.2 % (twenty-
two per cents) of male participants, as the graph below illustrates.
 39

Graph 1: Percentage of the participant students

40.00%
35.00%
30.00%
25.00%
20.00%
15.00%
10.00%
5.00%
0.00%
Female Male

Source: Primary, 2021

3.6. Sampling method or technique

According to Dawson (2002:47), sampling is the process of choosing a smaller and more
manageable number of people to take part in the research. For this author, the sampling
process helps to avoid the inconvenience of having to speak to every person within the target
population, which would be very tough and tiresome.

Given that that there are many different ways to choose a sample, Dawson (2002:48) suggests
that the method used will depend upon the area of research, research methodology and
preference of the researcher. For this author, there are basically two main types of sample,
namely: probability samples and purposive samples.

As far as the typology is concerned, the researcher used the probability sample because, as it
is asserted by Dawson (ibid), all people within the research population had a specifiable
chance of being selected. So, the use of this type of sample enabled the researcher to explain
and generalise the findings to the whole research population.

Concerning the technique or method, the participants of this study were selected
systematically, that is, the researcher used a systematic sampling. In order to find the
participant students, the researcher divided the Universe of the students by its 3 rd (third) part;
that is to say, 91 divided by 3 resulted in 30.3. So the researcher worked only with the
students of grade 10 stream A, because they constitute the 3rd (third) part of the Universe (91).
 40

Moreover, in order to select the participant teacher, the researcher multiplied the Universe of
the teachers by its half; succinctly said, 2 multiplied by 0.5 resulted in 1. So, the researcher
worked only with the grade 10 teacher, who was also in charge of the whole 1st (first) cycle.

3.7. Data collection instruments and methods

According to Nkpa (1997:73), data collection in educational research may take many forms.
For this author, notable among the many forms are: tests, projective techniques, consultation
of records, and documents, direct observation, interviews and questionnaires.

Indeed, the idea given from the author above, method of data collection may be understood as
strategies and techniques that enable a researcher to collect data in educational study. Hence,
in this study, interview, questionnaire and observation form were the instruments or methods
used by the researcher in order collect data.

3.7.1. Interviewing

According to Nkpa (1997:83) an interview is a face to face interaction in which oral questions
are posed by an interviewer to elicit oral response from the interviewee.

Depending on the need and design, interviews can be unstructured, structured, and semi-
structured with individuals, or may be focus-group interviews. For the present study, the
researcher preferred to use structured interviews and during the interview process, the
researcher employed both note-taking and recording the interviewees’ answers.

The choice of this data collection method in this study was due to the benefits it gives for the
quickness of data collection, which means asking and getting the answers straight away from
the respondents. So the researcher conducted interviews only for the teachers. The objective
for conducting such interviews was to collect data, primarily about the teachers’ professional
background and experience in the field of English Language Teaching (ELT) and, then, about
the techniques and activities that she uses to raise students’ interest in learning English.

3.7.2. Observation

According to Lakatos& Marconi (2003:201), observation is a research method for collecting

information and uses the senses for obtaining certain aspects of the reality. Observation does
 41

not consist only of seeing and hearing, but also of examining facts or phenomena to be
studied.

The aim that accounted for the researcher’s choice of this method was to understand, in
reality, the techniques and activities that the teacher employs in order to raise students’
interest and motivation in learning English. It was also to analyse the learners’ reaction
toward the given activities and how helpful they were for the students. It enabled the
researcher to find out whether it is the teacher or learners who is to blame for the learners’
reluctance to learn English language.

As far as typology is concerned, the research used overt participant observation, as Dawson
(2002:33) states, overt participant observation is the kind of observation in which everyone
knows who the researcher is and what she or he is doing, however, can be a valuable and
rewarding method for qualitative inquiry.

3.7.3. Questionnaire

According to Nkpa (1997:74), questionnaire is a careful designed instrument for collecting

data in accordance with the specifications of the research questions and hypotheses. The
researcher comes along with the author’s view, because if the questions are not well designed
in accordance to the objective in the study, they may lead to bad conclusions, since
questionnaires may be used to ascertain facts, beliefs, attitudes and practices.

For the purpose of his study, the researcher used structured questionnaires. Given that many
students face problems in communicating in English, the researcher also needed to translate
the same questionnaire into Portuguese language in order to facilitate the investigation.

3.8. Procedures

Woodford & Jackson (2003:36) conceptualise procedure as “a set of actions which is the
official or accepted way of doing something.”

The actions undertaken by the researcher for the fulfilment of this study were the
following: The researcher began by submitting a document (a credential) to the school,
aiming at requesting permission for the collection of data. The process of data collection
began as soon as the consent happens to be given.
 42

Firstly, the researcher conducted an interview with the teacher of grade 10 at Corrane
Secondary School; such a process was executed in one day only. Secondly, questionnaires
were distributed to students in order to measure the students’ awareness about the relevance
of learning English and their level of interest in learning it. Finally, the researcher engaged
in the process of lesson observation, which was carried out in the classroom with dayshift
students of Grade 10 stream A, at Corrane Secondary School. Hence, the researcher took
the advantage to observe the classes critically aided by an observation form containing the
aspects to be studied, that is, the students’ interest in learning English and the techniques
used by the teacher in order to raise such interest.

3.9. Data Analysis Techniques

LeCompte & Schensul (1999:5) define analysis as the process a researcher uses to reduce data
to a story and its interpretation. Data analysis is the process of reducing large amounts of
collected data to make sense of them. Patton (1987:11) cited in LeCompte & Schensul
(1999:6) indicates that three things occur during analysis: data are organised, data are reduced
through summarisation and categorisation, and patterns and themes in the data identified and
linked.

As it is suggested by LeCompte & Schensul (1999:6), the researcher first began with the data
analysis process as they were being collected in the field, secondly soon after the data had
been collected, and lastly when the researcher was no longer in the field.

As regards to data analysis techniques, the researcher integrated various techniques, which
were helpful in shortening the length of the collected data from the field. So there was a great
emphasis on the use of summaries through graphs, charts and tables, categorisation and
interpretation of data in terms of common relation.
 43

CHAPTER IV: DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter is reserved for data presentation, analysis, interpretation and discussion.
Firstly, data collected from students and the teacher resulting from the different data
collection instruments used are presented through such means as tables, charts and
descriptions; further, an analysis of data from various data collection instruments are
displayed.

Having presented and analysed the data, conclusions are made to understand whether the
instruments used were somewhat helpful in achieving the objectives of the study, this last
part is called discussion.

4.1. Data presentation and analysis

This study employed three methods for the data collection process, namely interview,
questionnaire and observation. Hence, an interview form was used to collect data from the
teacher, the questionnaire form was used to collect data from the students and the
observation form was used to collect data about what actually happens in the classroom
concerning the techniques and activities employed by the teacher in order to raise students'
interest and the students' reaction towards the way they are taught the English language.

4.1.1. Result from the interview

For the purpose of gathering data from the teacher, a structured Interview was designed and
conducted prior to other instruments. The interview was administered to collect data,
primarily about the teachers’ professional background and experience in the field of
English Language Teaching (ELT) and, then, about the techniques activities that she uses
for raising students' interest in learning the English language.

As far the participants of the interview, one teacher only out of the two teachers of English
from the place of study constituted the interviewee who directly partook in the interviewing
process. The researcher jettisoned the other English teacher in charge of the 2 nd Cycle
(because it is the researcher of this study), and resolved to work only with the English
teacher who is in charge of the 1 st Cycle at Corrane Secondary School. This fact is
illustrated in the table below.
 44

Table 3: The English teachers from Corrane Secondary School

Teacher's name Sex In charge of the: Interviewed?

Teacher 1 (T1) Female 1st Cycle (Grade 8 to 10) Yes
Teacher 2 (T2) Male 2nd Cycle (Grade 11 and12) No
Source: Primary, 2021

The interview was divided in two main sections. Before all, there was a section of rapport
establishment, whose aim was to perceive the teachers’ educational background, experience
in the arena of English Language Teaching and any eventual challenges faced so far. The
second section aimed at analysing the techniques used by the teacher in order to raise the
students' interest in learning the English language. The third section aimed at measuring the
degree of efficiency, effectiveness and suitability of the activities brought about to the
classroom by the teacher in order to raise students' interest in learning the English
language. And the last section aimed at making a synthesis and giving thanks to the
interviewee for the availability.

i. Section 1: rapport establishment

With the purpose of introducing the interview and establishing a sound rapport between the
interviewer and the interviewee, first of all, the teacher was asked to talk about her
educational background. Answering the question, she affirmed to have been trained at
IFPN in 2012. Still in this question, the teacher emphasised that she did the 10 + 1 year
English Course.

When asked the question about how long she had been teaching English, the teacher
reported to have been teaching English since 2013. But she highlighted that she has been
teaching English at Corrane Secondary School for 3 (three) years now.

Moreover, the teacher was asked about the challenges she had been facing in her career as
an English teacher. On that, the teacher reckoned the students' persistent use of the mother
tongue (Emakhuwa) in the English lessons, as being the greatest challenge she had ever
faced.
 45

ii. Section 2: the techniques for raising the students’ interest in learning English

Major question: ‘‘Could you unveil the techniques you use for raising the students’ interest
in learning English?’’

As far as this question is concerned, the teacher said that she uses different techniques for
raising the students’ interest in learning English. However, when asked to mention some of
such techniques, the teacher said she tells students that learning English is very important and
instils them to endeavour to learn it.

In relation to the teacher’s opinion about the students’ assiduity in the English lessons, the
teacher claimed that most of the students do not regularly attend the English lessons for
reasons that the teacher affirmed not to understand. Nevertheless, the teacher alleged that such
lack of assiduity does not happen in other school subjects, it is only frequent in the English
lessons.

When asked about the extent to which the teacher thinks the students are interested in learning
English, the teacher said she thinks that most of the students do not show interest in learning
English. According to the teacher, among the students who attend the English lessons, too few
students participate or tend to show the willingness to participate in the English classroom
activities. Therefore, the teacher associated the students’ lack of assiduity in the English
lessons with their evident lack of interest in learning English.

Questioned about the efficiency and effectiveness of the techniques that the teacher employs
for raising the students’ interest in learning English, the teacher was frank enough to
recognise that not all students react positively to the teacher’s technique for raising students’
interest in learning English. The teacher affirmed that most of the students complain that the
English language is too difficult for them to learn, but very few among them react positively
by following the teacher’s advice about the importance of the English language.

iii. Section 3: the activities for raising the students’ interest in learning English

Major question: ‘‘To what extent are the activities you bring to the classroom suitable for
the students’ interest in learning English?’’
 46

Before being asked the major question above, the teacher was asked to succinctly describe the
students of grade 10, stream A, dayshift, in terms of such aspects as age, gender, social and
cultural background, interest in English and purpose for learning English. Answering this
question, the teacher said that grade 10, stream A, dayshift students sum up to 30 students, 19
being female and 11 being male; in terms of age, the teacher said that the students’ age rage is
from 17 to 21 years old; as far as their social and cultural background, most of the students
pertain to families of low economic and social conditions, but some of them come from
families of a medium economic and social conditions.

As regards to the students’ interest in learning English and purpose for learning English, the
teacher asserted that only the students who come from the families of a medium economic and
social condition tend to show some interest in learning the English language and, according to
the teacher, they are more likely to have good purposes for learning the language.

Furthermore, the teacher was asked to mention the activities that she brings to the classroom
in order to raise the students’ interest in learning the English language. On that, the teacher
said that she uses different communicative activities for attaining the purpose of raising the
students’ interest in learning the English language. When asked to mention some of such
communicative activities, the teacher mentioned only classroom oral presentations, in which
she allots some topics to the students for them to write on and present before the audience.

Finally, the teacher was asked whether the activities she used to bring to the classroom were
suitable for the students and whether the activities helped to raise the students’ interest in
learning the English language. On that, the teacher alleged that the activities were suitable for
the students, but she confessed not to understand the reasons why most of the students tend
not to show interest in learning the English language.

iv. Closing

Lastly but not the least, the teacher was asked if there was anything that had not been tackled
during the interview but she felt like sharing with the researcher in relation to the students’
interest in learning the English language. However, the teacher said she did not have anything
to add on; she only wished the researcher good work.
 47

4.1.2. Data from the questionnaires

As a way of finding out about the students' awareness concerning the importance of the
English language in the country, community and in their villages, a set of questionnaire forms
were submitted to the students. The questionnaires encompassed four sections, the first of
which had to do with the students' personal information. The second section had to do with
the students' educational information. The third section had to do with the students’
background information. And the final section focused on the students' attitude towards
learning the English language.

i. Section I

This section of the questionnaire form wondered about the students’ personal information
concerning such aspects as gender, age, nationality and place of birth.

Table 4: Distribution of the students inquired

Nr of students Distribution per sex Age range

Inquired Out of % Female % Male % 15 y 16 y 17 y 18 y 19 or +
20 30 66.6 14 ≈74 6 ≈55 8 5 4 2 1

Source: Primary, 2021

As the table above shows, the data collected through the questionnaires involved 20 out of 30
students, which constitutes almost 67 per cents. From this number, 14 were female (almost 74
per cents) and 6 were male (almost 55 per cents). As far as the age range of the inquired
students, the table lets crystal clear that the majority of the students pertain to the age arrange
of 15 and 16 years old, and the minority of the students pertain to the age range of more than
19 years old. In relation to the nationality, all the students affirmed to be Mozambicans. In
relation to the place of birth, 17 affirmed to be from Corrane, 2 affirmed to be from Nampula
City and 1 affirmed to be from Pemba City, in Cabo Delgado.

ii. Section II

In this section of the questionnaire, the students were asked to write their grade, stream, shift
and state the name of the school or schools were they did the previous grades in which the
English language is taught as a curricular subject, that is, grade 6, 7, 8 and 9.
 48

In relation to the grade, stream and shift, all the students wrote that their grade is 10, stream
A, dayshift course. As regards to the schools where they did the previous grades, 18 students
affirmed to have done grade 6 and 7 at Corrane Upper Primary School. They also stated that
they did grade 8 and 9 at Corrane Secondary School; whereas 2 students said that they did
grade 6 and 7 in Nampula City, one of them at Maparra Upper primary School and the other
one at Serra da Mesa Upper Primary School. However, both of them affirmed having done
grade 8 and 9 at Corrane Secondary School. Therefore, all of the students affirmed to have
been studying at Corrane Secondary School since grade 8.

iii. Section III

This third and last part of the questionnaire focused on the students’ attitude towards learning
the English language.

In order to ascertain the students’ attitude toward learning the English language, the students
were asked first if they like the English language. On that, only 5 (five) students responded
positively by assuming that they like the English language; out of those five students who
affirmed to enjoy learning the English language, 3 (three) are male and 2 (two) are female.
However, the 25 remaining students, that is, 17 female and 8 male, responded negatively by
stating that they do not enjoy learning the English language.

In other words, if we consider these results in the perspective of percentage, we will realise
that only 16.7 per cents out of the 30 participants affirmed to enjoy learning the English
language. But the remaining 83.3 affirmed no to enjoy learning English at all, as the graph
below illustrates.

Graph 2: Percentage of the students who (do not) enjoy learning

English
100.00%
80.00%
60.00%
40.00%
20.00%
0.00%
Enjoy learning English Do not enjoy learning English

Source: Primary, 2021

 49

Furthermore, the students were asked about the frequency with which they attend the English
lessons. On that, 6 students (20 per cents) stated that they always attend the English lessons; 9
students (30 per cents) stated that they almost always attend the English lessons; 12 (40 per
cents) students stated that they sometimes attend the English lessons; and the 3 (10 per cents)
remaining students were honest to state that they never attend the English lessons. This fact is
illustrated in the graph below.

Graph 3: Students' attendance in the English lessons

45%
30%
15%
0%

Source: Primary, 2021

Nevertheless, out of the 27 students who at least attend the English lessons, only 1 student
affirmed that she always participates in the English lessons; 3 students affirmed that they
almost always participate in the English lessons; 4 students affirmed that they sometimes
participate in the English lessons; and the 19 remaining students affirmed that they never
participate in the English lessons. This fact is illustrated in the graph below.

Graph 4: Students' participation in the English lessons

20
10
0

Source: Primary, 2021

Still concerning the students’ participation in the English lessons, out of the 8 students who
asserted that at least participate in the English lessons, only 1 student affirmed that she always
 50

volunteers to participate in the English lessons; 1 student affirmed that he almost always
volunteers to participate in the English lessons; 2 students affirmed that they sometimes
volunteer to participate in the English lessons; and the remaining 4 students affirmed that they
never volunteer to participate in the English lessons.

Therefore, all of the above description is summarised in the graph below.

Graph 5: Students' voluntariness to participate in the English

lessons
4
2
0

Source: Primary, 2021

Afterwards, the students were asked if they struggle to study English at home. Answering the
question, only 5 out of the 30 participant students responded positively. But, the remaining 25
out of the 30 participant students responded negatively, as it is shown in the graph below.

Graph 6: Students' struggle to study English at home

Struggle to study English at

home

Do not struggle to study

English at home

Source: Primary, 2021

As far as the frequency with which the students study English at home, it is worth mentioning
that amongst the 5 students who affirmed to spend some time to study English at home, only 1
student affirmed to almost always study English at home; and the 4 remaining students
affirmed that they sometimes study English at home, as it is illustrated below.
 51

Graph 7: Frequency of home-study amongst students

4
2
0
Always study English at Almost always study Sometimes study English
home Englishat home at home

Source: Primary, 2021

Furthermore, students were asked if they use English outside the classroom context. On that,
only 1 student affirmed that she sometimes uses English outside the classroom. In terms of the
percentage, we can realise that only 3.3 per cents endeavour to use English outside the
classroom context. Therefore, 96.7 students never encounter or use English outside the
classroom context. The graph below illustrates this fact.

Graph 8: Students' use of English outside the classroom

120.00%
100.00%
80.00%
60.00%
40.00%
20.00%
0.00%
Sometimes use English outside the class- Never use English English outside the
room classroom

Source: Primary, 2021

Then, the students were asked if learning English would help them in their lives. On that, only
5 students (16.7 per cents) out of the 30 participants responded positively. But the 25
remaining participants (83.3 per cents) responded negatively, which is represented below.

Graph 9: Students' attitude concerning the helpfulness of learning

English
30
20
10
0
Reckon English to be helpful Do not reckon English to be helpful

Source: Primary, 2021

 52

Henceforth, concerning how learning English would be helpful in the students’ lives, the 5
students who responded positively had slightly divergent answers, as it is explained below.

The 1st student stated that learning English would help her to communicate with foreigners in
Nampula city, the place where she was born and where she usually spends her holidays. She
also stated that learning English would help her find a better job in the future.

Another student affirmed that learning English would help him to interact with his brother,
who is a teacher of English in Muecate district. The same student also stated that learning
English would help him to succeed in the entrance examinations of the Rovuma University
and, subsequently, become a teacher of English.

However, 1 more student advocated that learning English would help him to grasp the
messages portrayed in the lyrics of the songs sung in the English language.

So, the 2 last students asserted that learning English would help them to communicate with
whoever English speaking person they happen to meet wherever they go in the world.

4.1.3. Results from the classroom observation

In this study, classroom observation was one of the methods that the researcher used in the
data collection process. This action was possible through the aid of an observation form
containing the aspects to be studied. As a matter of facts, the use of this method enabled the
researcher to find out whether it is the teacher or the learners who is or are to blame for the
learners’ lack of interest in learning the English language.

During the data collection process, the researcher had the opportunity chance to observe three
lessons, one of which was a vocabulary lesson, the second was a reading lesson and the last
one was a grammar lesson. However, all the lessons focused on the unit which talks about
traditional and modern medicines. Conversely, in absolutely all the lessons, the teacher
employed the Grammar Translation Method.

Moreover, it was quite cumbersome for the researcher to stick to the lesson observation form
given that almost all the actions of the teacher while delivering the observed lessons were
contrary to the aspects displayed in the observation form. That is to say, during almost all the
three observed lessons:
 53

 The teacher did not provide the researcher with the lesson plans of two consecutive
lessons; the teacher provided the plan of one lesson only, which made it difficult to
understand the objectives of the lessons. When asked about the plans of the two lessons,
the teacher simply promised to provide, but she never did.
 The teacher spent most of the time speaking alone and in Portuguese or in Emakhuwa
language;
 The teacher did not encourage the students to use the English language in the classroom;
 Evidently, the lessons were the traditional teacher-led classes; so, students were not
engaged in relevant tasks within a dynamic learning environment;
 In almost all the lessons, accuracy was emphasised rather than fluency;
 Throughout the lessons, the students did not look avid, curious to learn new words,
thrilled and enthusiastic to learn and participate in the lessons;
 The teacher did not try her utmost to establish an environment full of trust, respect, help,
solidarity, and did not make every student love English from the love of the teacher;
 The teacher did not establish appropriate rapport during the explanation, practice and
production of the language.
 The teacher did not encouraged students to be creative and arrange their time to study
autonomously;
 The teacher did not provide students with real examples of success in learning English in
order to inspire them for learning.

In relation to the activities and procedures, the teacher noticed the following:

 In the beginning of the lesson, the teacher did not state the objectives of the lesson and the
competencies they were supposed to display by the end of the lesson;
 The teacher was not attentive to discover the students’ merits, despite the fact that this
could be a kind of motivation for confidence;
 The teacher gave students more criticism instead of encouragement, and did not make
them realise that making mistakes in learning is normal and acceptable;
 The teacher did not give greater privilege to interactive activities among students;
consequently, she talked more and listened less;
 The activities chosen by the teacher did not have real purposes: to find information, break
down barriers, talk about self, and learn about the culture;
 54

 The activities designed and brought about by the teacher were not lively, interactive and
fun, which made students not to feel comfortable to learn;
 Because of the decreased responsibility to participate, students did not much involved and,
thus, gained no confidence in using English.

Nevertheless, there were some good aspects which the teacher managed to displays while
teaching the students. Such good points were the following:

 The teacher created opportunities for students to work independently, though they did not
work in pairs (either open or close) and in small groups;
 On the course of the activities, the class was very quiet, although the scenes demanded
students to leave their seats to complete a task;
 Students were asked whether there was any doubt, however due to lack of clarity no doubt
was raised;

Another datum of paramount importance is the fact that the lesson seemed to have only two
stages, that is, Presentation and Practice stages. Succinctly said, there was no Production
stage, which means that students were not given a chance to produce language freely and
creatively at their pace.

4.2. Discussion

Blaxter et al (1996:197) state that “interpretation of discussion is the process by which you
put your own meaning on the data you have collected and analyzed and compares that
meaning with those advanced by others”. Thus, it is important in each research to show the
ownership of the work by providing the researchers own perspective. On the view point stated
by the author above, the researcher, gathered the data through teacher and students
questionnaire and class observation as well, which their findings are as follow‫׃‬

4.2.1. The techniques for raising the students’ interest in learning English

For ascertain the techniques used by the teacher to raising the students’ interest in learning
English, the researcher used interview and observation for collecting the data from the
teacher.
 55

The teacher’s reply when asked about the techniques she uses for raising the students’ interest
showed that the teacher simply tells students that learning English is very important and
instils them to endeavour to learn it.

However, if we consider what has been stated by Yuego (2010:84-87) we may perceive that
the teacher’s techniques for raising the students’ interest in learning English are so superficial
and counterproductive. Yuego (ibid) suggests that teachers adhere to the following aspects in
order to raise their students’ interest in learning English: (i) raise students’ consciousness in
English learning, (ii) arouse the students’ desire for knowledge and skills, (iii) help students to
set realistic goals concerning the learning of English, (iv) help students to build their
confidence in learning and using English and (v) build good relationships (rapport) between
students and the teacher.

Apart from the aforementioned techniques, Yuefa (2011:92-95) also advocated other
techniques which teacher can use for raising their students’ interest in learning English. This
author advocates that once society is developing, the teaching techniques should be changed
with it, too. So, it is necessary for an English teacher to create an attractive language
environment for students, which can foster the students’ learning interest. Yuefa (ibid)
unveiled the following hints for teachers to raise the students’ interest in learning English: (i)
the use of such modern media as visual aids; (ii) hold various English lively and competitive
activities, such as singing competition, tongue twister contest, story contest, riddle contest,
recitation contest, speech contest and so on; and (iii) give students commendations and
rewards, by recognising and praising students for their effort and avoid criticising them.

4.2.2. The activities for students to practice and raise their interest in learning English

Aiming at ascertaining the activities used by the teacher for raising the students’ interest in
learning English, the researcher used interview the data from the teacher.

The teacher’s response when asked activities the activities that she brings to the classroom in
order to raise the students’ interest in learning the English language was that she uses different
communicative activities. However, when asked to mention some of such communicative
activities, the teacher mentioned only classroom oral presentations, in which she allots some
topics to the students for them to write on and present before the audience.
 56

In other words, the teacher does not use any communicative activity for raising the students’
interest in learning English, which is counterproductive and ineffective if we consider what
has been postulated by Little (1991:3-5) who advocates a functional approach in the selection
of activities for language practice. For this author, teachers should choose activities that: (i)
are task-oriented, (ii) engage students in creative language use, (iii) have less teacher control
and more student control, (iv) build learners’ autonomy, capacity of detachment, critical
reflection, decision-making skills and independent action, and (v) develop students’
proficiency in second or foreign language.

No wonder why, Shanti et al (2019:13-17) proposed the following activities for raising the
students’ interest in learning the English language: (i) readers theatre, (ii) the melody of Pilah,
(iii) spell-it-right and (iv) storyboard. In the same line of thought, and Shanti & Jaafar
(2018:26-31) proposed such activities as (i) I Have Never, (ii) Debates, (iii) Impromptu
speaking, (iv) Desert island activity, (v) Storytelling activity and (vi) Who’s Telling the Truth.

4.2.3. The students’ attitude towards the importance of learning English

For the purpose of gathering data from the students, a set of questionnaires was administered
to students in order to find out their attitude towards the importance of learning English. As
far as this category is concerned, the following aspects were inquired from the students:
enjoyment in learning English, attendance in the English lessons, participation in the English
lessons, voluntariness to participate in the English lessons, struggle to study English at home,
frequency of home-study, use of English outside the classroom and opinion concerning the
helpfulness of learning English. Hence, the findings of the questionnaire showed the
following:

 Only 5 students out of the 30 participants (16.7 per cents) enjoy learning English;
 Only 6 students (20 per cents) always attend the English lessons;
 Only 1 student always participates in the English lessons;
 Only 1 student always volunteers to participate in the English lessons;
 Only 5 out of the 30 students (16.7 per cents) struggle to study English at home;
 Only 1 student almost always struggles to study English at home;
 Only 1 student sometimes uses English outside the classroom context;
 Only 5 out of the 30 students (16.7 per cents) reckon English to be helpful.
 57

As it is evident in the findings above, the students’ attitude concerning the importance of
learning the English language is very negative. That is to say, the majority of the students
(83.3 per cents) do not reckon English to be useful or helpful in their lives.

Nevertheless, taking into consideration the insights postulated by Crystal (1995:79) we may
realise that the students’ bad attitude concerning the importance of learning English is a
complete loss. Crystal (ibid) argued that English is the most widely spoken language in the
world and, it has been used for different purposes around the world. As a matter of facts,
people all around the world continue to teach and learn English to reach their different aims.

One of the pros of learning the English language portrayed by Crystal (1995:23) is
communication. In fact, learning English may help students to communicate with whoever
English speaking person that they may happen to encounter wherever they go.

In the same line of ideas, Hutchinson & Waters (1993:120) believe that the English language
Teaching and Learning Process may contribute for the economic development of a country
and its citizens. For these authors, teaching and learning English means to form people to rise
up economic development to the certain country.

In addition to that, Dudley-Evans et al (1998:3) and Crystal (1995:24-26) present the

following merits of teaching and learning English as a Foreign or Second Language: creation
of opportunities for business and entrepreneurship, advancements in Education, travel
facilities, culture exchanges, possibility to understand the world of media and entertainment,
the development of international tourism and the achievement of international students
mobility.
 58

CHAPTER V: PROPOSALS, RECOMMENDATIONS, IMPLEMENTATION AND

CONCLUSION

This chapter seeks to depict the proposals given by the researcher to the English language
teachers, particularly the teachers of grade 10. Additionally, it is also a concern of this chapter
to present some recommendations to different entities, such as the Government represented by
the Ministry of Education and Human Development, the school managers, the teacher and the
learners.

Moreover, in this chapter the researcher also gives some subsides on how to implement the
proposals and recommendations presented in this study.

Lastly but not the least, the chapter also depicts the conclusions drawn by the researcher after
having carried out the processes of data collection, presentation, analysis and discussion.

5.1. Proposals

Having presented, analysed and discussed the data on the course of the execution of this
study, the researcher has so far noticed that the teaching techniques and activities used by the
teacher are not effective enough to raise the students’ interest in learning English. Such
problem, also influenced by the teacher’s inconsistence in lesson planning, affects the
students’ attitude towards the importance of learning English.

Therefore, aiming at mitigating or overcoming such shortcomings, some teaching techniques

and activities are proposed in this paper.

5.1.1. The teaching techniques for raising the students’ interest in learning English

In order to get success in the struggle of raising the students’ interest in learning the English
language, the teacher has to employ some techniques while teaching. As a matter of facts,
teachers should make full use of interest to let their students participate actively in learning
and really become the masters of the whole class.

So, among many techniques for raising the students’ interest in learning English, the teacher
should use discovery techniques and any other techniques that encourage students’
 59

participation in the English lessons. Thus, in that process the teacher needs to take the
following actions:

 Raise students’ consciousness in English learning, by letting them know about the
merits of learning the language and helping them to have a good idea of the learning
aim.
 Arouse students’ desire for knowledge and skills, by encouraging students to arrange
their time to study autonomously, use language creatively and regard learning as fun.
 Help students to set realistic goals very before the start of learning and enable them to
experience the sense of success in their learning.
 Help students build confidence, by disseminating good example of English learning in
to inspire the students, creating opportunities for students to experience success rather
than failure and being attentive in order to discover students’ merits for praising and
rewarding them and avoiding to criticise them too much.
 Build good relationships between students and teachers (rapport), by trying their
utmost to establish an environment which is full of trust, respect, help, solidity, and
make every student love English from the love of the teacher

5.1.2. The teaching activities for raising the students’ interest in learning English

Taking into account the current trends in language teaching methodologies, there is a
wide range of communicative activities that teachers can use in order to raise students’
interest in learning English.

In this study, such activities are divided in two distinct types, namely controlled practice
activities and freer practice activities.

i) Controlled practice activities

Activity 1 Source: Adapted by the researcher from Shanti et al (2019:13)

Skill: Pronunciation Level: All grades

Name of the activity: Spell-it- right Time: 20 – 25

minutes

Aim: To improve students’ pronunciation skills

 60

Materials: a hat or box and slips of paper containing words (hyponyms of the same
super-ordinate)

Procedures:

1) Write the hyponym words on the slips of paper (e.g.: truck, aeroplane, helicopter, etc.);
2) Put the slips of paper containing the hyponym words in a hat; (the slips of paper should be
folded and shuffled in the hap)
3) Place the hat where everyone in the classroom can see;
4) Tell students to be in groups of 3 or 5 students;
5) Tell students that each group should select one member for each round to grab one slip of
paper from the hat or box;
6) Then, the students holding the slip of paper should read the word on it out aloud before
the audience;
7) Each group should spell out the word that their member has just read out aloud.

Note: In this activity, the teacher is the last judge. Whatever word is misspelled should be put
back to the hat or box. But whatever word is well-pronounced should be discarded or
jettisoned. For each correct pronunciation and spelling the group gets 5 points, respectively.
Therefore, the winner group in this competition is the one that pronounces and spells correctly
as many words as possible.

Activity 2 Source: Adapted by the researcher from Shanti & Jaafar (2018:26)

Skill: Speaking Level: Grade 11 &

12

Name of the activity: Impromptu speaking Time: 15 – 20

minutes

Aim: To foster students’ flexibility in different communicative situations

Materials: Pieces of paper containing different topics

 61

Procedures:

1) Prepare a list of topics that students will be able to talk about;

2) Split the class into four or five teams;
3) Have each student choose a number—that’s the order they will go in;
4) The teacher reads a topic or a statement about a topic to the class;
5) Each student should respond to a statement without preparation. The student must
continue speaking for at least 30 seconds.
6) As the student is speaking, the other teams should listen for moments of hesitation,
grammatical mistakes, and vocabulary mistakes.
7) If the other team can correctly identify an error, they get a point.

Note: To avoid slowing down the flow of this activity, the teacher may need to note down the
relevant mistakes and ask the whole audience to correct them, as a way of giving feedback.
This technique is crucial, not only to avoid slowing down or dragging on the activity, but it
helps to develop students’ speaking skills and it enables them to use language freely, without
the fear of making mistakes.

Activity 3 Source: Shanti & Jaafar (2018:27)

Skill: Speaking Level: Grade 8 to 10

Name of the activity: Who’s Telling the Truth? Time: 20 – 25

minutes

Aim: To trigger students’ ability to questioning and argumentation

Materials: Pieces of paper for students to write on

Procedures:

1) Have each student write three facts about themselves that nobody in the class knows
on a piece of paper;
2) Make sure each student includes their name on the top of the page;
3) Collect the sheets of paper and bring three students to the front of the room;
4) Read aloud one of the facts that is true for one of these three students.
 62

5) All three claim that the fact is theirs, and the class then proceeds to question them in
an attempt to determine who is telling the truth and who is lying.
6) Each student is allowed to ask one question to one of the three students.
7) After a round of questioning, the students guess who is telling the truth.

ii) Freer practice activities

Activity 1 Source: Adapted by the researcher from Shanti & Jaafar (2018:28)

Skill: Listening & Speaking Level: Grade 8 to 10

Name of the activity: Debates Time: 20 – 25

minutes

Aim: To trigger students’ ability to agreeing and disagreeing

Materials: Pieces of paper for students to write on

Procedures:

1) Give each student a piece of paper with “agree” written on one side and “disagree” on
the other side.
2) Read aloud a controversial statement;
3) Have each student hold up their paper showing the “agree” or “disagree” side
depending on their opinion.
4) Choose one student from each side to explain their position and participate in a short
debate.

Activity 2 Source: Shanti & Jaafar (2018:29)

Skill: Speaking Level: Grade 11 &

12

Name of the activity: Desert island activity Time: 25 – 30

minutes
 63

Aim: To develop students’ ability to argue and give reasons

Materials: Pieces of paper for students to draw any item

Procedures:

1) Give each student a piece of paper and tell them to draw an item—any item;
2) Collect the drawings and pass them out again;
3) Make sure that no student should receive their own drawing;
4) Tell the students that they’ve been stranded on a desert island and only half of the
class can survive and continue to inhabit the island. The only thing each student will
have on the island is the item depicted in the drawing given to them, and their goal is
to convince the class that they should survive based on that item.

Activity 3 Source: Adapted by the researcher from Shanti & Jaafar (2018:30)

Skill: Speaking Level: Grade 8 to 10

Name of the activity: Desert island activity Time: 15 – 20

minutes

Aim: To develop students’ ability to relay personal information and experience

Materials: Unnecessary

Procedures:

1) All students in the class should start this activity holding five fingers in the air (you
can use less fingers to do this more quickly);
2) The student who goes first tells the class one thing that they have never done. T
3) The students who have done that activity should put a finger down, and tell the class a
story about this activity.
4) A student is out of the game when all of their fingers are down. And this is the winner.

5.2. Recommendations

On the course of the execution of this work, it has been crystal clear that learning can never be
dissociated from interest. That is to say, it is difficult to speak of one without some reference
to the other. In fact, learning and interest are dependent upon and affected by one another
 64

because it is only when students are happy to learn and interested in learning that they can
improve their English. Therefore, all the school interveners have to spare no effort to
stimulate students’ interest in English learning. Bearing such aspect in mind, this paper yields
the following recommendations:

5.2.1. To the government

 The Government, represented by the Ministry of Education and Human Development

should provide the necessary training to the teachers of secondary level in order to
equip them with insights, skills, the teaching techniques and activities for raising the
students’ interest in learning the English language;
 In order to make the teaching and learning process more effective, policy makers and
curriculum designers should analyse and overhaul the existing condition of the
teaching techniques and activities used by teachers for raising the students’ interest in
learning English;
 The curriculum designers should guarantee that the teaching and learning materials
and reference books containing teaching activities helpful for raising the students’
interest in learning English are made available on the time according to the learners’
linguistic, social, psychological and economical conditions.

5.2.2. To the school managers

 The school managers should take care of the novice teachers. Because most of them,
evidently, do not have practical knowledge how to raise and maintain the students’
interest in learning English;
 The school managers should make sure that the school library contains a wide range of
textbooks and other materials helpful for raising the students’ interest in learning
English, so that teachers and students can have access of them whenever necessary;
 The school managers should promote tournaments and competitions that encourage or
empower and prize students who show profound interest in learning and using the
English language.
 65

5.2.3. To the teacher

 Teachers should never be static, they should be dynamic and laborious, by

investigating new and effective ways of raising the students’ interest in learning
English, and apply them while teaching the students;
 Teachers should adhere to a learner-centred approach, given that meaningful learning
occurs when students are allowed to confront real problems, make choices and find
solutions;
 Teachers should struggle to plan lessons as more consistently and systematically as
possible in all planning forms and dimensions;
 Teachers should consistently avoid using local language or Portuguese as much as
possible and, hence, spend most of their talking time speaking English and encourage
learners to use the English they have at their level both in the classroom and outside
there;
 Teachers should engage students in relevant tasks within a dynamic learning
environment rather than in traditional teacher-led class, by making them get engaged
in communicative activities by means of participation on meaningful practices;
 Teachers should try their utmost to establish an environment full of trust, respect, help,
and solidarity and, hence, make every student love English from the love of the
teacher;
 Teachers should strive to raise students’ consciousness and encourage their initiative
and creativity in English learning, and urge them to arrange their time to study
autonomously;
 Teachers should create opportunities for students to experience success instead of
failure, and not doubt their own abilities, by avoiding criticising them for their
mistakes and commending, praising and rewarding them for their efforts and merits.

5.2.4. To the learners

 Be attentive, active and volunteer whenever asked in class;

 Improve their attendance, punctuality and assiduity in the English lessons;
 Strive, not only to participate, but also volunteer to participate in the English lessons;
 Give themselves some time for autonomous study, by struggling to study English at
home, not only in the classroom;
 66

 Create or look for opportunities for them to use the English they have at their level
outside the classroom context;
 Set realistic goals and purposes for learning English and do their utmost in order to
materialise such goals and purposes.

5.3. Implementation

To put into implementation the findings of this study, a workshop will be necessary to be
administered in which all English teachers from that school will have to be invited. The
researcher will share with the teachers the findings of the study and the suggestions for the
mitigation of the problems. A copy of the work will be handed over to the English subject
delegate, and two copies will be sent to the school library for the access of both teachers and
students. Another copy will be sent to Direcção Provincial da Educação e Desenvolvimento
Humano for them to bear in mind what problems students and English teachers from Corrane
Secondary School face.

5.4. Conclusion

In short, it is fundamental to state that the Learning and Teaching Process is a social
phenomenon filled up of some specificities that demand teachers to always cultivate such
qualities as dynamism, creativity and flexibility. A teacher who wishes to be efficient and
effective should never be static; he or she should strive to meet the social and cultural
interests associated to our country’s educational policies, seeking to change or improve the
approaches and techniques on how to teach the new generations.

By in large, it is worth mentioning that the findings of this study have led the researcher to
induce the following conclusions:

 The techniques and activities used by the teacher while teaching are not suitable for
the students and, hence, they are not effective enough to raise the students’ interest in
learning English;
 Most of the students are not punctual, assiduous, nor do they cooperate, participate
or volunteer to participate in the English lessons and they do not struggle to study or
use English outside the classroom because of their bad attitude towards the
importance of learning the English language;
 67

 The students who come from the families of a medium economic and social
condition tend to show some interest in learning the English language and, therefore,
they are more likely to have good purposes for learning the language;
 The students’ persistent use of the mother tongue or Portuguese in the classroom is
due to the fact that the teacher also usually abandons English when giving students
explanations, neither does she encourage the students to use the English they have at
their level both in the classroom and outside there;
 The main reason which influences the teacher’s failure in raising and maintaining the
students’ interest in learning English is due to her inconsistence in planning the
lessons, the lack of incentives, commendations, praise or rewards by the teacher or
the school managers;
 The students’ bad attitude towards the importance of learning the English language
and their lack of confidence in using the language are also influenced by the too
much criticism of the teacher when they make mistakes in the language production
and the lack of provision of real examples of success in learning English in order to
inspire them for learning.

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APPENDICES
 72

Appendix I: Interview to the teacher

Name of the School:

INTERVIEW TO THE TEACHER

Date: ____/____/20___ Grade: ____ Stream: ____ Shift: _______

Interviewer: __________________________ Interviewee: ________________________

Block Objective Question Follow-up question

 To welcome 1) Could you a) What courses in the teaching field have
1st: Rapport establishment

the please talk you undergone so far?

respondent; about your b) Where and when did you take such
 To make the educational courses?
respondent background? c) How long have you been teaching
feel relaxed English?
d) What are the main challenges you have
faced in such a process?
2nd  To analyse the 2) Could you a) How assiduous are your students in
techniques unveil the English classes?
used by the techniques b) To what extent do your students
teacher to you use in participate or cooperate in English
arouse and or order to classes?
increase the arouse your c) To what extent do you think your students
students’ students’ are interested in learning English?
interest in interest in d) How effective are the techniques you use
learning learning to arouse your students’ interest in
English English? learning English?

3rd  To analyse the 3) To what a) How would you succinctly describe your
effectiveness extent are the students concerning such aspects as age,
 73

and suitability activities you gender, social and cultural background,

of the to the interest in English and purpose for
activities classroom learning English?
employed by suitable for b) What activities do you bring into the
the teacher to the students’ classroom for the students to practise and
arouse and or interest in raise their interest in learning the English
increase the learning language?
students’ English? c) Do you think the activities you bring
interest in about in the classroom help to arouse and
learning or increase the students’ interest in
English. learning English?

4th  To synthesise 4) Is there a) Do you mind if I drop you a line in case

Closin and thank the anything we any further information is needed?
g interviewee have not
for his or her tackled, but
availability. you would
like to share
about the
students’
interest in
learning
English?

Appendix II: Questionnaire for the learner

 74

Name of the School:

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE LEARNER

Hello, dear student! My name is Lúcio António. My purpose for giving you this questionnaire
form is to conduct a scientific research in order to improve the quality of your learning. This
questionnaire aims at collecting data in order to find out the reasons why some students do not
show interest in learning English and, then suggest possible solutions on that. Please attempt to
answer all the questions, using a black or blue ink pen. Note that this questionnaire has not got
any evaluative purpose and your answers will by no means affect your final results at the end of
the term or year. So you do not need to write your name, but a few details of yours.

Section I: Personal Information

Put an X or write your answer in each number.

1. Gender: Male ( ) Female ( )

2. Age: ____ years old
3. Nationality: _____________________________________________________________
4. Place of birth: ____________________________________________________________

Section II: Educational Information

5. Grade: 8 ( ) 9 ( ) 10 ( ) 11 ( ) 12 ( )
6. Stream: A ( ) B( ) C( ) D( ) E( ) F( )
7. Shift: Dayshift ( ) Nightshift ( )

Section III: Educational Background

8. In which school did you do the following grades?

Grade 6: _________________________________________________________________
Grade 7: _________________________________________________________________
Grade 8: _________________________________________________________________
Grade 9: _________________________________________________________________

Section IV: Students’ attitude towards learning English

 75

9. Do you like English? Yes ( ) No ( )

10. How often do you attend English classes?
Always ( ) Almost always ( ) Sometimes ( ) Never ( )
11. How often do you participate in English classes?
Always ( ) Almost always ( ) Sometimes ( ) Never ( )
12. How often do you volunteer to participate in English classes?
Always ( ) Almost always ( ) Sometimes ( ) Never ( )
13. Do you struggle to study English at home? Yes ( ) No ( )
14. How often do you study English at home?
Always ( ) Almost always ( ) Sometimes ( )
15. Do you use English outside the classroom? Yes ( ) No ( )
16. How often do you use English outside the classroom?
Always ( ) Almost always ( ) Sometimes ( )
17. Do you think learning English will help you in your life? Yes ( ) No ( )
18. How do you think learning English will help you in your life? ______________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for your collaboration!

 76

Appendix III: Questionnaire for the learner (Portuguese Version)

Nome da Escola:

QUESTIONÁRIO PARA O ESTUDANTE

Olá, caro estudante! Meu nome é Lúcio António. O meu propósito ao entrega-lo este formulário
de questionário é efectuar uma pesquisa científica a fim de melhorar a qualidade da sua
aprendizagem. Este questionário visa recolher dados que ajudarão a aferir as razões pelas quais
alguns estudantes mostram desinteresse em aprender Inglês e, por conseguinte, sugerir algumas
sugestões a respeito. Por favor, envide esforços para responder a todas as questões, usando uma
esferográfica de cor azul ou preta. Note que este questionário não ostenta nenhum carácter
avaliativo e as suas respostas não afectarão de nenhum modo os seus resultados finais no fim do
trimestre ou ano lectivo. Portanto não é necessário escrever o seu nome, porém alguns detalhes
serão necessários.

Secção I: Informação Pessoal

Coloque um X ou escreva a sua resposta em cada número.

1. Sexo: Masculino ( ) Feminino ( )

2. Idade: ____ anos de idade
3. Nacionalidade: ___________________________________________________________
4. Naturalidade: ____________________________________________________________

Secção II: Informação Educacional

5. Classe: 8ª ( ) 9ª ( ) 10ª ( ) 11ª ( ) 12ª ( )

6. Turma: A ( ) B ( ) C( ) D ( ) E ( ) F( )
7. Turno: Diurno ( ) Nocturno ( )

Secção III: Histórico Educacional

8. Em que escola frequentaste as seguintes classes?

6ª Classe: ________________________________________________________________
7ª Classe: _______________________________________________________________
8ª Classe: _______________________________________________________________
9ª Classe: ________________________________________________________________
 77

Secção IV: Atitude dos estudantes sobre aprender Inglês

9. Você gosta de Inglês? Sim ( ) Não ( )

10. Quantas vezes você assiste as aulas de Inglês?
Sempre ( ) Quase sempre ( ) Às vezes ( ) Nunca ( )
11. Quantas vezes você participa nas aulas de Inglês?
Sempre ( ) Quase sempre ( ) Às vezes ( ) Nunca ( )
12. Quantas vezes voluntarias-te para participar nas aulas de Inglês?
Sempre ( ) Quase sempre ( ) Às vezes ( ) Nunca ( )
13. Você se esforça para estudar Inglês em casa? Sim ( ) Não ( )
14. Quantas vezes você estuda Inglês em casa?
Sempre ( ) Quase sempre ( ) Às vezes ( )
15. Você usa Inglês fora da sala de aulas? Sim ( ) Não ( )
16. Quantas vezes você usa Inglês fora da sala de aulas?
Sempre ( ) Quase sempre ( ) Às vezes ( )
17. Acha que aprender Inglês vai ajudá-lo na sua vida? Sim ( ) Não ( )
18. De que modo acha que aprender Inglês vai ajudá-lo na sua vida? __________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Obrigado Pela Sua Colaboração!

 78

Appendix IV: Observation Form

OBSERVATION FORM

This observation form aims at gathering data concerning the problem that some learners from
Corrane Secondary School, Grade 11, dayshift, face in relation to their attitude towards learning
English. This research will assist English Language Teachers in reassessing and, eventually,
improving the approaches, methods, techniques and activities they employ to arouse and increase
students’ interest in learning English.

School: _______________________________________________ Date: ____/____/20___

Grade: ____ Stream: ____ Shift: _________ Total Nr of Ss: ____ Male: ___ Female: ___
Observer: ___________________________ Observee: ____________________________

1. Objectives of the lesson (To fill in before the lesson, on the basis of the lesson plan)

Main objective Specific objectives

Consider this Rating Scale. Allot one mark for each aspect as you observe the lesson
3 = Exceeds expectations 2 = Meets expectations 1 = Needs improvements

I - Teaching Approaches, Methods and Techniques

Description Mark

1. The teacher spent most of the time talking in English.

2. The teacher consistently avoided using local language or Portuguese as much as

possible.
3. The teacher used the local language only as the last alternative.
4. The teacher encouraged students to use English in the classroom.
5. Students were engaged in relevant tasks within a dynamic learning environment rather
than in traditional teacher-led class.
6. Throughout the lesson, fluency was emphasised rather than accuracy.
7. Students looked avid and curious to learn new contents.
 79

8. The classroom atmosphere was so vivid inasmuch as students felt pulled in to

participate in the lesson.
9. Throughout the lesson, students looked thrilled and enthusiastic to learn and participate
in the lesson.
10. Teacher’s interventions aimed at helping students, and only whenever students seemed
very confused or asked for assistance.
11. The teacher tried his or her utmost to establish an environment full of trust, respect,
help, solidity, and make every student love English from the love of the teacher.
12. Appropriate rapport was established and maintained during the explanation, practice
and production of language.
13. The teacher strove to raise students’ consciousness and encourage their initiative in
English learning.
14. The teacher encouraged students to be creative and arrange their time to study
autonomously.
15. The teacher provided students with real examples of success in learning English in
order to inspire them for learning.

II – Procedures and Activities

Description Mark
1. In the beginning of the lesson, the teacher clearly stated the objectives of the lesson
and the competencies they are supposed to display by the end of the lesson.

2. The teacher created opportunities for students so that they could experience success
instead of failure, and they would not doubt their own abilities.

3. The teacher created opportunities for students to work independently, in pairs (either
open or close) and in small groups.

4. The teacher was attentive to discover the students’ merits, because this could be a kind
of motivation for confidence.

5. The teacher gave students more encouragement instead of criticism, and made them
realise that making mistakes in learning is normal and acceptable.

6. The teacher made students realise that there are no the so called easy or difficult
questions, and encouraged them not to be afraid of making mistakes in front of
 80

classmates or other people.

7. The teacher gave greater privilege to interactive activities among students inasmuch as
he or she talked less and listened more.

8. On the course of the activities, the class was far from quiet, and the scenes demanded
students to leave their seats to complete a task.

9. The class looked active and cooperative insofar as a great deal of learning (social,
cultural and linguistic) was evident.

10. The activities chosen by the teacher had real purposes: to find information, break down
barriers, talk about self, and learn about the culture.

11. The activities designed and brought about by the teacher were lively, interactive and
fun, which made students feel comfortable to learn.

12. The activities were highly motivating inasmuch as students participated fully,
confidently and actively.

13. Because of the increased responsibility to participate, students felt quite involved and,
thus, gained confidence in using English.

14. The teacher set up the activity (ies) properly and, then, gave sympathetic and useful
feedback at the end.

OVERALL COMMENTS: ____________________________________________________

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